Think back to the 2014 football season, the Hokies were coming off arguably the biggest win in school history after knocking off the eventual national champion Buckeyes in Columbus and were heading into week 3 of the season to face the East Carolina Pirates. Meanwhile, the Pirates had just lost a squeaker to the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road and were coming into Blacksburg, VA looking to redeem themselves and hot damn did they ever. Led by senior QB Shane Carden, the Pirates walked into Lane Stadium and stormed to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. I remember watching the game with friends in utter shock and disbelief as Carden and senior wide receiver, Cam Worthy, scorched the Hokies defense/secondary all game long as the corners were left on an island all day and struggled throughout. The Hokies would eventually cut the lead to 7 in the 4th quarter, but it was too little too late as the Pirates won by a score of 28-21. Carden threw for 427 yards and 3 touchdowns with Worthy finishing with 224 receiving yards. Let's hope history does not repeat itself this Saturday.
This Saturday marks the 20th match-up between the two schools as the Hokies lead the rivalry 13 to 6. Since 2007, ECU and VT have played 7 times and the average margin of victory during that span is roughly 10 points which shows that despite the Hokies ruling the overall head to head, more often than not it takes a full four quarters to put away the Pirates. Traveling back in time even further shows just how much the Pirates have been a thorn in the side of Frank Beamer as ECU beat the Hokies in consecutive seasons in 1991-92. Beamer & Co. would return the favor by ripping off 6 consecutive victories of there own until the Pirates knocked off the Hokies yet again in 2008 with this infamous punt block to seal the victory.
This year continues the out of conference rivalry but gone is Shane Carden, Cam Worthy, and speedster Justin Hardy. The Pirates are still employing the same pass happy offense this season led by junior QB, Blake Kemp, but will have to do so without their offensive architect, former Offensive Coordinator Lincoln Riley who left the Pirates in the off-season for the same job with the Oklahoma Sooners under Bob Stoops. Vegas has sided with the Hokies thus far as the spread favors Virginia Tech by 4 when the line opened and now has ballooned to an 8 point spread. watch.0.html