Rivalry Week was a memorable weekend across college football. From upsets to flag planting, there was no shortage of storylines. That includes Virginia Tech and Virginia on Saturday night at Lane Stadium in the battle for the Commonwealth Cup.
The last game scheduled to kick off the ACC in 2024 at 8 o'clock, there was a pregame scuffle between the two teams a couple of hours before kick-off. It took a little bit before it was broken up, but when it was all said and done, there was no pregame punishment for either team. before the Hokies' 37-17 win.
Pregame fight between the #Hokies and Hoos pic.twitter.com/ZhrqYFoiUU
— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) November 30, 2024
You could make the case that it ended up being the most fight that Virginia put up that night, but on Monday, the ACC fined both schools, along with North Carolina and North Carolina State for an altercation at the end of the 35-30 Wolfpack victory.
ACC hands out fines for altercations
Monday, the ACC released a statement about the two altercations and here is their statement,
The Atlantic Coast Conference is issuing an institutional fine and public reprimand to North Carolina and NC State for the actions of both teams following the game on November 30.
Separately, due to the pregame confrontation between student-athletes at Virginia and Virginia Tech, the ACC is issuing an institutional fine and public reprimand to both institutions. In both cases, the actions violated the ACC Sportsmanship Policy. The unsportsmanlike behavior that was displayed is unacceptable and tarnishes the passionate on-field play between these institutions.
The funds from the imposed institutional fines – which are the maximum allowed by the league’s bylaws – will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.
The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.
Clearly, the ACC was going to do something about both altercations and they did. There is no place in any sport for the stuff no matter how heated things get between rivals. It's over with for this year and hopefully down the road as well.