On a Friday night in Charlottesville, with Virginia’s hopes for victory in the Commonwealth Cup game strong, little changed. The Hokies won again, and this phenomenon we call “The Streak” is now up to 14 games. With a good chance at victory squandered, Virginia is left to wonder exactly how long The Streak will go before it’s finally broken.

Somewhere along the way, The Streak became central to the Commonwealth Cup conversation. With relatively little at stake — both teams are going bowling, and neither one was in contention for the Coastal championship — The Streak became paramount.

Losing to Virginia wouldn’t have cost the Hokies anything of importance in the ACC standings, and maybe just a little in the bowl pecking order. Talk of “bragging rights” is silly. Virginia Tech passed Virginia a long time ago for in-state prominence as the Commonwealth’s best football program. No one argues that anymore, and a Virginia victory wouldn’t have meant that the Cavaliers were on the same level as the Hokies, or even pulling close. That ship has sailed.

But The Streak … you don’t want to see The Streak end. Losing a football game to Virginia has always been hard, but the pain has always been somewhat temporary. The Hokies have usually gotten their revenge the next season, or at worse, a couple seasons later. Virginia hasn’t beaten Virginia Tech three times in a row since 1987-1989, when the Hokies were on probation and the Cavaliers were rising to prominence under George Welsh. Before that, you have to go back to the late 1940s and early 1950s to find the last time Virginia beat Virginia Tech three times in a row.

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