33-21. 17-0. 52-14. These are the double-digit losses the seniors of the Virginia football team have endured during their careers as Cavaliers.
Going back one more year, for the team’s fifth-year seniors, Virginia was defeated 24-10 by the Hokies back in 2004 as well. It has not been since a 35-21 Virginia win in Charlottesville in 2003 that this rivalry has seen a Cavalier victory.
Only about 10 years ago, the two teams were neck-and-neck in the number of wins in the series, but the Hokies have won eight of the last nine games between the rivals, stretching their series lead to 47-37-5. If Virginia loses Saturday, the Cavalier seniors of the Class of 2009 would be the second consecutive senior class to not win one game against Virginia Tech.
This is something that does not go unnoticed by seniors on this year’s team.
“I think there would be some sort of void [if we never beat them],” senior running back Cedric Peerman said. “That’s your rival. You always want to beat your rivals, and I haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here. It’s something I definitely think about, something I think the team definitely thinks about.”
Though this year’s game does not have as much riding on it as last year’s, when the winner went to the ACC Championship, the Cavaliers still have an extra incentive to beat the Hokies. In addition to Virginia becoming bowl-eligible, defeating Virginia Tech would ruin the Hokies’ chances for a second straight conference title.
“I know they’re looking forward to trying to get to the ACC Championship, so being able to spoil that for them, that’d just be an added bonus [to winning the game as a senior],” senior safety Byron Glaspy said.
Players say it doesn’t matter how much is riding on the game or how well the two teams are playing — it can all be thrown out the window when these two rivals clash.
"When these teams play, it usually doesn't matter what the record is,” senior linebacker Clint Sintim said. “Each team [comes] out and plays hard, and it's always a big game. It's going to be exciting."
The rivalry is especially significant for native Virginians. Several players from both teams knew each other even before they played against each other in college.
“The coaches recruit the same players, so you know a lot of players from recruiting,” Sintim said. “It's an in-state rivalry, and most of the kids in the state either go to Virginia or Virginia Tech for the majority.”
Virginia-Virginia Tech is a rivalry that seems to get lots of attention in the commonwealth but gets lost among rivalries such as Florida-Florida State, Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan in terms of national attention. However, the experiences of Glaspy, who was born in Virginia but moved away when he was 4, speak to the intensity of the rivalry once involved in it.
“When you come here, you fall into the same tradition,” Glaspy said. “You hear so many stories about Virginia-Virginia Tech games, just the history of the rivalry, and you just become a part of that, you get sucked up into that culture, and you just identify with that.”
While Virginia Tech has aspirations of heading to Tampa Bay, Virginia still has aspirations to play one more game after Saturday. Some of the seniors just aren’t ready to move on.
"I just hope it's not our last game,” Sintim said. “I'm not ready to leave college football and join the real world, whatever that may be. We have an opportunity to play two more games – that’s the way I'm taking it, that's the way I'm trying to approach it ... I'm trying to do everything in my power to execute and to get the guys to feel the same way I feel so we can go down to Blacksburg and get a big win.”
The team is feeling a sense of urgency as continuing its season boils down to winning just one more game this year against Virginia Tech.
“To go down there and just get bowl-eligible in the last game, it's kind of a win or go home feeling for our team right now,” senior tight end John Phillips said. “We understand the importance of the game and the rivalry circling around it, so it's going to be an interesting contest.”
Last year’s Cavaliers were playing for a chance to advance to the ACC title game and possibly the Orange Bowl. This year’s team is just scratching and clawing for any bowl. Ending a run of Hokie wins in the rivalry is motivating the seniors as well. And what about spoiling a nemesis’ chances to win the Coastal Division?
Most of the seniors didn’t bite at this question, but Glaspy made an offering.
“That’d be a nice thing to do – send them home unhappy,” Glaspy said.
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