1968 VPI Gobblers football team

The 1968 VPI Gobblers football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. They finished the season with a 7–4 record.^[1]

1968 VPI Gobblers football
Liberty Bowl, L 17–34 vs. Ole Miss
Conference	Independent
Record	7–4
Head coach	Jerry Claiborne (8th season)
Home stadium	Lane Stadium
Seasons ← 1967 1969 →

1968 NCAA University Division independents football records
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Penn State			–					11	–	0	–	0
Rutgers			–					8	–	2	–	0
West Texas State			–					8	–	2	–	0
No. 5 Notre Dame			–					7	–	2	–	1
Florida State			–					8	–	3	–	0
Air Force			–					7	–	3	–	0
Army			–					7	–	3	–	0
Buffalo			–					7	–	3	–	0
No. 18 Houston			–					6	–	2	–	2
Utah State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					7	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					7	–	3	–	0
VPI			–					7	–	4	–	0
Pacific			–					6	–	4	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	4	–	0
Villanova			–					6	–	4	–	0
Xavier			–					6	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	5	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					5	–	5	–	0
New Mexico State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Georgia Tech			–					4	–	6	–	0
Southern Miss			–					4	–	6	–	0
Holy Cross			–					3	–	6	–	1
San Jose State			–					3	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					2	–	8	–	0
Tulane			–					2	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					1	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 21	at No. 7 Alabama	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	L 7–14	63,759
September 28	at William & Mary	Cary Field Williamsburg, VA	W 12–0	15,000	^[2]
October 5	Kansas State	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	L 19–34	19,000
October 12	Wake Forest	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	W 7–6	31,000
October 18	at No. 13 Miami (FL)	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	L 8–13
October 26	West Virginia	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA (rivalry)	W 27–12	33,000
November 2	at No. 18 Florida State	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	W 40–22	31,342
November 9	Richmond	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	W 31–18	12,000	^[3]
November 16	at South Carolina	Carolina Stadium Columbia, SC	W 17–6	40,137
November 28	vs. VMI	Victory Stadium Roanoke, VA (rivalry)	W 55–6	17,000	^[4]
December 14	vs. Ole Miss	Memphis Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	L 17–34	46,206
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Players

The following players were members of the 1968 football team according to the roster published in the 1969 edition of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.^[5]

VPI 1968 roster
	Art Aguilar David Bailey Frank Beamer David Binko Preston Blackburn Steve Bocko William G. "Jerry" Boykin Jud Brownell James Edward "Eddie" Carter Dennis Cogan Chris Frank Collis George Constantinides Donald Dewitt Cooke Larry Creekmore J. Dee Crigger Daniel Cupp Ron Davidson Peter Francis Dawyot Nick DelViscio		Kenneth Wayne Edwards Doug Gainous Jerry Green George Butch Hall Waddey Harvey Bert Henderson D. Hickman Wayne Humphries Hank Immel John Ivanac Al Kincaid Larry Kushner Dickie Longerbeam Leonard Angelo Luongo T. MacDonald John Lawrence Maxwell Tom Mikulski Frederick Marshall Mooney Thomas Irwin Parks		James Anthony Pigninelli Rick Piland Paul Ripley Gil Schwabe Jack Simcsak Bill Skinner Bobby Slaughter Leonard James Smith Terry Smoot L. Wayne Stonesifer Larry Duke Strager Tom Swords Perry Tiberio John Randolph Treadwell Joe Tucker Danny Waller Mike Widger S. Womack

References

1. "1968 Virginia Tech Hokies". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
2. "Gobblers block out W-M, 12–0". The Miami Herald. September 29, 1968. Retrieved October 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Virginia Tech turns back Richmond by 31 to 18 count". The Danville Register. November 10, 1968. Retrieved October 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Tech express floods VMI in wave of touchdowns". The Commercial Appeal. November 29, 1968. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "The Bugle 1969". Virginia Tech Bugle. 1969. p. 88. Retrieved 2019-08-25.