Year: | 1968 |
Team: | VPI Gobblers |
Sport: | football |
Conference: | Independent |
Record: | 7–4 |
Head Coach: | Jerry Claiborne |
Hc Year: | 8th |
Stadium: | Lane Stadium |
Bowl: | Liberty Bowl |
Bowl Result: | L 17–34 vs. Ole Miss |
The 1968 VPI Gobblers football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute or VPI (now known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University or Virginia Tech) as an independent during the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. Led by eighth-year head coach Jerry Claiborne the Gobblers compiled an overall record of 7–4 and with a loss against Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl. VPI played home games at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.[1]
Tech lost 14-7 to the 7th-ranked team in the nation in front of a crowd of 63,759 in Birmingham. At the time it was the largest audience in school history. The Gobblers scored on a blocked punt by Larry Creekmore recovered in the end zone by Jud Bronwell. Tech was dominated by the Crimson Tide defense, racking up only three first downs, the first coming in the fourth quarter.[2]
The Tech special teams scored a touchdown and a safety by blocking two punts and put up its first offensive points of the year with a 20-yard field goal by Jack Simscack. The Gobblers defense pitched a shutout, helped by defensive back Ron Davidson who picked off three W&M passes.[3]
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.[4]