Birth of the Hokie Nation 11_26_2015_6p

Druckenmiller’s hands as he pitched toward Oxendine. The
ball bounced into the hands defensive lineman Jason Peter
for Nebraska who ran 33 yards into the Hokie end zone.

VT cut the 10-point deficit to three by halftime
when Druckenmiller hit Brian Jennings for 20 yards fol-
lowed by a 39-yard run by Oxendine. With 25 seconds left
in the half, Druckenmiller tossed a floater to end zone to-
ward Sean Scales who was double-covered. It looked like a
certain interception, but the VT receiver yanked the ball out
of the hands of the Nebraska defender who was waiting for
the ball to fall into his arms.

A 17-14 first half deficit was a definite moral victo-
ry for the Hokies, and Tech continued to keep pace with the
‘Huskers as the third quarter opened. Nebraska went up by
10 when Coach Tom Osborne gambled on fourth and one
from the VT 33 and the risk paid off with touchdown jaunt
by Damon Benning. Tech held serve when it drove the ball
to the Cornhusker 33 on the ensuing 12-play drive where
Druckenmiller threw a perfect strike to White to cut the
lead to 24-21 with 4:58 left in the third stanza. Then the
Hokies ran out of steam.

Nebraska scored on its next three possessions and
Tech’s one trip into Nebraska’s territory during that on-
slaught ended in a holding penalty that occurred deep be-
hind the line resulting in a 27-yard loss. Final: Nebraska
41 – Virginia Tech 21.

In the end, the Nebraska’s speed and depth were the
difference-makers. Star junior running back Ken Oxendine
ran through the Black-Shirt defense for 150 yards and had
60 receiving yards. However, he did not score a touch-
down. Consider the following plays where Oxendine was
chased down from behind by the Nebraska secondary with
the result of the drive for the Hokies:

 41-yard reception from Druckenmiller to the UN
43; punt

 16-yard run to the UN 20; touchdown

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 39-yard run to the UN 21; touchdown
 36-yard run to the UN 45; punt
 20-yard run to the VT 40; punt

From the perspective of wearing the Hokies’ de-
fense down, Nebraska was 7-9 on third down, and 1-1 on
fourth down conversions in the second half. The ‘Huskers
held the ball for 10:25 in the fourth quarter.

Tom Osborne summed it up in his post-game press
conference. “Our plan was to use some additional depth we
thought we had and wear them down in the second half.”
The plan worked.

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1996 Season Results

1996– Virginia Tech 10-2

Final AP Poll: No. 13

@Akron (T#15) W 21-18

@Boston Col. (T#19) W 45- 7

Rutgers (T#18) W 30-14

@Syracuse (T#18) L 21-52

Temple W 38 - 0

Pittsburgh W 34-17

La.-Lafayette W 47-16

East Carolina (T#25) W 35-14

@ #18 Miami (T#21) W 21- 7

#23 West Va. (T#17) W 31-14

#20 UVA (T#17) W 26- 9

n1 #6 Nebraska(T#10) L 21-41

1Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla

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National Championship Game:
Failed Fake Field Goal Leaves Mar-

gin at 21

Special teams was the hallmark of Virginia Tech’s
rise to the pinnacle of national rankings. Good things hap-
pened often when the other team was kicking. Since 1993,
Tech had blocked 26 punts, (scoring on six) and 12 field
goals, (scoring in the 1993 Independence Bowl). Punt re-
turns for touchdowns were less common, but the most no-
table of the three returns for touchdown had come in New
Orleans in the 1995 Sugar Bowl when Bryan Still sparked
the comeback win over Texas with a 60-yard return.

There was no mention in the Tech media guides
about fake punts, fake field goals, or onside kicks. Howev-
er, BeamerBall was not only about scoring when the other
team had the ball, but also about occasionally running a
trick play to steal a series of downs.

On the kickoff after Warrick’s touchdown. the tradi-
tional BeamerBall special teams success showed up when
Kendrick gave the Hokies a boost with a 63-yard return
from the goal line. A three-and out left Tech with a 51-yard
field goal opportunity by Graham. The kicker had become
one of the Tech stars during the season, hitting 17 of 22
attempts, including the decisive factor in the Miracle of
Morgantown. He had a long made field goal of 52 yards
against Pittsburgh earlier in the year, but had also failed on
a 52-yard attempt in the same game. A 59-yard end-of-the
half try against Miami made him1-3 from over 50. He had

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made his final six of the season, but none of those was over
42.

It was the right place on the field for Beamer to pull
a trick out of his hat. The play just went terribly wrong. The
holder, Caleb Hurd, took the snap and stood up, going to
his left against the oncoming FSU defenders with Graham
trailing in an option play. One unblocked defender took the
holder out as he pitched in desperation, and the outside
blocker missed his man disrupting Graham’s attempt to
grab the ball. The ball bounced forward, and was never
near the first down line when Tech made the recovery. The
Hokies had whiffed on another tremendous opportunity to
close the margin. 9:43 remaining second quarter: Florida
State 28 – Virginia Tech 7.

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1997: Recruiting Win Brightens Dis-
appointing Season

Miami University (Ohio)

Blacksburg, VA, October 4, 1997 - Homecoming
games are for celebrations. Alumni return home with the
implicit promise of a win against an opponent usually paid
to come to town and take its punishment. Virginia Tech had
a 12-game home winning streak under its belt. It was 23-3
in its last 26 regular season games. It was ranked 14th in
the country after running up a 4-0 record with a 40-point
romp over Rutgers, a 28-point win over Syracuse and a 50-
shellacking of Arkansas State. (Temple had held their own
with the Hokies in a mainly empty Veterans Stadium, los-
ing 23-13).

The other Miami, the team from Ohio, was the op-
ponent on this sunny October day in 1997. The RedHawks
were 19-point underdogs to the high-flying Hokies who had
been to two straight Coalition bowl games. Miami, though,
team had made a name for itself as upset specialists. The
team from the Mid-American Conference had most recent-
ly knocked off Northwestern 30-28 early in the season, and
then a week later Northwestern had upset vaunted Notre
Dame. (The Wildcats went on to reel off nine-straight wins,
including a perfect 8-0 record against their conference foes
and lost 41-32 to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl). A decade
earlier, Miami beat No. 8 LSU in Death Valley 21-10.

87

Tech alumni eager to get back to the parking lot to
continue their tailgating parties were no doubt heartened as
the Hokies easily rolled to a 10-0 lead after their first two
possessions. Ken Oxendine capped off a 71-yard drive with
a one-yard touchdown dive over the pile on the first drive
and then Tech took the ball on the Miami 31 after a fumble
recovery and settled for a 44-yard Shayne Graham field
goal.

Beamer’s prized special team units then began to hit
the skids. Early in the second quarter, Jimmy Kibble’s punt
was blocked deep in Tech territory and the RedHawks
picked up the ball at the three to cut the lead to three. (Mi-
ami blocked another punt in the third quarter that didn’t
lead to points). Then came the play that left everyone’s
head shaking. On fourth and 10 from the Tech 32, Miami
sent its kicker onto the field for what appeared to be a 49-
yard field goal. A confused Hokie defensive unit saw Mi-
ami line up with three men in the backfield, the holder, and
kicker standing adjacent to running back Travis Prentice. A
quick snap went to the holder in the middle of the line who
executed a version of what is commonly referred to as the
fumblerooski play. The holder quickly placed the ball on
the ground at the feet of Prentice, and then ran to his left
where he was swarmed by the onslaught of pursuing
Hokies. After holding for a count of two, Prentice picked
up the ball and ran to his right, 32 yards untouched into the
end zone.

It was a time when there were no instant replays
available for games that weren’t televised, and hardly any-
one in the stadium knew how the lone RedHawk player got
the ball as he raced into the end zone. (The fumblerooski
was traditionally an intentional forward fumble by the quar-
terback picked up by a lineman. The NCAA banned the
trick play in 1992, considering it a forward fumble. How-
ever, versions of the play where the ball is placed on the
ground behind or beside the ball carrier are legal).

88

Tech’s offense seemed unfazed, as quarterback Al
Clark threw 50 yards down the middle to speedster Ricky
Scales. Oxendine ran in his second touchdown to turn the
game back right side up.

In the second half, Miami capitalized on an Ox-
endine fumble in Tech territory to take a 21-17 lead into the
fourth quarter. The RedHawks put up a field goal to take a
24-17 lead after Oxendine’s second fumble of the second
half to bookend his two touchdowns in the first. These were
the first two fumbles that Tech lost in the ’97 season. After
Graham missed a 40-yard field goal, the Miami offense
salted things away giving the Hokies its first loss. Final:
Miami (O) 24 – Virginia Tech 17.

While the Hokies had dreamed of an undefeated
season, the loss had no impact on their chances for a Coali-
tion Bowl game. Their destiny was in their own hands since
they had already mustered a 3-0 record against Big East
opponents.

No. 21 West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV, October 25, 1997 - After the
Miami loss, Tech got back on the winning track with a 17-7
win over Boston College when it capitalized on a 50-yard
touchdown pass from Clark to Angelo Harrison, and
Clark’s 42-yard scamper into the end zone.

The Hokies went to Morgantown, sporting a 4-0
Big East record and a 19th ranking in the AP polls. No. 21
West Virginia had lost to Boston College earlier in the sea-
son, but hoped to get back into the conference race with a
win against their bitter border rivals. Perhaps more im-
portantly, the Mountaineers hoped to erase the painful
memories of the three-game losing streak to the Hokies in-
cluding a 27-0 shellacking in the most recent game at
Mountaineer Field two years earlier.

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While Tech jumped out to a 7-3 lead with 13:06 left
in the second quarter, WVU essentially wrapped up the
game on its next four possessions. A 46-yard pass from
Marc Bulger to Shawn Foreman put the Mountaineers
ahead. Before the smoke cleared from the celebratory shot
from the West Virginia mascot, WVU was up 17-7 after
Clark fumbled on the first Tech play from scrimmage, and
Bulger capped a 21-yard drive with a one-yard plunge.

After a 13-yard Tech punt, Amos Zereoué raced 42
yards deep into Tech territory, and then took it in from the
three.

Tech held WVU to a 20-yard field goal after the
Mountaineers reached the one, but to add insult to injury,
Clark threw an interception on the last play of the half.
West Virginia led 27-7 going into the locker room. Final:
West Virginia 30 – Virginia Tech 17.

It was never a competitive game after the second
quarter onslaught. The Hokies rushed for a total of 66
yards, 29 coming on a fake punt by Kibble. Clark, entering
the game as the Big East’s most efficient passers, was 14-
34 for 129 yards. The Mountaineers outgained the Hokies
391 to 195.

University of Miami (Florida)

Blacksburg, VA, November 8, 1997 - After its 37-
0 win in a get-well game against UAB on the same week-
end that Syracuse gave West Virginia its second conference
loss of the season, Tech controlled its own destiny in the
Big East conference again. Just two teams stood in its way
of it representing the Big East in its third consecutive Bowl
Alliance/Coalition game – Miami and Pittsburgh.

When Miami traveled to Blacksburg two years ear-
lier, it had never lost to the Hokies in 13 games. This year,
the “U” was trying to erase a two-game losing streak to
their Big East rivals. It had not lost to a single school three
straight times since it suffered that fate against Notre Dame

90

between 1978 and 1980. Miami was at a turning point in its
season, with a 4-4 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the Big
East, still in the running to add another conference champi-
onship to its resume by running the table and getting a little
help along the way.

Miami came out of the locker room on fire, and
scored touchdowns on its first two possessions. A special
teams gem followed the second touchdown when Clark
Bradley blocked the Miami PAT and Tech had a reasonable
chance to recover and return the ball for its own 2-point
conversion. After a nearly sixty-yard footrace toward the
Miami goal line, a Hurricane player finally corralled the
ball before the Hokies could capitalize. Miami held a 13-3
lead, but the Tech fans were going wild. The momentum
had shifted on another BeamerBall moment.

With Tech facing a third and three on its 47, Al
Clark sprinted to the right on an option play, and then froze
three Miami defenders who were focusing on stopping Ox-
endine, the pitchman. Clark, who came into the game nurs-
ing a knee sprain, raced 30 yards untouched to the Tech 20
where he slowed and faced being tackled by a pursuing Mi-
ami defender. He turned his head to see if Oxendine was
still trailing the play, planted his feet and calmly pitched
the ball to the running back who caught the ball helmet
high. The Miami defenseman threw Clark aside and did get
to Oxendine after he picked up another 13 yards to the Hur-
ricane seven. Overall, the play went for 46 yards. 21 Mar-

21 (As a personal footnote, I happened to be subbing for the individu-
al normally in charge of spotting the ball for official purposes, John Shaffer,
and interpreting the NCAA Official Football Statistician’s Manual. In 1997, the
manual said that on an option play where the quarterback rolls out for an ob-
vious run and pitches to a trailing back, credit the trailing back with a rush
attempt and total yardage gained or lost, regardless of where he obtains the
pitch. I therefore gave the full gain to Oxendine who received the benefit of 33
yards from Clark’s carry and astute field awareness. There was significant
laughter and derision in the press box about the ruling, but I stuck with my
guns, and Tech’s long-time Sports Information Director Dave Smith backed me
up. I always contended that the play was a continuation of the original option

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cus Parker battled through a gauntlet up the middle to go in
for the touchdown on the next play, cutting the lead to 13-
10. That was the halftime score.

Tech owned the third quarter, coming out with a 14-
play, 68-yard drive capped by a Cullen Hawkins’ 14-yard
jaunt up the middle of the defense giving Tech its first lead
of the evening. It followed up with a seven-play, 75-yard
drive highlighted by a 27-yard TD sprint by Lamont Pegues
who went untouched into the end zone to give the Hokies a
10-point lead. VT had run up 21 straight points to turn a
10-point deficit into a two-possession lead in just two quar-
ters and the Tech fans were giddy about the turn-around
over their Big East conference rivals.

Miami exploded with a 78-yard James Jackson
touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to
one possession. The two-point conversion failed, and the
Tech lead was 24-19. Clark escaped steep pressure from the
Miami front and heaved a 47-yard bomb down the right
sideline to Marcus Gildersleeve that set up a short field
goal by Graham to give Tech an eight-point advantage.
With 3:58 remaining, Miami had the opportunity to take the
game to overtime.

It looked exactly like it would have this opportuni-
ty. Jackson rushed 24 yards into Tech territory, then 13
yards to the Tech 22. Clement passed 12 yards to Daryl
Jones to move to the 10 and then Jackson hauled the ball
into the end zone to cut the lead to two. The momentum
was clearly on the side of the Hurricanes, and the Hokies

based on the obvious intent Clark showed in looking for Oxendine and stopping
to pitch in a normal manner rather than simply tossing the ball backward when
in the grasp of the defender. The following year, the NCAA added several par-
agraphs of clarification to the statistician’s manual. It now says “(t)he basic
run-option play is distinguished from a play when the quarterback keeps the
ball past the line of scrimmage, beyond the one-yard cushion, and pitches to
the trailing back. In this play, credit the quarterback with a rush attempt plus
yardage to the point where he pitched the ball… (and) the trailing back with no
attempt and the yardage from the point of the pitch.”

92

had just allowed the speedy Jackson to shred its vaunted
defense with running plays. Certainly, the Tech defense
would be called upon to stop Jackson on this two-point at-
tempt.

Coach Butch Jones decided to go against the grain.
Miami sent three receivers into the right side of the end
zone on a pick play. Tech’s Pierson Prioleau stayed at
home on the goal line and was right in front of the rifled
pass by Clement. Prioleau caught the bullet and barreled
down the sideline toward the end zone. Without Jackson’s
dash to catch the Tech defensive back, Prioleau would have
scored a “pick-two,” and Miami would have needed a
touchdown to overtake the Hokies with 1:48 left. Prioleau
was pushed out of bounds after a 61-yard return. Miami
tried to execute an onside-kick that Tech recovered. The
Hokies got the first down they needed with Oxendine’s
four-yard run on third and three with time running out. Fi-
nal: Virginia Tech 27 – Miami 25.

Tech’s record was now 7-2.

The Battle off the field: Recruiting Michael Vick

One Tech’s early-season wins was an easy home
romp over Syracuse and star quarterback Donovan
McNabb. The Tech defense held Syracuse to a single field
goal, winning 31-3, and putting the Orange in the unusual
position of having a 1-3 overall record. McNabb had only
198 yards passing along with an interception. He was
sacked four times, leaving him with only 14 yards rushing.
Paul Pasqualoni, the Syracuse head coach, and McNabb,
still had their eyes on beating the Hokies, not only for the
Big East crown, but also in the recruiting competition for
one of the nation’s most highly touted quarterbacks who
hailed from the eastern part of Virginia.

In 1997, the prized recruit from what is now called
“the 757,” signifying the area code of the Hampton

93

Roads/Norfolk area, was not Michael Vick, but instead
Ronald Curry of Hampton High School. Experts considered
Curry the top recruit in the entire country – for both foot-
ball and basketball. He was on his way to leading Hampton
to its third straight state football championship and was
committed to play at the University of Virginia. The Cava-
liers promised him he could play both sports. His commit-
ment turned out to be soft; he was still being wooed by oth-
er schools.

Curry was the offensive and defensive player of the
year in the Peninsula District in 1997, and the second-string
quarterback on that team was an unpolished player from
Warwick High School named Michael Vick. Vick’s high
school compiled only a 20-13 record during his three years
there. Nevertheless, Vick earned pre-season high school
All-America status and was considered a great catch for
many teams up and down the east coast.

The previous winter, following the 1996 season,
and Vick’s junior year in high school, McNabb hosted the
high school quarterback in his visit to the campus in mid-
New York. Syracuse is just 45 minutes from Lake Ontario
and over eight hours from Hampton, VA. Vick had admired
McNabb who represented his own playmaking double-
threat style. Before he left Syracuse that weekend, he was
prepared to commit to the Orange. The story goes that
McNabb called Vick’s mother Brenda Bodie to seal the
deal. As Michael listened on, Ms. Bodie reminded Do-
novan how far it was from Virginia. Vick’s mother won the
day as no commitment resulted from the visit.

Syracuse had recovered from the early-season loss
to the Hokies to run off seven-straight wins by the time
Tech played Pitt. They stood on the doorstep to take the
Big East championship if the Hokies faltered against the
Panthers, and their 21st national ranking was clearly more
impressive to Vick from Syracuse’s standpoint than the re-
sults of the game he had seen earlier in the season.

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University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA, November 22, 1997 - The “hard
game” was over, and to claim a share of the conference
crown, and the Bowl Coalition bid, Tech needed just a win
over the 4-5 Pitt Panthers who it had owned since begin-
ning Big East play. Tech was 4-0 against Pitt, it had the
best defense in the Big East conference; and had won 10
straight games in November dating back to 1994. VT was
17-2 in its last 19 Big East games, losing just to West Vir-
ginia two weeks earlier, and the previous season in the 52-
21 thumping at the Carrier Dome.

Tech’s players were adamant the week before the
game that they were not overlooking the Panthers. Pitt had
just given resurgent Syracuse a run for its money the week
before, leading late in the game before falling 32-27. Pitt
had already beaten Miami when it was ranked 21st, and
suffered one of its five losses to then No. 1 Penn State by a
34-17 tally in the hostile confines of Beaver Stadium.

The Hokies scored field goals on two of its first
three possessions to take a 6-0 lead before Pitt earned a first
down. Pitt took a 9-6 lead into halftime, scoring a field goal
and passing for a 18-yard touchdown, only the fourth of the
season against the Tech “D.” Tech blocked another extra
point to keep the deficit to three.

Pitt quarterback Pete Gonzalez pierced the Hokie
secondary again in the middle of the third quarter with a
40-yard strike to Andy Molinaro, putting the Panthers up
by nine points. The defensive backfield seemed to be mak-
ing amends for its early weakness as Phillip Summers
stripped the ball from a Pitt receiver, and Anthony Midget
took it into the end zone from 22 yards out to cut the lead to
two.

Gonzalez put his third passing tally on the board to
match the number of touchdown passes given up the by the
“Lunch Pail” defense though the entire season. This time he

95

connected on a 35-yard toss to Juan Williams. Then, lead-
ing 22-16 after a Graham field goal, Gonzalez threw 56-
yards to Kevin Barlow to give Pitt a 14-point lead with just
over five minutes left.

Tech kept its hopes alive with a drive leading to a
Clark touchdown, but the defense couldn’t contain the Pan-
thers. Final: Pittsburgh 30 – Virginia Tech 23.

Gonzalez wound up throwing for 314 yards, con-
necting 15 times on 24 attempts. Balancing the offensive
attack to keep the Hokies from keying on the pass was Bil-
ly West, who banged his way to 130 yards on the ground,
114 of them in the second half.

The chances for a third straight bowl trip represent-
ing the Big East as co-champions were all but gone, and by
game time the following week at Virginia, Syracuse had
wrapped up the bid with a victory over Miami.

Tech looked like it had nothing to play for in the
game with its archrival Cavaliers, losing its second straight
away game, this one by a 34-20 mark. It wasn’t nearly as
close as the final score indicated, with UVA racing to a 27-
3 lead midway through the third quarter. The proud Tech
defense gave up 502 yards, even though it held the Wahoos
to no points on four of its trips inside the Tech 25-yard line.
It was the first time Tech had given up more than 500 yards
of offense since a strange 52-28 win over Maryland in 1993
when Scott Milanovich threw for 498 yards as the Terps
racked up 649 yard in trying to overcome a 35-14 halftime
deficit. (Milanovich threw three interceptions, and Mary-
land missed three field goals).

Despite its 7-4 record, Tech finished alone in sec-
ond place in the Big East with a 5-2 record. Syracuse had
run off eight consecutive victories after the Hokies hum-
bled it 31-3 in Blacksburg, and finished 6-1 in the Big East.
Ranked No.14 in the country, Syracuse earned a spot
against No. 10 Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, where they
lost 35-18.

96

Gator Bowl – No. 6 University of North Carolina

Jacksonville, FL, January 1, 1998 - Even as the
second place Big East team, there was no guarantee that the
Hokies would get another trip to Jacksonville for the Gator
Bowl. Athletic Director Jim Weaver made a business move
to sway the decision. He guaranteed that the Hokies would
sell 17,000 tickets, and Tech got the nod over West Virgin-
ia and Pittsburgh. Their opponent would be ACC second
place North Carolina. Carolina had only one blemish on its
record, against the perennial ACC-champ Florida State.
The 10-1 Tar Heels were ranked seventh in the country and
were heavily favored over their neighbors to the north.

In a New Year’s Day showdown,22 Carolina left no
doubt which team was the better. It ran up a 16-0 first quar-
ter lead highlighted by a 62-yard touchdown pass by Chris
Keldorf to Octavus Barnes and a blocked Kibble punt that
it recovered in the end zone. The ACC runners-up were up
28-3 before Tech scored its only points of the day on a 40-
yard Graham field goal. Final: North Carolina 42 – Vir-
ginia Tech 3.

The Hokies finished the year with a three-game los-
ing streak and a 7-5 overall record.23

The “Consolation Prize”

January ended much better than it started for Tech.
On January 28, Vick announced his college decision. He
was swayed by his high school coach Tommy Reamon,
who secured a promise from Virginia Tech that it would
give the young quarterback a red-shirt season to mature and

22 This would mark the first time Tech had actually played on January
1 since 1947 when it played in the Sun Bowl on January 1 since the 1947 Sun
Bowl, even though it had been in traditional New Year’s Day bowl games the
previous two seasons.

23 It was the lowest win total since 1992, and turned out to be the
fewest the team would amass until 2012 when it finished 7-6.

97

become acclimated to college life, and his mother who
wanted him to stay close to home for his college career. “It
was the hardest decision of my life,” said Vick.

While humble for most of the press conference,
Vick showed his supreme confidence in saying “You can
bring in as many quarterbacks as you want, but Michael
Vick is going to come out on top.”

Ironically, days later, Ronald Curry, the most cele-
brated high school quarterback in America, compared with
Ralph Sampson in his perceived impact on the University
of Virginia athletic scene, decided to change his decision
and play for North Carolina, the team who had just embar-
rassed the Hokies.

98

1997 Season Results

1997– Virginia Tech 7-5

Final AP Poll: Unranked

@ Rutgers W 59-19

Syracuse (T#22) W 31 - 3

@Temple (T#18) W 23-13

Ark. State (T#14) W 50 - 0

Miami (OH) (T#14) L 17-24

Boston Coll. (T#23) W 17 - 7

@#21 WVU (T#19) L 7-30

UAB (T#23) W 37 - 0

Miami (FL) (T#20) W 27-25

@Pittsburgh (T#19) L 23-30

@UVA L 20-34

#7 North Carolina1 L 3-42

1Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, FL

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100

National Championship Game: Vick
Twists way to Late First Half TD

Tech had what appeared to be its final chance of the
half to capitalize on its offensive success against the Semi-
noles. With 3:53 left, Tech took the ball on its 20. Stith
swept to the right for 17 yards, and then was stuffed on the
next play up the middle. On second down, with Vick in
shotgun, the FSU left tackle lined up outside the box and
jumped the snap count. The lineman was five yards deep in
the backfield when Vick received the ball. There was only
one nearly defenseless blocker between him and plodding
attacker. It would not have been surprising to see the “una-
bated to the quarterback rule invoked.” Luckily, for Tech, it
was not.

The lineman evaded the blocker and had a clear
shot from the blind side as Vick cocked the ball. In a split
second, #7 took the ball down and retreated a step as he felt
the pressure. The lineman caught the back of his jersey as
Vick spun away from his grasp. The quarterback fell to-
ward the turf, but balanced himself with his left hand hold-
ing the ball barely off the ground. As he regained his bal-
ance, he looked downfield along the right sideline for an
open receiver. At the Tech 30, eight yards in the backfield
and far outside the hash marks, he gestured to three down-
field receivers on that side to continue going long. It was a
decoy. He immediately pivoted back toward his left and
saw an open lane up the field. He raced past a linebacker
and then a cornerback as he passed the line of scrimmage

101

and headed toward the National Championship emblem at
mid-field.

At the 50, he got the help of a block from tight end
Browning Wynn. By the time he reached the 40 of FSU,
there were four defenders within five yards of him as he
had reached the numbers on the opposite side of the field.
Ferguson threw a remarkable block eliminating two of the
pursuers. Cornerback Tay Cody finally got an angle on the
speedster and was able to reach Vick as he stepped out
bounds at the 19, a gain of 43 yards. Florida State called
timeout, presumably to give its defenders a breather before
the next play.

Stith took his turn again with six to the FSU 13 and
then Vick found Derek Carter open in the flat for a first and
goal from the eight. Kendrick carried to the three. With the
clock moving under 40 seconds left in the first half, Vick
optioned to the right with Ferguson leading the way to pay
dirt. The Hokie faithful had something to cheer for as their
team went into the half down just two touchdowns.
Halftime: Florida State 28 – Virginia Tech 14.

102

1998: Close Losses and a Bowl Win
Over a Very Special Team

1998 was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Vir-
ginia Tech. Coming off the collapse at the end of the previ-
ous season; pundits assumed that the Hokies had fallen
back to earth after their flirtation with college football’s
upper echelons. VT was picked to finish fourth in the pow-
erful Big East Conference that it had represented two of the
last three years in the Bowl Alliance/Coalition. As the sea-
son started, everyone assumed that a winning record and
bowl appearance would be a major achievement.

Clemson University

Clemson, SC, September 12, 1998 - Tech dis-
pensed with East Carolina with a 38-3 opening day victory
in Lane Stadium that halted the three-game losing streak
that ended the previous season.

The next opponent would be a game against an
ACC powerhouse, a chance to ease the sting from the Gator
Bowl loss to Carolina. Clemson had won a National Cham-
pionship 17 years earlier, in 1981, with a 12-0 season under
former Tech assistant coach Danny Ford. The Tigers had
won the ACC over half of the years between 1981 and
1992. Then Florida State joined the league. Over the past
three years, the Tigers had traveled to three straight bowl
games, the Gator and two Peach Bowls while amassing a
pedestrian 22-14 record under Tommy West.

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The Hokies had a chip on their shoulders regarding
the Tigers. Even though the two schools had not played
since 1989, Tech had lost 16 of the last 18 games played
against their southern neighbors. Only the undefeated team
in 1954 and the 1986 Peach Bowl Champions had beaten
the Tigers since 1935

After the first quarter, it was never a game. A
Shayne Graham field goal opened the scoring, and then the
Hokies reeled off 31 second quarter points in front of
72,000 mostly Clemson faithful. Tech led 34-0 at halftime
and handed the Tigers their worst home loss since 1976.
Final: Virginia Tech 37 – Clemson 0.

Tech held Clemson to 101 total yards and inter-
cepted Tiger quarterbacks four times. Only once did the
home team penetrate Tech territory, early in the fourth
quarter after two 15-yard penalties by the Hokies. One of
the three interceptions by Lorenzo Ferguson ended that
drive.

After two games, Tech had scored 75 points and al-
lowed opponents only one field goal. There was much more
optimism in Blacksburg than when the season had begun.

University of Miami

Miami, FL, September 19, 1998 - Despite the Hur-
ricanes’ two co-Big East championships in the last three
years, Miami had not beaten Virginia Tech since 1994. The
Associated Press went so far as to say that the Hurricanes
now needed to view the Hokies as the barometer by which
its program should be measured.

Even though both teams had man-handled their first
two opponents, for the first time since the two then-
independent teams met on November 1, 1974, neither of
them came into the game ranked in the national polls.

The teams went to the locker rooms with Miami
sporting a 13-10 lead. Then the Hurricanes turned the ball
over on all four consecutive possessions in the third quar-

104

ter. However, Tech could only muster an Al Clark touch-
down of 13 yards in the period.

Miami struck Tech with the long-ball on the first
play of the fourth quarter when Reggie Wayne caught a
pass from Scott Covington and went 84 yards for the score
and a 20-17 lead.

Tech wasted no time in taking the ball back down
the field against the “U.” Shyrone Stith carried the ball six
times for 45 yards as Tech moved to the two where Beamer
faced a decision with a fourth down play and just over eight
minutes left. He sent out his field goal kicker and knotted
the game at 20.

Tech came extremely close to racking up a defen-
sive score with just under four minutes left when Corey
Moore caught Edgerrin James two yards deep in the end
zone. As Moore wrestled the hefty runner to the ground,
James dove toward the goal line and the ball landed just a
few inches onto the green turf. The referees ruled “no safe-
ty,” and Miami escaped to punt the ball away to the Hokies,
who took over near mid-field with 1:34 to play.

A special teams gamble gave Tech a chance to win
the game in regulation. After picking up just nine yards on
three plays, Tech punter Kimmel ran for a first down on the
fake at the Miami 45. Only 27 seconds remained.

Clark threw 14 yards to Ricky Hall, and then nine
yards to Reggie Samuel. With 12 seconds left, Tech’s jun-
ior field goal specialist Graham ran onto the field with a
chance to kick the first game winning field goal of his ca-
reer from just 35 yards out. The kick sailed just right, and
Tech was suddenly thrust into its first ever overtime game.

Tech lost the coin toss and played offense first. Al
Clark, injured during the game and visibly limping, tossed
the ball toward wide out Hall on the second play of over-
time. Hall was blanketed by Nick Ward who went for the
interception. Hall went high to take the ball from Ward’s
hands and the two battled for it as they fell toward the back

105

of the end zone. The ball squirted from Hall’s hands toward
Ward’s facemask. The Tech receiver instantly snared the
rebound and the two had joint possession as they hit the
turf. Hall was so confident that he had scored that he let the
Miami player have the ball as he lay on the ground, not try-
ing to wrestle it free from his adversary as would be the
case in today’s world of instant replay. He spent his time
celebrating the 24-yard go-ahead score.

Tech’s defense finished things off with two straight
sacks on the first Miami snaps of overtime. Moore spun
into the backfield and took down Covington by the feet on
first down, and then John Engelberger reached the quarter-
back first and Moore finished him off on second down. Af-
ter a completion to get back some of the yardage, Coving-
ton’s last chance fell incomplete on fourth and 17. Final:
Virginia Tech 27 – Miami 20.

Standing at 3-0 with one of the other three Big East
powers in the rear view mirror, the season was looking up
for Tech. The pollsters rewarded the Hokies with the 21st
place in the national rankings.

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA, September 26, 1998 – Pitt started
the season 1-1 with its loss coming in a 20-13 squeaker to
No. 8 Penn State. Clearly, the Hokies had circled this game
on their calendar after it had suffered the embarrassing 30-
23 late-season loss in 1997, a loss that dropped them out of
contention for the conference title.

A sprained right foot suffered in the Miami game
forced Clark to sit out, leaving back-up Dave Meyer to take
the snaps. Tech, relying mostly on its running game, burst
from the gates with a 17-0 start and never looked back. Fi-
nal: Virginia Tech 27 – Pittsburgh 7.

Tech registered nine sacks, four by Moore who tied
Bruce Smith’s single-game mark.

106

Meyer suffered a right shoulder separation and
would be out the next four weeks. Third-stringer Nick
Sorensen came into the game during the third quarter.
Sorensen, a sophomore, had started the year as reserve in
the defensive backfield after seeing the writing on the wall
with talented Michael Vick certain to replace the solid
Clark in 1999. Now the question was: would Clark be
ready for a Thursday night game against Boston College 12
days later or would Sorensen have to go to bat for the
Hokies with Vick risking his redshirt as the back-up signal
caller?

Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA, October 8, 1998 - Sorensen
started the game for Tech, with the hobbling Clark on the
sideline for emergencies. Every indication was that Beamer
would keep his promise to Vick’s high school coach and
preserve his red-shirt. The Hokie defense and special teams
made sure that it never mattered.

While BC looked impressive in driving from its
own 10 to the Hokie 18 late in the first quarter, Pierson Pri-
oleau intercepted a pass and raced 85 yards for the first
score of the game, and the only one of the first half in a
sloppy Boston rain.

Midway through the third quarter, with the ball near
midfield, speedster André Davis raced through the middle
of the line and tackled the Eagle punter before he could
even get his foot into the ball. In the ensuing scramble, Da-
vis finally picked up the ball at around the BC 25 and ran it
down to the 16. Sorensen rifled a pass to Hall to move the
ball to the two and then Lamont Pegues dove in from the
two.

Tech’s Big East-leading defense came up large re-
peatedly. The “D” intercepted three BC passes and recov-
ered one fumble. Perhaps the biggest stop, though, was on
the drive following Tech’s touchdown when Boston Col-

107

lege took the ball from its own five to the Tech 23, high-
lighted by a 65-yard run by Mike Cloud. The Eagles had
five shots from two yards out. A one-yard carried moved
the ball to the one and gave the Eagles a first down. Then
BC ran two quarterback sneaks, and one play where the
quarterback handed off deep in the backfield, all for no
gain. On fourth down, BC dialed up a pass play, but the
snap was mishandled and Moore came up large for the
Hokies with a sack, essentially burying the Eagles. Final:
Virginia Tech 17 – Boston College 0.

Temple University

Blacksburg, VA October 17, 1998 - Tech was
perfect through its first five games for the first time since
1967, Frank Beamer’s junior season, when the team won its
first seven, and then went on to lose its last three games.

The Hokies entered the game with Temple as the
14th ranked team in the country. It had the top defensive
team in the country based on points scored, giving up only
six per contest. The Saturday morning Roanoke Times pre-
game story focused on whether Tech would earn another
shutout to go with the two it already had.

It was not difficult for VT to look back just one year
to see what happened when a hot team took its foot off the
throttle. The wounding loss to Miami (OH) had ruined its
undefeated record and was the start of 3-5 skid that led to
discontent (even if mild) in Hokie Nation. It was even
homecoming again for the Temple game, just as it had been
against Miami.

"I remember sitting here getting ready for home-
coming last year against Miami of Ohio," Beamer said.
"We were favored by a bunch of points and it didn't mean
one single thing come Saturday."

Beamer had reason to worry about his own offense.
Despite a long week off after the Thursday night BC game,
Clark was still not ready to start for the Hokies. Sorensen,

108

who had persevered in the pouring rain, throwing for 72
yards on a 6-10 night, would get the nod again. Against the
Eagles, the flip-flop quarterback/safety had thrown two in-
terceptions and fumbled four times. This would be
Sorensen’s third college start (he had to sub for Clark the
previous year against Alabama-Birmingham).

The lowly Owls came into the game with an 0-6
record under new head coach Bobby Wallace. They had
lost to MAC foes Toledo and Akron to start the year, lost to
Boston College and Maryland, and then fell to Division I-
AA William & Mary. The previous week it had suffered a
37-7 home loss to Big East favorite, and then 16th ranked
West Virginia. Temple had just one thing in common with
the powerful Hokies: it was also going to start its third-
string quarterback. Nine other players would also be mak-
ing their first start of the season.

Not only was this Temple team bad, the Owls had
been the perennial doormats of the Big East. The previous
year had been its best since 1990. It had finished with three
wins, all of them against conference foes, and ended the
season tied for fifth in the Big East. From 1991-1996 the
team won eight games. It was 0-26 in Big East road games.
It had also lost 26 straight games to ranked opponents.

Las Vegas odds-makers put all the information into
a single number: Tech by 35. Then the Owls spotted the
Hokies 17 more points in the first 28 minutes of the game.
Sorensen threw two touchdowns, one a 26-yard screen to
Jarrett Ferguson coming out of the backfield, and the other
and 11-yard bullet across the middle to Hall.

Then lightning struck. Temple had gained only 19
yards in the game, but with just over 40 seconds remaining
in the first half, Temple’s third-stringer Devon Scott threw
a reverse screen to Rashad Harrison. Temple’s running
back eluded three Tech tacklers as he rambled 67 yards for
a touchdown and cut the Hokie lead to 10 at the half.

109

After a 35-yard run by Stacey Mack, Jason McKie
ran for seven yards, and then 13 up the middle for a score
bringing the Owls within a field goal with 13:42 left in the
third quarter. It was the first rushing touchdown allowed all
years by Bud Foster’s stingy defense. For those who had
left for the concession stands early, and arrived back to
their seats late, it must have been a rude awakening to see
the 17-14 score on the board.

The Hokies ran six plays and punted to the Owls.
This time, Temple went for the jugular, calling on Scott to
throw an 80-yard bomb to Carlos Johnson who delivered
the TD. With under a minute to play in the first half, the
Owls appeared to be on their way to another wing clipping.
Now with just under seven minutes of elapsed time, they
were soaring over one of the best teams in the country,
ahead 21-17.

Still down four, Tech started the fourth quarter with
a punishing ground attack. Starting on their own 41, Shy-
rone Stith gave the Hokies its first 16 yards. Then Pegues
carried the ball on seven straight snaps, taking the ball in
for the TD from the one with 10:50 left. Tech led 24-21.

The collective Hokie Nation took a deep breath, but
before exhaling, took a wrenching counter-punch. Temple
went to its own strength. As the 16th best rushing team in
the country, it opted to challenge the nation’s sixth best
rushing defense. It was not a running back, but the receiver
Johnson (who had caught the 80-yard bomb earlier) who
did the most damage with a 35-yard reverse taking the ball
down to the Tech 21. Mack then ran nine yards to the 12,
McKie three yards to the nine, and Mack eight yards to the
one.

Tech fans had seen this just over a week earlier as
the Hokies stopped Boston College five straight times from
almost this same spot. Temple had only three more shots
since it was second and goal. While a field goal would
draw the Owls within a point, the underdog definitely

110

needed a touchdown. On the first attempt, the Tech “D” did
exactly what it had the last time it faced this situation – no
gain by running back McKie. After calling timeout, Tem-
ple’s coach trusted his inexperienced signal caller to run the
sneak up the middle. The play worked, and with the extra
point, Temple went up 28-14.

After Sorensen threw an interception on the next
possession, Temple drove to the Tech 30 before a devastat-
ing face mask penalty on an offensive lineman defending
against the Tech pass rush pushed the Owls out of field
goal range, back to the Tech 49. The ensuing punt was
downed at the 12.

With 1:58 left, the Hokies had to go 88 yards with
its third-string quarterback to escape the talons of the Owls.
After a short gain by Pegues, Sorensen took a sack at the
seven. There were now 93 paces between the Hokies and
perhaps the most embarrassing loss in school history.

Sorensen threw short of the sticks to Angelo Harri-
son for 13 yards to make it fourth and two. Then the quar-
terback bravely took it four yards up the middle for the first
down. However, there was a flag on the play in the back-
field, normally where holding was called. Remarkably, to
keep the story alive, the holding call was on Temple, not
the Hokies, and Tech was alive at its own 34.

The fourth down running conversion gave the red-
shirt sophomore confidence. Harrison, roaming the side-
lines, became his favorite target. They connected for 15
yards, then 12 on the next play, moving into Temple territo-
ry at the 39. Harrison then caught his third straight pass,
this one for 11.

Sorensen shoveled forward to Stith who hauled the
ball for 17 yards, moving it to the Temple 11 with 44 sec-
onds to go. On first down, Sorensen escaped pressure and
threw to Harrison again, with the receiver falling out of
bounds on the left side at the Temple three yard line.

111

On second down, Stith took the ball deep in the
backfield and was only able to make it back to the line of
scrimmage. Beamer dialed up a play-action pass play.
Sorensen faked to Pegues, and looked up in what seemed
like disbelief as he hesitated a split second before deliver-
ing a spiral toward Hall who was three yards deep in the
end zone, and completely wide open. The ball arrived face-
high, and bounced off the receiver’s hands to the ground.
Hall lay face down, as the Tech fans groaned in unison.

There were 25 seconds left, and Tech could get a
first down at the one. Likely, though, this next play from
the three yard line would determine whether the Hokie Na-
tion could awake from this terrible nightmare.

Lined up on the left hash, Sorensen quick-pitched
the ball to Pegues who swept toward the short side. An Owl
defender immediately grabbed him in the backfield, but
Pegues escaped his grasp – only to hit a wall of three other
defenders as he wobbled out of bounds at the five. The
game was over. No great comeback. No undefeated season.
Just embarrassment. Final: Temple 28 – Virginia Tech
24.

The game is still considered among the most stun-
ning college football upsets of all time. Looking ahead to
the glory years of the Hokies, even the James Madison vic-
tory over Tech in 2010 was less impactful. When the
Hokies lost then, it was playing on a short week after a
devastating Monday night national TV loss to Boise State.
James Madison had won a FCS national championship just
years earlier. Tech still won an ACC championship the year
it lost to JMU.

No. 21 West Virginia University

Blacksburg, VA, October 31, 1998 - Despite the
stunning in-conference loss to Temple, Tech still held des-
tiny in its own hands – it needed to run the table in confer-
ence play. After throttling Alabama-Birmingham 41-0 at

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Legion Field to get its third shutout of the season, Tech
came home to play WVU, which was the pre-season favor-
ite to win the Big East. The Mountaineers limped into
Blacksburg coming off a disappointing 34-31 home loss to
Miami. The Hokies and WVU converged as the 20th and
21st ranked teams in the country respectively. Both had one
Big East loss and both had a chance to upend Syracuse,
currently undefeated in conference play and atop the stand-
ings. Therefore, at the close of October, the two long-time
rivals played what amounted to a semifinal game for the
Big East title. If things went as expected, the winner would
play Syracuse for the crown. The game pitted one of the
nation’s best defenses against the best offenses. Tech’s
Lunch Pail Gang was ranked second in the country in scor-
ing allowed, and third in yards allowed. West Virginia’s
offense was averaging 36 points and 448 yards per contest.

Senior quarterback Al Clark returned to the helm,
but fumbled his second snap of the game. After the Tech
“D” pushed West Virginia out of scoring territory, the
“pride and joy” punt return team came onto the field. With
just eight men rushing, punter Jay Taylor had to move
slightly to his left and then dribbled the snap onto the turf
and right back into his hands. The slight delay allowed
Marcus Gildersleeve to take the ball off the punter’s foot.
Hall, who had been the one two weeks earlier who dropped
the ball in the end zone during the final seconds against
Temple, recovered the loose ball and ran it untouched into
the end zone.

Before Tech ever had its third offensive play, WVU
drove for an 11-play 80-yard drive. The Hokies stayed in
front due to another special teams play - Engelberger
blocked the PAT attempt and the Hokies led 7-6.

Up three at halftime, the Hokies had one of the
most memorable set of goal line stances ever made. Early
in the third quarter, the bend-but-don’t-break crew allowed
Bulger and Zereoué to move the ball to the Tech two with a

113

first and goal. On first down, Zereoué was smashed as he
ran up the middle, falling for just one yard. Knowing that
the Tech defense had already posted huge goal line stances
earlier in the year against Boston College and Pittsburgh,
WVU coach Don Nehlen called a pass play on second
down. Bulger then threw a perfect strike to Foreman in the
back of the end zone, but Prioleau slammed into him with
perfect timing, knocking the ball away from the receiver at
the last second. On third down, Chris Cyrus for the Hokies
beat Zereoué to the hole on an off-tackle run, pulling him
down for no gain.

On fourth down, Nehlen opted to roll the dice. Like-
ly, if the extra point in the first quarter had been good, he
would have gone for the tying field goal. However, Nehlen
showed confidence in his prolific offense. The call was an-
other run by Zereoué who lined up deep in the “I” for-
mation. Michael Hawkes caught Zereoué in the backfield
from behind and Moore stood up the front-side blocker.
Zereoué couldn’t move an inch forward. The Hokies had
stopped the Mountaineers…. for the moment.

On the very next play, WVU tacklers hit Clark in
the end zone as Tech tried to escape from the goal line. His
pass dropped into the hands of a Mountaineer linebacker
who returned the ball to the Tech seven as the weary Tech
defense trotted back onto the field.

Ike Charlton then took over the game. After scram-
bling out of the pocket almost to the right sideline, Bulger
made an ill-advised pass across his body to the middle of
the end zone where two Mountaineer receivers appeared
wide open for a split second. Charlton dove in front of the
two receivers to record the first of what would be three in-
terceptions in less than a quarter. West Virginia had run 12
straight plays inside the Tech 20 without scoring a point.

Nehlen admitted that the two goal line stands sealed
the game even though they were both in the third quarter.
“When we had the ball down there and did not get it in and

114

then intercepted it and did not get in again, that’s when we
lost the ball game,” he said. The other stuff did not really
matter that much.”

Tech took a two-possession lead on the ensuing se-
ries when Clark found Hall in the open for a 36-yard bomb.

Charlton’s next pick was on a tip-drill style rebound
with strong coverage from Keion Carpenter. Then Charlton
cruised to the ball on another of Bulger’s throws across his
body back toward the middle of the field to burst the
Mountaineers’ bubble. Final: Virginia Tech 27 – West
Virginia 13.

Tech had beaten two of the three teams picked to
finish ahead of it in the Big East. It had a week off to antic-
ipate the biggest game of the season – a game that would
solidify either Syracuse or Virginia Tech’s status as Big
East conference front-runner, and likely champion.

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY, November 14, 1998 - Syracuse and
Virginia Tech each entered the Saturday night ESPN con-
test with one Big East loss. Temple had spoiled Tech’s per-
fect mark in the conference (and overall) with the stunning
upset four weeks earlier. While Tech took a week off be-
fore traveling to New York, it watched West Virginia upset
the then 15th ranked Orange 35-28 in Morgantown. Both
coaches downplayed the upcoming game, and denied that
this was the Big East Championship. However, both teams
held the keys to their own destiny if they could run the ta-
ble in conference play. Tech had a home game left against
Rutgers; Syracuse would need wins against the Hokies,
Temple, and Miami.

The ‘Cuse came into the game unranked due to the
WVU loss and two non-conferences losses: a season-
opening one-point loss to then 10th ranked Tennessee and a
spanking by unranked North Carolina State. However, the
ranking that worried Beamer and his staff most was the

115

phenomenal 42 points per game that the potent McNabb-
led offense was mustering. The 16th ranked Hokies were
giving up only 9 points per outing.

Perhaps most importantly was the venue for the
game. In six conference games between Tech and Syracuse,
the home team had won each one. Tech’s three wins were
by an average margin of 25 points. In the Carrier Dome, a
165-foot high mini-dome that captures the voices of 50,000
rabid Orange-clad fans, Tech had been outmatched by an
average of 19 points. The word jinx was used many times
in the run-up to the game.

After a first quarter field goal by Syracuse, the
Hokies quieted the Orange fanatics as fullback Jarrett Fer-
guson kept his balance as he was shoe-tackled near the line
of scrimmage, and then outraced the defenders for a 76-
yard touchdown run to end the quarter. On the next series,
after Engelberger sacked McNabb to force a fourth and 12,
Anthony Midget blocked a Syracuse punt and Hall fell on
the ball in the end zone for the second score in 2:39 on the
clock.

When Syracuse moved deep into Tech territory af-
ter a 27-yard pass play, Carpenter sniffed out a pass play
off a reverse and jarred the ball out of the oncoming receiv-
er’s hands. Loren Johnson was running at full gait toward
the play and plucked the ball from the air, racing 78 yards
for a touchdown that put the Hokies up by three scores. The
defense had joined the offense and special teams in each
putting up a spectacular touchdown in the first half. How-
ever, aside from the 76-yard jaunt by Ferguson, the Hokies
had a total of 31 yards in the first half, only four on the
ground.

Syracuse scored a field goal before the half to cut
the margin to 21-6, and then fought back in the third quar-
ter. On its first possession, SU drove 52 yards on 10 plays
as McNabb threw a one-yard touchdown to Stephen Bro-
minski. Then it took the ball 45 yards on another 10-play

116

drive before settling for a 30-yard field goal. Tech on the
other hand, was stymied by the Syracuse defense. VT ran
eight offensive plays in the quarter, picking up seven net
yards.

Tech’s eighth and final offensive play of the quarter
was a Clark interception at the Tech 22. Syracuse had a
prime opportunity to score on its fourth straight possession
to complete the comeback. McNabb ran 15 yards to the
Tech 10 giving the Orange a first and goal. On third down
from the five, McNabb found Daniel who was wrestled to
the ground by Johnson just short of the goal line. The ‘Cuse
faced fourth and one, down five points. Bud Foster’s de-
fense had thrived in this position. A field goal would cut
the lead to two points with 12:23 left in the game.

Paul Pasqualoni kept his offense on the field to
challenge the Hokie defense that had been superior in stop-
ping players at the goal line during the year. Just two weeks
before, West Virginia’s star Amos Zereoué had been
stopped dead in his tracks in this same situation. Pasqualoni
had an ace up his sleeve – Rob Konrad, the man he picked
to be the first Syracuse fullback to wear the coveted num-
ber 44 (previously worn by Ernie Davis, Jim Brown and
other Syracuse legends). McNabb handed to the senior
fullback and he barreled his way into the end zone, com-
pleting the comeback. It was Syracuse 22, Virginia Tech 21
with the point after to come.

Pasqualoni doubled-down. He decided to go for
two, and a field goal advantage. This time he called on his
super-star senior McNabb, but to use his arm, not his gold-
en legs. The quarterback threw a bullet toward the right
side of the end zone where Syracuse’s Kevin Johnson ap-
peared all alone. However, McNabb failed to see Tech’s
Loren Johnson who timed his pursuit perfectly, picking off
the ball with his foot on the goal line. Syracuse players had
three chances to stop the nightmare unfolding in front of
their eyes - Tech would take the lead back if Johnson

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reached the end zone and accomplished the rare two-point
defensive point after conversion. First up was Konrad, who
had an angle on the speedy Johnson. The DB stiff-armed
Konrad and the huge fullback’s diving attempt only briefly
slowed the run toward the end zone. Then came Syracuse’s
Johnson who had seen the Tech defender take the ball from
just in front of him in the end zone. At midfield the man
clad in blue and orange seemed to be catching up, but the
VT senior cut back toward the middle of the field. With
that move, he created an angle for McNabb to save the day.
The quarterback dove in desperation to take Johnson down.
His hand caught Johnson’s shoulder pads, jerking him to a
halt, where the Syracuse receiver finished off the tackle. As
Tech’s Johnson fell toward the ground, the ball either
popped out, or as Pasqualoni would argue, was tossed to-
ward the end zone. Jamal Smith finished off the remarkable
play, carefully corralling the bouncing ball in the end zone.
Rather than trailing by one or three, Tech had wrestled the
lead away from the surging Orange.

What would have been one of the most notable of
all the BeamerBall feats failed to be the play in this game
that everyone talked about for years to come. It is now just
a forgotten footnote in the Tech history books.

Tech’s offense finally moved the sticks for the first
time in the second half as Stith ran for nine yards, and then
three into Syracuse territory. On the next two plays, he
picked up another two and then jaunted 18 yards to the Sy-
racuse 29 where he was hit hard on the sideline and had to
leave the game. With first and five after a defensive off-
sides call, Beamer went back to first-half hero Ferguson
who was stopped for no gain, and then to Pegues who lost
three. Clark was sacked on third down, moving the ball
back to the Syracuse 32, just at the edge of Graham’s
range. The sophomore had kicked a 53-yarder to end the
first half against Clemson. His longest make other than that
was a 42-yarder against UAB. However, he had missed

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from 48 near the end of the first half. This time the young-
ster nailed it toward the Syracuse band and it easily cleared
the posts. With 4:42 left, Tech led 26-22 and Syracuse
would need a touchdown instead of a field goal to take the
lead.

The Orange moved the ball toward Tech territory,
but Kevin Johnson couldn’t come up with a third down re-
ception. There was 1:45 left in the game. Pasqualoni dialed
up a quarterback draw on fourth down and seven. Syra-
cuse’s # 5 played the fake perfectly, dropping deep into the
backfield, then took off with the ball. He juked two Tech
defenders who would have brought him down short of a
first down, and then raced into open field. Prioleau finally
landed on McNabb at the Tech 15. Two plays later, the QB
found Maurice Jackson open in the Tech secondary and
Syracuse had the ball back on the Tech one with four
chances to get it in, a familiar position for the Hokies to
defend so far this season.

Konrad was the first choice, and he dove into the
middle of the stiff Hokie line and made no headway. When
McNabb was roughed on an incompletion, the ball was
moved a foot or so closer to the goal line and the downs
were reset. However, there were only 21 seconds to play.
On the next play McNabb ran a naked bootleg toward the
left, but the one man he had to beat was Moore who not
only managed to grab the QB, he slung him 12 yards back
to the 13, leaving the clock running and Syracuse with no
timeouts. After hurrying to the line, McNabb spiked the
ball with five seconds left.

What came next would haunt Hokie Nation for a
year. Johnson lined up on the right. Konrad sacrificed his
body to divert a hard-charging Moore who lined up on the
right end. This gave McNabb time to roll right, all the way
to the hash marks, and suddenly the crafty veteran turned
the other way and lofted a lob across his body toward the
back left side of the end zone. The clock stopped ticking.

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Hearts stopped beating. Linebacker Michael Hawkes was
face-guarding tight end Brominski. As McNabb sent the
ball airborne, Hawkes was in perfect position to break up
the pass that seemed to take forever to fall from the dark
ceiling of the dome. Brominski saw where the ball was
headed and knew to stop. Hawkes took one extra step,
dropping slightly behind the tight end before he turned
back toward the ball. As Hawkes climbed over his shoul-
ders from behind, Brominski leaped to get both hands on
the ball. It momentarily bounced off Brominski’s fingers as
Hawkes climbed over his shoulders, desperately trying to
break the ball from his grasps. The ball then fell into the
arms of the giant tight end and he clutched it tightly to his
chest. Miraculously, Brominski held on as he landed hard
on the ground. Final: Syracuse 28 – Virginia Tech 26.

The fans who had played such a huge part in the
game stormed the field. Tech had once again succumbed to
the Terror Dome Jinx. There would be no Big East Cham-
pionship and no New Years’ Day bowl game for the
Hokies.

University of Virginia

Blacksburg, VA, November 28, 1998 - After tak-
ing out their frustrations on Rutgers with another shutout, a
47-0 thrashing, Tech faced in-state rival Virginia in a battle
of two top 20 teams. Both teams were 8-2. The Cavaliers
were No. 16, suffering losses to then 25th ranked Georgia
Tech and ACC Champion Florida State, ranked sixth at the
time. Both teams were virtually guaranteed a bowl spot, but
where they would play was still a question.

Tech raced to a 17-0 lead, marking 64 straight
points without a score by the opposition since that devastat-
ing blow from McNabb. Stith’s 51-yard touchdown mid-
way through the second highlighted the barrage. By
halftime, Tech had rung-up a 29-7 advantage.

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Virginia opened the third with a 10-play, 80-yard
drive capped by a 24-yard pass from Aaron Brooks to Kev-
in Coffey. On the ensuing possession, an error by Tech’s
deep snapper gave the ‘Hoos the ball at the Tech two.
Brooks’ fumble of a high snap kept Virginia out of the end
zone, but then Byron Thweatt picked off Clark’s errant pass
at the UVA 47 and returned it 53 yards to pay dirt, cutting
the lead to eight points.

Graham’s 46-yarder with 12:12 left in the game
gave the Hokies a bit of breathing room, but the Cavaliers
kept coming. Brooks passed to Thomas Jones for 18 yards
to bring the score within five, and then ran the ball in on the
two-point conversion to make it a three-point contest with
7:02 remaining.

Tech was only able to pick up one first down, but
ran the clock down to 3:21. A Jimmy Kibble punt was
downed at the UVA seven. A 24-yard pass to Coffey was
followed by a 10-yard completion to Casey Crawford to set
up the game winner with 2:01 left on the clock. Brooks hit
Ahmad Hawkins for a 47-yard score. Final: Virginia 36 –
Virginia Tech 32.

Brooks had burned the proud Hokie defense for 345
passing yards and three touchdowns to spark the biggest
comeback win in Virginia history and biggest lead lost by
the Hokies. Tech was left staring straight in the face of a
third-tier bowl game, even though it could brag that it was
one of only 10 schools in the country going to its sixth
straight post-season contest. Most importantly, with four-
point losses to both Temple, and UVA, and the two-point
loss to Syracuse, Tech was 10 points away from an unde-
feated regular season.

Genealogy of Tech Football Success – Alabama

Despite moving down a notch in its bowl venue,
Tech had the good fortune to draw the nation’s most elite

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football program as its opponent in the inaugural Music
City Bowl in Nashville. The Alabama Crimson Tide had
suffered a 4-7 record in 1997 and turned around to 7-4 in
1998 under second-year head coach Mike DuBose. NCAA
sanctions were hurting the club significantly, but hardly
overshadowed the school’s storied football history.

The contrasts between the Hokies and Tide were
stark. Tech was celebrating its sixth straight bowl trip, and
12th in its history. The Crimson Tide had 12 National
Championships. Tech was looking for its third bowl win.
Alabama had 28 wins in bowl games, and had been victori-
ous in its last five post-season trips. Tech had played Ala-
bama 10 times, and lost 10 times, including one of the most
lopsided games in school history, a 77-6 loss in 1973, one
of the years that Bear Bryant took the Tide to a National
Championship. (The previous record for biggest deficit had
been in a 60-0 shellacking by Washington & Lee in 1951).

Tech’s history with Alabama went much further
than on the playing field. In 1961 athletic director Frank
Moseley, a 1939 Alabama graduate, Alabama native, and
the man who coached at VPI from 1951-1960, capitalized
on the Alabama connection by hiring coach Jerry
Claiborne. Claiborne had played under the legendary Bry-
ant at the University of Kentucky in the 1940s and joined
the Bear’s staff there in 1951. He followed Bryant to Texas
A&M and then to Alabama before the move to Tech, taking
over his own program. Under Claiborne, in 1963 Tech won
its only outright Southern Conference Championship, and
then as an independent, he took the Hokies to two bowl
games in 1966 and 1968. He coached Frank Beamer during
his years playing at Tech.

After two straight losing seasons in 1969 and 1970,
Tech fired Claiborne. The university hired Charlie Coffey,
a former Tennessee football player, and Arkansas assistant,
to replace Claiborne, and turned the Tech program 180 de-
grees from the conservative Alabama-style. A variation of

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Tennessee orange became the color of choice for Tech uni-
forms, and throwing the ball with high frequency became
the predominant battle plan. (Speculation abounded that the
77-6 Alabama victory was a “spanking” of the Tech admin-
istration for failing to give Claiborne an opportunity to turn
around the program). After a 12-20-1 record, Coffey’s
brash experiment was shelved, and Tech went back to the
Alabama family to hire Jimmy Sharpe, an 11-year veteran
of the Tide coaching staff. Sharpe couldn’t turn things
around for Tech either, and he was the last of the first-
generation Bear Bryant protégés. Of course, Beamer was
just one generation removed from Bryant’s Alabama pro-
gram when he followed Bill Dooley as coach in 1986.

Music City Bowl – University of Alabama

Nashville, TN, December 29, 1998 - The Music
City Bowl game started at dusk with a 45-degree tempera-
ture. The cold rain eventually began to freeze as the tem-
peratures dipped, and the wind roared. However, the
Hokies warmed up early. Stith took the opening kickoff
from the goal line to the Tech 44. Then three plays later,
Clark, questionable for the game with bruised ribs, appro-
priately ran like he wanted to avoid a hit at all costs,
scrambling away from the an Alabama blitz for a 43-yard
touchdown rush.

Tech had an excellent opportunity to put the Tide
down two touchdowns early when, after a Moore sack,
Carpenter blocked his sixth career punt, coming straight up
the middle to smother the Alabama punter. Tech took over
at the Alabama 14. The special teams gem was wasted
when Clark’s pass to the end zone was corralled by Tide
defender Fernando Bryant.

After an interception by Ryan Smith put the ball at
the ‘Bama 34, Tech wasted another opportunity when Gra-
ham missed a 42-yard field goal with 4:09 left in the quar-
ter.

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Tech would not see the ball again for over nine
minutes. Despite a Moore sack on one play, and then a
forced fumble picked up by an Alabama back on the next,
the Tide drove the ball down the field. Freshman Andrew
Zow led the way with his arm. He was 8-8 for 62 yards on
the 85-yard drive, capped by five-yard pass to Michael
Vaughan that tied the score 7-7. The Crimson Tide had
withstood the fierce Hokie onslaught.

Graham gave Tech back the lead with a 44-yard
kick after Stith took the ball 39 yards into Alabama territo-
ry. The team took that slim 10-7 lead to the warm locker
room.

Tech had held Alabama to 22 yards rushing in the
first half, and the ability to concentrate on the pass gave VT
an edge on which it capitalized midway through the third
quarter. Tech blitzed on the Alabama six, and Zow was in
Moore’s grasp in his own end zone when he threw the ball
errantly into the hands of Phillip Summers at the 10. He
returned it to the ‘Bama two. Pegues ran twice from there
to give Tech a 10-point lead.

Moore showed why Tech played its starters on spe-
cial teams on the next series, coming up the middle to block
the second Tide punt of the evening, Tech’s 12th kick
block of the season. A pass interference call moved the ball
to the Alabama four, and Tech took a commanding 24-7
lead with a little over 20 minutes to play when Stith scored
on a four-yard rush.

A bobble by the Alabama punt returner gave Tech
the ball back in Tide territory, and eventually Pegues
scored his second one-yard TD of the game. Midget closed
the BeamerBall exhibition with a 27-yard interception re-
turn into the end zone with 7:33 remaining in the game. Fi-
nal: Virginia Tech 38 – Alabama 7.

In perhaps the ultimate compliment, Alabama coach
Mike Dubose said, “They’re a team that’s at a level that
we’re trying to get to.”

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Corey Moore echoed the sentiments of the Tech
sideline when he lamented the three losses Tech had suf-
fered by a total of 10 points. “We’ve thought about how
close we were to an undefeated season. This makes up for
some of that.”

The following year, the All-America Moore would
return to harass opposing quarterbacks, hoping to do his
part as the team sought to redeem itself after the three close
losses. Fourteen other starters would return, but the team’s
quarterback Al Clark finished his career in Nashville.
However, on the Hokie sideline for the game was a player
wearing #19. The freshman quarterback was finishing his
red-shirt season, and had already made a name for himself
running the scout team for the Hokies. Next year he would
inherit the jersey number of senior running back Pegues -
#7.

“I would like to think this is a start of a new day at
Virginia Tech,” said Tech coach Beamer.

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1998 Season Results

1998– Virginia Tech 9-3

Final AP Poll: No. 23

East Carolina W 38- 3

@Clemson W 37- 0

@Miami W 27-20

Pittsburgh (T#21) W 27- 7

@Boston Co (T#17) W 17- 0

Temple (T#14) L 24-28

@UAB (T#23) W 41- 0

#21 WVU (T#20) W 27-13

@ Syracuse (T#16) L 26-28

Rutgers (T#23) W 47 - 7

UVA (T#20) L 32- 36

n1Alabama W 38 - 7

1Music City Bowl, Nashville, TN

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National Championship Game: Tech
scores two TDs to take the lead

A field possession battle between the two squads
led to Tech’s next score mid-way through the third quarter.
VT took over at the Florida State 41 and then immediately
Vick hit Hawkins on a screen pass for 26 yards to move the
ball to the FSU 15. Vick dropped the shotgun snap on third
down and improvised on a run around the left edge to the
first down marker. However, the referees ruled his back
foot was out of bounds two yards short of the marker. On
fourth down Graham made it an 11-point game.

The Hokie defense held again and Charlton moved
the Hokies back into FSU territory with a 46-yard punt re-
turn from the FSU 18 set up by three perfect blocks by the
Hokies’ “pride and joy.” On third and three, Kendrick, who
was taking the lead-back role now that Stith had sprained
his ankle late in the first half, took a pitch from Vick, and
galloped unscathed for a 29-yard score.

Beamer went for two to try to cut the FSU lead to
three points. It was the Hokies first two-point conversion
try of the year. There was no film history on which the
Seminoles could rely to see Tech’s two-point play tenden-
cies. So they blitzed. Tech ran a counter-play after a fake to
Kendrick going right. Vick took off, parallel to the line of
scrimmage, presumably toward the FSU goal line. Two
blitzing FSU defensemen were in his way, so he cocked the
ball and looked to the corner of the end zone where Emmett
Johnson was falling to the ground after a scuffle with an

127

FSU defensive back. He tried desperately to pull the ball
down after beginning the throw, but it slipped from his
hands to the ground where a Tech offensive lineman cov-
ered it. Johnson came up off the ground arguing that he had
been purposefully knocked down on what became a pass
play. Beamer looked bewildered on the sidelines, hoping
for the flag that never came.

With the lead now at five, the Seminoles were clear-
ly punch-drunk. Tech needed only one more touchdown to
take the lead back after having been down by 21 points
against the nation’s top-ranked team.

Midget, playing safety over the top, gave the Hokies
that opportunity two plays later when he picked off a deep
pass, diving high to grab the ball just a few feet from War-
rick’s outstretched arms.

Vick faked left and then went back to the right to hit
Hawkins for a 23-yard gain that moved the ball into ‘Nole
territory. On second and eight Vick made another of his
Houdini escapes, rolling to the left and then finding block-
ers to the right as he danced through, and high-stepped over
FSU defenders 15 yards to the 21.

After FSU sacked him for a loss of seven, Vick took
things into his own hands again on exactly the same play
where he had cut back across the grain just two plays earli-
er. This time his fullback Ferguson got in front of him on
the left edge and paved the way for a nifty 22-yard gain to
make it first and goal.

Kendrick then took the handoff and bulled his way
up the middle. The comeback was complete. Tech was the
top team in the nation, holding a one-point lead over the
undefeated Seminoles who officially held that spot. The
Hokie Nation was euphoric. The climb to the top had been
years in the making from that fateful day when Dutch
Baughman introduced Frank Beamer in the conference
room in the Jamerson Athletic Center. 2:13 remaining
third quarter: Virginia Tech 29 – Florida State 28.

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1999: A New Day in Blacksburg

You could literally measure the excitement in Hokie
Nation as the era of Michael Vick began in the spring of
1999. It could be measured with the rumors of Vick’s 4.33
time in the 40. It could be measured with the comparisons
of Vick to Tech’s nemesis, Donovan McNabb, a first round
draft choice the previous spring. It could be measured with
a record crowd of 11,125 fans at the annual spring football
scrimmage.

Then came August. The hordes of fans coming to
watch the dazzling freshman in practice soon became so
unmanageable that Tech closed practices. Then came the
unfathomable prediction from the mouth of the nation’s
most recognizable college football analyst. Lee Corso took
his turn in picking the teams that would be ranked one and
two in the Bowl Championship series and play for a guar-
anteed national title. He went along with just about every-
one else in the country in affirming Florida State’s No. 1
preseason ranking and picked the Seminoles to win the na-
tional title. His second choice, albeit in what he labeled as a
“sleeper pick” was Virginia Tech.

The talk of national championships for the Hokies
was not new in Blacksburg. Beamer had begun touting the
possibility publicly as early as 1998 and when college foot-
ball officials rolled out the BCS format, Tech director of
football operations John Ballein, a close friend of Beamer,
put an empty display case in its football facilities built es-
pecially to house the coveted trophy. The goal of winning a

129

national championship adorned the wall among the goals
for the team.

Corso’s bold sleeper pick likely made a lot of the
football elitists chuckle with the prospect of the little-
known team from Blacksburg going to the title game. Some
of the second-tier teams had challenged the big boys – no-
tably BYU which was AP National Champion in 1984. It
was, though, a rare event, not unlike the appearance of Ha-
ley’s comet.

When the AP poll came out, Tech was ranked 13th
and received one first place vote. The New York Times
sports editors ranked the Hokies sixth.

James Madison University

Blacksburg, VA, September 4, 1999 - It was time
to deliver. The foe was a team from just up I-81 coming to
Blacksburg to take a loss for the financial benefit of the
athletic program. Division I-AA James Madison was a
warm-up game to see how the new quarterback would fare
against other college players. No one had forgotten the em-
barrassing losses to Miami (OH) or Temple. This was more
personal - these players grew up within a few hours of the
state’s largest university. Many played against, or alongside
those on the Tech roster. However, most had never even
been recruited by Virginia Tech. Almost 52,000 fans, a
sellout for Lane Stadium, came out to see the result. First,
they received a reminder of what could happen if the team
was not at top form.

Backed up by a near perfect Jimmy Kibble punt to
the their own six, Dukes running back Curtis Keaton raced
78 yards into Tech territory, putting the ball at the Tech 16.
Even though it was the first quarter, if JMU jumped to a 7-
0 lead, sports tickers across the country would be making
note of Tech’s early season struggles with the Division I-
AA opponent. Defensive stalwarts John Engelberger and
Corey Moore took things into their own hands. Engel-

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