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teCh’s bowl history<br />
The Virginia Tech bowl tradition dates back<br />
to 1947 when the Hokies appeared in the Sun<br />
Bowl, and in the 65 years since, more than one<br />
million fans have passed through the turnstiles<br />
to witness Tech <strong>com</strong>pete in 25 bowl games in<br />
11 different stadiums and in seven states. The<br />
closest distance Tech has traveled for a bowl<br />
game was to Atlanta, Ga., which is 413 miles<br />
from Lane Stadium, while in 2003, the Hokies<br />
traveled to San Francisco for their farthest game,<br />
2,440 miles away.<br />
No matter the mileage, members of the Hokie<br />
Nation have always showed up in droves to show<br />
their support, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl last<br />
season proved to be no different. Tech’s invitation<br />
to the contest in New Orleans extended its bowl<br />
appearance streak to 19 consecutive years – the<br />
third-longest active streak in the country – as the<br />
Hokies dropped an overtime decision to Michigan.<br />
1947 suN BoWl<br />
The first bowl bid that Tech received<br />
followed the 1946 season, when the Hokies<br />
played Cincinnati in the Sun Bowl in El Paso,<br />
Texas. An early snow covered Blacksburg that<br />
year and threatened to end all football practices.<br />
Bulldozers and snowplows were used to clear a<br />
practice area on the Drillfield and the Hokies<br />
got in their bowl preparations. The Tech team<br />
encountered more snowy weather when it reached<br />
El Paso. The Cincinnati team handled the weather<br />
and the Hokies, winning 18-6.<br />
1966 liBERtY BoWl<br />
It was not until 1966 that Tech received<br />
another bowl bid. The Hokies were chosen to<br />
participate in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn.,<br />
against Miami (Fla.). The Hokies were 8-1-1<br />
entering the contest and were led by All-American<br />
defensive back Frank Loria.<br />
Miami, ranked ninth nationally, won 14-7 in a<br />
hard-hitting defensive struggle. The Hokies scored<br />
first on a 2-yard plunge by Tommy Francisco. But<br />
the Miami defense held Tech to only one first<br />
down in the last three quarters.<br />
1968 liBERtY BoWl<br />
Tech returned to the Liberty Bowl two years<br />
later in 1968 and squared off against Mississippi.<br />
The Hokies were 7-3 after a rocky 2-3 start and<br />
were led by another defensive All-American,<br />
linebacker Mike Widger. Ole Miss had a quarterback<br />
by the name of Archie Manning and he sparked the<br />
Rebels to a 34-17 victory after Tech had taken a<br />
17-0 first-quarter lead.<br />
A member of Tech’s 1966 and ’68 bowl teams<br />
was none other than current head coach Frank<br />
Beamer, who was a starting defensive back. He<br />
was credited with three tackles in the 1968 game.<br />
1980 pEAch BoWl<br />
Tech next went bowling against Miami<br />
following the 1980 season and lost 20-10 in a<br />
Chris Kinzer’s 40-yard<br />
field goal as time<br />
expired in the 1986<br />
Peach Bowl gave<br />
Virginia Tech its first<br />
bowl victory.<br />
hard-fought Peach Bowl contest. That Hokie team<br />
sported an 8-3 record and featured one of the<br />
finest defensive units in college football.<br />
Tech tailback Cyrus Lawrence emerged as one<br />
of the biggest stars of the game. He rushed for<br />
134 yards and scored the lone Hokie touchdown.<br />
Ashley Lee, then a freshman linebacker, had 15<br />
tackles for the Techmen.<br />
1984 iNdEpENdENcE BoWl<br />
In Tech’s first trip to the Independence Bowl<br />
in 1984, Outland Trophy winner Bruce Smith led<br />
Tech against the Air Force Falcons. Tech’s powerful<br />
defensive unit held Air Force to only three first<br />
downs in the first half, but the Falcons got rolling<br />
in the second half. Quarterback Bart Weiss,<br />
named the game’s Most Valuable Player, was the<br />
ringleader as Air Force won the battle, 23-7.<br />
1986 pEAch BoWl<br />
Who will ever forget “The Kick”? It ended<br />
perhaps the most stirring bowl game of the 1986<br />
season as Virginia Tech’s Chris Kinzer booted a<br />
40-yard field goal to vault the Hokies past North<br />
Carolina State in the New Peach Bowl. The 25-24<br />
victory came with no time showing on the clock<br />
and provided Tech with one of its top moments in<br />
football history.<br />
1993 iNdEpENdENcE BoWl<br />
Almost as dynamic was Tech’s 45-20 win over<br />
Indiana of the Big Ten Conference in the 1993<br />
Independence Bowl game.<br />
The last minute of the first half of the<br />
Independence Bowl will be most remembered for<br />
its unbelievable action-packed ending. Virginia<br />
Tech was leading Indiana, 14-13, with only 35<br />
seconds left until halftime. Indiana had the ball<br />
on the Tech 49-yard line, when DeWayne Knight<br />
exploded through the IU offensive line to cause<br />
a fumble. That is when Lawrence Lewis got “the<br />
world’s greatest bounce,” returning the loose ball<br />
20 yards for a touchdown to give Tech a 21-13<br />
lead over the Hoosiers.<br />
The Hokies, however, were not finished with<br />
NatIoNal chamPIoNshIP<br />
aPPearaNce hIGhlIGhts<br />
BoWl streak for the hokIes<br />
their dramatics. Tech’s Jeff Holland blocked a<br />
Hoosiers’ field goal try with no time left in the<br />
first half and Antonio Banks settled under the ball<br />
and raced 80 yards for a score to give the Hokies<br />
a 28-13 halftime lead.<br />
1994 GAtoR BoWl<br />
At the end of the 1994 season, the Hokies<br />
fell to a tough Tennessee team, 45-23, in a<br />
transplanted Gator Bowl contest that was held at<br />
Florida Field in Gainesville.<br />
The high-powered Volunteer offense totaled<br />
495 yards in the affair behind another Manning,<br />
this time Archie’s son Peyton, and highly touted<br />
tailback James (Little Man) Stewart. Stewart,<br />
Tennessee’s all-time leading rusher, ran for three<br />
touchdowns and threw for another score en route<br />
to earning the game’s Most Valuable Player award.<br />
Tech’s Dwayne Thomas would not be outdone,<br />
dazzling the 62,200 fans in attendance by rushing<br />
19 times for 102 yards and one touchdown.<br />
Thomas had a 1-yard burst for a score in the<br />
second quarter and rambled 27 yards to set up<br />
Maurice DeShazo’s 7-yard touchdown run in the<br />
third quarter.<br />
1995 NoKiA suGAR BoWl<br />
Tech’s 28-10 Nokia Sugar Bowl victory over<br />
Texas in 1995 stands alone as the Hokies’ biggest<br />
win in football postseason play.<br />
The 1995 Sugar Bowl was special, indeed.<br />
It was, at the time, the most prestigious bowl<br />
appearance for the Hokies and they made the<br />
most of it. Tech overcame a 10-point deficit to<br />
beat Texas and earn one of the most stirring<br />
victories in the school’s athletic history.<br />
The momentum changed dramatically when<br />
game MVP Bryan Still returned a punt 60 yards for<br />
a Tech touchdown with 2:34 left in the first half.<br />
Tech gained a lead in the third quarter (14-<br />
10) on a 1-yard plunge by Marcus Parker. Then<br />
Still hauled in a 54-yard touchdown pass from<br />
quarterback Jim Druckenmiller on a play that<br />
spelled doom for the Longhorns.<br />
It was Tech’s defense that accounted for<br />
the team’s final touchdown with 5:06 left in the<br />
2012 Virginia Tech fooTball<br />
147<br />
HiSTOry
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