The VMI–Virginia Tech football rivalry is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the Keydets of

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

and the Hokies of

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

(formerly known as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute "Fighting Gobblers"). The teams first played in 1894 and last played in 1984. They are scheduled to meet again in 2026, after a 42-year hiatus. The two schools are only about 80 miles apart in western Virginia and were in the same conference (the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

) from 1924 to 1964.

History

The two schools first met in 1894 and played annually from 1913 to 1971, usually in Roanoke on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

. The game was called the Military Classic of the South, because it matched a state-supported military academy against an engineering school which had mandatory

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

for the male student body until 1964. (Virginia Tech and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

are the only major public universities still designated as senior military colleges, because of their corps of cadets and large ROTC programs). Today, the rivalry game between VMI and

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

bears the name

Military Classic of the South The original "Military Classic of the South" was a football game played on Thanksgiving Day between Virginia Tech (VPI) and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) beginning in 1913 and lasting until 1985. As Virginia Tech continued to expand its ...

. After a one-year hiatus, the VMI-Virginia Tech rivalry resumed in 1973 for another dozen seasons. The teams played in Virginia Tech's

Lane Stadium Lane Stadium is a college football stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The playing surface of the stadium is named Worsham F ...

at Blacksburg in odd-numbered years and in 1978; the remaining games in even-numbered years were at either Richmond or Norfolk, in the Tobacco Bowl (1974, 1976) and

Oyster Bowl The Oyster Bowl is a regular season college football game played annually in the Hampton Roads-area of Virginia. The game has featured match-ups between high school, NCAA Division III, and at present, NCAA Division I teams, at various points in it ...

(1980, 1982, 1984), respectively, with VMI serving as the "home" team. Games tentatively scheduled for Blacksburg in 1986 and 1987 and Norfolk in 1988 were never played. When the rivalry went dormant after the 1984 Oyster Bowl, Virginia Tech led the series 49–25–5. At 79 games, it is the second-longest series for the Hokies and fourth-longest for the Keydets. Because of the long pause in the VMI-Virginia Tech series, the Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry has emerged as the dominant one in the state. In 2017, Virginia Tech and VMI agreed to renew their rivalry in a one-time matchup on September 5, 2026, at Blacksburg. Based on current scheduling commitments, their next opportunity to meet would be in 2031, when Virginia Tech next has an open date.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:VMI-Virginia Tech football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States College sports in Virginia Virginia Tech Hokies football VMI Keydets football 1894 establishments in Virginia Sports rivalries in Virginia

History

Game results

See also

References