Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509110074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Sifting through the garbage of a home loss, not to mention a Big East Conference loss, the Hokies could blame no one but themselves for their predicament.
"My grade for this game is it's a loss,'' said Frank Beamer, Tech head coach. "Give Boston College credit. They simply executed better and deserved to win the football game.
"That was a totally different football team than the one we saw lose to Ohio State [38-6] in the opener.
"Boston College got better after its first game and now we need to get better. We've got a lot of getting better to do and we're going to start [Friday].''
There's plenty of room for improvement. The Hokies repeatedly shot themselves in the foot against the Eagles with six key dropped passes on offense and by not being able to play pass coverage on defense.
With his running game cut off by Tech's stacked eight-man defensive front, BC junior quarterback Mark Hartsell decided to pad his frequent-flier account, picking apart the Hokies linebackers and secondary at will.
"They [the Hokies' defense] gave us everything we thought they'd give us,'' said Hartsell, who completed 24 of 38 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns.
"The coaches prepared me so well. It was just like watching film. I knew what was going to happen.''
Especially when it was most crucial. Nine of Hartsell's completions converted huge third-down situations.
The Eagles batted 55 percent on third down (10-of-18 conversions), and it simply killed the Hokies.
"Overall, our pass coverage has got to get better, no question about that,'' Beamer said.
"When you have that kind of third-down conversion against you ... in that one drive [in the third quarter which put BC ahead 20-7], they made four straight third-down conversions. It leaves you out there on defense a long, long time and you don't want to be out there a long, long time against a good, powerful team like BC.''
Especially against one with a guy like Hartsell. Despite missing his top two wideouts - Kenyatta Watson (hamstring) and Greg Grice (suspension) - the BC quarterback simply turned to sophomore Steve Everson (10 catches for 142 yards) and his tight-end arsenal of 6-foot-7 Brent Gibbons (three catches for 79 yards), 6-4 Todd Pollack (3-21) and 6-3 Michael Hemmert (one for a 3-yard touchdown).
"We knew going in we had something there with our tight ends on their linebackers,'' Hartsell said. "And every time I needed a first down I went to Everson. He was unbelievable.''
While Tech held BC's running attack to 45 yards on 32 attempts, the Hokies' linebackers and defensive backs couldn't stay with the Eagles' receivers. On all three of Hartsell's short TD throws, his receiver was wide open.
BC's motion on offense consistently took Tech's cornerbacks out of position, leaving the Eagles' talented tight ends to burn Hokie linebackers Myron Newsome and Tony Morrison.
"With the kind of offense they run, it's hard on our defensive backs,'' said Tech defensive end Cornell Brown, whose rush on Hartsell was limited by a BC double-team.
"Our DBs kind of sit on their two receivers outside and it's hard for us as a whole to play zone against them when they execute so well. [Hartsell] was great. He made the right pass, the perfect pass, just about every time.''
Offensively, Tech moved the football. Tech, which had 122 yards rushing, finished with a 418-318 edge in total yards.
Junior quarterback Jim Druckenmiller, making his first college start, was better than anybody could have expected, completing 21 of 42 passes for 296 yards.
Druckenmiller tried to win it for Tech late. He completed six of seven passes for 61 yards as Tech, down six points, drove to the BC 19 with 37 seconds left to play.
But junior Cornelius White, who otherwise did a fine job replacing injured flanker Bryan Still in the second half, dropped Druckenmiller's bullet pass at the BC 7 on Tech's next play.
Druckenmiller's next pass sailed in and out of the hands of BC linebacker Mike Haff. Tech's Michael Williams let the next one slide through his fingers at the 5. With 21 seconds left on the Hokies' final shot, courtesy of a mistaken extra down given Tech by the officials, Druckenmiller's pass for Michael Holmes was broken up by BC linebacker Brian Maye.
"We just didn't execute and that includes me,'' Druckenmiller said. "The drops? I don't like excuses. It hurt losing Bryan, but I was really happy with the way the others guys [White, Williams and Holmes] stepped up.''
The game's script played out just as Beamer feared. The Tech coach worried about his club's execution against a good team that already had a game under its belt.
"I will bet that when we look at game films we will find that not one of our players executed as well as he is capable of executing,'' Beamer said.
"Out of everybody, Jim Druckenmiller probably executed the best. He did very well despite the fact we dropped some balls we normally catch. And to me, that's just concentration.''
Tech averaged 5.4 yards a play - good enough to win most games - but was hampered by bad field position. Of the Hokies' 14 drives, none started outside their 44-yard line.
"Maintaining field position was key for us,'' said Dan Henning, BC coach. "We knew this one wasn't going to be easy.''
It may not be easy for Tech to get back up, either. The Hokies, ranked 20th entering the game, figure to drop out of The Associated Press Top 25 regular-season rankings for the first time since Nov.16, 1993, a span of 23 polls.
The Hokies also have likely lost Still, their best receiver, for the next two weeks with a slightly separated right shoulder. Still will miss Tech's Sept.16 home game with Cincinnati, and is questionable, at best, for Miami on Sept.23.
"Sure, it hurts to lose the first one, especially in the conference and it coming at home,'' said Jim Baron, Tech senior defensive tackle.
"But I don't think there's any doubt this team will respond. The Big East is a wide-open race and last year we finished second with two losses. We still have our goal of winning the Big East title. We still feel like the Big East has got to come through Blacksburg. Now we just have to rebound and start handling business.''
BostonCollege||7--7--6--0--20
VirginiaTech||0--7--0--7--14
BC-Pollack 11 pass from Hartsell (McGuire kick)
BC-Harding 4 pass from Hartsell (McGuire kick)
VT-Still 80 pass from Druckenmiller (Larsen kick)
BC-Hemmert 3 pass from Hartsell (kick failed)
VT-Edmonds 1 run (Larsen kick)
A-44,426.
-- |||BC---|VaTech Firstdowns ---|||16----|19 Rushes-yards ||32-45-|34-122 Passing ---|||273---|296 ReturnYards |||73----|66 Comp-Att-Int |||24-38-0-|21-43-0 Punts ||9-41---|7-43 Fumbles-Lost
by CNB