Since Frank Beamer took over the Virginia Tech program in 1987, Lane Stadium has been an intimidating destination for visiting teams.
The Hokies typically play well at home in front of a very loud crowd.
Virginia Tech has won 79 percent of its home games over the past 25 years.
That's thanks in part to the fanatic Hokie crowds who have sold out the stadium for 86 games and counting.
“It's pretty nuts,” Virginia Tech wide receiver Danny Coale said.
“I've never really seen anything like it,” quarterback Logan Thomas said.
Virginia Tech is famous for its pregame ritual featuring the song “Enter Sandman.”
And the wall of sound doesn't let up after that. Lane Stadium's raucous fans create one of the best home atmospheres in college football.
“I always say we're probably the loudest outdoor stadium,” Thomas said.
“It only seats about 60,000 but it feels like a whole lot more,” Coale said.
“I feel like we have the best fans in the country. when you come here you know you're going to get a loud crowd, they are going to be standing up probably the whole game,” Virginia Tech safety Antone Exum said.
While that crowd never touches the football or makes a tackle, it still plays its part in the outcome.
“It is an advantage because when the other team is on offense our fans are so loud that they might not be able to hear their cadence or they might not be able to audible or do stuff things that. so we really appreciate our fans, every Saturday,” Exum said.
And the impact goes beyond that week's game, helping to influence future generations of Hokie players.
“I think in recruiting, when people come to the games and see the enthusiasm in the stadium, the excitement, the jumping. It just makes a good impact on recruits,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said.
Key moments of games are literally ground-shaking. Tech professor John Hole showed us a seismological reading from last month's win over Miami.
“You see this rather large looking event here. It's not ridiculously large, it's not as large as the earthquake here a couple months ago. But it's a fairly decent sized event, and it's occurring at 3:37 p.m.,” said John Hole, a professor of geophysics.
That was about four minutes before kickoff, time to start jumping.
“That amount of shaking in that structure is pretty significant. Actually that shaking within the building would be more than was felt in the earthquake,” Hole said.
So as if the deafening noise and the Hokies themselves weren't enough, visiting teams must deal with the earth moving beneath their feet. Home field advantage indeed.
Professor Hole said outside the stadium that shaking would feel similar to a large freight train passing by.
