On Sunday, the New Era Pinstripe Bowl announced Virginia Tech and Maryland will square off in Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, Dec. 29.
It’s the first time the Hokies have played in the Pinstripe Bowl (est. 2010) or the Terrapins in a bowl game. The former ACC rivals have met 31 times previously, a series Maryland leads by one game, 16-15. It’s the first time the two programs have met since the Terps beat the Hokies 27-24 in overtime in Lane Stadium in 2013.
The Terps (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten) started the season hot with four straight wins but lost six of their last eight games. That run included two three-game losing streaks with a win over Indiana (Oct. 30) squished between. Maryland, led by Mike Locksley, cappeed off its season with a 40-16 win over Rutgers.
The Pinstripe Bowl is the 34th bowl game in program history for Virginia Tech, who had a 27-year bowl streak come to an end last season. It’s the first time Tech has played a bowl game in New York, and the third time it’s played a game in a baseball-only stadium. The 2002 San Francisco Bowl against Air Force (Pacific Bell Park) and the 2003 Insight Bowl vs. California (Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix, Ariz.) are the previous two instances.
Interim head coach J.C Price will coach the Hokies in the bowl game with the current staff. New head coach Brent Pry and his assistants will take over after the bowl.
Virginia Tech got off to a strong start this season, winning three of its first four games, before losing three of its next five. Two wins – vs. Duke, at Virginia – in the final three games to end the season got the Hokies bowl eligible, though. They also did it under the direction of Price, who was handed the keys after the school parted ways with former head coach Justin Fuente after the Duke win.
A trip to Yankee Stadium is fitting for Virginia Tech. The Hokies and Yankees have a special connection that dates back to 2008.
After the tragedy of April 16, 2007, the New York Yankees visited Blacksburg the following March for an exhibition game. The organization visited the memorial in front of Burruss Hall, wore maroon and orange ballcaps with the NYY logo, and donated $1M to the Virginia Tech Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.
Pinstripe Bowl Details
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 29
Time: 2:15 p.m. ET
Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, N.Y.
TV: ESPN
Tickets: StubHub
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This is a terrible bowl, in a terrible place at a terrible time of year. Go Hokies
I could have sworn we’d played there before! Huh🤷🏻♂️
When life gives you turtles, you make turtle soup. Go Hokies!!
1. will NYstate and NYC be open – think c19 delta+omicron protocols – for business and out-of-town guests?
2. what lousy seating to field distances! it’s a good thing tv cameras have telephoto lenses. seats on the 50 yard line look to be in brooklyn and bed-sty. oooof! (please see HtownHokie post of YankeeStadium seating plan for football on Non-subscriber Ticket Board. comments won’t allow insertion here in comments.)
Go JC and Hokies! Put another bowl name on the LaneWorsham wall with a W beside it.
This is the worst bowl ever in the worst alocation ever. DiBlasio is shutting down the city over nothing.
Hope Raheem Blackshear stays for this game and beyond
Run, run and run some more versus the Twerps!!
Lol Corndog Nugget is our OC, right?
This should be a great game against old ACC rivals!
I like this match-up. Think we have a good chance to win it. Go Hokies!
No Robinson, no Turner. Young WR’s get their chance to shine.
And no Willams. But, “no such thing as a bad bowl game.” Good match-up and glad to be going somewhere else, even though I really like Annapolis.
It would have been nice to play Maryland in Annapolis, but I am not interested in playing ECU anywhere.
Whit made sure that wouldn’t happen.