The Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry is an American college rivalry that exists between the Virginia Cavaliers sports teams of the University of Virginia (called Virginia in sports media and abbreviated UVA) and the Virginia Tech Hokies sports teams of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (called Virginia Tech and abbreviated VT). Both athletics programs are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In sports that have divisional play, such as college baseball and college football, they both compete in the Coastal division of the conference. Despite different or no conference affiliations from 1937 to 2004, Virginia and Virginia Tech always maintained athletic ties and were annual rivals in many sports.
From 2005 to 2007 and again since 2014, the Cavaliers and Hokies have participated in a program-wide rivalry contest (Commonwealth Clash) for an annual trophy, with points awarded to the winner of each matchup in each common sport.
All-time and ACC series results Sport All-time series recordSources: hokiesports.com and virginiasports.com ACC series record Last result Next meeting Baseball UVA leads 115–94 UVA leads 42–19 VT won 6–3 on March 15, 2026 Spring 2027Men's Basketball (Rivalry) UVA leads 100–62 UVA leads 27–17 UVA won 76–72 on March 7, 2026 Winter 2027Women's Basketball UVA leads 53–20 UVA leads 28–14 VT won 83–82 on March 1, 2026 Winter 2027Football (Rivalry) VT leads 62–39–5 VT leads 19–2 UVA won 27–7 on November 29, 2025 Fall 2026Women's Lacrosse UVA leads 29–3 UVA leads 19–3 UVA won 13–10 on April 16, 2026 Spring 2027Men's Soccer UVA leads 44–6–7 UVA leads 13–6–7 Tied 2–2 on September 5, 2025 Fall 2026Women's Soccer UVA leads 21–4–2 UVA leads 14–3–1 UVA won 2–1 on October 4, 2025 Fall 2026Softball VT leads 54–26 VT leads 45–16 VT won 3-1 on May 7, 2026 Spring 2027Men's Swimming/Diving UVA leads 29–10 UVA leads 11–10 VT won 157-104 on January 17, 2026 Winter 2027Women's Swimming/Diving UVA leads 37–1 UVA leads 21–0 UVA won 201-87 on January 17, 2026 Winter 2027Men's Tennis UVA leads 62–9 UVA leads 20–1 UVA won 4-0 on April 9, 2026 Spring 2027Women's Tennis UVA leads 45–5 UVA leads 21–0 UVA won 7–0 on February 18, 2027 Spring 2027Volleyball UVA leads 45–40 UVA leads 22–20 UVA won 3–0 on November 19, 2025 Fall 2026Wrestling VT leads 50–27 VT leads 19–3 VT won 32-7 on February 6, 2026 Winter 2027 TOTALS UVA leads 618–392–14 UVA leads 240–165–8
Series led and games won by Virginia are shaded ██. Series led and games won by Virginia Tech shaded ██. Head-to-head games/matches only
Conference, Sponsorship, Relative Popularity and Success
UVA has been a member of the ACC since 1953, while Virginia Tech was invited in 2004. Both athletics programs are also sponsored by Nike. The Cavaliers are signed with Nike through 2025, at $3.5 million per year. The Hokies are also signed with Nike through 2022, at $1.98 million per year.UVA signs lucrative Nike deal, accessed August 13, 2015 Virginia had the third-highest ACC total athletics revenue, with $91 million, in 2014–2015.Parsing Virginia Tech's athletic department revenue figures, accessed April 18, 2016 Virginia Tech was sixth out of the 15 programs, drawing $80 million.
UVA polled as the most popular college sports program in their home state as of 2015 — with Virginians choosing the Cavaliers over the Hokies by a six-point margin of 34% to 28% — despite UVA having fewer students and a smaller alumni base than Virginia Tech.Public Policy Poll on Va. topics, released July 21, 2015; accessed July 25, 2015 The first and only Fan Vote of the Commonwealth Clash, also in 2015, bore out that result as there were more Cavalier votes than Hokie votes in the final tally which allowed UVA to take the point. The overall Virginia Cavaliers program polled more popular than all NFL and MLB teams (NBA teams were not polled) while only the former Washington Redskins tied the overall Virginia Tech program at 28% support.
The Cavaliers have twice won the prestigious Capital One Cup for fielding the top overall men's athletics program in the nation, in 2015 and 2019, and UVA places first in the ACC for all-time Men's NCAA Championships with 20. Virginia is in second place in the conference for NCAA Championships in women's sports with 10. UVA's recent NCAA Championships include winning the 2019 NCAA tournament championship in men's basketball, winning the 2015 College World Series in baseball, and winning the 2014 College Cup in men's soccer. On the other side of the rivalry, Virginia Tech is one of two ACC programs (the other is Pittsburgh) to have not yet earned its first NCAA Championship in a team sport.
Virginia fields more overall teams than Virginia Tech. As a result, certain highly successful UVA teams like the eight-time NCAA Champion Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team and two-time NCAA Champion Virginia women's rowing team do not compete against Virginia Tech and so do not consider the Hokies their rivals. Virginia Tech briefly sponsored men's lacrosse before folding the program after the 1986 season; Virginia leads the all-time series in men's lacrosse 10-0.
Commonwealth Challenge and Clash + Commonwealth Challenge and Clash Virginia (9) Virginia Tech (3) 2005–062006–072014–152015–162018–192022–232023–242024–252025–26 2016–172017–182021–22 Newly in the same conference, the two schools agreed to face off in the Commonwealth Challenge across all sports in 2005. The Challenge continued through 2007, with the Cavaliers winning both years of the competition. Future sponsorship was not sought out of respect for the Virginia Tech massacre. Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage stated at the time that "now is not the time to be talking about bragging rights."
In August 2014, the two schools announced a renewed rivalry competition with a new name and new scoring system between the two schools, named the Commonwealth Clash. This more recent competition was sponsored by Virginia 529 College Savings Plan. At the end of the 2018–19 academic year, UVA led the Clash series 3–2 and total points 60–47. This was then declared the final year of the original Clash on its official website., "The 2018–19 athletic season was the final year of the Commonwealth Clash Competition, presented by Virginia 529.", accessed January 19, 2021
Each meeting or yearly series in a sport is worth a single point in the Clash. In basketball and volleyball, where the two schools meet twice per season, each individual game is worth one-half point. In baseball and softball, the point is awarded to the winner of the series, with a split of a two-game series earning one-half point each. A tied game in soccer also awards one-half point each. In sports where teams participate in meets or tournaments instead of head-to-head – cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, and men's and women's golf – the school that finishes higher in the ACC championship earns the point. Swimming and diving also falls under this category, even though the two schools schedule an annual meet against each other; this meeting does not count toward the Clash.
There are 22 points, requiring 11½ to clinch the Clash. If there is a tie, the first tiebreaker is the greater number of ACC championships in common sports, followed by the greater number of honor roll athletes in common sports. The tiebreakers have been invoked only once, in 2016–17; Virginia Tech won the tiebreaker in that Clash by capturing four ACC championships to Virginia's one.
The 2019–20 Clash trophy was not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time competition was suspended, Virginia led 7–6, with eight points remaining to be contested and nearly all of them in sports which had often favored Virginia in the previous years of the Clash.
The Clash made its return after a three-year absence for the 2021–22 academic year, with Smithfield Foods taking over sponsorship duties. After winning the baseball series, 2–1, the Hokies would clinch the Clash for the year, eventually winning, 12–8.
In 2022–23, the Cavaliers took home the Clash after posting a better finish than Tech at the ACC Championships in men's golf, eventually winning, 12–9. The Cavaliers clinched the trophy in the same fashion in 2023–24, while their women's golf team scored the clinching point in 2024–25.
Yearly records
Commonwealth Clash Yearly Result Overall Clash series UVA 15–7UVA led 3–0 UVA 14–7UVA led 4–0 Tied 11–11(VT wins tiebreaker)UVA led 4–1 VT 12½–8½UVA led 4–2 UVA 12½–9½UVA led 5–2 UVA 7–6(Not Completed)Not counted VT 12½–8½UVA led 5–3 UVA 12–9UVA led 6–3 UVA 15–7UVA led 7–3 UVA 15–7UVA led 8–3 UVA 16–6UVA leads 9–3 Sport 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2021–22 2022–23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26Men's Soccer UVA UVA Halved UVA Halved UVA VT UVA UVA UVA HalvedWomen's Soccer UVA Did Not Play UVA Did Not Play VT UVA Did Not Play Halved UVA UVA UVAMen's Cross Country UVA UVA UVA VT UVA VT UVA UVA UVA UVA UVAWomen's Cross Country UVA UVA VT VT VT VT VT UVA UVA UVA UVAVolleyball Halved Halved VT VT Halved UVA VT UVA UVA UVA UVAFootball VT VT VT VT VT UVA VT Not Played VT VT UVAMen's Basketball UVA Halved Halved Halved UVA UVA Halved Halved Halved Halved HalvedWomen's Basketball UVA VT UVA UVA Halved Halved VT VT Halved Halved VTWrestling VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VTMen's Swimming/Diving VT VT VT UVA UVA UVA VT VT VT VT VTWomen's Swimming/Diving UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVAMen's Indoor Track and Field VT UVA VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT UVAWomen's Indoor Track and Field VT UVA VT VT VT VT VT VT VT UVA UVAMen's Tennis UVA UVA UVA VT UVA Not Playeddue toCOVID-19 UVA UVA UVA UVA UVAWomen's Tennis UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVAMen's Golf UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVAWomen's Golf Did Not Play UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA VTWomen's Lacrosse UVA UVA UVA VT UVA UVA UVA UVA UVA UVABaseball VT UVA UVA UVA UVA VT VT UVA UVA UVASoftball Halved VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VT VTMen's Outdoor Track and Field UVA VT VT VT VT Not Playeddue toCOVID-19 VT UVA UVA VT UVAWomen's Outdoor Track and Field UVA UVA VT VT UVA UVA VT UVA UVA UVAFan Vote point UVA No Vote Held
Intensity and Pranks Some from outside the state find the rivalry to be an especially bitter one. Former Ohio State quarterback and football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said in 2004 that he "never realized how much those people hate each other." He went on to say "when I was down in Blacksburg, I said some nice things about Al Groh and it was like I had turned my back on them."
In 2011, students from Virginia Tech put a tee shirt from their school on a statue of Thomas Jefferson located on The Lawn, after Virginia Tech's football team won the yearly matchup.
History
Virginia Tech joins ACC In 2003, the Atlantic Coast Conference initially planned to add Boston College, Miami, and Syracuse to the conference lineup. Talks with Syracuse stalled as Jim Boeheim vocalized his opposition to the move, and Duke, UNC, and Virginia consistently voted against adding the Orange. When it became obvious that Syracuse lacked the necessary seven votes, Virginia Tech emerged as a compromise candidate put forward to win over the decisive seventh vote from the University of Virginia that ACC officials needed to gain approval for their expansion plans.