It’s hard to believe, but this will be Virginia Tech’s 37th appearance on ESPN for Thursday Night Football, and 24 years ago this week on a Thursday night, a legend was born.
Back when the program was climbing the ladder to get College Football’s attention, a single 16-second play showed the world what Virginia Tech football – and Beamerball – were all about.
It was October 12, 2000 and the Hokies were playing West Virginia before a packed and somewhat crazy crowd in Lane Stadium. Midway through the third quarter, Andre Davis was back to return a punt (which he would take to the end zone) when Wayne Ward (not to be confused with a later assistant coach named Lorenzo “Whammy” Ward) was heading up the wedge. West Virginia linebacker Kyle Kayden was attempting to tackle Davis, but instead Ward crushed him with a blind-side yet legal block that knocked him into next Tuesday.
If the term “decleat” hadn’t already been invented, it would have been that night. 24 years later, people still wince when videos show the block, and it has stood the test of time as a monument to Virginia Tech football and Beamerball.
Since then the Hokies have played a game just about every year on Thursday night, including six against Boston College. The Hokies are 3-3 in those games.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Brent Pry has a chance to do something as head coach at Virginia Tech that he’s never done before Thursday night:
Beat a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference three times in his three years in Blacksburg.
Coming into the game he’s beaten Boston College 27-10 his first year at Lane (the Hokies’ only ACC win that year) and last year 48-22 up at Chestnut Hill. That win last year also happens to be Virginia Tech’s only ACC win against a conference team with a winning record under Pry, as BC finished 7-6. All others were at 6-7 (Syracuse last year) or worse.
Now before you say “hey what about UVA?” when it comes to 3 wins in 3 years since the Hoos haven’t beaten the Hokies since before Pry came to Blacksburg, remember, due a tragedy with the football team, the teams decided not to play Pry’s first year.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
It will be interesting to see how the offense game-plans the first quarter of the game Thursday night. Yesterday it was revealed that junior cornerback Amari Jackson is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL in the game with Virginia Oct. 5. He was BC’s top corner this year and led the team in pass deflections with 5.
A cornerback is an integral part of any defense as he has to make snap decisions on whether to stay with a receiver in coverage or come up to stop the run. Teams with mobile quarterbacks like Kyron Drones give corners the most headaches, so there may be an opportunity to take a few shots at a less-experienced replacement for Jackson early in the game.
In other words, perhaps the Hokies don’t script the first dozen plays and get off to a slow start, and instead start the game in attack mode…
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The game has been designated an orange effect game, and not only are fans encouraged to wear orange, everything the Hokies will be wearing – from cleats to jerseys, etc. – will be the color of a famous South Florida fruit.
The orange jerseys are rare (don’t get me started on the traditional color of Hokie jerseys is MAROON) and the last time they wore them was the season opener again North Carolina in 2021. That was when the country was coming out of the pandemic, ESPN cameras caught everyone at Lane going crazy, and the Hokies went out and upset the No. 10 (and incredibly overrated) Tar Heels to the delight of many.
The win was memorable. What happened after that game when the Hokies lost 6 of their next 10 games and fired their head coach before the season even ended, was not.
