Review the Rivalry: Virginia Tech Hokies
by BirdGT on Aug 18, 2011 12:00 PM EDT
in Georgia Tech Football
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PrintRivalry Overview: Tech and VPI have only met on the field 9 8 times with VPI holding a 5-3 edge over Tech. Tech has played all of the teams in the ACC a combined 361 times since 1898 meaning the 8 VPI contests are only 2.2% of Tech's history with current ACC teams. The first ever meeting was during Tech's historic 1990 run with GT pulling a 6-3 win out of their old gold hats. Scott Sisson managed to kick a game winner against the Hokies a week after epically defeating #1 UVA in almost identical fashion.
"I was really looking forward to playing this game," Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary said. "We had been called off the field for lightning before, but we had always been called back." - August 27, 2000 when Tech and VPI game was cancelled due to lightning storm
What Makes the Series a Rivalry: The Coastal Division Title. The Atlantic Division has sent Clemson, FSU, and BC to the ACC Title game - a proverbial salad bowl of inconsistency. GT and VPI have squared off five straight years with the winner always going on to claim the ACC Coastal Crown. There is one fact in the Coastal Division: either GT or VPI will win the division. Period. Competitive balance. The last three contests have been decided by an average margin of 5 points. Smack talk.
"It's not sour grapes," Beamer said. "It's not that Georgia Tech beat us. It's not that. It's just that some situations came up that I think put guys in dangerous situations." - October 27, 2009
And CPJ's response:
Told of Beamer's comments, Johnson replied that the allegations were "a joke." Johnson said that Virginia Tech's coaches did not complain about his team's blocking after the Hokies won, 20-17, last year in Blacksburg...."They got out-schemed," Johnson told reporters Monday evening. "So it's illegal to out-scheme them, I guess." - October 27, 2009
Nesbitt's broken arm. He was injured on a pass play against the Hokies after running the triple option up and down the field on the bastards... Josh Nesbitt = Bud Foster's kryptonite. Passing the football = Josh Nesbitt's kryptonite.
Personal Rivalry: Two games really cemented the rivalry for me and both were losses. The 2004 game where GT led 20-12 with 5:44 remaining in the game is the first of those two aforementioned losses. The ensuing combination of Reggie Ball-isms, homemade turkey callers, and downright chaos made me doubt any faith I had ever put in the football gods.
The 2005 mononucleosis game was the first game I hadn't watched or listened to on the radio in 3 straight seasons and is still the only game in the last 10 years or so I've not at least caught one highlight of. I was at a Georgie grad wedding that day and I was harassed and harangued until the night was old and withered about the ever constant stream of low-lights Georgia Tech football was generating in Blacksburg. I still refuse to watch any highlights or clips from that 51-7 debacle.
Winfield: My first Virginia Tech experience was in 2005 when we got drubbed 51-7. It is the only game in my memory that I have turned the TV off in the middle of a Yellow Jacket football game. My first in-game experience with the Hokies was in 2006, when Calvin Johnson torched 'em. The environment was electric. Lane Stadium was loud and very very orange. And we all KNEW we were in enemy territory and were not welcome in Blacksburg. Since that time, the fans have toned down a little but the game remains the same. They're always good games, it's a back-and-forth struggle, and the winner of the game has been the winner of the Coastal Division. Where the georgie rivalry is hate and old-fashioned, the Hokie rivalry is the healthy one; an exciting one.
Plus those turkeybirds at GobblerCountry and TheKeyPlay are always ready for banter.
What about you? What irks you about the Hokies? Do you have any good stories from the rivalry?
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VT
Good god I wish Clemson could have a rivalry with this squad. So far it has been pretty one sided since they joined the conference. I have not missed watching the GT/VT game yet since it started. I absolutely will do anything to watch the Tech on Tech games, with this years Nesbit mishap being the most crushing point of the series to me. Looking forward to this years game, hopefully GT can pull it off an knock those birds from their pedistal.
Also, very much ready to read your Reviewing the Rivalry: Clemson. Purple Uni’s, CPJ’s dreaded offensive and trick play schemes, CJ breaking off multiple long yard scores, and I know you’ll put a picture up of that guy crying in the stands.
Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano
Every year Virginia Tech is the game
that I most look forward to. I do not get nauseated nor do I feel knots in the stomach. My heart doesn’t skip beats or flutter. I do not break out in a sweat or get the jitters. I just feel like it is going to be a good, hard fought game. And I always feel like we have a chance to win.
by Atlanta's original team on Aug 18, 2011 1:12 PM EDT reply actions
The Va. Tech Game...
since Paul Johnson’s arrival has established that the winner controls their fate each season in a very difficult Coastal Conference. For all of the hype about Beamer Ball and the lunch bucket defense, the Yellow Jackets have run all over the Hokies in every game. I expect the same this year except we will win this one if we don’t make needless turnovers. Bud Foster has been unable to come up with an answer for the triple option. A Thursday night game at Bobby Dodd will be a perfect setting as the Jackets ruin another season for the Gobblers.
It's their style of play
Bud Foster likes an aggressive defense that flies to the football. Against the option, that is not the best style. That may be the root of the problem with their defense vs. our offense. It’s hard to teach one thing for eight weeks and then switch it up all of a sudden.
SO MANY REASONS!!!
Identity Georgia Institute of Technology has been called “TECH” since it opened its doors as the Georgia School of Technology in 1888 and fielded the “Blacksmiths” in football using a “T” for “Tech” as the logo in 1893. We are “TECH” and the only real one in D-1 football. No one else currently going by the name ‘TECH’ in football used that name as early as GT nor has won ANY National Title under it. (Virginia A&M didn’t become “Virginia A&M and Polytechnic Institute” [and subsequently “Virginia Tech” until 1896] and Texas Tech didn’t even open its doors until 1923.) We have a long and storied football legend including 4 national titles and the most popular fightsong ever. VPI was nothing in football before Frank Beamer, and no one save for UVA knew that a “Virginia Tech” even existed. And yet these pretenders are the reason I have to specify “WHICH TECH” I graduated from. They must pay. Beating them in football is a great way to do that.
(sidenote: VPI is the only “Tech” school which has tried to give up that name. In the 70’s they tried to become “Virginia State University” but were blocked by an HBCU of that name. They didn’t want to be a Tech!" For shame…)
Reputation Georgia Tech is the #7 public school in the nation or #5 if you’re looking at Times Higher Education. We’re a research powerhouse legendary for rigorous academics at all levels. VPI is…not. Yet my colleagues and I had to suffer through endless snob stories from orange-clad VPI students at academic conferences. They seriously believe they’re as good as or better than us academically. That’s a complete joke.
In short, their existence offends me almost as much as Clemson and GU. A victory over Virginia A&M Virginia A&M and Polytechnic Institute Virginia State University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is a little piece of justice.
GO JACKETS! Forever the only real TECH!
Well said!
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
And for me
They mean nothing. They are a current opponent, so the games count, but they hold no special place for me. They will always be Big East to me.
We dodged a bullet in that game that was cancelled by lighting. I’m pretty sure Michael Vick would have killed us.
Couple comments...
1) um…didn’t Wake Forest win the ACCA one year? I tried to forget. There’s your salad bowl in action. The list of teams that haven’t won the ACCA (Maryland and NCSU) is shorter.
2) VPI is only a rival because of the fact that the road to the ACCCG goes through ATL and Blacksburg in alternating years, and the games are usually good (win or lose).
Teams that IMNSHO are bigger rivals than VPI (in no particular order). Yes, I am being an old fart:
—georgie (COFH)
—Auburn (To HELL with Auburn and georgie!)
—Notre Shame
—Virginia (41-38, baby! And that hook-and-lateral game was embarrassing. And that losing streak in Charlottesville.)
—Carowhina (especially if you remember the 1990 game and the Kenan curse-no wins in Chapel Hill between WWII and, what, 1998?)
—Dook (second longest continuously-running series)
—Clempsun (The friendly rivalry, although my USCe friends don’t understand why that is)
Heck, if it weren’t for the GT-VPI game deciding the ACCC champ, Tennessee (even though we haven’t played them since 1986) and F$U (due to them being the long-time ACC stymie) would be bigger rivals.
VT= Diet Rivalry
Just not enough history here. I think it did gain some steam when Beamer went 12 yr. old girl to the media after the game in 09. Still think in the acc it still is Clemson, then F$U.
I don't get this attitude
I mean, I get that it’s not the longest running rivalry we have, but I’d argue it’s currently the biggest and most important rivalry we have because of what’s at stake each year. A rivalry doesn’t need a century of time to make it so, it just needs enough history to be relevant, and the GT-VT games certainly have that. Having a long history of competition is just one form of a rivalry, but they all start with a few games that leave a very discernable impression on the fans of both sides.
The series is absolutely electric. I was at the breakdown of ‘04 and that still reigns as one of the worst collapses of the Gailey era. The win in 2009 was insanely awesome. This series delivers everything a fan should ever want from a rivalry; close competition, coaches talking smack, titles on the line, etc. Auburn, ND, and UGA all represent historical rivalries that are great fun, it’s just that they don’t carry much weight outside of simple bragging rights. VT brings all the excitement of a traditional rivalry game but with added emphasis. It’s definitely something I want to last.
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
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