Biggest upset was Miami in 2003 to me. On the heels of one of the best teams in NCAA history, they still had a ton of great players on that 2003 team and we smoked 'em.
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Basically this, although bias has to be accounted for given that both occurred during my physical time in Blacksburg. The 03 Miami game is what set me on the path to be the Hokie fan I am today, and that 07 BC game is what kept us from a NCG appearance (I think we would have smoked that Ohio State team too). These two are easily the biggest games of the past decade in terms of importance to me.
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There is no way that the LSU team that put the worst-beating-in-Frank-Beamer's-career on VT gets leaped by the same VT team if we had beat BC, not happening. But still a nice thought about beating OSU, I think we could have done it.
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Would have been interesting though, as if we beat BC there and everything else stays the same, VT would have been sitting at 1 loss and LSU at 2 losses, so I think its possible we jump them based off that alone, especially since the LSU loss came to Ark. the last game of the regular season, which would have dropped them in the human polls by the nature of how those things work.
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We still would have been left out of the title game.
That hype machine to get LSU over us was in full swing, and ESPN was already beginning to influence voters. And at the end of the day, LSU beat the shit out of us in their own house. We really didn't have much of a complaint that year had we beaten BC and still been left out for a 2 loss LSU.
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I don't disagree that we couldn't have had much of a complaint, but we were 3rd place (which was a surprise in itself) in the BCS standings. While I'm sure ESPN could swing voters there is also the point that espn and the media itself doesn't control the BCS formula. I'm sure that the media and everyone else would have pitched a hissy-fit if we had made the National Championship game, but there was a decent chance that we would have been in that game if not for the BC loss.
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Just kinda gonna disagree, I think poll voters even with the beating would have put us above them because of 1 loss vs 2. We wouldn't have lost to 2 unranked teams, only 1 team that continued to stay in the top 5. If that shit Ohio State team got voted #1 we would have had a good shot at the #2 spot with a 12-1 record and a victory over the prior #2 team BC (again assuming we didn't choke that game away). I mean revisionist history and we sucked shit to Kansas in the OB, but I just don't think it's that far fetched.
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Agree on the biggest choke against Matty Ice in 07' (although revenge always tastes sweetest after a championship) but the biggest upset for me was Duke 05' in bball.
I was at both games.
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what a sad day...and wet too. I got soaked through my trashbag. Insult to injury, I had brought a couple of guys from work with me to that game and I had spent the whole week talking up VT football...only to lose. They're both big NC State fans.
Edited to add:
Also, my brothers wife is a JMU grad and even though neither of them know anything about JMU football they never miss an opportunity to rub it in. They always say that until JMU and VT play again JMU is the better team. It infuriates me and they know it.
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We in the band couldn't leave early. And since JMU brought their band that day, we had cake afterwards (I don't remember why exactly there was cake, we don't always do that when we host other bands). It was the saddest cake ever.
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I didn't even go to get the cake. That whole day was just insult after insult. Bad weather. Their trumpets KILLED our trumpets. The game. And we're supposed to have cake afterwards? I went home sulking instead. Plus #TEAMPIE
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Even with my girlfriend at the time being in the JMU band, I was going nowhere near that cake. Also, I'd rather work below t-shirt level and watch the Hokies than be any other band
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Killed us in what way? I remember them sounding like shit. If you call playing as loud as possible with no balance or musicality getting killed, then they murdered our ears. Call me not impressed by the Marching Royal Dukes.
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Fair enough. I thought they were significantly cleaner from where I was standing. Not saying they were as good as advertised though. Certainly not the best band we interacted with, that'd be Tenn. or Bama probably. FSU were also quite good.
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I remember their Trumpet Heroes being even more obnoxious than our Trumpet Heroes, which is all Trumpet Heroes can do anyway, so in that sense they killed the trumpets.
And the rest of the band rejoiced...
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I love trumpets as much as the next guy (ok, that might be a bit of a lie...), but there's a reason it's called marching band, not marching trumpet section. All I heard was tons of trumpets, solid but occasionally edgy, with occasional bone/tone/tuba blasting out with bad tone. Also, I'm pretty sure they marched flutes, and as a piccolo player I just can't even when I see a serious marching band marching flutes...
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I don't know that that BC game was the biggest choke, what about the game in 2003 against WVU?
For me the biggest win was the 95 Miami win, I know they were only ranked 17, but it ended the reign of dominance they had and it started something in Blacksburg. It said we wouldn't be pushed around. Oh yeah, and I was there.
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Basketball -
Upset - 2007 home over #1 UNC... We absolutely mauled them that afternoon. Cassell was a party from start to finish.
Choke - 2007 home vs Clemson... We had the ACC Regular Season title wrapped up, all we had to do was beat a bad Clemson team on Senior Night and it was ours. 1 point loss.
Football
Upset - 1995 Sugar Bowl vs Texas. The game that put us on the map.
Choke - 2006 Chick Fil A Bowl vs Georgia. We had that game wrapped up at halftime. Once UGa got the 2nd half kickoff on a trick onside kick, momentum steamrolled, and the offense absolutely fell apart. Glennon had an exceptionally bad evening. The lasting memory from the game was sitting in the MARTA station after listening to hundreds of Hokies chanting 'Ty-rod Tay-lor' while waiting for the train.
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I may be going back a ways but I always wondered how we lost to McNabb on an across the body throw and then go on to crush Alabama in the Music City Bowl.
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McNabb was incredible that game, that's why. It just seemed like moving the ball up the field was effortless both ways for most of that game. It was exciting but really tense at that game.
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I remember watching this with some Syracuse fans in a bar-(they were pretty cool.)
I was conflicted because as a Hokie, I was pissed because we lost the game, but as a football fan, it was one of the most exciting games I had watched.
McNabb was just a bad MoFo.
I think that was Jarrett Ferguson's one-shoe ramble as well.
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yeah Shoog, that's right on. It was one of the most thrilling games I have witnessed in a pure football sense. I remember being excited and dreading Mcnabb taking the field. Afterwards it felt like I had ridden a roller coaster with no safety harness for 3 hours.
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If I'm not mistaken, that's the game that McNabb was puking in as well. I think the clip above was right after a VT called timeout, where just before we called timeout McNabb was heaving right on the field.
Edit: My mistake, Syracuse called the timeout as shown here around the 2:40 mark. It's not for the squeamish. Not because of any vomiting (which isn't shown) but the the final drive in it's entirety is painful. Very painful.
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If I'm not mistaken he pukes in just about EVERY big game. We picked him off that game too. Just had difficulty trapping him behind the line and keeping him there.
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And those late 90's/early 2000's Alabama teams were not particularly good. Take away Alexander and Chris Samuels and the offense was below average. That was also a stretch where their defenses were bad (Clint Stoener and Arkansas dropped 42 on them.)
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Upset: The second game against UNC in 2007. Beating them in OT in their house. Beating them at home while they were #1 was obviously huge but following that up by beating them again in their house was unreal.
Choke: For me personally, the Boise State game at FedEx and the ensuing egg we laid the following Saturday. Had it not been for us blowing it at the end of that Boise State game and then not showing up period against JMU... 13-0. I hate to play the "what if" game but that whole six day stretch right there really stings still today. Everything about the Labor Day game against Boise State was perfect too, right up until the end. Great tailgating. Beautiful weather.
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Upset: Nebraska in 09. not only cause of the danny coale down the sideline, but cause even after that it took us til 3rd or 4th down to score the touchdown and tyrod scrambling on that play might be even better then the Coale catch before it.
Choke: JMU. never been that cold walking back to the tailgate in my life (of course i have but after that loss it didnt feel like it)
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That Georgia game caused my Dad and I to argue about the future of Sean Glennon / Stiney at VT for literally the entire off-season. It drove my mom crazy.
Only the Boise St game came as close to this one in me questioning whether I was too invested emotionally in the Virginia Tech football program.
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What could have been the biggest upset in our history quickly became our biggest choke - Ernest Wilford's drop against Miami. After being down 20-3 and coming all the way back Wilford let the ball slip through his hands on a two point conversion and we lost. If we could have pulled the upset Miami would have one less national championship. Additionally, some people call that Miami team the best team ever. That was the first VT game I watched after I was accepted and knew that I'd spend the next 4 years of my life in Blacksburg. Even though we lost that was the day I started my love for VT Football.
Biggest Upset - September 6, 2014 the day we beat anOSU.
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I was at that game with some friends that were Ohio State fans.
We all 'KNEW' that he caught that pass, and were celebrating like nobody's business in the stands for a good 30 seconds it seemed until the word filtered through that it was a drop!
When the kick was blocked, I honestly thought the stands were going to fail like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
My OSU friends (and I agree) still to this day state that that was the loudest they have ever heard a stadium.
Anywhere.
It was the most fun that I've had at a loss.
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True confession....I was working and DVR'd the game.
I deleted it the next day when a partner told me 'Sorry, man, y'all got screwed' and I have not watched any portion of that game to this day.
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I was at that Miami game and Andre Davis was injured, too I believe. I always thought what if in that game if Vick was health as we still put 21 on them (to their 41), but that Miami team was loaded.
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Choke - JMU. Has to be. I was at home that weekend, remembered hearing Roth call the one touchdown we scored, then I got absorbed in whatever I was doing. Next thing I know it's several hours later and he's saying "and James Madison is going to come out of here with a win" and I'm pretty sure I dropped whatever was in my hands out of shock and it broke.
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Upset: 1995 Miami. 0-2 and beating the Canes for the first time ever. What a great experience at Lane that day.
Choke: I want to say the '06 CFA Bowl (which I was at) but the offense was just putrid. I'll go with the Orange Bowl vs. Kansas. And the coaches choked, not the players. If we just kept running the ball with Ore, no way we lose.
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It was their first trip to VA in 1995. VDOT opened I-81 at C'burg Mtn before they officially accepted the road to get traffic to B'Burg in 1967 when we played them and lost 14-7. Typical Hokies, great defense, returned a punt for TD and NO O. 1995 was the first time we ever beat them.
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This thread makes me sad......so sad... Joe this is the only thread that I've ever been upset you made haha regardless, that jmu game burns as the biggest upset but I gotta say that choke against Georgia....in the chick fila bowl will haunt me forever....I was in high school and I swore that game was over I was so happy but I was so wrong that was the beginning of the end for Sean Glennon...although the BC game still does burn to this day, its the closest since I've been a fan that we've been to a national championship and that makes me a sad panda
Anywho this thread is bringing back lots of repressed memories I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep I hope you're happy
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Boise State was quite a nice choke job. Having the lead late in the fourth quarter after being down 17-0 in the first... Was a great first Hokies game to be at. Really summarized the entire program in one game. Upset? Hard to say. Since I've been involved I've really only see us lose as favorites :(
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Talk about an emotional roller coaster, it was that game. I've always said win or lose, that's the best game I ever saw live. That game actually made me step back and really look at my fandom/obsession. So much hype going in and then the first quarter happened. Whooped them more of less after that until Kellen pulled a Matty Ice on us. sigh
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I dunno if it's technically a choke job, but I'm going to throw the second half of the 2011 Orange Bowl in here. Only down by one at the half to the Fighting Andrew Lucks, and proceed to lose by 28 while not even putting up much effort? Absolutely nervewracking to watch in person.
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At this point, until its proven otherwise, that game is the official mark of when Beamerball died. Lets not put it any other way... We got our asses handed to us in the second half of that game. Yes, the 2011 season saw us go to the Sugar Bowl as an At-Large, but we also got thumped by Clemson twice and we lost to Michigan in a game we had absolutely no business losing. And then the wheels fell off.
Before that Stanford game, we were rolling as a program. Just humiliated FSU in the ACC title game for our 4th title in 7 years, and ever since, its been down, down, down.
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Carrier Dome...1998...VT jumps out to a 21-3 lead late in the 1st half, only to have our hearts ripped out by the McNabb play that ESPN shows over and over and over and over again in promos...BROMINSKI!!!!!!
yes, i was there, and yes i was found in a dark alley parking lot punching the pavement by my friends who lost me coming out of the jiffy pop dome...
as far as upset, i'll just throw out the Temple homecoming game in the same year...Ricky Hall dropping that pass actually caused my heart to fall out of my chest and onto the bench in Lane that day...Temple had NEVER won a BigEast road game i'f i'm not mistaken...NEVER
well, that was fun...1998 was a shitty year, and reliving it this morning was no better...
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3 losses by a combined 10 points. Some with no QB to speak of on the field and Michael Vick fully suited up and standing on the sidelines. Yeah, that was rough. of course, the Clemson, Miami and WVU games were great that year and the bowl was awesome. Who can forget when Bama's punter was asked about VT's punt block unit. He replied "They won't get one on me"
He was right... We got 2!
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After the Temple game my friend and I were steamed about Vick standing on the sideline and not playing. My friend "Said. Play him. If we can't recruit another quarterback in the next 4 years then we have bigger problems than losing to Temple"
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Vick's HS coach made Frank promise to redshirt Mike and he kept his promise in the face of the Temple debacle. I respect the hell out of Beamer for that.
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He wasn't on the depth chart. He wasn't going to play 1998. You are correct about Clark, Meyer then Sorensen (who had moved to defense). Things would have been OK had Meyer not gotten injured. He looked great against Pitt earlier in the season.
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Comments
Biggest choke was BC in 2007, that one's easy.
Biggest upset was Miami in 2003 to me. On the heels of one of the best teams in NCAA history, they still had a ton of great players on that 2003 team and we smoked 'em.
Seconded.
Basically this, although bias has to be accounted for given that both occurred during my physical time in Blacksburg. The 03 Miami game is what set me on the path to be the Hokie fan I am today, and that 07 BC game is what kept us from a NCG appearance (I think we would have smoked that Ohio State team too). These two are easily the biggest games of the past decade in terms of importance to me.
There is no way that the LSU team that put the worst-beating-in-Frank-Beamer's-career on VT gets leaped by the same VT team if we had beat BC, not happening. But still a nice thought about beating OSU, I think we could have done it.
yeah only we couldn't even beat friggin kansas
Would have been interesting though, as if we beat BC there and everything else stays the same, VT would have been sitting at 1 loss and LSU at 2 losses, so I think its possible we jump them based off that alone, especially since the LSU loss came to Ark. the last game of the regular season, which would have dropped them in the human polls by the nature of how those things work.
We still would have been left out of the title game.
That hype machine to get LSU over us was in full swing, and ESPN was already beginning to influence voters. And at the end of the day, LSU beat the shit out of us in their own house. We really didn't have much of a complaint that year had we beaten BC and still been left out for a 2 loss LSU.
I don't disagree that we couldn't have had much of a complaint, but we were 3rd place (which was a surprise in itself) in the BCS standings. While I'm sure ESPN could swing voters there is also the point that espn and the media itself doesn't control the BCS formula. I'm sure that the media and everyone else would have pitched a hissy-fit if we had made the National Championship game, but there was a decent chance that we would have been in that game if not for the BC loss.
Just kinda gonna disagree, I think poll voters even with the beating would have put us above them because of 1 loss vs 2. We wouldn't have lost to 2 unranked teams, only 1 team that continued to stay in the top 5. If that shit Ohio State team got voted #1 we would have had a good shot at the #2 spot with a 12-1 record and a victory over the prior #2 team BC (again assuming we didn't choke that game away). I mean revisionist history and we sucked shit to Kansas in the OB, but I just don't think it's that far fetched.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Agree on the biggest choke against Matty Ice in 07' (although revenge always tastes sweetest after a championship) but the biggest upset for me was Duke 05' in bball.
I was at both games.
I agree with both of these. I was also there for both. BC was the largest WTF moment of watching Hokie football in Lane.
Upset: Beating #5 Duke in Cameron Indoor on 1/6/07 and Teabagging Paulus.
Choke: This..
It was the only game I've ever left early from. I think I'm still drying out from that one.
Nice photoshop in that 2nd picture there. Really good work.
I have several JMU-grad "friends" who never let this go. "Hey, you remember when we beat you guys?"
Makes me rethink my association with them.
I wonder if they remember how the rest of their season went, as well as how the rest of our season went.
Not at all. Not even how their season(s) have gone since then..
Seems a lot like LOLUVA hyping up their "exceptional" 3rd-down defense against Oregon.
I don't think they got to a lot of 3rd down situations did they?
"Why put off until 3rd down the touchdowns you can score on 1st and 2nd?" - Marcus Mariotta and DeAnthony Thomas
I was going to say that game, but I tend to forget that it even existed
I, too, was at the JMU debacle :(
what a sad day...and wet too. I got soaked through my trashbag. Insult to injury, I had brought a couple of guys from work with me to that game and I had spent the whole week talking up VT football...only to lose. They're both big NC State fans.
Edited to add:
Also, my brothers wife is a JMU grad and even though neither of them know anything about JMU football they never miss an opportunity to rub it in. They always say that until JMU and VT play again JMU is the better team. It infuriates me and they know it.
Try being an alum of both schools. That was an interesting range of emotions.
right there with you bro
We in the band couldn't leave early. And since JMU brought their band that day, we had cake afterwards (I don't remember why exactly there was cake, we don't always do that when we host other bands). It was the saddest cake ever.
Pie would have been a better consolation dessert. #TeamPie
I didn't even go to get the cake. That whole day was just insult after insult. Bad weather. Their trumpets KILLED our trumpets. The game. And we're supposed to have cake afterwards? I went home sulking instead. Plus #TEAMPIE
Even with my girlfriend at the time being in the JMU band, I was going nowhere near that cake. Also, I'd rather work below t-shirt level and watch the Hokies than be any other band
whenever I hear/read about someone's band girlfriend I immediately think about what she was doing at band camp.
Oh, the number of stories I've started with "this one time, at band camp..."
We went hard below t-shirt level. The fact that those shirts were actually backwards sums it up quite nicely
Ha, I think most of them killed most of us. But that's alright by me, I could tell it mattered a lot more to them than the majority of us. haha.
I think I did go get cake, just because I wanted something in payment for sitting through that miserable mess.
Killed us in what way? I remember them sounding like shit. If you call playing as loud as possible with no balance or musicality getting killed, then they murdered our ears. Call me not impressed by the Marching Royal Dukes.
Fair enough. I thought they were significantly cleaner from where I was standing. Not saying they were as good as advertised though. Certainly not the best band we interacted with, that'd be Tenn. or Bama probably. FSU were also quite good.
I remember their Trumpet Heroes being even more obnoxious than our Trumpet Heroes, which is all Trumpet Heroes can do anyway, so in that sense they killed the trumpets.
And the rest of the band rejoiced...
Hey, hey there buddy. Watch it...
I love trumpets as much as the next guy (ok, that might be a bit of a lie...), but there's a reason it's called marching band, not marching trumpet section. All I heard was tons of trumpets, solid but occasionally edgy, with occasional bone/tone/tuba blasting out with bad tone. Also, I'm pretty sure they marched flutes, and as a piccolo player I just can't even when I see a serious marching band marching flutes...
Oh God, JMU still stings. I had put this one back in the far reaches of my mind... never to resurface
I don't know that that BC game was the biggest choke, what about the game in 2003 against WVU?
For me the biggest win was the 95 Miami win, I know they were only ranked 17, but it ended the reign of dominance they had and it started something in Blacksburg. It said we wouldn't be pushed around. Oh yeah, and I was there.
Biggest Upset: 2003 vs Miami.
Biggest Choke: I don't know what you're talking about. Tech sports have never choked ever. EVER.
Basketball -
Upset - 2007 home over #1 UNC... We absolutely mauled them that afternoon. Cassell was a party from start to finish.
Choke - 2007 home vs Clemson... We had the ACC Regular Season title wrapped up, all we had to do was beat a bad Clemson team on Senior Night and it was ours. 1 point loss.
Football
Upset - 1995 Sugar Bowl vs Texas. The game that put us on the map.
Choke - 2006 Chick Fil A Bowl vs Georgia. We had that game wrapped up at halftime. Once UGa got the 2nd half kickoff on a trick onside kick, momentum steamrolled, and the offense absolutely fell apart. Glennon had an exceptionally bad evening. The lasting memory from the game was sitting in the MARTA station after listening to hundreds of Hokies chanting 'Ty-rod Tay-lor' while waiting for the train.
That 06 bowl game against UGA is a first honorable mention for me.
Crap the Sugar Bowl, I forgot about that...but yes you are 100% correct...that was huge.Texas...I hate Texas
AD no foul
Biggest Upset: 2000 Sugar Bowl, 3rd Q 29 -28 VT
Biggest Choke: 2000 Sugar Bowl, 4th Q 46 -29 FSU
I was there for both.
Yes. That'll do it.
Make it green!
I may be going back a ways but I always wondered how we lost to McNabb on an across the body throw and then go on to crush Alabama in the Music City Bowl.
McNabb was incredible that game, that's why. It just seemed like moving the ball up the field was effortless both ways for most of that game. It was exciting but really tense at that game.
I remember watching this with some Syracuse fans in a bar-(they were pretty cool.)
I was conflicted because as a Hokie, I was pissed because we lost the game, but as a football fan, it was one of the most exciting games I had watched.
McNabb was just a bad MoFo.
I think that was Jarrett Ferguson's one-shoe ramble as well.
yeah Shoog, that's right on. It was one of the most thrilling games I have witnessed in a pure football sense. I remember being excited and dreading Mcnabb taking the field. Afterwards it felt like I had ridden a roller coaster with no safety harness for 3 hours.
If I'm not mistaken, that's the game that McNabb was puking in as well. I think the clip above was right after a VT called timeout, where just before we called timeout McNabb was heaving right on the field.
Edit: My mistake, Syracuse called the timeout as shown here around the 2:40 mark. It's not for the squeamish. Not because of any vomiting (which isn't shown) but the the final drive in it's entirety is painful. Very painful.
If I'm not mistaken he pukes in just about EVERY big game. We picked him off that game too. Just had difficulty trapping him behind the line and keeping him there.
Mobile Quarterbacks. Killing us since 1998.
Uhhhhh
If you're going to talk about head scratching losses in 1998, the list begins and ends with the Homecoming loss to winless Temple.
Was going to mention the Temple Homecoming loss. I seem to remember several games at Pitt being labeled an "upset". I hate playing at Pitt.
In regards to upsets. Has anyone mentioned our 02 win at aTm? That was their 1st OOC home loss in a while.
Did I mention I hate playing at Pitt?
And those late 90's/early 2000's Alabama teams were not particularly good. Take away Alexander and Chris Samuels and the offense was below average. That was also a stretch where their defenses were bad (Clint Stoener and Arkansas dropped 42 on them.)
All I have to say is that it is an honor to be enlighten by French himself.
Biggest Upset: 1995 Sugar Bowl vs. Texas. Pretty much when VT jumped into the National spotlight.
Biggest Choke: JMU. BC loss is a close second.
I was at both of the chokes, but not at the Sugar Bowl.
Upset: The second game against UNC in 2007. Beating them in OT in their house. Beating them at home while they were #1 was obviously huge but following that up by beating them again in their house was unreal.
Choke: For me personally, the Boise State game at FedEx and the ensuing egg we laid the following Saturday. Had it not been for us blowing it at the end of that Boise State game and then not showing up period against JMU... 13-0. I hate to play the "what if" game but that whole six day stretch right there really stings still today. Everything about the Labor Day game against Boise State was perfect too, right up until the end. Great tailgating. Beautiful weather.
Upset: Nebraska in 09. not only cause of the danny coale down the sideline, but cause even after that it took us til 3rd or 4th down to score the touchdown and tyrod scrambling on that play might be even better then the Coale catch before it.
Choke: JMU. never been that cold walking back to the tailgate in my life (of course i have but after that loss it didnt feel like it)
I think Nebraska was best ending. But can it be best upset when we were favored to win AND at home?
Biggest Upset:
Biggest Choke:
I was sitting in the endzone and had to listen to the non-stop barking as UGA started to come all the way back, man that sucked.
At least the Matty Ice game came like a lightning bolt, the UGA game was like someone taking a red hot poker to your anus for the entire second half.
That Georgia game caused my Dad and I to argue about the future of Sean Glennon / Stiney at VT for literally the entire off-season. It drove my mom crazy.
Only the Boise St game came as close to this one in me questioning whether I was too invested emotionally in the Virginia Tech football program.
What could have been the biggest upset in our history quickly became our biggest choke - Ernest Wilford's drop against Miami. After being down 20-3 and coming all the way back Wilford let the ball slip through his hands on a two point conversion and we lost. If we could have pulled the upset Miami would have one less national championship. Additionally, some people call that Miami team the best team ever. That was the first VT game I watched after I was accepted and knew that I'd spend the next 4 years of my life in Blacksburg. Even though we lost that was the day I started my love for VT Football.
Biggest Upset - September 6, 2014 the day we beat anOSU.
I was at that one. Noel nearly throwing as many interceptions as completions didn't help much either. But he was going against Ed Reed & co.
I was at that game with some friends that were Ohio State fans.
We all 'KNEW' that he caught that pass, and were celebrating like nobody's business in the stands for a good 30 seconds it seemed until the word filtered through that it was a drop!
When the kick was blocked, I honestly thought the stands were going to fail like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
My OSU friends (and I agree) still to this day state that that was the loudest they have ever heard a stadium.
Anywhere.
It was the most fun that I've had at a loss.
Two Most Upsetting losses (not a choke):
1) Losing to #3 Miami in 2000 (VT was #2 and Vick was injured).
2) Losing to Michigan in Sugarbowl 2012
*Losing to Michigan and the refs
True confession....I was working and DVR'd the game.
I deleted it the next day when a partner told me 'Sorry, man, y'all got screwed' and I have not watched any portion of that game to this day.
I was at that Miami game and Andre Davis was injured, too I believe. I always thought what if in that game if Vick was health as we still put 21 on them (to their 41), but that Miami team was loaded.
This thread...
I'd have to go with the 1995 Sugar Bowl as the most IMPORTANT upset. Biggest choke was undoubtedly '07 BC.
Best upset I've attended was the 2011 Duke basketball game, unranked over #1.
Upset - Either 03 Miami or 95 Miami and Texas
Choke - JMU. Has to be. I was at home that weekend, remembered hearing Roth call the one touchdown we scored, then I got absorbed in whatever I was doing. Next thing I know it's several hours later and he's saying "and James Madison is going to come out of here with a win" and I'm pretty sure I dropped whatever was in my hands out of shock and it broke.
Biggest Bowl Choke: 2006 Peach Bowl. Up 24-3 against UGA in the Georgia Dome, then things went Glennon.
Or BCS game not against Cinci
A leg for that description.
Upset: 1995 Miami. 0-2 and beating the Canes for the first time ever. What a great experience at Lane that day.
Choke: I want to say the '06 CFA Bowl (which I was at) but the offense was just putrid. I'll go with the Orange Bowl vs. Kansas. And the coaches choked, not the players. If we just kept running the ball with Ore, no way we lose.
It was also Miami's first trip to Virginia.
It was their first trip to VA in 1995. VDOT opened I-81 at C'burg Mtn before they officially accepted the road to get traffic to B'Burg in 1967 when we played them and lost 14-7. Typical Hokies, great defense, returned a punt for TD and NO O. 1995 was the first time we ever beat them.
Biggest choke: JMfuckingU (when are we scheduled to play them again to rub it out?)
Dishonorable mention: Temple '98 (another unacceptable loss and ranked by $ec$pn in the top 5-10 big upset category)
Biggest win: have to go with Sugar Bowl against the horns. We messed with Texas and we messed...nay we fucked dem up pretty bad.
This thread makes me sad......so sad... Joe this is the only thread that I've ever been upset you made haha regardless, that jmu game burns as the biggest upset but I gotta say that choke against Georgia....in the chick fila bowl will haunt me forever....I was in high school and I swore that game was over I was so happy but I was so wrong that was the beginning of the end for Sean Glennon...although the BC game still does burn to this day, its the closest since I've been a fan that we've been to a national championship and that makes me a sad panda
Anywho this thread is bringing back lots of repressed memories I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep I hope you're happy
Boise State was quite a nice choke job. Having the lead late in the fourth quarter after being down 17-0 in the first... Was a great first Hokies game to be at. Really summarized the entire program in one game. Upset? Hard to say. Since I've been involved I've really only see us lose as favorites :(
Talk about an emotional roller coaster, it was that game. I've always said win or lose, that's the best game I ever saw live. That game actually made me step back and really look at my fandom/obsession. So much hype going in and then the first quarter happened. Whooped them more of less after that until Kellen pulled a Matty Ice on us. sigh
I dunno if it's technically a choke job, but I'm going to throw the second half of the 2011 Orange Bowl in here. Only down by one at the half to the Fighting Andrew Lucks, and proceed to lose by 28 while not even putting up much effort? Absolutely nervewracking to watch in person.
At this point, until its proven otherwise, that game is the official mark of when Beamerball died. Lets not put it any other way... We got our asses handed to us in the second half of that game. Yes, the 2011 season saw us go to the Sugar Bowl as an At-Large, but we also got thumped by Clemson twice and we lost to Michigan in a game we had absolutely no business losing. And then the wheels fell off.
Before that Stanford game, we were rolling as a program. Just humiliated FSU in the ACC title game for our 4th title in 7 years, and ever since, its been down, down, down.
Carrier Dome...1998...VT jumps out to a 21-3 lead late in the 1st half, only to have our hearts ripped out by the McNabb play that ESPN shows over and over and over and over again in promos...BROMINSKI!!!!!!
yes, i was there, and yes i was found in a dark alley parking lot punching the pavement by my friends who lost me coming out of the jiffy pop dome...
as far as upset, i'll just throw out the Temple homecoming game in the same year...Ricky Hall dropping that pass actually caused my heart to fall out of my chest and onto the bench in Lane that day...Temple had NEVER won a BigEast road game i'f i'm not mistaken...NEVER
well, that was fun...1998 was a shitty year, and reliving it this morning was no better...
I was upset when I spilled my bourbon and Coke. Oh, that's choke? I choked back tears when I spilled it.
Biggest choke- Every 1998 loss.
Temple up by 17- lose.
UVA- up by ~30- lose.
Syr- lose on last freaking play.
Everyone of those games was a choke- and everyone was a heartbreaker. My first year with season tickets.
For upset- Every freaking game after the Boise/JMU losses. Undefeated in the ACC? RU kidding me? After that start?
3 losses by a combined 10 points. Some with no QB to speak of on the field and Michael Vick fully suited up and standing on the sidelines. Yeah, that was rough. of course, the Clemson, Miami and WVU games were great that year and the bowl was awesome. Who can forget when Bama's punter was asked about VT's punt block unit. He replied "They won't get one on me"
He was right... We got 2!
Yes, right?!
Michael MF Vick on the sidelines as a redshirt, and then gone 2 years later!
(Should've played him Frank........)
Wait, um, I'm confused. What season & games are we talking about?
After the Temple game my friend and I were steamed about Vick standing on the sideline and not playing. My friend "Said. Play him. If we can't recruit another quarterback in the next 4 years then we have bigger problems than losing to Temple"
Vick's HS coach made Frank promise to redshirt Mike and he kept his promise in the face of the Temple debacle. I respect the hell out of Beamer for that.
Yep, you are right. Its discussed here a bit. http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/home/MagDetails.asp?id=84&previd=11
I agree with you. I am just relaying our frustration at the time. I don't know if I could have stuck to that promise like Frank did.
Not to mention, where exactly was MV7 on the depth chart? I though it went in this order: Al Clark, Dave Meyers, Nick Sorensen, MV7
He wasn't on the depth chart. He wasn't going to play 1998. You are correct about Clark, Meyer then Sorensen (who had moved to defense). Things would have been OK had Meyer not gotten injured. He looked great against Pitt earlier in the season.