This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Pollaski on 2024-07-20 15:11:16+00:00.
The Tank Job of the Week is an award for the FBS team that did the best job of humiliating itself over the weekend. Whether they blew a large lead, choked away a spot in the limelight, lost a game they had absolutely no right losing, or completely screwed everything on a last second blunder, the TJOTW winner sets the gold standard in college football misery. Over the next seven weeks, we are counting down my 100 greatest tank jobs over the last 20 years. WARNING: You will be hurt.
(video links and a link to the entire list in comments)
82: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (lost to James Madison 21-16) [2010]
Virginia Tech’s empty trophy case is one of the longest running memes in all of college sports- in fact, the Hokies are just one of two power conference teams (Kansas State is the other) to have never won an NCAA national championship in any team sport. Football, basketball, rowing, gymnastics, you name it, the Hokies have been skunked. (They did win the bass fishing title in 2007, but that’s not NCAA).
It hasn’t been for a lack of trying though, at least in football. For nearly two decades, the Hokies were consistently at the upper echelon of college football, even making the first BCS Championship in 1999. From 1993-2011, there were only three seasons where the Hokies didn’t finish ranked in the AP poll, and made a bowl every single year from 1993-2019. So nobody was surprised when the Hokies were ranked #10 to start the 2910 season, the favorites to win the ACC. VT’s first opponent was #3 Boise State, and the Hokies succumbed to the Broncos in a 33-30 thriller. They looked to rebound against in-state FCS powerhouse James Madison the next week.
As we’ve seen quite a few times before in games like these, the Hokies took an early 10-0 lead, and led 13-7 at the half. The game was low scoring primarily because both teams were more than content to let the clock burn- in fact, only 109 plays would be run in the entire game. Virginia Tech would add another field goal in the third quarter, but JMU responded with a long scoring drive to narrow the gap down to just 16-14. VT responded by moving into JMU territory before Tyrod Taylor threw an interception, and the Dukes marched back down the field for another touchdown, taking a 21-16 lead early in the fourth quarter. VT tried to respond, but turned the ball over deep in Duke territory. They quickly got it back, and drove back down to the JMU 12, but fumbled the ball and the Dukes recovered. From there, James Madison successfully burned off the remaining 5:21 of the clock to come away with a stunning victory- just the second time in history a ranked FBS team had lost to an FCS school.
Interestingly enough, while Virginia Tech fans were understandably miserable about this turn of events, the loudest wailing actually came from Boise State fans- VT’s first opponent. The Broncos had their eyes on actually competing for the National Championship this year, and were banking on ranked wins over Virginia Tech and Oregon State to maintain the schedule quality they would need to finish in the top two of the BCS. Obviously the Hokies losing to an second-division opponent was going to torpedo that.
At least until Virginia Tech rolled over the entire ACC, going 8-0 in conference play and downing Florida State in the ACC Championship. Because of course THEY get to have nice things after losing to an FCS school.
81: WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS (lost to Louisville 48-21) [2022]
Dave Clawson’s run at Wake Forest has been nothing short of phenomenal. Within two years of that apocalyptically bad 3-0 win over Boston College, the Deacons were burning Charlotte down in a spectacular 55-52 win over Texas A&M in the Belk Bowl. In fact, the Deacs made seven consecutive bowls from 2016-2022, the longest streak in school history, and even finished the 2021 season ranked #16 after dominating Rutgers in the Gator Bowl, only the fifth time they’d ever finished the season ranked and the first since their miracle ACC Championship run in 2006.
So it was somehow both weird and no surprise when the Deacons entered the 2022 season actually having expectations. They won their first three, lost a double overtime heartbreaker to Clemson, then won their next three to head to Cardinal Stadium ranked 10th in the nation at 6-1. The Cardinals started off hot with two field goals and a TD, but Wake would respond with two touchdowns of their own, and after a missed Louisville field goal, would take a 14-13 lead to the half.
Wake Forest’s second half drive chart: Pick Six, Fumble, Fumble, Interception, Fumble, Three and Out, Pick Six, Fumble, Interception (which was fumbled back to Wake), Touchdown with fourteen seconds remaining. Eight turnovers in a single half, six of them in the third quarter leading to five Louisville touchdowns. The Cardinals only held the ball for ten minutes in the entire half, but it didn’t matter, because Wake was handing out footballs and points left and right.
The game would prove a turning point in Wake’s season, as they would lose four of their last six to finish a disappointing 8-5. In fact, in the season and a half since this disaster the Deacons have gone just 6-12, compared to 17-4 in the season and a half before it.
TOMORROW: Two games that absolutely deserve to be next to each other in this list.