Toe Meets Leather refers to the American college football game played on November 3, 1990 between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Virginia Cavaliers. Georgia Tech won by a score of 41–38 over top-ranked Virginia. The game concluded with a 37-yard field goal by Scott Sisson with seven seconds remaining. Georgia Tech went on to claim the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship and a share of the national championship.

Georgia Tech football and basketball radio play-by-play announcer Al Ciraldo coined the phrase "Toe meets leather", with which he led off every football game; current Tech radio play-by-play announcer Andy Demetra continues this tradition.

The conference matchup of two undefeated teams in midseason drew great national interest. The game was televised nationally by CBS with Jim Nantz handling play-by-play duties. The night before the game, vandals broke into Scott Stadium and set fire to the Astroturf surface, burning a large midfield patch. The morning of the game, school officials questioned holding the game that day. Field personnel took spare turf from Virginia's baseball field and, after cutting out the burned sections, stitched it into the field as patches, enabling the game to be played as scheduled.

Virginia took 10–0 lead in firs tquarter and had 28–14 lead by halftime. However, Georgia Tech took advantage of two third quarter errors by Virginia to tie the game with score of 28–28. First, Tech scored four plays after recovering Virginia fumble on opening possession of third quarter. Then Georgia Tech linebacker Calvin Tiggle's interception at the Yellow Jackets 10-yard line stopped the ensuing Virginia drive. Georgia Tech gained field position for quarterback Shawn Jones' 26 yard scoring pass to wide receiver Emmett Merchant. Virginia's quarterback Shawn Moore then countered with long touchdown pass to Herman Moore, but GT running back William Bell tied the game again with score of 35–35 with 8-yard run late in third quarter. Tech took its first lead at 38–35 with Scott Sisson's 35-yard field goal kick with 7:17 minutes left. Virginia came back, obtaining first-and-goal achieved by 48 yard Moore-to-Moore pass. However, Virginia was penalized twice during next five plays, one nullifying tight end Aaron Mundy's touchdown catch. Virginia had to settle for Jake McInerney's tying field goal kick with 2:30 minutes left. The Yellow Jackets then went 56 yards in five plays to position Sisson for game-winning field goal with seven seconds left. Key plays in that drive included a Jones-to-Bell 23-yard pass, Bell's 13-yard run on which he fell on his own fumble, and Jones-to-wide receiver Greg Lester 15-yard pass completion. Georgia Tech quarterback Shawn Jones finished the game with 17 pass completions with 29 attempts for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns. Virginia quarterback Shawn Moore set a Virginia school record with 344 yards passing on 18 completions with 28 attempts.

...
Wikipedia