Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511060101
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Just the biggest football game in Lane Stadium's 31-year history, that's all.
When 20th-ranked Syracuse (6-1) and Tech (6-2) knock heads at 3:30 in front of some 51,000-plus fans in a complete sellout and an ABC regional audience (WSET, Channel 13), the ramifications for the Hokies will be aplenty.
Consider:
First place in the Big East Conference is at stake. Syracuse currently leads the pack at 3-0, with Tech second at 4-1. Today's winner figures to do no worse than tie for the league title.
A possible major bowl bid is on the line. Today's victor has a shot at the Big East's Bowl Alliance spot, meaning a bid to the Sugar or Orange bowl.
A victory would almost assuredly vault the Hokies back into the Top-25 rankings. Tech, bounced from the rankings after losing its season opener to Boston College, was 26th in last week's Associated Press poll and 27th in the coaches poll.
A victory would be Tech's seventh straight, which would tie the school's longest single-season winning streak since the 1967 team started 7-0. With lowly Temple (1-7) up next, odds are the Hokies could push the string to eight, which would match the 1905 team for longest winning streak during a single season.
Frank Beamer has been around Blacksburg for a long time. First as a Tech player, now as Hokies head coach. How about it, Frank? Has there ever been a bigger game in these parts?
"No, I don't think so,'' Beamer said. "When you put everything together - a conference championship at stake, different bowls on the line - I think it's the biggest game we've had around here in a long time.''
Beamer won't have much trouble convincing his players of that, either. Just listen to Tech senior defensive tackle J.C. Price.
"If you can't get up for this game, man, you shouldn't even be playing college football,'' Price said. "This is what everybody goes to college for - try to win a championship. If you can't get up for this one, you should just hang it up.''
As if Tech, a 6 1/2-point favorite, needs any more incentive, today's contest will be the home finale for 16 Hokies seniors, 10 of whom start.
"That just adds to the importance of this game,'' Price said. "I know last year I felt kind of bad because I sent out the senior class on a losing note [42-23 loss to Virginia]. I don't want that to happen to this year's senior class and I hope the underclassmen don't want it to happen to us.''
To prevent it, Tech's nationally rated defense will have to throw a lasso on Syracuse's big-play duo of freshman quarterback Donovan McNabb and senior receiver Marvin Harrison.
McNabb ranks second in the nation in passing efficiency, throwing for 1,404 yards and 10 touchdowns, with only three interceptions.
"He presents a lot of problems,'' Price noted. "He's got a great arm, he can run with the rock. He can read the option ... he can burst out of the pocket and be 50 yards downfield in a split second. That guy has jets.''
Harrison, who already has surpassed such Syracuse greats as Art Monk, Rob Moore and Qadry Ismail in career reception yards (2,503), ranks fourth in the nation in receiving yards per game (129.4), averaging a robust 23.9 yards per catch. He's also a huge threat on special teams, ranking second in the country in punt returns (16.7).
Tech's biggest defensive question is how much it should blitz the mobile McNabb, who may be more dangerous on the scramble than in the pocket.
"I think we've got to come out and pressure him,'' said Jim Baron, Hokies senior tackle. "Mobility only hurts you when you don't have guys flying around. If [McNabb] slips one tackle, he's going to to have another guy right on his butt.''
Offensively, Beamer said it's imperative Tech plays ball-hog. "We need to keep the ball, so those guys [McNabb and Harrison] won't be throwing it around all day. If you don't, they can wear you out.''
Last year at the Carrier Dome, the Orangemen wore out the Hokies on the ground. Syracuse ran roughshod over Tech's gasping defense in the fourth quarter, breaking two long touchdown runs in a 28-20 come-from-behind victory. The loss snapped a seven-game Tech winning streak bridging the 1993 and '94 seasons.
"I don't have to be reminded about anything about last year's game,'' Price said. "I watched it this week and it made me sick to my stomach a lot. They totally dominated us. We couldn't tackle, we weren't coming off blocks.
"Collectively, it might have been worse game we played the whole year. I think we were flat as a team last year. The atmosphere in the locker room before the game was quite the same as it was against Cincinnati [16-0 home loss on Sept.16] this year. And both games we played horribly. Believe me, I don't see that being a problem this week.''
Tech linebacker George DelRicco guaranteed there won't be any flats today.
"We were a totally different team last year,'' DelRicco said. ``That whole game we showed no emotion and if we don't have emotion we're not very good.
``They're coming into our house and we've got something to prove. We're not ranked and we want to be ranked. They've got the attitude they're going to come in here and kick our butts, and I don't think that's going to happen.''
Elsewhere around the area today, unbeaten Emory & Henry (8-0) can virtually sew up a first-round home date in the Division III playoffs with a victory over visiting Ferrum (6-3). The Wasps are ranked second in Division III's South Region behind Washington and Jefferson. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m.
In a pair of 1:30 kickoffs in Lexington, VMI and Washington and Lee will be involved in league action.
In a Southern Conference game, the Keydets (3-5 overall, 2-4 SC) will be a huge underdog against Appalachian State (8-0, 5-0). The Mountaineers are ranked No.2 in the Division I-AA poll and will be looking to atone for a shocking 26-23 loss to VMI in Boone, N.C., last season.
In an Old Dominion Athletic Conference game, the Generals (4-2-1, 2-2) welcome sophomore running back Seth McKinley back to the lineup for their contest with Guilford (3-4, 1-3). W&L upset Guilford 13-7 last season, denying the Quakers the ODAC title.
by CNB