Just in case you are a younger Hokie and may not understand why some of us older Hokies REALLY want to beat North Carolina whenever we play them, I offer this thread:

(1) It started in 1973. Dean Smith was interviewed concerning Final 4 of the 1973 NIT. He praised Alabama and Notre Dame (who later beat UNC) then merely said of Virginia Tech "we've played them" in a tone similar to "she's not much to look at, but she has a decent personality".

(2) I was at the Blacksburg airport watching UNC's plane land back in 1977, thinking they would stay all day to seriously consider us for ACC membership. They didn't stay an hour. Their mind was made up well before they got here. It was a courtesy interview at best.

(3) I worked for Bill Brill in the late 70s and early 80s at the Roanoke Times and he confirmed repeatedly that UNC definitely thought there was nothing to be gained by ever playing Virginia Tech. He wasn't being meanspirited. He was just stating fact the way UNC felt about us.

(4) I remember the anger of seeing UNC quoted in a Roanoke Times story saying they wouldn't play us in a bowl game in the mid-80s, and would rather stay at home than have to play us.

(5) My job took me to North Carolina; I lived in High Point from 1986 to 2000. Every school has its partisans, but the people I would meet from N.C. State, Wake, even Duke were fair when our teams played. Only UNC alumni consistently believed they were on a vastly superior level.

(6) In 1998 my friends who were insiders at an ACC school told me my dream of us playing in the ACC with our neighbors was going to come true. Miami was in, they said, we were the second team and they could not agree on a third.

(7) I was cautioned that it could all fall apart because North Carolina did not want us as the second team and would try to maneuver a deal to get Syracuse in instead of us. Which is what happened at the time.

(8) We finally got in the ACC years later and also came home to the conference where we belonged. I will always believe that could have happened decades earlier if not for elitist UNC. So if you ask, is today' game with the Tar Heels a big game? The answer is HELL YES.

(9) And now you know why.