THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509240194
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER U.VA. NOTES
DATELINE: CLEMSON LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Virginia coach George Welsh was tempted Saturday to call former Clemson coach Danny Ford and ask him what happened to the champagne that the Cavaliers allegedly left behind 10 years ago.
Welsh recalled the not-so-humorous incident, after Virginia won its first game ever in Clemson's Death Valley.
Ford, now at Arkansas, was the Clemson coach in 1985 and fearful that the Cavaliers were about to win for the first time on Tiger turf.
Ford got his players up for the game by claiming that Virginia had champagne on ice in its locker room to celebrate a victory and that the players were wearing tee shirts under their uniforms that proclaimed ``The streak is over.''
Clemson won 27-24.
``Danny just lied to them,'' Welsh said. ``But maybe I ought to call him now and ask where the champagne is.''
NO BROOKS: Virginia senior tailback Kevin Brooks of Chesapeake missed Virginia's historic victory because of the knee injury he suffered in last Saturday's win over Georgia Tech.
With Brooks not in uniform, junior tailback Tiki Barber took up the load and rushed for 111 yards and one touchdown.
It was the fourth time Barber has rushed for more than 100 yards this season. He had 99 yards against William and Mary.
Welsh expects Brooks back for next week's game against Wake Forest in Charlottesville.
OOPS, WRONG WAY: Clemson may have made a strategic mistake by thinking redshirt freshman defensive back Anthony Poindexter was a weak link in the Cavaliers' defense.
``It seemed like they were picking on me, running to my side every time,'' Poindexter said.
``So I just picked my play up a little and got ready for them.''
Poindexter had a game-high 15 tackles, and made two key stops late in the first half when Clemson failed to score after having a first down on the Virginia 5.
``It wasn't all me, though,'' Poindexter said. ``I had great support from my ends, too.''
TALKING BACK: Virginia quarterback Mike Groh said a game official was at fault when he was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty in the third period.
Groh was slammed to the turf after barely getting off a pass in the direction of wide receiver Pete Allen.
Groh was called for intentionally grounding the ball.
Groh admitted to making some comments to the official, but said he did so only after the official approached him and began talking.
``If he didn't want to hear what I had to say, he shouldn't gave come over and started talking,'' Groh said.
BIG PLAYS: Wide receiver Pete Allen, a senior from Granby High in Norfolk, had only two catches, but both were big plays in Virginia's two first-period scoring drives.
Allen led off the first drive with a 16-yard reception, and he had a catch for 12 yards to put the Cavaliers on the Clemson 11 in the other drive.
ETC: The Tigers were denied a touchdown on their own field for the first time since the 1985, when Georgia Tech kept them out of the end zone. . . . Mike Groh's 76-yard TD pass to Pat Jeffers was the sixth-longest pass play against Clemson in Death Valley. . . . Virginia became the first team in four games to hold Clemson to below 400 yards in total offense. The Tigers missed it by only seven yards. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clemson quarterback Nealon Greene, left, finds some running room as
he gets by Virginia's Wali Ranier, lunging, and Anthony Poindexter.
by CNB