If you’ve been a fan of Thursday night college football over the years then the sight of Bobby Dodd Stadium in downtown Atlanta, GA is a familiar one to you. That’s because ever since ESPN starting airing college football on Thursday nights in 1991, Georgia Tech has made 18 appearances on this stage, more than any other school in the nation.

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Bobby Dodd Stadium, home of the Yellow Jackets, has hosted all but five of those 18 games. (see chart below for complete details) This marks the 14^th year in a row that Georgia Tech has played a Thursday night game and this week they will tee it up against one of their main ACC rivals, the University of Virginia.

The Cavaliers and Jackets have squared off in some of the more memorable and meaningful games in ACC history. Most notable was their game in 1990 when UVA was the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. However, that day in Charlottesville, 16^th ranked Georgia Tech rallied to defeat Virginia on a last second field goal by Scott Sisson. The 41-38 victory propelled Georgia Tech and coach Bobby Ross to a share of the 1990 national title with Colorado.

Unfortunately, it’s highly doubtful that this Thursday nights game will be as meaningful or dramatic.

Virginia limps into this game off a 17-10 home loss to Western Michigan – arguably their worst loss in over 20 years. At 1-2 the Cavaliers are actually rather fortunate to have a notch in the win column at all. Their lone win came two weeks ago against Wyoming when the Cowboys missed an extra-point in overtime to send UVA to a 13-12 victory.

The main culprit for Virginia’s woes has been their offense – and more specifically their lack of it. If Cavalier coach Al Groh had any sense of history - and humor - he might quote the legendary John McKay, the first coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 1977 while the Bucs were in the midst of a horrific offensive slump, McKay was asked about the execution of his team’s offense. McKay quickly responded, "I'm in favor of it."

As everyone knows, almost all offense starts at the quarterback position and Groh, himself a former NFL head coach for the New York Jets, hasn’t been able to find an answer at that crucial spot.

In just their fourth game of the season all indications are that Groh will try yet other option at QB and go with freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell under center, the third QB to start for Virginia this year.

Sewell, by far the Cavaliers most athletic option at QB, will try to spark an offense that is averaging just 225 yards per game and has basically only scored one touchdown this season to speak of. And let’s not forget, all these miserable stats are against teams from the Big East (Pittsburgh), the Mountain West (Wyoming) and the Mid-American Conference (Western Michigan) - not exactly BCS super powers.

Now Virginia must start to wade into the meat of their schedule and open ACC play against the Jackets, a team with no such issues at quarterback.

Granted, over his four years as the starting QB for Georgia Tech, Reggie Ball hasn’t always been perfect but he certainly has had moments of brilliance and gives the Jackets a chance to score whenever he is on the field.

Ball, whose career actually started with a Thursday night loss at BYU in 2003, has completed 35 of 69 passes for 387 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions thus far this season. And by no means is the senior short on weapons on the Georgia Tech offense.

First and foremost is the Jacket’s all-American Calvin Johnson, considered by many to be the most talented wide receiver in the college game today. Johnson leads the team with 13 receptions for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Tashard Choice is one of several options, including Ball, in the backfield that gives Tech a dangerous ground game.

By the way, all you fans of everything "old school" will especially want to tune in as this game has been dubbed "Throwback Thursday". Georgia Tech will wear special "Throwback" uniforms like the ones they wore between 1968-71 that feature gold jerseys, white pants and white helmets.

1991 #20 Virginia 24-21

1993 #25 Virginia 14-35

1994 #7 Arizona 14-19

1995 #16 Maryland 31-3

1996 Duke 48-22

1996 at Maryland 10-13

1997 #5 North Carolina 13-16

1998 at Clemson 24-21

1999 Maryland 49-31

2000 at NC State (OT) 23-30

2000 Virginia 35-0

2001 Maryland (OT) 17-20

2001 North Carolina 28-21

2002 at Maryland 10-34

2003 at Brigham Young 13-24

2003 Maryland 7-3

2004 #22 Virginia Tech 20-34

2005 NC State 14-17