Birth of the Hokie Nation 12_1_2015_6p

berger’s sack on the next play moved the ball back to the
Tech 26. A penalty pushed the Dukes out of field goal
range to the 42. Then Moore rolled quarterback Charles
Berry back into James Madison territory: embarrassment
averted.

Then the fireworks began on offense. Vick hit wide-
open André Davis on a sideline pattern for a 43-yard gain
that would have been an easy touchdown had the speedster
not lost his footing because the ball was thrown slightly
behind him. Shyrone Stith took the ball 32 yards to the
JMU four, and was given one chance to score the touch-
down himself before Vick kept the ball on an option play
and made his first college carry - twisting out of the grasps
of a defender and into the end zone for a three-yard score.

Anthony Midget made a diving interception of a
Berry pass at the Tech 42. Vick then got a chance to run in
the open field when he planted his back foot to pass, and
then bobbed toward the line of scrimmage. A JMU defend-
er grabbed for his legs in the backfield, but was a split sec-
ond too late. Vick first went toward the right hash marks,
and then saw the defense waiting for him on that side and
cut back toward the middle. He put it in a gear that no Tech
fan had ever witnessed. Three defenders converged on him
at the 10, but he high-stepped his way into the end zone for
a 54-yard TD.

Vick aired it out again on the next possession, hit-
ting Ricky Hall in stride for a 60-yard gain before the JMU
defense hauled him down from behind. The Hokies had to
settle for a field goal. Hall touched the ball again on a punt
return for 43 yards before he was pushed out of bounds on
the JMU 11.

From there Vick looked to his left for his intended
receiver, but wasted no time in tucking the ball and darting
up the middle to avoid an oncoming blitz. Three defenders
converged on him at the three and he leaped into the air to-
ward the goal line. The first pursuer grabbed a foot and

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Vick’s momentum sent him toppling end over end. At the
one, his feet were directly over his head. It wasn’t a perfect
landing, even though he had both feet flat on the turf in the
end zone to complete the flip. Awkwardly, his left ankle
gave way and he fell to ground and was surrounded by four
worried teammates. The crowd’s roar turned to silence.
However, cheers rang out as Vick left the field unassisted.

He was back on the sideline after x-rays were tak-
en. “I wanted to go back in there today, but there wasn’t a
need to,” said the freshman after his first game. Final:
Virginia Tech 47 – James Madison 0.

In 22 minutes of game time, the freshman had
thrown for 110 yards, run for 54 including a 10-yard sack,
and dazzled the Hokie Nation. However, the final touch-
down play cost Vick a game. He did not play the next week
against Alabama-Birmingham when Dave Myer guided the
team to a 31-10 victory. Who knows how that one missed
game influenced what became a surprise late-season run for
the Heisman trophy.

Clemson University

Blacksburg, VA, September 23, 1999 - Tech
played its third straight home game, against Clemson. The
Hokies were ranked eighth by the AP. Vick was back at the
helm, the nation getting its first look at the Phenom in a
Thursday night ESPN tilt. Vick looked more like a fresh-
man – throwing three interceptions and having trouble get-
ting the offense running most of the evening.

The Hokies finally got on the board late in the first
quarter with an 80-yard drive highlighted by a 25-yard pass
from the young quarterback to Davis. Stith took the ball on
a screen pass for 13 yards to the Clemson five, and then
carried on two straight plays to give Tech the 7-0 lead.

On the next play from scrimmage, Moore was wait-
ing for a Clemson receiver 11 yards deep in the backfield to

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thwart a Clemson reverse, and then had another tackle for
loss on a run up the middle on third down. The Hokies got
the ball back on its 45 with only 1:23 elapsed time. The
freshman QB had his highlight for the night, zigzagging up
the field on an option play for a gain of 31. Andre Kendrick
took the ball 24 yards to the end zone to give the Hokies all
the points they would need for the evening. In fact, it was
the last offensive touchdown.

Tech held a 14-3 lead through the entire third quar-
ter. Clemson cut the lead to a field goal early in the fourth
on a nine-yard pass on a fake field goal attempt and a two-
point conversion. It was the only touchdown against Tech’s
top-ranked defense, which then, preceded to do what the
offense couldn’t.

With 3:09 left, Ike Charlton returned a pass inter-
ception 34 yards for a touchdown. Then three plays later,
the All-American Moore stripped the ball away from the
Clemson quarterback, picked it up and jogged 32 yards into
the into the end zone. Final: Virginia Tech 31 – Clemson
11.

No. 24 University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA, October 2, 1999- The Com-
monwealth Cup, played as the last game of the seasons
since 1989, was early in 1999. All four non-conference
games would be finished by the first weekend of October.

It was the road debut for Michael Vick. Ironically,
the Hokies had suffered bitter defeats at the hands of the
Cavaliers the past two years when Vick’s cousin Aaron
Brooks, a fellow alum from Warwick High School, had
scorched the Hokies for a total of 735 passing yards and 70
points. Brooks had moved on to the NFL, and this time it
was the younger cousin who had his way.

Tech registered its first of six sacks on the night
when Chad Beasley took unprotected UVA quarterback
Dan Ellis to the turf for a 12-yard loss. In what would be

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the hallmark of the ’99 team, the defensive momentum set
Tech with a short field. Vick threw his first collegiate
touchdown pass when he hit Davis in stride for a 60-yard
bomb and a 7-0 lead.

VT took the ball in great field possession at the
UVA 39 late in the first quarter and Vick threw 32 yards to
Hall. A Stith touchdown made the lead 14-0.

Tech’s defense took it on the chin early in the third
when UVA drove 80 yards as Ellis looked as if he would
carry on Brooks’ tradition of burning the stingy Tech de-
fense. He threw for 19-, 15- and 9-yard completions and
scrambled eight yards to the Tech one. He then threw a
one-yard pass to Billy Baber for what would prove to be
the only points of the night for the home team. Final: Vir-
ginia Tech 31 – University of Virginia 7.

Vick eventually threw for 222 yards with just seven
completions in nine attempts. That included another long
toss to Davis for 50 yards before the end of the first half
setting up one of Stith’s three one-yard touchdowns that put
Tech up 28-7 at intermission. Vick also gained 40 yards on
the ground. "I've been telling you all along that I'm high on
my quarterback," Tech coach Frank Beamer said of his ris-
ing star.

Two teams ahead of Tech in the AP poll lost, Flori-
da (No. 3) and Texas A&M (No. 5), and Tech passed Ten-
nessee, which already had a loss. For the first time in histo-
ry, the team had entered the Top 5. The BCS polls would
not come out until later in October, but some of the com-
puter polls (used in a composite manner to account for part
of the total score) had Tech ranked at No. 1.

Rutgers University

Piscataway, NJ, October 9, 1999 - The first Big
East game of the season was in Rutgers. The potential let-
down following the big rivalry victory was on everyone’s
minds. Even though the Scarlett Knights were 5-21 through

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the last three years, the Hokies knew well from the previ-
ous season’s loss to Temple that one game against a lower
echelon conference opponent could spoil all their dreams.
“I think as painful as Temple was, maybe that’s a great
thing for this season,” Beamer said in his weekly press con-
ference.

Vick opened on the first offensive play of the game
with another perfect over the shoulder pass to Davis for a
74-yard touchdown, but the Scarlet Knights kept pace as
Mike McMahon ran in for a 12-yard score. Then Jarrett
Ferguson ran 20 yards to give Tech back the lead. RU kept
pace when it scored on a 36-yard pass play from McMahon
to L. J. Smith. Rutgers had only been averaging 11 points
per game and already had put up two TDs on the “Lunch
Pail Gang.” The Tech defense was only giving up seven
points per game. “Hanging around” was not a phrase the
Hokie coaches and thousands following the game from
back in Virginia wanted to hear.

Then, in the second quarter, VT’s freshman signal-
caller closed the noose and opened up the record books. He
hit Davis for the senior’s second touchdown on a 13-yard
slant pattern, following up on a 32-yard Vick-Davis hookup
earlier in the drive, to make it 21-14. After a two-yard scor-
ing run by Stith, Vick hit Hall for 36 yards on a rope-like
throw to put Tech up 35-14 with 3:39 left in the half.

The defense pitched in when Midget knocked the
ball away from a Rutgers receiver and the Hokies recov-
ered the ball on the RU 45. Vick used his feet on this drive,
tossing to Stith nine yards down field on an option play for
a total gain of 17 yards. The he kept the ball on first down,
going in from 22 yards out to make the score 42-14.

Hall completed the record-tying 35-point second
quarter outburst on Vick’s fourth TD pass of the game with
26 seconds left in the first half. He took a five-yard pass
from Vick into the end zone after catching the ball for 20
yards a play earlier. At the half Tech led 49-14. Ironically,

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the Hokies had scored 49 on this same field on Halloween
of 1992, losing on the final play of the game 50-49. What a
difference seven years had made in the Tech program. Fi-
nal: Virginia Tech 58 – Rutgers 20.

The freshmen prodigy earned a second-half vaca-
tion, giving way to Dave Myer at the beginning of the third
quarter. For the game, Vick was 11-12, which set a Big
East record for completion percentage in a game. He passed
for 248 yards and ran for another 68. In two games (actual-
ly six quarters), he had connected on 18 of 21 passes for
470 yards and rushed for a total of 108 yards. "He's good
enough right now to be in the Heisman Trophy race,"
said Virginia Tech lineman Moore, the Big East Confer-
ence's defensive player of the year in 1998. "In my opinion
he'll be a Heisman Trophy winner in the next year or two."

Moore’s defense had five sacks for 38 yards and six
tackles for loss, totaling 12 yards.

No. 16 University of Syracuse

Blacksburg, VA, October 16, 1999 - ESPN’s Col-
lege GameDay Saturday morning football pregame show
was coming to Blacksburg for the first time ever. It was
there to highlight the Big East’s two best programs, set to
play in an early season fight to see who would control its
own destiny to gain one of the spots in the BCS bowls. It
was the most anticipated and exciting day in the history of
football at Lane Stadium. The team Chris Fowler, Kirk
Herbstreit, and Lee Corso coming to your campus was a
symbol that your program had arrived on the national stage.
Corso was a campus favorite, having picked the Hokies in
the pre-season as a dark horse to travel to the National
Championship game against Florida State.

Kansas State had lured 10,000 sleepy fans the pre-
vious year when it took its turn on the national stage. Tech
was out to set the record, and Corso gave the Hokies the

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nod. Tech and ESPN officials estimated that the 20,000-
capacity home stands were two-thirds full.

Tech had risen to No. 4 in the AP polls when Texas
lost the previous week. Syracuse was ranked No. 16, suffer-
ing only an 18-13 loss at home to Michigan when the Wol-
verines were ranked No. 6.

The game was homecoming, and the Hokies had
lost the last two “feel-good” contests to over-matched op-
ponents. There was the 28-24 shattering loss at the hands of
lowly Temple the previous year in a Big East contest, and
the 24-17 heartbreaker in 1997 from Mid-American foe
Miami (OH). Both times Tech had entered the game unde-
feated. Both times the Hokies led by 10 points at the end of
the first quarter, and had entered the second half with leads
that evaporated.

However, this time there was no chance the Hokies
would see their homecoming foe as a patsy. Syracuse and
Virginia Tech had fought bitterly over the last six years,
and the home team had won every game, including the
devastating loss Tech suffered the previous season on Do-
novan McNabb’s last-ditch, across the field pass that broke
the Hokies’ backs. Then there was the fact that Vick had
chosen Tech over Syracuse to play his college football. The
red-hot freshman was leading the nation with a pass-
efficiency rating of 222.4. USA Today called Vick the na-
tion’s brightest news star. ESPN The Magazine analyst
Herbstreit wrote that Vick could be the most pivotal player
in major college football in 1999.

The National Championship trophy was in the fore-
ground of the famous trio of GameDay hosts. As the back-
drop, the thousands of Virginia Tech fans roared their ap-
proval. At the end of the show, Corso, familiar for donning
the mascot headgear of the team he picks to win the fea-
tured game of the day, put on the Hokie Bird’s attire, and
flashed the inside of his coat lined with VT logos. He was

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sticking with his early season pick for the Hokies to visit
the Sugar Bowl for the BCS National Championship game.

As afternoon became evening and the game finally
kicked off, Tech’s defense immediately took control to the
delight of the raucous Lane Stadium crowd. On the Or-
ange’s first two possessions, Tech forced three-and-outs,
with a net gain of one yard on the two series. On the third
series, Midget wrapped up Syracuse receiver Quinton
Spotwood after a short gain. The ball popped loose allow-
ing Corey Bird to race unobstructed down the right sideline
for 26 yards and a 7-0 advantage.

Stith scored another of his familiar one-yard touch-
downs to give Tech a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter. Be-
fore Syracuse had its initial first down of the game, Tech
drove 80 yards, capped by an eight-yard toss from Vick to
Hall. Then a bookend one-yard smash by Stith on a 75-yard
drive made it 28-0 midway through the second quarter. Yet
no one in Maroon was interested in letting Syracuse up off
the mat.

Safety Nick Sorensen, a backup quarterback the
previous two seasons, intercepted a pass with 1:25 left in
the second quarter to give Tech a chance to put up one
more score before the half. A draw by Vick for eight yards,
then a 19-yard pass to Terrell Parham, put the ball at the
Syracuse eight. Three straight Vick incompletions left it to
Graham to knock in a three-pointer for a 31-0 halftime
lead.

Tech had put up a combined 80 points in the first
half of its last two games. It had 14 first downs, and 229
total yards against the Orange as the teams went to the
locker room. The defense held Syracuse to 34 net yards,
one first down, and forced two turnovers. At halftime, the
GameDay crew was eager to anoint the Hokies as a true
contender for the trophy that was on display as a prop earli-
er in the day.

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On the first play of the second half, a Syracuse DB
caught Stith from behind after a 58-yard ramble to the Or-
ange 21. To the disappointment of the crowd, Tech settled
for another Graham field goal to put the Hokies up by 34.

Syracuse’s punter Mike Shafer bobbled the snap
under pressure from the Hokie punt block team and was
tackled at his own 24. Kendrick ran the ball in from seven
yards to make it 41-0. Then Davis ran a 28-yard reverse to
make it 48-0 before the end of the third.

Despite the fact that some of the BCS computer
polls used scoring margin in their formulas, Beamer pulled
his first-team, seeming content to let off the gas pedal. His
defense and special teams were not so content. Phillip
Summers picked a tipped ball out of the air, spun to evade
what looked like a sure tackle, and went 43-yards for
Tech’s seventh touchdown. Then a bad snap on another Sy-
racuse punt attempt gave Tee Butler a chance to fall on the
ball in the end zone, completing the rout. Final: Virginia
Tech 62 – Syracuse 0.

Beamer apologized to Paul Pasqualoni for the two
late touchdowns at the traditional handshake after the
game.

The previous most lopsided shutout of a ranked
team was No. 1 Army’s 61-0 blowout of No. 6 Penn State
in 1945. Tech’s most recent victory of 62 or more points
was in a 73-0 stomping in 1922 against Catholic. Syracuse
had not lost this badly since 1912 when Princeton put up an
identical 62-0 score.

It was arguably the most important win that Tech
has ever had in Blacksburg. Beamer talks in his book about
the 1995 victory over Miami (the win that followed an 0-2
start and propelled the Hokies to a 10-game streak and a
Sugar Bowl win over Texas), as being the most important.
However, ESPN’s extensive coverage of this pounding al-

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lowed the Hokies to stamp their own ticket into the club of
the nation’s elite programs. It also played a major part in
the process at the end of the season that could have left the
Hokies out of the National Championship game.

First BCS Poll

At halftime of the Monday night football game a lit-
tle more than a week later on October 25, the first BCS poll
of the year was released. As expected, Florida State and
Penn State were ranked No. 1 and No. 2. Because of Ne-
braska’s 24-20 loss to No. 18 Texas the preceding week-
end, the Hokies climbed to No. 3 in both the AP and USA
Today/ESPN polls during their off week. Tech also was the
top-ranked team in the composite of eight computer polls.
However, overall it was No. 3 in the BCS standings.

Tech’s strength of schedule was weighing it down
in three respects; 1) the individual voters in the “human
polls” obviously included it in their assessments; 2) all the
computer polls included it in their formulas to some degree;
and 3) there was a separate component of the BCS formula
that penalized a team for a weak schedule. Tech’s schedule
was ranked 42nd in the country, and things would not get
better as the season progressed. Among teams left on the
schedule, only Miami at No. 23 was in the AP Top 25.

Perhaps most importantly, both Florida State and
Penn State had already run their records to 8-0, and there-
fore had only three games left. There were only six com-
bined chances for one of them to be upset and give the
Hokies a shot to garner one of the National Championship
game spots. Of course, the Hokies, with only a 6-0 record
to-date, had five Big East games remaining and a big target
on their backs.

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University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA, October 30, 1999 - The person
throwing the first darts was Pittsburgh quarterback David
Priestly. After seeing the ferocious Tech defense manhan-
dling runners for much of the last two seasons, Panther’s
coach Walt Harris decided to take to the air against Tech’s
relatively weak secondary. Priestly was 28-46 for a total of
407 yards, and his backup hit one pass for 20 yards. The
427 total yards passing was the most against VT since
1993. However, Priestly only had one touchdown pass.

Pitt spotted the Hokies a 24-7 lead at halftime. Vick
had a dazzling 46-yard run through the Pitt defense, and
threw a 37-yard pass to his favorite target Davis, who was
covered like a glove in the end zone by a Pitt defender.
Kendrick ran for 59 yards to set up a nine-yard touchdown
by Stith.

Pitt had a punt blocked, and missed a field goal in
the first half, and only had the ball five times in the second
stanza. Final: Virginia Tech 30 – Pittsburgh 17.

Overall, Tech registered nine sacks for losses total-
ing 60 yards. Pitt actually lost 12 yards on the ground for
the evening (sacks count against running yardage in col-
lege).

Vick put up solid numbers, completing 10 of 17 for
170 yards, and running for a net of 70 yards on 11 carriers.

West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV, November 6, 1999 – Hokie
Nation now simply calls it “The Miracle in Morgantown.”
Tech had taken over the ball at its 15, down one point and
with 1:11 left on the clock. After two complete passes, the
Hokies now had possession at their own 38. With 36 sec-
onds remaining in the game, Michael Vick took a shotgun
snap and began retreating. Five receivers raced downfield
toward a West Virginia secondary playing prevent defense.

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Vick was poised to throw from the Tech 32, and the bobbed
backward, then backward again to the 28. One of three on-
coming rushers broke loose from an exhausted Tech line-
man. Another raced at full speed, having already shed his
blocker. Five full seconds had expired, and Vick was in re-
treat again from the grasps of a hungry defensive lineman.
The quarterback was a full 14 yards behind the line of
scrimmage at the Tech 24 before he began sprinting toward
the right sideline, easily outracing the oncoming pursuers.
He hesitated at the 32, moving the ball from his right, to his
left throwing-hand, slowing, slightly cocking the ball, per-
haps seeing an open receiver down field. He was just jog-
ging as he saw the last chance to pass, when the line of
scrimmage marker appeared at the sideline on his right.

Vick seemed headed out of bounds at the Tech 40 to
stop the clock. Then Hall gave Vick an open lane on the
sideline as a defender stumbled at the quarterback’s feet. At
the Tech 45, Vick skipped from first gear to some gear few
other players have ever achieved. He flew down the side-
line and then leaped over a Tech blocker on the ground,
landing at the West Virginia 30. He was marked out of
bounds at the 34. It is the most famous non-scoring play in
Tech history. It was for only 34 yards, but it changed the
course of a season.

The clock stopped with 23 seconds remaining. The
kick would be barely within Graham’s range – 53 yards,
matching the longest made field goal of his career. The
previous week he had made one 52-yarder and missed an-
other.

There was still time for at least one, or maybe two
plays, and Vick hit Davis on the right side at the 27, but not
out of bounds. As the clock ticked down from 19 seconds,
Vick coolly gathered the Hokies to the line and pounded
the ball to the turf with five seconds left.

Onto the field trotted Graham, facing not the 53-
yarder, but a kick from 44 yards. The fourth-year starter

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was 3-4 from 40-49 yards for the season and 11-16 from
that distance over the last two years. However, he had nev-
er made a winning field goal in his career. In fact, when
given the opportunity a year earlier against Miami, in a tie
game with less pressure, he had barely missed a 35-yarder
to the right.

Graham delivered the ball right down the middle,
and the “Miracle in Morgantown” would forever be folk-
lore in Hokie Nation.

Tech was a 19-point favorite against the Mountain-
eers, already losers of five games on the year. However,
WVU had come close to upsetting Miami the previous
week, and in 1999 Tech-WVU was becoming as big a ri-
valry as Tech-UVA, due to the Big East conference affilia-
tion.

To add more reason to think about upsets was the
situation in the previous year’s national championship race
when three teams went into the final week of the season
with undefeated records, and two lost in upsets.

It had been a battle the entire way as the West Vir-
ginia defense frustrated Vick. It was tied at zero after one
quarter, and it took 22 minutes before Kendrick turned the
corner for a 46-yard TD run, finally putting Tech on the
board with a 7-0 lead. West Virginia tied the score on a six-
yard pass from Marc Bulger to Khori Ivory in the last mi-
nute of the first half to knot the score at seven.

A Vick bomb to Davis resulted in a 58-yard non-
scoring gain early in the second half, but Tech couldn’t
muscle it into the end zone. Beamer opted for a three-
pointer from Graham with a fourth and one from the Moun-
taineer three.

After a Kibble punt left WVU starting from its
three, second-team lineman Chris Cyrus swatted the ball
out of quarterback Brad Lewis’s hands in the end zone, and

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West Virginia covered up the ball for a safety, giving Tech
a five-point advantage.

Tech used its typical formula for success as the
fourth quarter clock began to dwindle. Engelberger caused
a six-yard loss when he greeted Avon Cobourne deep in the
WVU backfield for a six-yard loss, and then Moore sacked
Lewis for another setback of eight.

When it got the ball back it its own 42, Davis
caught another Vick heave, picking up 51 yards giving
Tech first and goal from the six. Stith took care of the
touchdown from there, giving the Hokies what momentari-
ly seemed to be a comfortable 19-7 lead with 4:59 left on
the clock.

Then the ball literally bounced West Virginia’s
way. Tech’s Philip Hicks hit the Mountaineer kickoff re-
turn man at the 17. Boo Sensabaugh picked up the fumble
near the right hash mark, outside the Tech defenders who
were covering the original return man’s trajectory up the
middle. Sensabaugh raced 44 yards to the Hokie 39. A late
hit by the Tech kicker moved the ball to the 24. With 3:15
left, West Virginia cut the lead back to five when Lewis
threw for a four-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Porter.

West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen, with two
timeouts remaining, gambled on his defense and kicked the
ball deep to the Hokies. After Stith moved the ball to the 38
on gains of 14 and four yards, he took a savage hit from a
West Virginia linebacker and the ball popped into the air.
Sensabaugh was at the right place at the right time again,
snaring the carom at the Tech 32 with just 1:44 left.

The ‘Eers had to have a touchdown against the stin-
gy Tech defense and they delivered. On third and 13 from
the 18, back-up quarterback Lewis found Ivy in the middle
of the Tech secondary and the stadium exploded as West
Virginia took the one-point lead, 20-19. Lewis hurried the
pass for an attempt at a two-point conversion and the ball
sailed out of the end zone leaving it a one-point game with

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just over a minute left. The rest is history – or miracle. Fi-
nal: Virginia Tech 22 – West Virginia 20.

Tech players carried Graham from the field and
then went to the locker room holding up what looked like
“peace symbols” – two raised fingers. Earlier in the day,
this game had become much bigger to Tech than a shot to
hold onto third place. Penn State, the second-ranked team
in the BCS standings, was playing Minnesota at home in
Happy Valley, simply needing to win out to send Joe Pat-
erno to another national championship game. The Golden
Gophers gave Tech a pregame gift when they stunned the
Nittany Lions 24-23, also on a last-second field goal.

BCS Watch – Tennessee Moves Up

The narrow escape cost Tech some ground in the
raw scores of both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, but
they were still No. 2 in both. Monday afternoon, the Hokies
were jolted by the non-human element of the BCS. Either
the two fingers they held up leaving the field at West Vir-
ginia needed to have one added (or one subtracted – think
about it).

VT had led in the composite computer polls for
much of the year. However, Tennessee beat Notre Dame
(5-4) by 24 points on the same day that Tech beat West
Virginia (3-6) by two. The Volunteers, defending National
Champions, went from No. 5 in the BCS to No. 2 based on
the rise in the computer polls and the strength of schedule
component. Tech’s schedule after the WVU win was 60th in
the country – Tennessee’s was ninth. Ironically, Tennessee
had already lost to rival Florida, and was highly unlikely to
be the SEC champion. Following Tennessee in fourth in the
BCS were the Gators, who had already lost to Alabama and
had a matchup with Florida State remaining on the sched-
ule. In one highly possible scenario, a Florida win over
Florida State, combined with a win in the Southeastern
Conference Championship game could mean that two one-

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loss teams from Florida could shut an 11-0 Tech team out
of the National Championship game. A third Florida team
stood next in Tech’s way of achieving the dream of that
undefeated season.

No. 19 University of Miami

Blacksburg, VA, November 13, 1999 - Miami had
once been the class of the Big East Conference. Between
1991 and 1994, it lost one conference game - in Morgan-
town against No. 9 West Virginia in 1993. Then came
NCAA probation, but it still lost a total of only two Big
East Conference games in 1995 and 1996 - both to Virgin-
ia Tech. Those years, for the high-fling “U” it had disap-
pointing poll results (No. 20 and No. 14 respectively), suf-
fering two non-conference losses both years. Each season it
had lost to bitter rival Florida State. The Hurricanes also
bowed to No. 15 UCLA in ’95 and to unranked East Caro-
lina in ‘96.

In 1998, the Miami slumped to its first losing sea-
son in 20 years, but rebounded for a 20th spot in the AP
polls again in 1998, losing to Tech, Syracuse, and again to
Florida State.

Fifth-year seniors for Miami had already suffered
their fifth straight loss to Florida State in October, and
came to Lane Stadium in November 1999 never having
beaten Virginia Tech. They came into the game almost a
10-point underdog, holding a 5-3 record, with losses to
Penn State, which had been No. 3, to unranked East Caroli-
na for the second straight year, and to the No. 1 ‘Noles.
Since that time, the Hurricanes had run up a three-game
winning streak in the conference, and controlled their own
destiny in the race for the conference championship.

The matchup of the current and former “Beasts of
the East” brought ESPN GameDay back to Blacksburg and
reports were that the Hokie faithful broke their previous
record of fans in the stands against Syracuse just weeks ear-

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lier. The evening game gave Tech fans a chance to follow
the second most important game of the day. Tennessee,
now the No. 2 team in the BCS, was playing against SEC
rival Arkansas, which entered the game at 5-3. The previ-
ous year, the two teams met as top-10 foes, with the No. 10
Razorbacks taking an 8-0 record to play the No. 1 Volun-
teers in Knoxville. Tennessee had spoiled the Hogs’ road
party, winning a close 28-24 contest. As Tech fans roared
in parking lots and living rooms, Arkansas upset the Volun-
teers in Little Rock.

The hex of being in BCS contention had continued
with the Tennessee loss. Also on that Saturday, Kansas
State, the No. 5 BCS team lost its first game of the season
to Nebraska. Another unbeaten, Mississippi State, 10th in
the BCS poll, lost to Alabama. Penn State, hoping to move
back into the chase, lost its second game in a row, this time
to Michigan. Tech again controlled its own destiny. Would
it be able to break the spell that had befallen so many other
contenders?

Knocking out contenders was Miami’s forte. It had
eliminated teams from the national championship picture
11 times between 1983 and 1998. Six of those wins were
against in-state rival Florida State. Its new conference rival,
the Hokies, were about to hunker down in the path of a
Hurricane.

The ‘Canes scored a field goal on their first posses-
sion, and held a 10-0 lead with 4:35 left in the first period
after Vick fumbled away the ball at midfield. Then, as if
pushing a button, the magic returned. Tech began using the
defense and special teams combo that had led to its thrilling
6-0 start, and throttling of Syracuse.

David Pugh forced a Clinton Portis fumble at the
Miami 35 and Charlton carried it to the 24. Miami commit-
ted a personal foul moving the ball to the 12. This set up
Stith’s fifth one-yard TD of the season to cut the deficit to
three. (Stith has three more two-yard TDs at the time).

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After Midget intercepted a pass by Kenny Kelly,
Stith dashed 41 yards to the end zone for the first Tech
lead, 14-10, which it held at halftime.

Up 20-10 going into the fourth quarter (after Gra-
ham made two field goals in the third), the Hokies turned it
up another notch. On two consecutive plays from scrim-
mage, Hall returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown, and
then Charlton picked up another loose ball in stride and
took a fumble return 51 yards to the house.

On the second play of its next series, Miami’s Ken
Dorsey threw an interception to Midget, his third pick of
the game. Graham hit a 42-yard field goal to make it 36-10.
Miami had run four plays (including the punt) and Tech
had scored 17 points. To add insult to injury, before the
fourth quarter was half over, Kendrick rushed 39 yards to
the Miami 19 where a Hurricane defender swatted the ball
out of his hands in a desperate move to stop another score.
In the ensuing scramble, the ball was kicked into the end
zone, and Davis won the foot race to the ball for another
Tech touchdown. Final: Virginia Tech 43 – Miami 10.

Tech’s defense forced six Miami turnovers, had five
tackles for loss, and five sacks. This turned out to be a Mi-
ami team that would not lose another game during the year,
and finish ranked 15th in the country with a season-capping
28-13 win over No. 17 Georgia Tech.

Temple University

Philadelphia, PA, November 20, 1999 - Rewind
13 months. An undefeated No. 14 Virginia Tech team, fa-
vored to win by 35 points, played Temple on homecoming
and lost in one of the most embarrassing upsets a ranked
team had ever suffered. The stakes were much bigger this
time. Tech had nine wins in the bag, and was ranked No. 2
in the country. Temple, had only won three times since that
day in Blacksburg. However, in the BCS roller coaster,
there were no easy wins. Every light was shining on the

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team that wanted to put on its fancy clothing and meet the
prince at the big ball. This year the Hokies were 29-point
favorites, and playing on the road. However, Tech fans
from across the mid-Atlantic and the northeast came out to
see their undefeated Hokies.

After spotting Temple a seven-point lead, Vick
went to work. The escape artist left the pocket for a 53-yard
touchdown. After holding only a 10-7 lead at the end of the
first quarter, Tech’s high-flying defense lit up the score-
board when Larry Austin’s 31-yard interception return, and
leap over the pylon, gave Tech a comfortable 17-7 lead.
Comfortable would not satisfy the computers. Davis took a
pass from Vick near midfield, escaped a Temple tackler,
and jogged in for a 65-yard catch and run. This made the
lead 24-7 and Graham’s second field goal of the day gave
Tech a 20-point halftime margin.

Vick and Davis duplicated their two offensive
scores in the third quarter. Number 7 made an improvisa-
tion on a play where he went the wrong direction, weaving
untouched through the entire Temple defense for a 75-yard
score. Vick and his favorite receiver connected on another
long pass on the next series, with Davis getting deep behind
the safety to haul in a 30-yard completion for the score.
Kendrick also ran in two touchdowns. Beamer took out his
first string after the second Kendrick score with 14:48 left
in the game and the Hokies up 52-7.

Third string back Lee Suggs scored his first touch-
down as a Hokie mid-way through the final stanza. Tech
had one final chance to score with its back-up brigade, but
Beamer opted not to kick a field goal and ran a dive play
with a fourth and one from the Temple two as time expired.
Final: Virginia Tech 62 – Temple 7.

Vick had his biggest rushing day ever, gaining 159,
and netting 134 after accounting for 25 yards of sacks. He
was also 7-10 through the air, for 196 yards, 121 to Davis.
He had two interceptions, breaking a streak of 111 passes

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