Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry
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The Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry is a college rivalry, mostly in sports, that exists between the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. Both athletics programs are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In sports that use divisions such as college baseball and college football, both teams compete in the Coastal Division of the ACC. In the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years, the program-wide rivalry was called the Commonwealth Challenge.[1] UVA won both years of the Challenge and it was discontinued out of sensitivity following the Virginia Tech massacre.[2]
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[edit] Intensity
Some from outside the state are surprised to learn that the rivalry is a bitter one. Former Ohio State quarterback and football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said in 2004 that he "never realized how much those people hate each other." He went on to say "when I was down in Blacksburg, I said some nice things about Al Groh and it was like I had turned my back on them."[3]
[edit] Virginia Tech joins ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference initially planned to add Boston College, Miami, and Syracuse to the conference lineup. Talks with Syracuse stalled as Jim Boeheim vocalized his opposition to the move, and Duke, UNC, and Virginia consistently voted against adding the Orange. When it became obvious that Syracuse lacked the necessary seven votes, U.Va. President John T. Casteen III took the opportunity to suggest the ACC consider Virginia Tech on June 18, 2003[4]. Duke and UNC voted against the Hokies, but with Casteen's support Virginia Tech was invited to the conference with 7 out of 9 votes. Miami and Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004, with Boston College joining in 2005.
The primary significance of this development to the rivalry was that the athletic teams from the two schools would now be mandated to play every year. For instance, the men's college soccer teams did not face each other in any of the four seasons between 2000 and 2003. They have since met every year after Virginia Tech became a conference member in 2004. Additionally, in some sports where there was already an agreement to play each other on an annual basis, the teams might now play more than once. For instance, the men's college basketball teams had played each other annually since the 1934-35 season but not faced each other twice in the same season since 1983-84. Starting with the 2004-05 season, the teams have played at least twice each year, and in 2005-06 the teams met for a third time in the ACC Tournament.
[edit] All-time and ACC series results
| Sport | All-time series record[5] | ACC series record | Last result | Next meeting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | UVA leads 82-74 | UVA leads 10-0 | UVA won 2-1 on March 30, 2008 | TBD @ VT |
| Men's Basketball | UVA leads 78-49 | UVA leads 5-4 | VT won 72-65 (OT) on February 2, 2008 | TBD |
| Women's Basketball | UVA leads 30-8 | UVA leads 6-2 | UVA won 62-53 on February 17, 2008 | TBD |
| Football | VT leads 47-37-5 | VT leads 4-0 | VT won 33-21 on November 24, 2007 | 11-29-08 @ VT |
| Women's Lacrosse† | UVA leads 12-0 | UVA leads 4-0 | UVA won 14-6 on February 20, 2008 | TBD @ UVA |
| Men's Soccer | UVA leads 32-4-1^ | VT leads 2-1-1 | Tied 1-1 (2OT) on September 28, 2007 | 9-26-08 @ VT |
| Women's Soccer | UVA leads 8-0 | UVA leads 4-0 | UVA won 2-0 on October 18, 2007 | 10-9-08 @ VT |
Series led and games won by Virginia are shaded ██. Series led and games won by Virginia Tech shaded ██.
† Virginia Tech does not field a varsity men's lacrosse team.
^ Hokiesports.com has results for men's soccer back to only 1975, but Virginiasports.com has a record of results going back to 1960.[6]
[edit] Commonwealth Challenge
Now in the same conference, the two schools agreed to face off in a Commonwealth Challenge across all sports in 2005. The Challenge continued through 2007, with the Cavaliers winning both years of the competition. It was discontinued "in the short term" after the Virginia Tech massacre, although a score was tallied on February 21, 2008 by the Roanoke Times using the scoring system of the previous two years. UVA would have been leading the 2007–2008 competition as of that date, 7 to 6.[7]
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2005–2006 | UVA won 14.5 to 7.5 |
| 2006–2007 | UVA won 14 to 8 |
Years won by Virginia are shaded ██.
[edit] Post-April 16, A New Complexion?
Many fans on both sides of the rivalry have reported a lessening of hostilities between the two universities while maintaining the same intensity of the rivalry in the wake of the Virginia Tech Massacre. According to The Washington Post "students in both camps are more apt to think of themselves as simply Virginians." UVa students were amongst the first university students to lend support to the comrades at Virginia Tech in the wake of the shootings. Likewise, the connections between the two university's populations are often very close. Prior to the 2007 football contest in Charlottesville both college's bands participated in a joint performance. However, the intensity of the rivalry was still as spirited as ever, with both sides cheering passionately for their own team as a berth to the ACC Championship game was on the line.[8]
| “ | ...there was the sense among Tech students that fans of U-Va. – an institution founded by none other than Thomas Jefferson – looked down their noses at the mountain-ensconced Hokies of Blacksburg. Hokies were "hicks"; Cavaliers were "snobs." But after the shootings in April, something changed. U-Va. students and faculty members wrote condolence letters, held a candlelight vigil and even painted the campus's fabled Beta Bridge with a pro-Hokies phrase. | ” |
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— Jonathan Mummolo, The Washington Post[9]
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U-Va.'s student newspaper reported that students in Charlottesville were even sporting Hokie sweatshirts on occasion in observance of the tragedy. The University's Z Society went so far as unveiling a 65' x 120' Virginia Pride flag featuring both UVA and VT logos on it during the annual football game, and it was noted that the two fan bases had never been so close as they were after the shootings.
| “ | Since the tragedy, it hasn't been so odd to see a Wahoo wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt. Since April, transfer students haven't felt so awkward saying they used to attend school in Blacksburg. Truly, Hokies and Wahoos have never been so together. | ” |
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— Eric Kolenich, Cavalier Daily[10]
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[edit] See also
- Commonwealth Cup, the annual college football rivalry between the two schools
- South's Oldest Rivalry, the long-standing rivalry between Virginia and North Carolina
- Black Diamond Trophy, the discontinued rivalry trophy between Virginia Tech and West Virginia
[edit] References
- ^ Commonwealth Challenge. hokiesports.com.
- ^ Doughty, Doug (2008-02-21). Bragging rights taken off the table. The Roanoke Times.
- ^ "Tech-UVa relationship eye-opening for Herbstreit", Roanoke Times, 2004-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. (English)
- ^ ACC Will Reconsider Hokies for Expansion; Adding Virginia Tech Would Make It a 13-Team League | Article from The Washington Post | HighBeam Research
- ^ Sources: hokiesports.com and virginiasports.com
- ^ #4 VIRGINIA vs. #16 VIRGINIA TECH.
- ^ "Bragging rights taken off the table", Roanoke Times, 2008-01-21. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. (English)
- ^ "After Tragedy, Hokies and Cavs Take Field as Virginians All", Washington Post, 2007-11-23. Retrieved on 2007-12-02. (English)
- ^ "Why are rivalries so intense?", The Washington Post, 2007-11-24. Retrieved on 2008-05-11. (English)
- ^ "Tragedy vs. rivalry", Cavalier Daily, 2007-11-19. Retrieved on 2008-05-11. (English)
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