Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995                   TAG: 9510030119
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOKIES GAME NOTES

Larsen hit all four of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 34, 33, 26 and 36 yards.

Before Saturday, the sidewinding Norwegian had missed six of eight field-goal attempts, including four last Saturday in Tech's 13-7 upset of Miami.

``It certainly boosts my confidence a whole lot,'' Larsen said. ``It proves I can do it and I'm going to be all right this year.''

Larsen said Tech coach Frank Beamer's faith in him helped him through the tough times. Despite Larsen's troubles, Beamer hung with him, saying last Tuesday ``that he'd bet money'' on his kicker.

Larsen refused to blame snapper Billy Wade and holder John I. Thomas for his early-season woes. Film from the Miami game revealed that Thomas might be releasing the ball early on the hold.

``We worked on John letting off the ball, but I don't know how much that did affect things,'' Larsen said. "We'll never know really. Last week I had a bad week.''

BITTEN

Nobody had to tell the Tech players that ESPN's college football studio host Chris Fowler had picked 21/2-point underdog Pitt as his "Mighty Dog'' of the week. Fowler is 0-5 on his weekly underdog pick.

``They haven't been picking too well lately,'' said J.C. Price, Tech defensive tackle. ``I'm glad we can make it 0-5.''

GOING DEEP

Two of the longest pass plays in Tech history came 3 minutes, one second apart in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Jim Druckenmiller's 73-yard TD pass to Jermaine Holmes tied for the ninth-longest pass connection in school history. Druckenmiller's 85-yard bomb to Bryan Still on Tech's next drive was the third-longest.

INJURIES

Tech defensive tackle Jim Baron played sparingly due to a sprained left ankle. Baron re-aggravated the injury sustained against Miami in the first quarter. ... Tech star defensive end Cornell Brown left the game with 7 minutes left in the first half with an injury to his left leg. Brown returned in the second half and played a key role in Tech's second-half defensive stand. ... Other than the usual nicks and bruises, Tech escaped much better than Pitt, which lost three players, including star tailback Billy West for the season with a broken left leg.

NEXT OPPONENT

The Hokies play their second straight road game Saturday, when they travel to Annapolis, Md., to meet Navy at 1:30 p.m. Navy was 1-2 entering Saturday night's game at Duke.