The 2004 Virginia Tech Hokies football represented the

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in the

2004 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2004 and ended on Decem ...

. Virginia Tech won the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

championship in its inaugural year in the conference, running off a streak of eight straight wins to end the regular season after a 2–2 start. Tech finished 10th in the final

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

poll with a 10–3 record. The team's head coach was

Frank Beamer Franklin Mitchell Beamer (born October 18, 1946) is a retired American college football coach, most notably for the Virginia Tech Hokies, and former college football player. He is the father of current South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane ...

, who was named ACC Coach of the Year. Virginia Tech began the season unranked nationally, having suffered a meltdown at the end of the 2003 season. The Hokies faced a daunting schedule, beginning with a nationally televisioned game against the defending national co-champion

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

. That game, known as the

BCA Classic The Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA) is a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is "to foster the growth and development of ethnic minorities at all levels of sports both nationally and internationally". It currently is focused on athl ...

, was the first

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

college football game of the year, and would be followed by a tough conference schedule. Tech lost to eventual BCS National Champion

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

FedExField FedExField (originally Jack Kent Cooke Stadium) is an American football stadium located in Summerfield, Maryland, east of Washington, D.C. The stadium is the home of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 un ...

in Landover, Maryland, 24-13, losing the lead late in the third quarter. After a 63-0 shellacking of Western Michigan, Tech played its first ever ACC game on September 18, against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. Tech prevailed 41-17 in

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 Fi ...

. The Hokies dropped to 2-2 following a 17-16 home loss to

N.C. State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest u ...

, in which the Hokies missed a would-be winning field goal as time expired. The team then needed to win five of its next eight games to extend its 11-season streak of playing in a post-season bowl game. After reeling off three-straight wins, including a 19-13 squeaker over then #7

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, the Hokies' fortunes looked bleak in the fourth quarter of their game against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

on ESPN Thursday night college football. Tech was down 14-0 at one point and trailed 20-12 with 5:28 left in the fourth quarter. Tech racked up 22 unanswered points to exterminate the Yellow Jackets. Tech would go on to win their remaining regular-season games, including a 24-10 win over then #16 Virginia in

and a 16-10 away victory over then #9

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, to clinch the ACC Championship. As ACC Champions, Virginia Tech was awarded a bid to the 2005 Sugar Bowl, a

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

game in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. Virginia Tech faced

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

, a team that had gone undefeated in the regular season but was denied a bid to the national championship game by virtue of its lower rank in the BCS poll. In a game that was not decided until the final two minutes,"Auburn 16, Virginia Tech 13", January 3, 2005. Hokiesports.co

— Accessed July 21, 2007. Virginia Tech lost to Auburn 16-13. Tech was led by quarterback

Bryan Randall Bryan Randall (born August 16, 1983) is a professional American football quarterback who is a free agent. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Randall ...

during the season. Randall was named ACC player of the Year.

Schedule

Rankings

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

References

{{Atlantic Coast Conference football champions

Virginia Tech Hokies football seasons Atlantic Coast Conference football champion seasons

Virginia Tech Hokies football The Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the sport of American football. The Hokies compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...