BLACKSBURG, Va.-VT. The branded-orange logo easily caught the eye of even the most unresponsive drivers.
The dingy maroon windsocks strapped on the tops of the SUV's were unmistakable. Bumper stickers sporting slogans like "Friends don't let friends go to U.Va." were even more revealing.
The SUVs roared by on I-81, spraying even more mist on the cars they left in their wake in the rain Saturday morning.
Some bore Texas license plates; many had come from even further away. All were united by the same common cause: Love of Virginia Tech football; hatred of the University.
The central campus buzzed with activity as students, alumni and fans scurried in and out of Tech's Newman Library and its bookstore.
"We're gonna whup their ass," said 1984 Virginia Tech graduate Steve Sleigh enthusiastically.
The passion for the game was contagious: Nearly everyone on Tech's campus appeared to be a fervent football junkie, sneering at the uttering of that noxious acronym, U.Va.
And the game wasn't even scheduled to start for another six hours.
"I've lived [in Blacksburg] forever and I hate" the University, said Tech bookstore employee Adam Linkous.
As a resident of Blacksburg, Linkous grew up with Tech football.
And while Tech's phenomenal success in recent years has added to the fanatic following they've enjoyed recently, Linkous said it's always been this way.
"I was a fan before then," he said, and explaining that the fans of 20 years ago were just as spirited as today's breed of Hokies.
Sophomore Amanda Melillo, who stopped by nearby Newman Library to study for a few hours before the game, brimmed with enthusiasm for Tech - and intense dislike for the University.
"There's definitely a rivalry," Melillo said, shifting her glasses and staring forward emphatically.
"One of my friends goes [to the University]. We always get into fights," she laughed.
But some Tech students didn't even care. Or said they didn't. Still, they chattered about Tech's impressive season, obviously in anticipation of what was about to happen that night - what they were sure would be a Tech victory.
"It's a game - I like football, but people get too hyped up over the rivalry," said Engineering junior Matt Thomson, who worked the day shift at Newman Library.
"It's really great we're doing so well and we're going to whup up tonight," Thomson said.
"A lot of people will be really disappointed if we lose tonight," junior Krystal Hardin said, almost shuddering at the thought.
"I'll be really pissed if we lose," she added.
1984 Virginia Tech graduate Gene Coulson, scanning the two rows of life-size turkey heads in Tech's bookstore, affirmed that Techies in his own college heyday also took great pride in their football team.
"It was that way even before I came here," he said.
"Although I'm not sure everyone would agree, U.Va. is a fine school to have a rivalry with," he quickly added.
Thomson and the other students working at the library discussed the Univesity and, in their view, its bizarre traditions.
"What is a Wahoo anyway?" joked College sophomore Natalie Shaffer.
"A Hokie," Thomson emphatically explained, "isn't anything. It's just a cheer. It's definitely not a castrated turkey."
The Cavaliers, much to the Hokies' chagrin, put up a good fight in the first half of the game, but ultimately lost 42-21. Nearly all the Techies stayed the whole time.
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