It’s official: Hokies will face Rutgers in Russell Athletic Bowl
After two early-season losses to teams from its former league, Virginia Tech will get one more crack at a Big East team this postseason.
The Hokies were selected to play in the Russell Athletic Bowl against one-time Big East foe Rutgers, a Dec. 28 game that will kick off at 5:30 p.m. at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
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Despite an underwhelming season, Virginia Tech (6-6) got the nod as the ACC’s third choice, picked ahead of N.C. State and Georgia Tech. It’s the Hokies’ first trip to the Orlando-based bowl.
“We’re eager,” Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer said. “I think this is a team that is eager to continue to prove our program here.”
Under first-year head coach Kyle Flood, Rutgers (9-3) shared the Big East title with Louisville, Syracuse and Cincinnati. The Cardinals got the league’s automatic Bowl Championship Series berth. The Scarlet Knights were the No. 2 pick from the conference.
Rutgers is aiming for only its third double-digit win season. The Scarlet Knights have done it mostly with defense. They’re fourth nationally in points against (14.3 ppg) and 14th in total defense (321.3 ypg).
Although they’ve never crossed paths, Flood has a high respect for Beamer.
“Most of what I know from coach Beamer is what I know of his reputation of being in the profession,” he said, “being as first-class person as there is, someone who is a tremendous teacher of the fundamentals of football.”
The Hokies are 0-2 against Big East teams this year. They were out-classed at Pittsburgh in September, a 35-17 loss in which they were out-gained 537-324. Two weeks later, they lost a 27-24 heartbreaker at FedEx Field to Cincinnati on Damon Julian’s 39-yard touchdown reception with 13 seconds to play.
The Russell Athletic Bowl matchup reunites two Big East mates who have fled — or soon will — for greener pastures in another league. Virginia Tech left for the ACC in 2004, part of the first big wave of conference realignment. Rutgers announced nearly two weeks ago that it will join the Big Ten in the 2014-15 season.
“The program has certainly grown over the years and now they’re going to the Big Ten,” Beamer said. “I think they’re a program on the move, that’s for sure.”
During their time in the Big East together from 1992-2003, the schools met 12 times. Virginia Tech won the final 11 meetings by an average margin of 29.3 points.
Rutgers last won in 1992, a 50-49 shootout. Asked if he remembered the game, Beamer chuckled.
“I’ve been trying to forget that one,” he said.
The teams’ Big East meetings preceded the Scarlet Knights’ big turnaround under Greg Schiano, who went 68-67 from 2001-11 and guided the program to six of its eight bowl appearances. Led by running back Ray Rice, the Scarlet Knights went 11-2 in 2006, getting as high as seventh in the national rankings.
When Schiano left to coach the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers last offseason, Flood took over and guided Rutgers to its first share of the Big East title this year.
The Scarlet Knights started the season 7-0 and were ranked as high as 15th. A surprising 35-23 home loss to upstart Kent State dropped them out of the polls.
They remained unbeaten in the Big East until a 27-6 loss at Pittsburgh on Nov. 24. With the league’s automatic BCS berth on the line last Thursday, Rutgers lost a tight game to Louisville 20-17 at home.
The Hokies are trying to avoid their first losing season since 1992, when they went 2-8-1. It’s Virginia Tech’s 20th straight appearance in a bowl, the third longest streak nationally behind Florida State (31) and Florida (21).
December 2, 2012 - 8:32 PM
Very happy with the opponent and the venue. Should be a good game and a good opportunity to set a tone for 2013.
I am really looking forward to the whining and grumbling to follow from the usual suspects and other malcontent “experts”. You know who you are, you silly Scrooges. Your angry and misery are both laugh-out-loud funny….
What a shocker. Everybody knew it would be Orlando as the destination, but the ACC just had to go all dictatorial and squelch the “rumors” because it’s not polite to speculate. Then the ACC decides to say, “See! You are going to Orlando,” and they are puzzled by the blank stare returned to them and somebody muttered, “We already knew that, you daft.”
Seriously, the ACC need to quit being such a killjoy and kick back, drink champagne, and count the greens that are coming their way. That is if they are sober enough to do that.
A win in this game should help for next season. After seeing the final BCS with Northern Illinois in there it is possible that the Hokies could turn things around next season. They will absolutely not defeat Alabama, but could win some games next year and get in a better bowl game.
It would help to have some coaching changes for next year, but that will be a wait and see situation.
UVa did it today, why not Tech?
Let’s think positive…. VT is 2-0 against the big 10 this year (UVA,GT) and Rutgers is a big 10 school now. Since VT is going to the SEC what is the SEC’s record against the Big 10 this year? Also I’m guessing no coaching changes will be made to the VT until after the bowl if at all. By then how in the heck are we going to get good replacement coaches. If Shane Beamer is named the new OC ………….. Andy, is any of the above even a possibility?
Speaking of coaching changes, anyone here know anything about Skip Holtz and the type of offense he likes to run? Or Tedford? Who are some of the potential OC candidates should Tech release Stiney?
This is a great opportunity for VT to spring positive for the 2013 season. If they can beat Rutgers convincingly, then everything on the Hokie Nation radar should point to another national championship for next year. All will be forgiven for Frank Beamer & Co., and it is business as usual. One thing for sure we know, these guys will play hard in their game against Rutgers and Frank will be proud of them and if they should lose, it will only be just 3 or 4 plays that will do them in. I look for the Gobblers to put 20 or 30 thousand in the stands for this one, lots of fun in the sun, Disney World, Sea World and Holy Land USA.
Barry – So sorry that your news bees lost to FSU after you did everything but promise a win. Looks like you will see one more loss this season to USC. Hope you have nightmares about them, since GT will not take any fans to the game. Life is good!
It is time for Rut(s)gers, but are these the Rutsgers we know and love?
Very satisfied with the Yellow Jackets efforts last night, they lost by the same number of points that VT did against FSU. And who was it in that ACC championship game? Was it the Hokies….I don’t think so. GT will sin the Sun Bowl….will the Hokies win in Orlando? I don’t think so. I am the genius on this message board and the truth has been spoken (again)…
What is this talk about another national championship? Tech will never win a national championship. When they have a good season it usually depends on how many cupcakes they can schedule. This is what gets them into bowl games and makes Beamer richer. GO RUTGERS!
Great fit Tech going to the Russell Athletic “JOCK STRAP” Bowl. Jesus what a crappy place to play in Citrus Bowl stadium. And who is the idiot that posted setting stage for National Championship next year.OMG you people are idiots. I bet Tech will have a jock strap emblazoned on helmet instead of that stupid looking bird.Oh sure didn’t take London long to some house cleaning. FRANKIE TAKE NOTE!!!!
I WANT WHATEVER BARRY’S HAVING – IT’S MONDAY ALREADY AND NORTHERN -freakin’- ILLINOIS IS IN THE OB!
WILL THEY HAVE ENOUGH TARPS TO COVER THE EMPTY SEATS IN SUN-LIFE STADIUM?
I guarantee a win for vt, Rutgers isn’t ranked!! vt needed to play Northern Ill. No they are also ranked so this would be another defeat.
Hey Barry, ” GT will sin the Sun bowl “, yeah they probably will ” sin ” the Sun Bowl, ACC schools usually ” sin” in bowl games. Looks like you got it right.
Still ticked that a waiver for a 6-7 GT was one of a couple of events that led to keeping a 9-3 Louisiana Tech out of a bowl game.
By the way, Barry, this says it all about your Jackets:
Georgia Tech take by ACC blogger Heather Dinich: Georgia Tech needed a bowl-eligibility waiver from the NCAA just to play in this bowl game. That pretty much sums up how good the Jackets were (or weren’t) this year.
#11 Frank, wherein VT fans are quite ashamed of their team’s performance this year, Barry is quite proud of his team losing. Let him revel in it.
This is probably the most hilarious and ridiculous game I can EVER recall the Hokies playing (and I was in the stands for the 6-0 loss to VMI, so I know what I’m talking about). No one associated with Hokie football was ever “eager” about playing Rutgers in the past. It was always a game we should have won easily, or else be embarrassed to lose. Having to play Rutgers every year was probably high on the list of reasons why we left the Big East in the first place. Now we’re looking forward to playing these chumps in the Jock Strap Bowl? Please. This is beneath us.
Do you idiots even WATCH college football ? Rutgers is a pretty darn good football team and it should be an interesting match-up. At least in this one, we have a CHANCE to win. A trip to the SUN bowl against. USC would have been disastrous.
Scott, Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I’ve never been ashamed of the Hokies, win or lose. I’ve been disappointed but never ashamed.
Loosek, I don’t thing this Rutgers team is anything like the one’s the Hokies played in the Big East. Much better program now.
The basketball Hokies have given me an acute case of football amnesia. Sorry, Coach…Beamer, is it?
Have watched Rutgers a couple times this year and can tell you now they aren’t cupcakes..Remember that after a few years most all teams in the Big East figured out Beamerball and beat Tech a bunch of games. Rutgers is one of the most improved teams in the Big East and I feel Tech must bring it’s “best” team (if we have one) both on offense and defense if they expect to win..Still even if we win..they must be many, many changes in the coaching staff..Frank must get in the “new” college football offensive scheme which is what most successful teams are using..and that is high scoring spread offenses..Our present offensive coachs don’t know what that is..and Frank must really change his “football brain” and swallow his pride and make major changes in his staff..if not Jim Weaver must step in and demand this!
540, you’re right, “ashamed” was a bit strong. Really was just trying to make the point that we, VT fans and I trust the coaches, have a relatively high standard of success.
Could do a lot worse than Orlando for the holidays. Worse bowls I can remember for Tech were the Insight Bowl in 2003 and the Diamond Walnut San Francisco bowl in 2002, both of which were inside sparsely populated baseball stadiums.
A yawner of a BCS slate. Earlier this season, K-State vs. Oregon would have seemed fascinating because of the two diametrically opposed styles, but after watching Baylor rip apart K-State, there’s no reason to expect Oregon won’t do the same and K-State simply isn’t equipped to recover from large early deficits.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame, the national championship game was already played last Saturday. Notre Dame’s offense just isn’t consistent enough despite having Riddick; they scored one touchdown against USC’s porous “defense,” scored fewer points in regulation against BC than VT did, and was down 20-6 in the fourth quarter at home to Pitt. Notre Dame reminds me a lot of Jim Tressel’s 2002 Ohio State team with all of its narrow escapes and unimpressive offense, and they’ll need a major freak performance from their defense to get a BCS title game upset like Ohio State did in ’02. I still can’t believe Ohio State pulled it off and I *HATE* Miami.
As a reformed native of NJ (I moved away as soon as I could) I can tell you that Yankees already think southerners are idiots. Please don’t use this space to feed their delusion. Barry – hello? Speaking to you.
Definetly not the same Rutgers team. There’s one play in my mind that I can recall from the previous Rutgers meetings in Blacksburg. It involved a defensive back from Rutgers and QB Jim Druckenmiller. Druck ran to his left on a scramble and I remember this DB tried to come up and tackle Druckenmiller high. Druck lowered his shoulder and knocked the DB, rear end over tea-kettle. Rutgers used to be a guaranteed win, not this year. They have turned their program around and are playing some good football. Much like Kansas State, although, KState has went up the ladder a little more. The fact we get to play in a bowl in down year like this is great, and I think it’s a good match-up for both schools.
I have no doubt that this Rutgers team is nothing like the ones we used to face in the Big East. The guys from Rutgers are rightfully saying the same thing about the 2012 Hokies. Don’t get me wrong: Rutgers has earned a bowl bid. The Hokies have not. I can remember the Hokies being 9-2 in 1983 and not getting a bowl bid.We have come a VERY LONG WAY from those days, but we in NO WAY deserve to go to any kind of bowl game. I think Frank is cheapening his legacy by accepting it.