Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 30, 1994                   TAG: 9410310076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

JUST CHALK IT UP TO THE MIAMI THING

Don't talk about joy in Mudville. Talk dreams deferred.

At 3:30 Saturday, folks called it the biggest game in Virginia Tech history. By 7 p.m., the Sugar Bowl fairies had stopped dancing in Tech fans' heads.

Up and down Blacksburg's Main Street, the faithful gathered. The hard-core loyals. The new football converts. Virginia Tech vs. Miami. Tech: Great season. Miami: Tough team.

"I think everybody thinks this is the year for Tech," senior Steve Sliney said, perched on a barstool upstairs at Champs Sports Bar.

"I think everybody's been getting caught up in it," said his buddy, Eric Stemm.

Luck came early with a field goal. Tech led, 3-0.

"We want to go to a bowl game," said grad student Kim Walton.

The juke box stood silent. The pool tables were ignored. Three big TVs positioned throughout gave good views to all. Incongruously, a golf tournament played on one.

"We go by majority rules," Champs owner Roya Nazare said by way of explanation. But the majority clearly was here for the Tech game.

"Is there golf on in there?" she said.

Lee Schnappinger, a veteran of last year's Independence Bowl in Shreveport, is a senior now. She remembers back to freshman year, when times weren't quite so good.

"I remember one of the quarterbacks always throwing interceptions," she said. "I don't know who it was. But he was always throwing to the other team."

Algernon Prioleau, a Tech senior, talked recently with Cousin Jason from Miami.

"He says Miami's the best team."

And so, apparently, they were. A missed pass. A dropped ball. And then the play they won't forget this season: the penalty called on Tech for intentional grounding, ending the team's drive.

Champs erupted.

"No!" "What are you talking about?" "That's the worst call I ever saw!"

"Horrible."

"Awful."

They lustily cheered Coach Frank Beamer's on-screen reaction. He seemed none too happy, himself. Soon came Miami's flashy end-zone catch. Touchdown. 17-3. Halftime.

"I am ever hopeful," declared Glenn Skutt, born and raised in Blacksburg.

Up at PK's, the crowd's euphoria had mellowed.

"I think we're still in good shape," said waiter Erik Verbeek.

At Sharkey's, former football players sympathized. You can't get much tougher than Miami.

"I think they're playing as good as they can possibly play," said Joe Swarm, the fullback who graduated last year.

Former defensive tackle Jerome Preston, dandling a friend's infant child, thought the team was playing pretty well. "The touchdown at the end of the half really hurt them," he said.

Frustration built in the second half. At Champs, a dart game picked up. A few people left. Up on the screen, a Tech tackler ripped off a guy's helmet. Facemasking, said the ref.

The Hokie fans cheered the replay.

Jill Price, Class of '88, sat quietly on a stool. She had driven up from Kingsport, Tenn., for the day.

"I had high hopes," she sighed. "Very high hopes."

Even as the waitresses cleared emptying tables and the pool games revved up, pretty much everyone agreed.

"I think Tech played a much better team," said Jon Howard, new to Blacksburg but an earnest Hokie convert. "I don't think anybody's going to lose faith with Virginia Tech."

Tech's 7-2 season still ought to bring a bowl bid, everyone said.

It's just the Miami thing.

Contractor Tom Bube, at PK's at halftime, philosophized.

"Let's put it this way. I've watched them lose to Miami for 27 years," he'd said.

Make that 28.