Rivalry 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?