Virginia Tech Series
September 28, 2005 10:23 AM | General
September 28, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Buckle up your chinstraps, strap on your shoulder pads a little bit tighter and pump some more air into your helmets because the Virginia Tech Hokies are coming to town.
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| Quarterback Rasheed Marshall runs for a touchdown in last year's game in Blacksburg.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
West Virginia and Virginia Tech have conducted hand-to-hand combat on the football field intermittently since 1912 and consecutively since 1973. The two teams have played 50 games in a spirited border series that is every bit Hatfield and McCoy. Pitt has always been THE game for West Virginians in the northern part of the state. For those living south of Charleston, Virginia Tech is the team that evokes the most passion.
The games have always been tough and physical regardless of their records or the amount of talent each team has on the field. Even the bad games have been interesting.
“It’s always been a good football game,” said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who played against West Virginia three times in 1966, 1967 and 1968. “There have been a lot of moments – both good and bad.”
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez (2-2 as a coach agaisnt the Hokies) also played in three West Virginia-Virginia Tech games in 1982, 1983 and 1984, winning all three.
“It seemed like they were always low-scoring, physical games,” Rodriguez said. “I remember Bruce Smith playing for them then and he was a dominant player. Tech, like us, had a pretty good fan following. Now they’ve grown their stadium and really put an emphasis on facilities and let Frank build that program the way it needed to be built.”
It was Beamer’s stunning success in the mid 1990s that transformed Virginia Tech in the eyes of West Virginia fans used to hating just Pitt and Penn State. In the 1980s the Hokies were viewed more as a nuisance, the one tough warm-up in between Pitt and Penn State. But as Beamer got the ball rolling and his teams began winning regularly Mountaineer fans changed their opinions of Tech and soon elevated the Hokies into one of their red-letter games. Today it has become one of the most anticipated football games on the schedule.
When Virginia Tech left the Big East for the ACC last year and with the two teams unable to find openings in their schedules, Saturday’s 51st meeting is the last one for the foreseeable future.
Here are some brief capsules of the more memorable West Virginia-Virginia Tech games in the series:
1953: West Virginia 12, Virginia Tech 7
West Virginia needed a 55-yard run from fullback Tommy Allman in the fourth quarter to beat Virginia Tech 12-7 in Bluefield. The No. 7-rated Mountaineers finished the season with an 8-1 record and faced Georgia Tech in the 1954 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
1958: West Virginia 21, Virginia Tech 20
A mild controversy followed the game when a botched extra point try by West Virginia turned into two points when an ineligible receiver wound up catching the conversion pass. At the time Tech was leading West Virginia 20-8 and the play seemed benign, but the Mountaineers added two late touchdowns and the illegal two-point play wound up being the difference in the game.
1963: Virginia Tech 28, West Virginia 3
Virginia Tech coach Jerry Claiborne stunned West Virginia with an onside kick to open the game and the Mountaineers never could recover. WVU had four unsuccessful cracks inside the 20 and Virginia Tech produced a 25-point victory in Morgantown on the way to its only Southern Conference regular season title.
1964: West Virginia 23, Virginia Tech 10
It was the first time West Virginia traveled to Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech – the 13 previous games were played in either Morgantown, Bluefield or Richmond. Allen McCune fired touchdown passes of 53 and 10 yards to help West Virginia to a 23-10 victory.
1965: West Virginia 31, Virginia Tech 22
Virginia Tech came into the game having surrendered just three offensive touchdowns and had its sights set on a bowl game, but the Mountaineer offense had their second most productive afternoon of the year to Pitt and pulled off a mild 31-22 upset in Morgantown.
1966: West Virginia 13, Virginia Tech 13
The only tie in the series came about on a questionable play by Virginia Tech late in the game. Ken Barefoot recovered an intentionally fumbled ball in the end zone to knot the game at 13. Fortunately for West Virginia, Tech blew the PAT to win the game.
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| Running back Artie Owens gets a little taste of the Virginia Tech rivalry in Blacksburg.
WVU Sports Communications |
1974: West Virginia 22, Virginia Tech 21
Two bad football teams were wrapping up losing seasons in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech had a 4-6 record and West Virginia was 3-7 and Coach Bobby Bowden was looking for some job security. He got it in a hard-fought, 22-21 victory that featured a 99-yard interception return by Marcus Mauney and an 85-yard touchdown run by tailback Artie Owens. Bowden was so into the game that he drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty arguing a personal foul call that led to West Virginia being penalized a total of 30 yards. Cried the late Jack Fleming on air: “They’re walking the ball right out of the stadium!” Virginia Tech got two tries to win the game on field goal attempts, but the second one was wide right after a WVU penalty gave them another attempt.
1975: West Virginia 10, Virginia Tech 7
This defensive battle was decided in the third quarter when sophomore kicker Bill McKenzie made a 20-yard field goal. It was McKenzie’s first field goal of the season making West Virginia the last team in college football that year to successfully convert a kick. It also served as a dry run for McKenzie’s memorable game-winning kick to beat Pitt on the last play of the game later in the year.
1978: Virginia Tech 16, West Virginia 3
In what was a typical West Virginia-Virginia Tech game of the late 1970s, the contest was marred by eight fumbles and three interceptions. Tech was able to hold onto the ball long enough to put together two TD drives and send West Virginia on its worst tailspin since posting its only winless season in 1960.
1979: West Virginia 34, Virginia Tech 23
West Virginia had butter fingers once again, losing three fumbles that led to a Virginia Tech 23-6 halftime lead. But WVU quarterback Oliver Luck got hot and led the Mountaineers to four second-half touchdowns and a 34-23 come-from-behind victory.
1980: Virginia Tech 34, West Virginia 11
Former Michigan assistant coach Don Nehlen got his first introduction to Blacksburg the hard way: losing 34-11 to the Peach Bowl –bound Hokies. Record-setting Virginia Tech running back Cyrus Lawrence ran for 173 yards against a worn-out West Virginia defense. That figure represents the most yards ever produced by a Virginia Tech running back in the series.
1984: West Virginia 14, Virginia Tech 7
West Virginia scored two first-quarter touchdowns and then put the game into the hands of its defense in this tough, 14-7 win. The Mountaineers won the game despite being out-gained 339-240. It was the first time in the series that both teams went on to bowl games in the same year: West Virginia to the Bluebonnet Bowl and Virginia Tech to the Independence Bowl.
1985: West Virginia 24, Virginia Tech 9
Little-known senior wide receiver Brian Krawchyk caught his first college pass (a 24-yard touchdown) and had four more receptions totaling 87 yards to help West Virginia to a 24-9 victory over the Hokies in Morgantown. It was the fifth-straight win for the Mountaineers representing the longest winning streak by either team in the series.
1987: West Virginia 28, Virginia Tech 16
A thick layer of smoke engulfed Mountaineer Field as forest fires ravaged the southern part of the state. The game wasn’t quite as combustible with West Virginia winning a yawner behind 169 yards rushing from running back A.B. Brown.
1988: West Virginia 22, Virginia Tech 10
West Virginia’s most difficult game on the way to its first undefeated, untied regular season in school history came in Blacksburg. The Mountaineers survived six turnovers and 13 penalties and after the game Coach Don Nehlen quipped: “Playing here is like airplane landings – any one you can walk away from is a good one.”
1989: Virginia Tech 12, West Virginia 10
This is the game that really put the spice back into the series. West Virginia was coming off a big let-down-of-a-game against Pitt, blowing a big second-half lead and tying the Panthers 31-31, and it couldn’t get untracked against a fired-up Virginia Tech defense. Not only was it Tech’s first win against West Virginia in Morgantown since 1967, but it was also the first time the Hokies managed to beat a nationally ranked West Virginia team. Tech players celebrated their hard work by dancing on the state at the end of the game.
1991: Virginia Tech 20, West Virginia 14
Virginia Tech was able to overcome heavy rain, a 50-minute lightning delay and a late West Virginia offensive charge to hold on to a 20-14 win. The Mountaineers got to the Hokie one-yard line with 16 seconds left but on fourth down, backup quarterback Chris Gray and fullback Rodney Woodard couldn’t get the exchange right and fumbled away a potential go-ahead score.
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| Linebacker Tarris Alexander and the West Virginia defense pull out a 14-13 win over Tech in 1993.
WVU Sports Communications |
1993: West Virginia 14, Virginia Tech 13
Once again, West Virginia’s perfect season was in jeopardy against Virginia Tech and once again, the Mountaineers were able to escape with a narrow win. WVU somehow was able to survive five turnovers and Ryan Williams’ game-winning field goal attempt that sailed wide right. The Mountaineers went on to the Sugar Bowl to face Florida and Coach Frank Beamer, under fire and needing to take his team to a bowl game, saved his job by taking the Hokies to the Independence Bowl.
1994: Virginia Tech 34, West Virginia 6
This WVU-Virginia Tech game in Blacksburg was the first to be nationally televised on ESPN. Unfortunately for West Virginia, it wasn’t much of a game as the No. 14-rated Hokies ran the Mountaineers right off the field, 34-6. That began a three-year span of Tech triumphs by a combined score of 92-20.
1997: West Virginia 30, Virginia Tech 17
Nearly 64,000 came out to witness West Virginia’s best performance of the season. The Mountaineers got 153 yards from running back Amos Zereoue and quarterback Marc Bulger threw a touchdown and ran for another to snap Virginia Tech’s three-game winning streak. This game was also the first of the series to air on network television (CBS).
1999: Virginia Tech 22, West Virginia 20
West Virginia, with backup quarterback Brad Lewis subbing for an injured Marc Bulger, scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:15 left in the game before Virginia Tech rallied behind freshman quarterback Michael Vick. A key play was Vick’s remarkable 26-yard run up the far sideline after it appeared West Virginia’s defense had him boxed in. That set up a Shayne Graham 44-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to preserve Tech’s undefeated season.
2000: Virginia Tech 48, West Virginia 20
West Virginia thought it was in good shape leading 14-7 early in the third quarter before depression set in -- in the form of Andre Davis. In a span of six minutes, Tech’s speedy receiver scored on a 30-yard reverse, a 64-yard pass and a 76-yard punt return to turn a competitive game into a blowout. Forty one of Virginia Tech’s 48 points came in the second half -- a school record.
2002: West Virginia 21, Virginia Tech 18
West Virginia repelled two Virginia Tech drives late in the game to preserve a 21-18 upset victory over the No. 12-rated Hokies. Linebacker Grant Wiley diagnosed a fourth-down running play that was stopped short of the end zone and defensive back Brian King intercepted a Bryan Randall pass in the end zone with just seconds remaining to secure one of WVU’s finest road victories. “Wiley’s play was a guy recognizing a set and what they may do and making a great play. Brian King was reading the quarterback’s eyes and he made a play to win the game for us,” Rodriguez said. Running back Quincy Wilson’s 125 yards helped West Virginia put up 263 against Tech’s stout run defense.
2003: West Virginia 28, Virginia Tech 7
West Virginia, a rare double-digit underdog at home, surprised the nation by ruining Virginia Tech’s undefeated season with a dominant 28-7 victory. The Hokies came into the game having beaten Syracuse 51-7 at home while West Virginia was an uninspiring 2-4 and a recent home loser to Cincinnati. The big play was a 93-yard Rasheed Marshall-to-Travis Garvin touchdown pass that gave the Mountaineers a 21-7 advantage. Marshall iced the game with a four-yard TD run late in the contest. “That may have been the most electric crowd that I’ve seen since I’ve been back here,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “My wife said everybody stood up and yelled from the start until the finish of that game.”
2004: Virginia Tech 19, West Virginia 13
Virginia Tech turned the tables on No. 6-rated West Virginia, ending the Mountaineers’ bid for an undefeated season with a 19-13 win in Blacksburg. West Virginia, which didn’t get a first down until the final play of the first quarter and at the time actually had more penalty yards than offensive yards, was driving when Marshall’s third-down pass to a wide open John Pennington fell incomplete. Instead of trimming Tech’s lead to 6-3 right before the half, the Hokies went up 13-0 when Jim Davis blocked Brad Cooper’s field goal attempt and Vincent Fuller scooped it up and raced 74 yards for a touchdown. It was the 10th time Frank Beamer’s team either blocked a field goal or a punt against West Virginia.
Miscellaneous Series Facts:
