THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220394
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 81 lines
John Majors, brought in to turn around the floundering Pittsburgh football program, can point to the date when things took a turn for the worse.
It was last year against Virginia Tech. The Panthers were 2-2, had just taken nationally ranked Texas to the wire before losing and led the Hokies 9-0 at halftime.
``We were playing better at that time than any time since I've been at Pitt,'' Majors said.
But the second half began a downward spiral that hasn't stopped. The Hokies blocked two second-half punts to spark a 26-16 victory, and Pitt lost three key players to injuries during the game, including a season-ending injury to tailback Billy West.
``That was a tremendous change in our football program at that point,'' Majors said. ``To win one of those games (Texas or Tech), particularly the Virginia Tech game, would have been a tremendous boost to our program. I think it's the toughest loss maybe we've had, period, since we've been here.''
As they prepare to play at Virginia Tech Saturday, the Panthers have little to be encouraged by in the fourth season of Majors' second stint at Pitt. They have won just two of their last 16 games and have allowed an average of 53.2 points in their last five games, inspiring gallows humor by Majors when asked what he did last Saturday when Pitt had a bye.
``I had a great time,'' Majors said. ``I went to five funerals. It beats what I've been doing on Saturdays.''
BROWN OUT: Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said Cornell Brown's rehabilitation following arthroscopic knee surgery is going well, but he does not expect the All-American defensive end to play Saturday against Pittsburgh.
POLL CHATTER: West Virginia coach Don Nehlen spent a few minutes on the weekly Big East coaches' conference call bashing the polls, which do not include East Carolina or Syracuse in the top 25 while Virginia Tech is only ranked by the coaches.
``I don't want to talk about polls and voting, because I know how it's done,'' Nehlen said. ``These guys vote at midnight and don't care who they vote for. I'm one of those guys who votes at midnight.''
Despite their 7-0 record, the Mountaineers are No. 12 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 11 by USA Today/CNN. Of the eight undefeated teams in Division I-A, only Wyoming (No. 18 in both polls) and unranked Army are listed below the Mountaineers.
``About 15 schools in the country get great respect, and the rest of us have to earn it a little bit and it takes longer,'' Nehlen said. ``But if you keep winning, you earn it.''
HURRICANES' ILL WIND: After a humbling loss to East Carolina for back-to-back defeats at the Orange Bowl, Miami has a daunting trip to Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday. Miami rushed for 42 yards in a loss to Florida State and 73 against East Carolina, and now runs into the nation's best rushing defense in West Virginia (37.7 yards allowed per game). To top it off, quarterback Ryan Clement has a separated shoulder and may not play.
Hurricanes coach Butch Davis said his players ``better be angry'' about their lot. Miami (4-2, 2-0 Big East) has not lost three in a row in the same season since 1984.
``This team has been faced with adversity since the day I walked into the job,'' Davis said. ``They've had virtually every distraction you can imagine: We've had NCAA investigations; probation; we've had players get injured; we've lost three players who died last year. You name it, we've been challenged by it.''
TRAVEL WOES: It took the Mountaineers about 13 hours to make a trip of approximately 300 miles from Philadelphia to Morgantown after their game with Temple ended at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Mountaineers spent hours waiting for their airplane to arrive from New York's La Guardia Airport, where coach Don Nehlen said an accident prevented the West Virginia plane from taking off. The Mountaineers returned to their hotel, but there were not enough rooms available to accommodate them. So a couple of TV sets were put in a large room and the players laid around until about 2 a.m. They finally got on their plane at about 3 a.m. and returned to Morgantown around 5 a.m.
``We had got them up at 7 a.m. since it was a 12 o'clock game, so our kids were up for 22 straight hours,'' Nehlen said. ``It was a tough weekend.''
QUICK HITS: Temple played its homecoming game against West Virginia Saturday before 2,546 people at 66,592-seat Veterans Stadium. Owls coach Ron Dickerson disputed the figure. ``They were loud and noisy and our band was playing and the cheerleaders were whooping it up.'' Ah, big-time college atmosphere. ... Temple and Rutgers meet with last place in the Big East likely to be at stake Saturday. Both teams are winless in conference play and riding six-game losing streaks. by CNB