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| Location | Virginia,United States |
|---|---|
| First meeting | October 5, 1895 Virginia, 38–0 |
| Latest meeting | November 30, 2024 Virginia Tech, 37–17 |
| Next meeting | November 29, 2025 |
| Stadiums | Scott Stadium (est. 1931) Lane Stadium (est. 1965) |
| Trophy | Commonwealth Cup |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 105 |
| All-time record | Virginia Tech leads, 62–38–5[1] |
| Trophy series | Commonwealth Clash |
| Largest victory | Virginia Tech, 48–0 (1983) |
| Longest win streak | Virginia Tech, 15 (2004–2018) |
| Current win streak | Virginia Tech, 4 (2020–present) |
TheVirginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry, also referred to as its multi-sport rivalry name theCommonwealth Clash, is an Americancollege footballrivalry between theVirginia Cavaliers football team of theUniversity of Virginia (calledVirginia in sports media and abbreviatedUVA) andVirginia Tech Hokies football team ofVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (calledVirginia Tech and abbreviatedVT). The two schools first met in 1895 and have played annually since 1970. The game counts for 1 point in theCommonwealth Clash each year, and is part of the greaterVirginia–Virginia Tech rivalry.
Since 1990, the game has nearly always been held in late November, often onThanksgiving weekend. The scheduling of this rivalry has taken the place of Virginia'sSouth's Oldest Rivalry game versus North Carolina, which was played on Thanksgiving Day every year between 1910 and 1950 (save for when the programs disbanded duringWorld War I).[a] It has also taken the place of theVMI–Virginia Tech football rivalry which was held on Thanksgiving Day up through 1971. In 1964, the UVA–VPI[b] game began alternating betweenLane Stadium andScott Stadium on the campuses of the two universities. Previously, the series was sometimes played inRichmond,Norfolk, and atVictory Stadium inRoanoke.[c]
The rivalry has seen many streaks. Virginia started 8–0 in the series, outscoring VPI 175–5. The Cavaliers again went unbeaten (7–0–1) from 1945 to 1952, outscoring the Gobblers[d] 267–47, with four shutouts. VPI then went 12–2 in games from 1953 to 1966. More recently, Virginia Tech won a series record fifteen straight games from 2004–2018 before the Cavaliersdefeated the Hokies in 2019 en route to the program'sfirst Orange Bowl. As of 2024, the Hokies have won four consecutive rivalry games since 2020 (2022 was cancelled in the aftermath of the2022 University of Virginia shooting).
Virginia and Virginia Tech were both led byCollege Football Hall of Fame coaches in the 1980s and 1990s.George Welsh led UVA to a three-week run as the nation's AP No. 1 ranked team in 1990; shared ACC championships in 1989 and 1995; 85 ACC wins, second-most all-time (behind onlyBobby Bowden); and an 8–6 record againstFrank Beamer, a fellow Hall of Famer who led Virginia Tech toan appearance in a BCS National Championship Game; sole ACC championships in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010; four previous Big East Championships; and a dominant 14–1 record against Welsh's successors (Al Groh andMike London). This rivalry game three times served as thede facto Coastal Division Championship Game: in 2007 and 2011 those games were won by Beamer's Hokies; in the final such contest in 2019, it was won by the Cavaliers.[e]
In 1996, a trophy was created for the rivalry, known as theCommonwealth Cup. The winning team holds the trophy until the next game, which has been held annually since 1970. Currently, theVirginia Tech Hokies football team holds the cup, having won the 2024 edition of the contest.
The trophy is constructed ofmarble andcherry wood, and is four feet high. It also contains the scores of all of the games in the series.[2] The cup is engraved with the names of the two schools and is mounted atop a trapezoidal base that makes up most of the trophy's length. The front of the base features a stylized map of Virginia withBlacksburg andCharlottesville represented by stars on the map.[3]'
The Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry has existed since the 1890s, but did not reach pre-eminence until the 1980s. Traditionally, Virginia's primary rival had been theTar Heels of theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a game which became known as theSouth's Oldest Rivalry. UVA and UNC had the most successful football programs of early Southern college football, as the name indicates: between 1889 and 1902, either Virginia or North Carolina claimed asouthern championship in twelve out of fourteen years. VPI's rival was theVirginia Military Institute, with whom they shared a military tradition, geographic proximity, and similar acronyms (VMI and VPI).
The Virginia–VPI rivalry did have its heated moments, even early on. HokieHunter Carpenter, played nearly two full modern college football careers with Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina. "[4]The Cavalier Daily accused Carpenter of being paid, as he had played college football already for nearly a decade.[4] Carpenter signed anaffidavit that he had not received payment to play against UVA in any of the eight years (two of which he actually played for UNC in the South's Oldest Rivalry).[4] After the VPI victory, Carpenter threatened to sue the UVA student paper forlibel and UVA refused to play VPI again for eighteen years after, until 1923.[4] Carpenter moved toMiddletown, New York and never returned to the Commonwealth.
This rivalry game has been played in late November, often on Thanksgiving weekend, each year since 2000 and in every year but two (1999, when the game was played early in the season, and 2020, when the game was postponed two weeks due to theCOVID-19 pandemic) since 1990. This was not always the case, as the aforementioned Virginia–Carolina and VPI–VMI rivalry gameswere played on Thanksgiving Day for much of the 20th century. In the wake of the2022 University of Virginia shooting, resulting in the death of three Virginia players, the 2022 edition was cancelled.[5]
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The Virginia Cavaliers came into this contest looking for their ninth regular season win. Virginia led 29–14 going into the fourth quarter, however Virginia Tech then stormed back and aJim Druckenmiller touchdown pass to Jermaine Holmes gave the Hokies the lead with forty seven seconds left. The Cavaliers' last attempt to win the game was then snuffed out when aMike Groh pass was intercepted and taken to the endzone byAntonio Banks, who sped by a joking[6] sideline tripping attempt by a UVAathletic trainer that attracted national attention. The Hokies went on to the1995 Sugar Bowl to defeat Texas, whereas Virginia went on to the1995 Peach Bowl to defeat Georgia.
Both teams entered the matchup in ranked in the Top 25 and looking for their ninth win. Virginia Tech took no time jumping out in front. The Hokies took a 17–0 lead early and led at halftime 29–7. The Hoos then came out on fire and outscored the Hokies 29–3 in the second half. A now legendary touchdown pass from quarterbackAaron Brooks toAhmad Hawkins put Virginia up by four, and aWali Rainer interception preserved a Virginia comeback victory, arguably their most impressive win in Blacksburg. By erasing a 22-point deficit in the second half, the Cavalier victory made for the greatest comeback win of the long series by either program. As in 1995, Virginia again faced Georgia, andagain in the Peach Bowl, but this time narrowly losing. Virginia Tech easily defeated Alabama in the1998 Music City Bowl.
The Virginia Cavaliers entered the 2003 Commonwealth Cup looking to snap a four game losing streak against the Hokies. Virginia Tech led 14–7 at the half, but Virginia came out in the second half firing on all cylinders, and outscored Tech 21–0 by the 14 minute mark in the fourth quarter. Up by seven with only a few minutes left, Virginia pulled off a fake field goal on fourth down to keep possession away from the Hokies.Wali Lundy ran in it for the score on the next play, capping a dominant performance of three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown. Virginia held on to the win 35–21. This game also sawMatt Schaub tieShawn Moore for all time passing touchdowns at Virginia. The Cavaliers defeated Pittsburgh in the2003 Continental Tire Bowl, while the Hokies lost to California in the2003 Insight Bowl.
The 2018 rivalry game saw the first overtime game, and perhaps the most dramatic fourth quarter, thus far in the long series. Virginia had high hopes of ending the 14-game losing streak against a Tech team that had mostly limped through the season. But Virginia Tech led 14–0 at halftime, only to fall behind by a touchdown with only two minutes remaining. On the ensuing Tech drive, the Hokies drove to the redzone. Hokie running back Steven Peoples fumbled the ball inside the five-yard line but it was recovered by wide receiver Hezekiah Grimsley in the endzone for a touchdown. The game then went into overtime and the Hokies managed only a field goal. Virginia completed a pass to the Hokie 14 on their first play, but quarterbackBryce Perkins fumbled on the next, and it was recovered by the defense to end the game, with a most unlikely Virginia Tech victory that extended their winning streak to 15 and bowl streak to 26. Despite the rivalry loss, Virginia went on to dominate South Carolina 28–0 in the2018 Belk Bowl, while Virginia Tech lost to Cincinnati in the2018 Military Bowl.
No. 24 Virginia Tech (8–3) and unranked Virginia (8–3) entered the game in a tie for 1st place in the Coastal Division with identical 5–2 ACC records, making the traditional Thanksgiving weekend matchup ade facto Coastal Championship Game with the winner advancing to the2019 ACC Championship Game against Clemson. The Hokies rolled in with a full head of steam, as quarterbackHendon Hooker was 6–0 as a starter and the Virginia Tech defense had just shut down Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh by the combined score of 73–0 inBud Foster's final season. The Hokies had also won 15 consecutive games in the rivalry and were slight favorites to win again.[7]Bryce Perkins completed 20-of-33 passes for 311 yards and rushed for another 164, totaling 475 combined yards. Perkins set the tone early with a pair of long first-quarter touchdown runs. In the fourth quarter, Cavalier kicker Brian Delaney made a 48-yard field goal with 1:23 left in the game to give UVA a 33–30 lead. On the next drive, Virginia Tech fumbled in its own end zone which was recovered by Virginia with 1:01 left, effectively ending the game. Virginia fans rushed the field for the program's first accepted Orange Bowl bid (after declining an Orange Bowl invite 68 years earlier) and in the process the Cavaliers also ended their long losing streak against the Hokies. Virginia went on to face Florida in the2019 Orange Bowl while Virginia Tech faced Kentucky in the2019 Belk Bowl, both losing narrowly.
| Virginia victories | Virginia Tech victories | Tie games |
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