What a weird place we’re in this year with the UVA-Virginia Tech football series.
Tech has won the last four, 23 of the last 25, but it’s the ‘Hoos that are in the prime position this season – sitting at 9-2, a game away from an ACC Championship Game berth, two games away from the College Football Playoff, as the Hokies are 3-8, and four quarters away from a coaching change.
Virginia is an 8.5-point favorite, but the fan base knows better than to be too fat and happy about that.
The old-timers – count me there – remember the 1990 game between a UVA team that was 8-2, three weeks away from being #1 in the polls, losing 38-13 to a 5-5 Virginia Tech team.
More recently, the 2018 game had a 5-6 Tech team on the ropes late at home recover a fumble in the end zone in the fourth quarter to tie the game, then beat a 7-4 UVA team in OT.
ICYMI
- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: UVA loses 15th straight to Tech, 34-31, in OT(Nov. 23, 2018)
And 2021: a Virginia Tech squad with an interim coach (sound familiar?) beat Virginia with help from one of the odder offensive play calls ever seen.
Seriously: a screen pass to the left tackle?
Just having to remember that play, and see it play in the movie screen in my mind, is enough to remind me why I wasn’t all that unhappy that Bronco Mendenhall and Robert Anae were out the door within the week.
ICYMI
- The third-down pass to Haskins: ‘Looks great if it works’ (Nov. 27, 2021)
The kids on the field don’t necessarily remember or have to care about the history.
None of them were around in 1990, not even Chandler Morris, who only seems like he’s been playing college football since the days of Shawn Moore and Herman Moore.
Most were in middle school in 2018, and high school in 2021.
For that matter, for the Virginia side, with 50-plus new guys on the roster this year, they weren’t around for last year’s beatdown in Blacksburg.
ICYMI
- UVA Football: Ugly Virginia Tech loss foretells a housecleaning that, news flash, isn’t coming (Dec. 1, 2024)
That has to be a plus for the Virginia side, right?
That they don’t have the level of institutional knowledge of what is supposed to happen?
“We talked about it a little bit, just put it in perspective, the significance of how it’s 365 days, how we have a responsibility to play our best. We have to carry the burden of what hasn’t been done in the past, and we got an opportunity to change the future,” said Virginia coach Tony Elliott, who is 0-2 against the Hokies, and an ugly 0-2 at that – a 55-17 loss in Charlottesville in 2023, and a 37-17 loss last year in Blacksburg.
On the Virginia Tech side, those kids are in the rare position of being on the 3-8 team that otherwise always wins this game, with so much else hanging over the game this time around.
You could sell yourself as this one being our bowl game, and a chance to ruin the end of the season for our rivals.
There’s also the aspect of, will I even be at Virginia Tech next season, with a new coaching staff coming in.
“Most of the time in these rivalry games, if you’re having to give speeches to try to get them up to play, then it’s probably going to be a long game,” said Philip Montgomery, who has led Tech to a respectable 3-5 mark since taking over as the interim coach in September, after the Hokies had gotten out to an 0-3 start, all double-digit losses.
“I think these guys are locked in. They’re focused. They’re excited about the opportunity to go over, play in this game, be a part of this rivalry, but also, to finish up our season in a really positive way. And so, this is a big game, it’s for the Cup, and our guys are excited about that,” Montgomery said.
The Tech kids have nothing to lose here, literally – a win doesn’t get them into a bowl game; you could say, this game is their bowl game.
“That’s a very, very capable football team, and they still have talent in that locker room, and they’re going to be motivated,” Elliott said. “They’re going to be motivated for those guys who, this is their last game, and they want to go out on top. They’re going to be motivated because I’m sure they have a certain mindset relative to this to this rivalry, and rightfully so, they’ve earned that. We got to change that mindset. So, you’re going to see two teams out there playing physical football with passion and desire and a want to win.”
“Obviously, it’s a huge game,” Montgomery said. “The rivalry is part of it. It’s the last game of the season. A lot of things on the line. I think our guys are excited. They’ve been through a lot obviously this year, and so, that being said, we got a lot of things to be grateful for, a lot of things to be thankful for here on Thanksgiving Week. But we’re thankful for this one more opportunity in this great game, and should be a great environment, and looking forward to going over and playing.”
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Chris Graham
