The Virginia Tech Purdue game was in many ways typical for the Hokie faithful. The actual contest featured big plays for and against the Hokies, with a late score determining the outcome. Despite struggles on and off throughout the game, Virginia Tech was right there with a chance to win at the end – but didn’t. This has been a very common script for Hokie Nation over the last decade, and every game seems to be an emotional rollercoaster ride for the fans. Watching the game, I think my range of emotions was typical of the fanbase: A Strange Feeling…
Author: Rich Luttenberger
Rich Luttenberger
Rich Luttenberger is a Virginia Tech alum and has been passionately following their sports teams for over 30 years. Like most Hokies, he shows that "fan" is really short for "fanatic." He writes as a fan and for the fans. Follow him on Twitter @RichLuttVT
The Virginia Tech Old Dominion season opener resulted in a 36-17 Hokie victory. If you only saw that score and did not watch the game, you would think this is a great start for Virginia Tech. It is. However, for the fans, this one was a little dicey until Tech pulled away in the second half. The overall result is very good, and this was only the first game, but as fans we tend to over-analyze each contest. So let’s just take a look at some of the big ideas that stand out from the victory and then move on…
The 2023 Virginia Tech football season is upon us, and year two of the Brent Pry era seems to be exactly where it was last year in terms of making predictions. In my 2022 season preview article last year, I made this very comment: “Most, if not all of the games are winnable. Although unlikely, 9-3 is not out of the question. However, 4-8 is a possibility too. If the players can compete, execute, protect the football, and stay healthy, there is no reason Virginia Tech can’t go bowling this year.” That comment applies to the 2023 season as well. …
If you are a Hokie fan, you very likely know Mike Burnop Virginia Tech color commentator of the football and basketball teams. But did you know that he is also an alumnus, a former player, a local business owner, a local resident, and a Tech fan? A Southwest Virginia native, Burnop grew up in Salem. After attending Roanoke Catholic high school, he decided to follow his brother to Blacksburg and continue his educational and athletic career at Virginia Tech. “It was close to home, my parents could see me, and it was just the best fit,” Burnop said of his…
There is a lot of excitement in Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech Football 2023 season! It is year two of the Brent Pry era, and after an excellent off-season in recruiting, the team is focused on their first game of the year. A lot of roster turnover occurred from a squad that had its worst offensive performance in half a century. There is a good mix of returning starters, veteran transfers, and promising young players vying for spots in the two-deep. Returning running back Malachi Thomas and transfer Bhayshul Tuten should provide a nice 1-2 punch out of the backfield. …
It’s funny how life comes full circle. In the early 1990’s, current Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry tried multiple times to be a graduate assistant for the Hokies football team. His persistence finally paid off, and it laid the foundation for Pry to become first an outstanding defensive coordinator for many years, and now a head coach – at that very school that denied him several times. Here he is, almost 30 years later, laying a new foundation, but it is rooted in what he learned the last time he was in Blacksburg. Persistence and Tenacity from the Young…
Virginia Tech expansion rumors have been rampant, as the talk on Twitter over conference realignment has been blowing up lately. Florida State is fanning the fires with all their rhetoric, and the demise of the Pac-12 is throwing gas on the flames. However, the ACC’s media deal – and specifically the Grant of Rights – has a chokehold on its members, and staying in the conference until 2036 will be like dying a slow and painful death. So what is going to happen to the ACC? Where There is Smoke, There is Fire There is no question that ACC school…
When discussing the all-time great quarterbacks in Virginia Tech history, Jim Druckenmiller has to be part of the conversation. In two years as a starter for the Hokies, he won 20 games, and the Hokies finished each season ranked in the top 10. In that time, he amassed 4174 passing yards, and his overall 4383 yards are 9th most in school history. He threw 31 touchdowns in those two years, and his 34 career TD passes ranks 6th all-time for the Hokies. He finished at Tech with an overall passer rating of 130.1. Bigger than this, though, was how he…
What do you do when the guy who recruits you is gone and the Head Ball Coach wants to change your position? Nowadays, that equates to an instant portal entry, but for Anthony Lambo, Virginia Tech lineman in the 1996-2000 seasons, it meant adversity. And for this Essex County, New Jersey kid, there was no backing down from a fight. Make no mistake about it – the transition from playing defensive tackle with reckless abandon to learning the footwork, hand positions, and other important techniques of the offensive line were a challenge that caused a lot of struggle for Lambo. …
It didn’t take long after his official visit to Blacksburg for him to make the announcement that he is now “Aidan Lynch Virginia Tech commit for the class of 2024.” The New Jersey native stands 6’7”, is up to 290 pounds, and has a wingspan of 81 3/8”. He is an offensive tackle who projects at that position on the next level. This bodes well for both him and the Hokies, as the current roster is in need of depth at the tackle position. The roster situation is only part of the reason Lynch committed to Virginia Tech, but he…
