Virginia Tech Hokies Football

The Virginia Tech Hokies football team has been representing their school since the 1890s and, quite surprisingly, has kept the same colors (maroon and burnt orange) since 1896. The nickname Hokies is a local reference to wild turkeys and so the team has also long been known as the Gobblers. The team has long been quite strong on the field, using the considerable home field conferred upon them by wild Lane Stadium to amass one of the better overall win percentages in NCAA football along with 11 conference titles and 14 Bowl triumphs (albeit with a 14-21 Bowl record). The Hokies really started to hit their stride in the 1990s with a notable win over the Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl, part of an 18-year streak of appearing in Bowl games (that ended in 2020 when they declined to participate). Hokies fans are something else, from the Game Ball Run where the game ball is jogged around campus for 100 miles prior to the huge Homecoming Game Spirit Rally to the Hokie Walk, where players are cheered by fans all along the way to the stadium. Inside the stadium, the Highty-Tighties marching band spell out the team’s name with their formations on the field prior to kickoff and the huge Skipper cannon fires off a blast after the national anthem has been played (and then again every time the team scores). During the game, fans jangle their keys on “key plays” to distract the opposition or gobble like turkeys in honor of the real turkeys that were once the team’s mascots. When the Hokies score, mayhem breaks loose. Freshmen do pushups on each others’ shoulders, girls are tossed up into the air, people with flags run across the field, Skipper the cannon blasts off again, and the Hokie Bird mascot does a bench press for each point scored. It’s all a lot of fun, unless you are a player on the other team!

Virginia Tech Hokies Rivalries

The Virginia Tech Hokies have a massive state rivalry with the Virginia Cavaliers , which goes back to the mid-1890s. Virginia Tech holds the advantage in the all-time series, with a record of 58-38-5. These games have had more than just bragging rights attached to them, with titles sometimes on the line. The Hokies also have rivalries with the West Virginia Mountaineers , Miami Hurricanes, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and Boston College Eagles. They also have a historic rivalry with the Virginia Military Institute’s Keydets, though this game is not often played anymore.

Finding Virginia Tech Hokies Football Tickets

The long history and fascinating traditions of the Hokies attract not only long-time fans but also many curious onlookers to their home games. While this makes for a fantastic atmosphere, it can also render tickets hard to get your hands on. Head to TicketX to find affordable Virginia Tech Hokies tickets to every home game at Lane Stadium and try out our handy stadium seating chart for comparisons between different seating options (price/location).