VT-Miami Preview
The eyes of the college football world are focused on Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend as the #3 Virginia Tech Hokies (8-0, 5-0 ACC) host the #5 Miami Hurricanes (6-1, 3-1 ACC) at 7:45 PM Saturday night (ESPN/XM 192). ESPN has brought the full might of its media machine to town, broadcasting ESPN2’s Cold Pizza morning show from Blacksburg on Friday morning, College Gameday on Saturday morning, the radio GameDay all day long on Saturday, and even running a game-long feed from the quarterback’s-view Skycam (paired with the regular commentators’ audio) on ESPNU.
Hype aside, this is the most-anticipated game of the year short of the Rose Bowl, as pre-season commentators pointed to it as a potential national championship semifinal. Many Hokie fans point to Tech’s first-ever win over Miami, in 1995, as the true launch of this program to its current national status. That game began a 5-year Hokie winning streak, aided by Miami’s probation handed down later in that 1995 season. Conversely, Miami capped its resurgence in 2000 with a resounding win over the Hokies with Michael Vick hobbled by a Pittsburgh ankle twist, and then knocked out two more consecutive wins: 26-24 in 2001 with the Hokies giving them their best challenge of the year despite a 4-for-20 from QB Grant Noel, then a 56-45 shootout in 2002. The Hokies turned it around 31-7 in 2003 with one of the most electric wins in Virginia Tech history, then knocked the Hurricanes off last year 16-10 in a de facto ACC championship game. Since 1995, the Hokies have never feared Miami, and Tech’s refusal to give Miami what the Canes view as their due deference has created one of the truly nasty rivalries of the past decade.
Let’s break this one down. Read More »
4 November 2005 / 0 Comments / Tags: football, media