Hokies Hit Em Up: Riding on our Rivalries

Heated rivalry games fueled by fiery fan bases are one of the great things about college football. If you can't take some ribbing about your team in stride you are probably better off not being a fan. It's less than a week to the start of the season, a perfect time to stoke the fire. I'll start by going in on the team that was the greatest rival to VT when I was in school, and is currently the biggest dumpster fire in the college sports world right now.

Miami aka "da U"

When I think of Miami I can't help but think of the song "Wanksta". "Damn Miami, in the 80s you were the man homie, what the F' happened to you?" I know the typical Miami refrain is to point to the fact that they have won national titles and even won one in 2001, but that was a decade and two fired coaches ago. Miami's last real hopes of a national title died at Lane Stadium in the fall of 2003 when the Hokies beat down the #2 team in the nation 31-7. With all of Miami's pride and history they closed the Orange Bowl by getting crushed by UVA. With all their swagger they have only a single bowl win in the last 5 years, which was by 1 point against Nevada. Program wise Miami is located in a very talent rich area and has a national presence so even despite outdated facilities, poor attendance, athletic department running in the red, rampant cheating, and lack of recent success they have been a formidable foe and a great rivalry game.

With all the prostitutes, strippers, and boat trips no wonder Miami didn't win; they must've been exhausted.

The recent news of allegations against Miami is the biggest topic besides expansion in college football right now. There are a litany of troublesome accusations including prostitutes, money for injuring opposing players, cash giveaways to recruits, and even an abortion. The Miami transfers have allegedly been squealing to maintain eligibility and even though the main informant is a felon there is a lot of documentation to develop a good case with no one stepping up to prove his accusations false. Miami probably deserves the death penalty if allegations are true but it's not the right thing to do, and even though I have a strong dislike for them, I don't want it to happen. Miami getting the death penalty would be horrible for the ACC, our scheduling, and even the city of Miami's economy, besides the NCAA doesn't have the balls to do it. I would love to see Miami heavily sanctioned with loss of scholarships and bowl game privileges for 5 years.

Before the scandal, this year's Miami team looked like they had some promise returning a lot of senior-laden talent. However, there are 12 current players being investigated by the school. Stars such as: Sean Spence, Ray Ray Armstrong, Marcus Fortson, Travis Benjamin, Aldarius Johnson, and interception machine Jacory Harris could miss games. The defense would take a big hit, while the offense isn't as badly affected. Stephen Morris is possibly the better QB and Miami has depth at wide receiver. Miami's strength will be the running game featuring a huge offensive line and Lamar Miller. Miller had 163 rushing yards on only 15 carries against us last year with reports indicating he had a great spring.

In a perfect world I'd love to see the usual "the U is back" hype on ESPN ushering their return to Lane. I could conceivably see Miami run on an "us against the world" emotion to beat a less talented Maryland team coached by a new staff. It's in the realm of possibility to even see all of the Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin old school Miami bravado at home with the national spotlight compelling Miami players to a victory in the Tats vs. (prosti)Tutes bowl against an Ohio State team possibly starting a true freshman QB (Braxton Miller). Miami then has two relatively easy games before coming to Lane Stadium. Realistically, Miami will be 2-2, but one can dream. With a lack of depth on defense, early emotion dissipating, and playing in a loud hostile Lane stadium I just can't see the Canes beating VT when they come to Blacksburg.

This is the tale of the tape from ACC games between VT and Miami. I've been to every VT-Miami game in Blacksburg, favorite game was 2003 killing Miami's last chance at a national championship.

This rivalry game is likely to lose a lot of excitement in the next few years. There are big sanctions coming for this program. Miami's pre-scandal depth chart has 13 senior and 5 junior starters, and I'd imagine there will be some transfers trying to bolt. This will probably be the best Miami team for at least the next 5 years which is really sad for their "fans.

UVA "rivalry"

Whenever I talk to a UVA fan about football he retorts with something unrelated to anything on the football field, usually academic (fun fact the median VT graduate salary is higher than a UVA graduate). UVA sports fan you can come out of the closet and admit you aren't that serious about football. You guys are more of a lacrosse school which is fine. The most excitement you muster for your football team revolves around your little-brother complex, and even during our games at Scott Stadium a huge portion of the crowd are Hokies.

For VT fans my age or younger it's hard to think of UVA being anything more than a rival by proximity. UVA hasn't beaten VT on the field since 2003. The Commonwealth Cup has been in Blacksburg for 2,462 days and counting. To put that in perspective, the 2012 recruits both teams are going after were in 4th grade last time UVA beat VT, and while we've both been in the ACC VT has outscored UVA 222 to 79.

There is one issue that some Hoos bring up, recruiting, and they have made inroads. There is a luster that comes with a new head coach, and we can look back to the beginning of Al Groh's stint to see a similar boost in recruiting. UVA isn't very good, so they can offer early playing time. The big in-state CB and WR recruits they picked up in the 2011 class are looking to be freshman starters. There is also the fact that some recruits are just UVA guys, if a recruit comes to Blacksburg dressed up and acting like Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince he's going to notice a clash with the hard working, lunch pail, smash you in the mouth culture. It will be interesting to see how the in-state battle for recruits go with UVA as on the recruiting trail is the only place the Hoos offer resistance to VT.

Scott Stadium might as well be renamed Lil Lane North - last time VT lost there MySpace was cool.

This season UVA has potential to be good on defense, but looks like they could be horrible on offense. They have four contenders for QB with no one separating in the spring. Looking at UVA's schedule, if they have a good season I could see them at 5-6 fighting to be bowl eligible when VT comes to wreak havoc on Hooville. Mike London seems like a sensitive guy and I predict with his emotional nature he would rather spend the holidays with his family anyways.

There might be Wahoos reading this who are saying that UVA football is special, and will compete with VT sometime soon, but the bottom line is UVA doesn't have the passion for football. The Wahoos have to sell Valpack tickets to get fans in the seats while the Hokies can boast 81 consecutive sellouts. If you look around Scott Stadium on November 26th, you will see UVA students prancing around in Thomas Jefferson or superhero costumes scattered throughout a bunch of bourbon fueled VT fans clad in maroon celebrating another victory.

Really this is your student gameday crowd?!?!? LOLUVA

FSU Rivalry??

The relationship between the Hokies and the Seminoles is an odd one. Florida State of course was the team that beat VT in our only national title game appearance, but there doesn't seem to be any lingering hate. The ACC series is tied at 2-2 with each team winning only when they had home field advantage and splitting a pair of championship games. Florida State was the standard-bearer for the ACC pre-expansion, but VT has since owned the conference winning titles in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010 as opposed to FSU's one in 2005. With Bobby Bowden gone FSU is now trying to bring back their mojo that saw them win 11 out of 12 ACC championships.

ACC Champions post expansion (GT cheated in 2009). VT has won 4 of 7 since joining the conference.

There's a great environment for a rivalry to develop as VT and FSU likely to battle for ACC championships for the foreseeable future. Tomahawk Nation had a very good article with a FSU-centric take on the potential of a rivalry developing. Besides chances at meeting in future ACC championship games, there's also games on the schedule in 2012 and 2013. Florida State would regard this as potentially their fourth rivalry with Florida, Miami and Clemson above us. Make no mistake that since Florida State has been to the mountain top of winning national titles and previously dominating the ACC they see us as a obstacle on their way back to glory. The media will always root on FSU, and treat VT as the little guy. Even this year the media makes it seem like nonsense that VT could even compete with FSU in a championship game. If both teams meet this year, especially if both undefeated, there will be some hard feelings to come out of it.

According to the media, this only happened because FSU wasn't ready last year.

This rivalry reminds me of the one that developed between Kanye West and 50 Cent in the summer of 2007. Direct competition over their albums' release dates occurring on the same day, is like VT and FSU competing over the conference. There were different styles. 50 Cent's proven gangster rap formula against new school Kanye. FSU gets a lot of highly ranked, ready to play, national recruits while VT focuses mainly on underrated, yet talented and high character local and/or pipeline kids. It was also clear that 50 cent looked down on Kanye West as more of a stepping stone, and make no mistake, Florida State looks down on VT as not being able to get up to the elite level they are planning on being at this season. FSU believes they will march onto ACC titles, but they have to remember VT holds the crown and the road to the championship goes through Blacksburg.

The Rest

There are a few other teams that rise up and cause Hokie Nation some ire before falling back to the pack.
Right now the team that comes to mind is Georgia Tech. They beat a Virginia Tech team that was fourth in the nation in 2009, with cut blocks fueling their option offense. Paul Johnson just radiates smugness and mocked Bud Foster's defense after that game. Virginia Tech is 5-2 against GT while in ACC. Josh Nesbitt had been the engine powering the rambling wreck the past few seasons, but he's now gone and coach PJ will now have to win with his recruits. This season looks like a rebuilding year for GT, but VT can't take them lightly as Foster hasn't developed a dominate strategy for them yet.

North Carolina, aka UNCheat, just like Miami, proved that you can cheat as much as you want but still not get anywhere. This rivalry intensified on the recruiting trail and message boards. On the field VT holds a 6-1 record against them in ACC play. UNC did however beat VT on a Thursday night game at home in 2009, and even without Butch Davis this squad has a lot of NFL type talent so it will be a game to focus on. After this year UNC will be facing sanctions and should be going back to just being the powder blue basketball school.

Shots Fired

In an effort to get fired up right before the season, here are some parting shots:

• Miami you've been owned even while you were cheating out of your minds. Enjoy being in the NCAA dog house for years to come.
• Little brother UVA, listen to Colin Cowherds' rant about you guys being a bunch of weenies. If you have anything to say back about the game of football on the field I'll wait to hear it, otherwise you can go back to sipping your wine coolers.
• North Carolina, you guys are just waiting until basketball season anyways. At least you cheated enough to enjoy a couple of seasons of big time football. In Chapel Hill that means eight-win seasons and four straight losses to NC State. At least a lot of your players got drafted, maybe you guys could put that on a banner, bumper sticker, t-shirt, or something.
• Georgia Tech, it feels like it'll be rough sledding running your gimmick offense without Nesbitt. Last year was a rough season, and it looks like a downward trend as teams continue to get used to the option, but at least you won an ACC championship... oh wait, never mind, you guys cheated too.
• Florida State, we took the trophy off your mantle. Even though the media has anointed you guys there will be hell to pay if you try to take away. You know where to find us, and the ACC Championship Trophy.

Looking forward to heated battles in the fall, and hopefully for VT to keep its Kung-Fu Grip on the ACC.