DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711090162

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                        LENGTH:   64 lines

HOKIES' WIN COULD LAND THEM IN THE DESERT

With temperatures in the Appalachians dropping into the 30s Saturday night, playing a football game in warmer climes never seemed like a better idea.

Virginia Tech is now one game closer to making it happen, to accepting an Alliance Bowl bid for a date in the desert.

With their 27-25 victory over Miami, only a late-season siesta can keep the Hokies from the Fiesta.

Virginia Tech was too good in the clutch, its quarterback Al Clark too elusive, for the watered-down Miami of the late '90s, now 4-5 on this season.

The victory makes Tech 1-1 against the Miamis of the college football world.

That the Hokies could defeat the Miami of South Florida after losing to nonconference opponent Miami of Ohio is seen by many as further proof that Big East football is a muddle of mediocrity.

Saturday's game at Lane Stadium is unlikely to make believers of the critics. The Big East's Alliance favorite gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns on its own field. Virginia Tech was able to hang on because Miami failed on its two-point conversion attempts after both scores. Had the Hurricanes simply kicked each time, the outcome might have been decided by overtime roulette.

The Hokies were outplayed early and late in this one, while they dominated the middle passages.

The game was played in biting temperatures - Hokie conditions. But while falling behind 13-3 in the first quarter, it was Tech that suffered through some inClement weather.

Ryan Clement's arm and field vision propelled Miami to a pair of touchdowns, one on a 92-yard drive, before Tech could regroup.

Fortunately for Tech, Clement lacks a great supporting cast. Or a defense that can get the ball back.

In the second quarter, Tech answered with a long touchdown drive of its own, inspired by Clark's speed and imagination.

Taking off on a scramble up the middle, Clark split the Miami defense, running 39 yards before pitching to tailback Ken Oxendine who carried it another seven to the seven yard line.

By the third quarter, Tech began to assert itself. The game appeared to be a lock. Then, in the fourth, the Hokies faltered. They began to look again like a team that benefits from playing in a bad conference.

Fortunately for Tech - and the Hokies are not alone - teams aren't asked to impress the Alliance bowls by piling up style points.

This season, the Big East's top team almost surely goes to the Arizona desert for New Year's Weekend. No questions asked. No explanations necessary.

Still, for all its recent success, Tech is always explaining itself, isn't it? This season, it was that nonconference schedule.

When a recent report had Tech flirting with Nebraska for a game next season, it seemed to good to be true. It was.

Meanwhile, coach Frank Beamer keeps Arkansas State and Alabama Birmingham on speed dial.

Not very long ago, Miami was the marquee attraction Tech anticipated more than any other. But the Hurricanes, once a force of nature, have been reduced to a tropical depression.

The fans still seem to buy into Miami's former image; Saturday's crowd of 53,177 was the third-largest in the history of Lane Stadium.

But like Alabama and Notre Dame, the 'Canes are more name than game.

This is not expected to matter right now to Tech and its boosters. After this latest victory, the team and its fans should be in the mood for a fiesta.

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