Everyone around college football knows when you travel to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech, you are going to be experiencing a raucous crowd. Whether it be their entrance or having 66,000 people directly on top of you, the Mountaineers are embracing the atmosphere that is coming their way Thursday night.
At Lane Stadium, things can get pretty loud. Virginia Tech is known for their entrance to Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman,” which is regarded as one of the best entrances in college football.
“I haven’t been to Blacksburg, my assumption is it’s going to be every bit as loud or louder,” West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said when comparing the atmosphere at Virginia Tech to the atmosphere his team face week one against Pitt.
The last time this game was played in Blacksburg was in 2005, where the announced attendance was 65,115.
“We’ll do some things in practice today and tomorrow to prepare for [the noise],” Brown said. “I know it’s going to be loud. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere especially on Thursday night.”
Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry said this week he hopes the atmosphere delivers and urges his fans to try and create that electric atmosphere.
“Obviously super built up to Thursday night. I’m sure that place will be electric, we’re looking forward to that,” Pry said. “We want everybody in there nice and early.”
For players on West Virginia’s roster, playing in a full stadium is something they look forward to, especially playing on the road.
“I like large crowds, I like the energy, I like the noise, especially when it’s away,” West Virginia senior defensive lineman Dante Stills said. “I want to quiet the crowd.”
As for preparing to it, Stills said he is turning to a different type of film study to know what to expect from the Virginia Tech fans.
“I watched a couple games on YouTube just to see how the atmosphere could be, to see how it is,” Stills said. “I am excited to go in there. It’s going to be loud and I love it.”
Stills said the home field advantage is not something he expects the Hokies to have, saying there will probably be a large contingent of West Virginia fans.
“I feel like this game there will be a lot of West Virginia fans there too. I feel like we’ll get that Mountaineer feel and energy,” Stills said. “Home field advantage I feel like is just the area, where it’s at. I don’t think it’s really based on the crowd. I feel like we travel well with games like this, so I’m excited to see the energy that’s brought.”
Stills and the Mountaineers are certainly no strangers to this type of rivalry environment on the road. On Thursday, it will be three weeks to the day since West Virginia played Pitt at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, where an attendance record of 70,622 was set for a Pittsburgh sporting event.
Stills said he thinks his team handled that atmosphere well and he hopes they can do it again against Virginia Tech.
“I feel like very well,” Stills said of how he thought WVU handled the atmosphere at Pitt. “Actually knowing how big the game was and understanding the energy going into the game how it was going to be, I feel like we handled it very well.”
Despite the confidence Stills has in his team heading into this game, he said there is no true way of simulating the type of noise you will face in these types of games.
“I don’t think there’s really any noise in practice that can imitate what’s going to happen at Virginia Tech this Thursday. The volume of the crowd doesn’t really matter in the game. You’re so focused on your job and your technique. There’s a lot of times where I don’t even hear the crowd,” Stills said.
As for his mindset in a game like this, Stills’ goal is to try and stay positive no matter the outcome.
“I try to keep the negative energy away and it’s all positive,” Stills said.
