Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250096
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES C. BLACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Debuts for new Miami Hurricanes head football coach Butch Davis have been unkind.
The former Dallas Cowboys assistant opened the season with a loss to the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl. Saturday afternoon, the 43-year-old coach watched as his 17th-ranked Hurricanes fell to Virginia Tech 13-7 at Lane Stadium in his Big East debut.
Tech's victory, the first in 13 tries against the Hurricanes, was only the second Big East win for a Miami opponent in 21 games. West Virginia knocked off the Hurricanes 17-14 at Morgantown two years ago.
As for the 1-2 start this season - Miami beat Florida A&M 49-3 two weeks ago - the Hurricanes have been victimized by the opponents' running game.
Miami has given up 682 yards on the ground this season with the Hokies (1-2) running for 300 Saturday. The last time Tech ran for 300 yards in a game was two years ago, when the Hokies amassed 385 yards in a 55-28 victory over Maryland.
"Offensively, we just felt we had no other choice but to run the ball," tailback Dwayne Thomas said. "Our first drive, we just ran up the middle at them. After that, we felt we could run on them."
Tech's philosophy on running against the Hurricanes is surprising considering the history of the series. In last year's 24-3 Miami victory in the Orange Bowl, Tech had minus 14 yards on the ground.
Thomas, who had 98 yards in Tech's first two games, gained 127 yards in the first half. He finished with 165 yards on 24 carries and scored the Hokies' only touchdown on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.
"Defensively we did a very, very poor job of tackling," Davis said. "It has much more to do with the mentality that we are going to dominate the line of scrimmage, and pool, and swarm, and gang tackle and create turnovers. Our run defense has got to get better and we have to create turnovers on defense."
With NFL first-round picks such as Warren Sapp (Tampa Bay, 1995), Russell Maryland (Dallas, '91), Cortez Kennedy (Seattle, '90) and Jerome Brown (Philadelphia, '87), past Miami opponents were better off testing the secondary as opposed to testing the defensive front.
However, 1995 tells a different story.
The Hokies had nine rushes of 10 yards or more, including a final blow to the ribs on a 41-yard run by Ken Oxendine with 4:55 left in the game.
Another factor was turnovers. The Miami offense gave away the ball twice but received no gifts in return from the Hokies.
"It's just frustrating," said Miami defensive lineman Kenard Lang, who was in on five tackles. "We know we were the better team and we didn't prove it."
The loss broke a series of streaks for the Miami squad.
Coming into Saturday's game, Miami was undefeated against the state of Virginia. The Hurricanes posted a 20-0 record, including 12 victories against the Hokies.
Miami had won 71 straight games against unranked opponents, and the last time the Hurricanes started a season 1-2 was 17 years ago.
by CNB