Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

November 21, 2018 at 1:18 am.

Cavaliers have opportunity to end two streaks

The last time Virginia knocked off Virginia Tech on the gridiron, everybody on the current Cavalier roster was under the age of 10.

Friday afternoon in Blacksburg, the Cavaliers have a shot to end two streaks that the Hokies have been extending for years.

Virginia Tech (4-6, 3-4) needs two wins, one of which would need to be over Virginia (7-4, 4-3), to extend its bowl streak to 26 straight seasons. The Cavaliers will be looking to end that streak, along with one that has seen the Hokies knock off the Cavaliers 14 straight times.

“We want to win. Not just this game, but every game,” Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday. “The best way to recover from being disappointed, is to recover and have success.”

The Cavaliers are coming off a heartbreaking 30-27 overtime loss in Atlanta on Saturday. Despite the loss, Virginia players are still confident and believe this is the best chance they’ve had to beat their bitter rival in the past decade.

Being humble is key however for Virginia.

“There is no chance we will be overconfident,” Mendenhall said. “There is so much work to do in our program. I don’t look at who is favored and I encourage our team to do the same. We have a really good opponent to play and that alone is challenging enough.”

Virginia Tech has struggled this season and has lost four straight home games by double-digits for the first time in Lane Stadium history. The Hokies will not only have to halt that streak but beat the Cavaliers in addition to winning a possible 12th game on December 1.

The Hokies’ Sept. 15th game against East Carolina was canceled due to weather and a proposed game against Marshall on Dec. 1 will only happen if the Hokies beat Virginia on Friday.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET at Lane Stadium on Friday.

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