Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410310032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Long
Then, the football team that plays host there treats visitors like tourists in a rental car on I-95.
Virginia Tech already knows the feeling. The Hokies were twice victims in Miami's 58-game Orange Bowl winning streak that ended last month when Washington - the Huskies, not the Redskins - won 38-20.
``That was our wake-up call for the season,'' said Chris T. Jones, the Hurricanes' leading receiver the past two seasons. ``It won't happen again.''
It's a seductive, steamy, palm-treed and stuccoed urban location that's far from urbane. It's imposing, although the bowl's 74,476 seats rarely are filled for the Hurricanes.
Their average home attendance is usually around 50,000. About 55,000 will attend today - ``a good crowd for us,'' a UM official said - but to the Hokies and Hurricanes, it will seem like more. The stands are that close to the lush green field.
After a stunning slip to a 9-3 finish and Fiesta Bowl shutout loss to Arizona last season, Miami has returned to the national championship picture. The Hurricanes (5-1) are ranked sixth, but probably are better, as they face 13th-ranked Tech (7-1) this afternoon.
Just ask Florida State, which absorbed Miami's Orange crush. The Seminoles started Dennis Erickson's fifth Miami club toward a strange slide last season. Then, West Virginia beat the 'Canes for the Big East title in the league's first round-robin season.
``This team is better, much better,'' said Jones, one of seven unrelated Hurricanes with that surname. ``We have more depth this year. We have more speed.
``Last year after we lost to Florida State, it was like all of the intensity had left us. We still could have been a national contender by backing in, but we didn't win. It was like we weren't Miami.''
Indeed. Despite what occurred last year, when the Hurricanes finished 15th in The Associated Press poll, comparing the rest of the Big East to Miami is like comparing the rest of the ACC to Florida State.
It's a game of catch-up.
``It's passed down from team to team here,'' Jones said. ``We're supposed to compete for the national championship. It's not that others expect us to do that. It's our expectation.''
These Hurricanes, as if they needed any incentive, have been compared to the Miami teams of 1986 and '87, one of the three national title clubs from the Coral Gables campus in the past seven years.
Those teams included Michael Irvin, Vinny Testaverde, Bennie Blades and the late Jerome Brown. This team, led by defensive tackle Warren Sapp, has fewer stars but supposedly more quality depth.
``All along, we thought we had a great team this year,'' Jones said. ``Hats off to Washington for beating us, but we've taken that negative and turned it into a positive. We could have gone the other way like we did last year.''
From 1985 to 1992, Miami was 90-8. Erickson's first four teams were 44-4. The seven Miami clubs before last season's slippage finished 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, and 3 in the AP poll.
But the success story was begun by pipe-puffing coach Howard Schnellenberger. His 1980 team ushered Miami's recent era of recognition with a Peach Bowl victory over the Hokies. All 11 bowls the Hurricanes have graced since have been New Year's Day games - the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta three times each and the Cotton twice.
The Hurricanes hope to keep blowing toward another home bowl game against the Big Eight champion, likely the winner of today's Colorado-Nebraska game. Anything less will be a disappointment.
Against a team that has won 41 of its past 44 regular-season games, the Hokies will be trying to do something they've never done before. In fact, no team from Virginia has beaten Miami.
The Hurricanes are 19-0 against the Hokies' state - 11-0 against Tech, two wins against VMI, Washington and Lee and William & Mary, and 1-0 against W&M-Norfolk and Richmond. Virginia is the only ACC school that's never met Miami.
Those numbers aren't as meaningful as the ones that put Miami in the top eight nationally in total defense seven of the past nine years, including seventh this season.
Tech, thanks to its defense, played Miami as well as any team the Hurricanes defeated last season. It's tough to score more than two points when you can't run the ball.
Last year, Tech couldn't. Today, the Hokies' ground hopes are outside, because the middle of Miami's defense is ferocious. If Tech can't turn the corner, and run the clock as well as the ball, Miami's pass rush could bury quarterback Maurice DeShazo.
Defensively, the Hokies' gambling unit must pick and choose its blitzing opportunities carefully. Miami quarterback Frank Costa's 10 touchdown passes have averaged 45 yards. Trying to play man coverage on the Hurricanes' Jones and Co. can be a lonely feeling.
With poll position at stake in the bowl coalition, the Hokies can't afford to be blown away by the Hurricanes. If Tech somehow wins, it will only be the greatest victory in school history.
The Hokies haven't and won't play anyone better than the 'Canes this season. And playing in the Orange Bowl is usually like being in a Miami vise.
by CNB