The UVA Football program closes the 2024 regular season with a night game at Virginia Tech, with the ACC announcing the 8 p.m. kickoff for the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash game on Monday.
The UVA side hasn’t won a game in Blacksburg since 1998, and has just two wins over the rival program since – in 2003 and 2019.
Both teams are 5-5 on the season heading into the final two weekends.
Virginia gets #12 SMU (9-1, 6-0 ACC) on Saturday at noon. Virginia Tech gets Duke (7-3, 3-3 ACC) at 8 p.m. down in Durham.
Eligibility for a bad-weather bowl game for both could very well come down to a cold Saturday night down in Southwest Virginia.
If that happens, you’ve got to like Tech’s chances.
The Hokies entered the programs’ 2014 game with a 5-6 record, and defeated UVA, 24-20, on a cold night in Blacksburg.
The 2015 Tech squad was 5-6 going into the finale with the ‘Hoos, and rallied from two fourth-quarter deficits to post a 23-20 win in the finale for the Mike London era.
Skip ahead to 2018, and a good (7-4) Virginia team blew an opportunity to send the rivals to an early offseason with a 34-31 OT loss in Lane Stadium.
And then, 2021, UVA had the ball in the red zone in the final minute, but couldn’t score in what turned out to be Bronco Mendenhall’s swan song, a 29-24 loss to another 5-6 Tech team.
I’m not forgetting 2023, though I wish I could.
Brent Pry took a 5-6 Tech team into Charlottesville last November and beat down Tony Elliott and his ‘Hoos, 55-17.
That’s five times in 10 years that mediocre Tech teams have earned bowl bids by beating largely mediocre (except for that one year, 2018) UVA teams.
This column could be moot if Virginia Tech gets the road win at Duke.
Somehow, the Hokies are a 2.5-point favorite in that one.
I don’t get that, either.
Virginia is a 9.5-point home ‘dog to SMU, which makes total sense.
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Chris Graham
