Pitt has upset Virginia Tech 5 times since the turn of this century, so I was wondering which one was the most frustrating to you.
I think the 2003 loss was the worst one for me. It was the first year that I really lived and died with the Hokie football team but I'm not sure 2003 was the best entry point as a 10 year old kid who thought sports was life and death.
#3 VT goes into West Virginia on a Wed. night and gets destroyed. Then #10 Tech exorcises the Miami demons by destroying the Canes and we're back in the national title picture. And then Pitt happens.
QB Rod Rutherford must've had the game of his life. WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Kris Wilson both go off for 100+ yards. Tech's up 28-24 and Pitt scores on a do-or-die 70 yard TD drive to send #5 Tech's season spiraling into the abyss. My heart sunk when Fitzgerald caught the TD pass in the last minute.
Comments
All of them.
Concur. Fuck Pitt.
2013 because we drove from Dayton OH to Pittsburgh for my birthday for the game.
2013 we beat them. I think you mean 2012. Which deserves a mention as worst because it began this whole period of being mediocre.
Going into that game we were 2-0 and ranked, seemingly headed for another 10 win year and division title. Then that game happened and team has looked different ever since. Damn Pitt
Yea your right, I was thinking the year we had our second kid but I realized she was born in March and my wife was pregnant for the game.
Yup, 2012 was the first dose of reality that we weren't who we thought we were.
The 2001 team that was 2-5 but curb stomped a #12 Hokie squad 38-7 at Heinz behind WR RJ English's monster game.. he and Antonio Bryant started the curse of the Pitt WRs that haunts us to this day.
First year as a Hokie for me. Painful!
The 2003 affair was some of the worst in-game management by Beamer Co., ever.
Yup. Especially at the end.
That was the non-PI call against Justin Hamilton game, right?
Yes. That was a 4th down play and we would have likely been able to kill the clock if we convert that. That loss started the horrible swoon to end 03 being capped by a loss to LOLUVA. The team kind of started playing for themselves after that. Remember we had to play the 1st half wo DLo because of an ejection during the Miami game.
2003 - it was a complete waste of one of Kevin Jones' best games
he had some great runs against bc too. That 03 team was frustrating because we should have beaten everyone on our schedule yet stumbled to a 8 win season and being laughed at by Aaron Rogers in the insight bowl. And I forgot having to go to overtime against temple and winning when they missed a pat.
I'm gonna say 2012 because Pitt had just come off of getting waxed by Youngstown State, and they took it out on us.
I've only been following vt side 06-07, so....2012. From beginning to end it was just frustrating.
You could make a solid argument for 2002. Considering how surprising 2001 was, you'd expect the 8-0 #3 ranked Hokies at home with revenge on their mind would make Pitt pay. Tech goes up 21-7 in the 3rd quarter and they lose 28-21 as Pitt ruins the season, again.
Agreed. All of the above.
2002
Can we delete this thread, please. egh
JK
It does say something when you look at some of our most heartbreaking losses and guys like Larry Fitzgerald and Matt Ryan are the guys that beat us. It must be a pretty long list of very successful NFL players that have put some numbers on us and beat us in big games.
I once tried to do research on the NFL QB's that have beat VT since 1990 I stopped after I only got through 2000 and was above 10 who went on to start an NFL game. The list of players who have beaten Tech is impressive.
Yep. Part of that is coincidence, but part of is that we've played in a lot of big games against other great teams, which obviously had great players.
I didn't become emotionally dependent on Hokie football until the 2004 season when I was in the first grade, so I don't have firsthand experience to go off of for any games pre-2004.
I have watched highlights of every game since 1998 (thanks, Phreak), and I get really into those games. If I enjoy the game enough, I will watch the entire thing on YouTube (thanks, Hokie Tapes).
With that being said, 2002 seemed like the most gut-wrenching Pitt loss of the recent Pitt debacles. The 2002 team was 8-0 with wins over three ranked teams (all non-conference, or "preseason," as they are called these days), and Tech was sitting pretty in the national title picture. The 1-2 punch of Kevin Jones and Lee Suggs was next to impossible to stop, and the defense was playing pretty well at the time.
Tech led 21-7 in the third quarter and all they had to do was score another touchdown and get a few more stops and Pitt was done. Well, Bryan Stinespring went completely vanilla with the playcalling (only throwing out of shotgun and running out of the i-formation) and Larry Fitzgerald singlehandedly wrecked the entire Tech secondary.
Tech followed up this heartbreaker with two more (triple OT loss to Syracuse and 3-point loss to WVU). If Tech had handled Pitt the way they had in the first half, Tech might have entered the Miami game ranked 2nd and 12-0. The Hurricanes would have been 11-0 and 1st. That probably would have been looked at as the unofficial national championship.
That game turned on whitakers personal foul. We had momentum and Pitt was going to have to punt. Seemed that something big was about to happen there too. But Whitaker shouted their tight end I believe and he flopped drawing the flag, auto first down and they scored a play or two later.
Ronyell had a very up and down career. Not one of his better moments.
2002
11/2/2002 or 11/10/2003...They kicked us in the nuts with 47 seconds left in 2003 (the week after we beat Miami to stop their unbeaten streak). In 2002 they ruined our undefeated season.
Oh free
Ought two
Can I count the day when I was in a Blacksburg area hotel for a game, and saw the news come across ESPN that Pitt and Syracuse were joining the ACC?
It's a type of loss. I think we also have to allow "the day they announced that Pitt would be in the ACC Coastal division".
In 2000 we beat Pitt but lost MV7 due to a bad sprain ankle in the game and he could not play next week against #3 Miami
Sometimes even in a win against Pitt we lose.
Good point, didn't even think about that.
When you consider the Vick injury, you could make the argument that Pitt ruined our national title hopes 4 years in a row.
Ugh this entire thread...
The one this Saturday.
/ducks
Kidding, kidding, but honestly, they've all been painful.
I don't want to say 2012, but honestly it does kind of feel like the game that marked our descent to mediocrity.
agreed. Let's hope this year's game against Pitt marks our ascent back to the top
how fitting would that be?
fingers crossed.
I generally look forward to this game with all the same enthusiasm I have for the ECU game.
I tolerate ECU less than Pitt for the simple fact that they're not in the ACC. I firmly believe if ECU were in the ACC they would get more respect from pundits and casual fans
Makes sense, but somehow, my sense of dread is similar.
The Pitt game may even be worse, as it's not "pre-season", and counts in the ACC tally.
...if we lose...
ECU sucks if we win or lose...at least if we beat Pitt that's a step closer to Charlotte
2002
5 catches, 105 yards, 3 touchdowns - unranked Pitt beats #3 VT 28-21 in Lane
I also vote for 2002. I got really drunk in the parking lot BEFORE that game. Really drunk. Like blacked out drunk. Like puking in the stand in the 3rd quarter drunk. I remember none of this. None of the puking or any of the game. This was actually a turning point in my life. I stopped drinking for a long time after this game. OK,. I stopped tailgating with liquor. But still, being in the stadium for an upset like that and remembering none of the game. had a deep impact on my life. I really hate playing Pitt
The 2015 one /s
2002. Painful to watch their RB run through us when we had the Untouchables + I froze my bag off that night.
I think that is the coldest Lane Stadium game I remember attending
Definitely 2002. Damn Larry Fitzgerald!!
2003 for me. Coming off the Miami win, I went to Arizona to visit a Hokie friend at Fort Huachuca and watched the game with her and a bunch of her army friends. The general consensus of the folks watching VT football for the first time was "You have a great running back, but your defense sucks".
Today. So so painful to watch.
This one.
This one. The beginning of the end of the Frank Beamer era. When we go 4-8 and no bowl, Beamer is out. All the offensive coaches, ESPECIALLY SHANE, deserve to be fired.
Actually, I don't see 2 more wins for this team.
I'd say the beginning of the end of the FB Era was 2012, and this is the final nail in the coffin.
It's one of the last nails for sure; I think the final one will be a loss to a 1-10 UVA team.
All.
Guess I should edit it to "6 times since the turn of this century" now
this one
This one.
It's the most fresh.
100% agree with you about the 2003 game. Also agree 100% with everyone who said every Pitt loss. And finally, I agree 100% with everyone said this loss. Yup, that's 300% of sadness for me.