Regional rivalry brings national audience to Greenville

A rivalry isn't possible unless both sides of it manage to compete, to win occasionally and to get under the skin of the other.

East Carolina reminded Virginia Tech last season that although the history of the series of football games between the two schools is tilted decidedly in favor of the Hokies, the non-conference clash is still a rivalry game in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The No. 22 Hokies (5-3) return to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at 7:30 tonight to resume their rekindled rivalry with the 5-3 Pirates in Greenville for the first time since 2000. A sellout crowd is expected, and the game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN.

“The last couple of years that this has gone on, I think it's turned into more of a rivalry for both teams,” said fifth-year East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz, 1-1 against the Hokies. “I've always said that in a rivalry game, both teams have to have a chance to win. That hasn't been the case until last year.”

On the minds of the two teams tonight, at least until the ball leaves the tee, will be last season's opener for both.

They met in the equidistant locale of Charlotte to kick off the 2008 campaign, and East Carolina stole the show when T.J. Lee blocked a punt late in the fourth quarter and returned it 27 yards to the end zone for a 27-22 ECU upset. That win jump-started ECU to a 3-0 start to the season.

“That's throwing some fuel on the fire,” Holtz said of the win. “It's kind of nice.”

It was the first Pirate win in the series in 17 years, and just their fifth all-time against the Hokies.

In 2007, the Pirates faced Tech for the first time with Holtz on the sideline, and did so amid emotional circumstances. The game was the first in Blacksburg, Va., since the campus was rocked by the student shooting rampage of the previous April. Almost fittingly, the Hokies won, 17-7.

Tech leads 9-5 all-time, dating back to a 37-2 Hokie win in Blacksburg in September of 1956.

Tonight is the sixth confrontation between in the teams in Greenville. ECU is 2-3 at home against Tech, winning in 1989 and 1992.

For the last 23 years, head coach Frank Beamer has been the face of Virginia Tech football and, in his tenure, he's seen plenty of the Pirates. In fact, Beamer has been on the sideline for all but that first meeting between the teams.

In the early days of the rivalry, Beamer saw the Pirates take four of the first six meetings under his watch, including Pirate wins in 1987, '89, '91 and '92. But from '93 to 2007, it was all Tech, six straight wins until Lee stormed into the end zone in Charlotte last year.

“Twenty years ago, we were on a very level playing field and there was a great rivalry between the two schools,” Holtz said. “You look at where Coach Beamer has taken that program and the things that he's done with it, it's where we want to go, where we aspire to be. I think this will be a great measuring stick for where we are right now.”

The series has also seen its stars. Former Pirate and current Tennessee Titan Chris Johnson struggled to churn out 29 rush yards and a touchdown in the 2007 tilt. In the same game, current Philadelphia Eagle Macho Harris picked off a Brett Clay pass and returned it for a key VT touchdown.

In the last game in Greenville, ECU quarterback David Garrard (Jacksonville Jaguars) was topped by Tech's Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcons/Philadelphia Eagles) in a 45-28 shelling for the visiting Hokies. That win came despite Garrard out-passing Vick, 296 yards to 106.

The Pirates' most convincing win in the series was their first, a 32-23 decision in Blacksburg in '87.

Beamer is 182-92-2 at Virginia Tech. Because of that, Holtz knows his team has no advantage based on last season's result.

“Coach Beamer is a great coach, and he's taken teams in after losses and he's taken teams in after wins,” Holtz said. “He gets his teams ready to play every week. I'm sure they're talking about last year, the things that happened last year and studying that film.”

Contact Nathan Summers at nsummers@reflector.com or (252) 329-9595.