Chris Fowler on Dan Patrick Show

Was asked when he knew that College Gameday was going to be special. His response, "1999 Virginia Tech...Michael Vick, and Frank Beamer decided to use Gameday to show Blacksburg and Lane Stadium"

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and I was there!!!!! I remember it like it was yesterday!!!!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

I was there too! Wait... why does that look like so long ago??

I can safely say that we set the bar high for future college game day crowds!!!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

It can't be THAT long ago. I mean, it just turned 2000 like a few years back, right? I'm glad we survived Y2K, man that was scary!

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I remember in 98 and 99 all the computer science majors falling over themselves to learn COBOL because the demand was ridiculous for people to fix all the code prior to the year switch. There are some guys living in beachfront houses deciding whether to take the yacht down to the Caymans or the jet to the south of France this weekend, all from money made adding two digits to the year in several hundred thousand lines of code.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

I had tickets for the Sugar Bowl game that year and couldn't get off work as an IT guy thanks to Y2K

Oh Yeah!! I was there! That was awesome. Set the record for attendance at a College Gameday, then broke it later that year before the Miami game. I remember Herbie talking about the Defense that 'Cuse was bringing in, saying that Vick had never seen a defense like that one. All I have to say to that is: 62-0

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I drank heavily for the Miami game!!!!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

In honor of the UM Quarterback for that game, Kenny Kelly...

Killing Kenny

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

It was Ken Dorsey, I was there too it was sweet. He came in because we injured their starting QB. I believe on his very first play Corey Moore sacked him for a loss of like 17 the crowd was insane. I was 13 and I fell in love

Sean

I think Dorsey did come in at some point, but Kenny Kelly was the starter for that game. That was my senior year at Tech and the only home game I missed was JMU. That year was just SO much fun.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I was in the North bleachers for that game. The old temporary green ones that swayed when everyone jumped.

I remember trying to yell out "OH MY GOD, WE KILLED KENNY!" but couldn't because my voice was cracking from all of the yelling

We were such Bastards!

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

62-0 Bro!

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
@VTnerf on insta, @BuryHokie on twitter, #ThanksFrank

62-0 that is a lot of FG's.

Wet stuff on the red stuff.

Join us in the Key Players Club

18 FGs, 1 TD with a 2 point conversion. Shane Graham would have been very busy. I'm guessing we went for two because Shane was on the sideline icing his leg.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

Hey what's the number after the VT logo?

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson

That's how you measure how fully dipped in dork magic you are!!!!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

And also back when we denied pussy touchdowns....

I was listening to this as well and wanted to post...made me nostalgic

Sean

the crew still looks the same. those guys age well.

What?!?! Frank Beamer was a recruiting innovator by using College Game Day as a recruiting tool?

There's no way this can be true... everyone claims Beamer is the worse recruiter in college football. Fowler must be mistaken.

That GameDay was a LONG time ago, and not 'everyone' claims Beamer is the worst recruiter in college football. In fact, I've not seen anyone say he was the worst. I've seen some people say he doesn't give enough effort in securing elite recruits, or mostly that he hasn't evolved with the rest of head coaches in his approach to recruiting.

You know, like how Beamer was an innovator in special teams concepts, back in the 90's. But hasn't been since about 2004. Which is also a long time ago.

If you've got a couple hours, why not watch the Syracuse game again!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

Damn, I wish I had the time to do that. What pissed me off is when I got home and re-watched the game (I had set the VCR to tape it) I found that they had switched to another game sometime in the fourth quarter so I didn't get to see the replay of our blocked punt for a score (I think that was our last score).

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

You'll have to explain to some of the younger folks what a VCR is and what that strange chant is every time we enter the red zone!!!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

STICK IT IN-STICK IT IN-STICK IT IN!!

Then the na na na na Good-Bye!! song. I remember the band starting that one in the third quarter one time against WVU. It was awesome.

Another thing to show how old I am, back then it wasn't called the "red zone". There were still stats, but it was just called "inside the 20".

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

also no Enter Sandman!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

Yep. VT came out of the tunnel to the band playing the opening to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Eh....Some change is for the better. LOVE Enter Sandman!

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

same exact thing happened to me......

My wife takes the kids and leaves the house while I watch my Hokie games.........nuff said

Ok, I watched the first quarter... A few things struck me.
1) Man has Lane changed. Both endzone stands, the scoreboard being in the South endzone, it's crazy.
2) The endzone paint looks great, classic. We need to go back to that design
3) I miss those uniforms. Would love to see those come back. Simple, sleek, clean.
4) We didn't get off to a very good offensive start. The D was NASTY, but the O looked rough in the first quarter, especially for a game that we end up putting up 62 points.
5) At the start of that game Frank only had 82 wins! He's won, what 150+ games since then? Damn.

Edit for #6) We need to get back to the Darth Vader song when our D comes on the field. We started that and it was ours, and it was intimidating!
Ok, now I'm feeling old...

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

We still play the Imperial March when the defense comes on the field, it's just rotated with two or three other songs.

My bad, I guess it just doesn't stick out as much anymore. Back then it was LOUD and it brought goose bumps to the fans and you could feel the fear coming from the other team as they took the field. Hell, I'm pretty sure that there was a few QBs who wet themselves when Corey Moore glared at them while that song was playing.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I also either forgot or did not know we were playing with a third string, walk on center and Lou Piniella's son was on this team!

Yes, I prefer those uniforms and all maroon!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

It does seem like a lifetime ago.

1) That old scoreboard was awesome.

1) What an Oline..... 3rd and 1s were a given! 2) what could Vick have done with the spread outside read option 3) oh when special teams were special!

Watching that gives me a warm feeling all over. I miss that intensity.

#Let's Go - Hokies

So awesome. He didn't even hesitate when he answered that question!
I remember being there too, Junior year. I think that was the game where the National Championship trophy was in the corner endzone right where the Corps was sitting. We got a picture with the trophy but the genius who took it apparently didn't know how to focus a camera...

You will have to explain how a camera didnt always have autofocus and there was this thing called film so it wasnt like you could easily fix a photo with that non existent photo shop.

Rob Peterson
VTCC
Charlie/Hotel Company
Class of 1999

you mean you had to.....shake it like a polaroid picture.....?

February..'96...the steak: ribeye, the whiskey:Lagavulin 16, the lady next to me: a bit**.....

At least until the stank went away.

From the Polaroid, I mean. What did you think I meant?

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson

fail

Not sure if it was that game or the Miami game later in the year...

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

oh true.
You know it's a great season when you can't remember which game it was when the national championship trophy was in the stadium....

We need to go back to those jerseys...god I miss that season. That was my freshman year, and the WVU game was by fair the craziest thing ever. I lived on the first floor in the pit @ Pritchard (1044) and when we nailed that kick I swear it was so loud that it felt like we were there. Also the Clemson game was great too. Corey Moore invented the Sack Lunch (Pail).

I have a friend who goes to Alabama and does sports broadcasting, he met Fowler when they were at bama and he asked him what his most memorable gameday was Fowler said it was 2007 in blacksburg, it was just electric and emotional

I watched that game from the north end zone stands with my friend who was pursuing his masters in forestry. After it was over, I turned to him and said, "We're in serious fucking trouble next week."

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Yes, that one was memorable, but not for the game, that was secondary. It was memorable because for many of us it was the first time back on campus, the first time to be able to heal as Hokies. Hell, I feel tears welling up just writing this and thinking back to that day.

We were still all hurting, and we needed that day so badly, the tributes, the trying to return to normalcy knowing that things had changed forever. Yes, it was electric and emotional, I don't think that there was a dry eye in the place after the pregame ceremonies. But being there among all of those people who were going through the same thing, and knowing that they were all family that day, showing the nation that we were still strong, showing them what it means to be a Hokie, was emotionally moving on an unbelievable level. I really have no idea how the players were able to come out and play a game. Props to them and the coaching staff. How do you prepare for that level of emotion?

Memorable? Yeah, you could say that. I know that I'll never forget it as long as I live.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I think that would make a great 30 for 30 piece.

"Nope, launch him into the sun and fart on him on the way up"
-gobble gobble chumps

"11-0, bro"
-Hunter Carpenter (probably)

That would be one of the best ever.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

This seals it. Fowler is my favorite ESPN personality. Always shows love to the Hokies. Good guy.

Except for this:

🦃 🦃 🦃

He was joking.

In Sam Rogers we trust.

would you call it "love?" Definitely tongue in cheek, not sure if I would call it love though. FWIW, I actually thought it was funny and deserved, but also pretty mean.

🦃 🦃 🦃

I read it as more disappointment that we aren't better because he loves seeing VT win.

wasn't fowler the one with the "hot mess" comment about our receivers during the Bama game last year? IIRC, moorehead called him out on it later in the year. do I have the right ESPN commentator?

Yeah, that was when the more paranoid among the Hokie internet posters decided that Fowler hated us and had for years. Funny how quickly their minds change about such stuff. Now he's suddenly back to loving us, like we always knew he did.

That was Rece Davis

I can't keep those two straight ... they are an older, sports-related version of the property brothers

Only one is responsible for reinserting Lou Holtz' dentures when they fall out.

If we're being honest, weren't our receivers a bit of a hot mess in the Alabama game?

#JUGS

Let's Go...

One of the good guys!

"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

First time I had seen this, thanks for posting it.