Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510090070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, MD. LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Tech offense owes the Hokies' defense a round. Better make that a couple.
On an afternoon in which the offense played like it had done some pregame tailgating, the defense safely drove the Hokies home here Saturday in a 14-0 victory over Navy.
The shutout by the defense, Tech's first in 64 games dating back to 1989, overcame a wretched offensive performance that included two Dwayne Thomas fumbles, a pair of Jim Druckenmiller interceptions, and enough other bad plays to fill up a bloopers video.
``Anytime you play that poor [offensively], I guess you're lucky to win,'' Druckenmiller said.
``Offensively, there's one person, whether it's me, whether it's the left guard or the running backs always breaking down.''
Despite a 55-pound-a-man advantage up front, Tech (3-2) ran for only 109 yards on the Middies (2-3) until picking up 76 on a late-game touchdown drive that was capped by Thomas' 28-yard run with 1:55 left.
Tech's offense looked out of sync all day and finished with 273 total yards, second-worst only to its 231-yard output in a 16-0 loss to Cincinnati.
``Offensively, except for the last drive, I can tell you we're not very pleased,'' said Frank Beamer, Tech coach. ``Our execution, our focus is not very good.''
Could changes soon be in store?
``We're going to look at this film real closely,'' Beamer said. ``We had dropped balls, missed routes, poor throws, people in the quarterback's face, we turned guys loose in the running game. Yeah, we're going to look at this one real closely, I tell you that.''
Druckenmiller, hurried on almost every pass attempt, completed 10 of 19 passes for a paltry 88 yards. All but 25 of those yards came during Tech's only other sustained drive of the day - a 71-yard march capped by Druckenmiller's 16-yard scoring pass to Jermaine Holmes on the first play of the second quarter.
To think, the Hokies thought they had things figured out offensively after running for 300 yards on Miami two weeks ago and scoring 26 second-half points at Pitt last week.
``I think the whole team thought we should have come out and blown them out ... score a lot of points,'' Thomas said of the 13-point underdog Middies. ``But if you want to do something, you've got to go out and do it.''
Druckenmiller said he thought the offensive unit lacked fire Saturday.
``We didn't play with much emotion again today,'' Druckenmiller said. ``It's something that's really bugging me personally. I'm out here playing football because I enjoy the sport. I can't wait for game days. If you can't get pumped up personally for Saturday, I just don't want to be out on the field.
``I just wish some of the players would pick it up, get a little intense out there.''
There's no such problem on the other side of the ball. The Hokies' defense put the clamps on Navy's triple option attack, allowing a season-low 208 total yards.
Navy, ranked eighth in the country in rushing (273 yards per game) coming in, had 126. Middies sophomore quarterback Chris McCoy, the nation's 10th-best rusher at 133.2 yards per game entering Saturday, had 1 net yard on 21 carries.
Tech had seven quarterback sacks and four more tackles for loss.
``I can't say enough about our defense,'' Beamer said. ``We stopped 'em on first down for the most part and put them in second-and-long and third-and-long. I think when you make a running team like that have to throw the ball it really plays to your advantage.''
Junior defensive end Cornell Brown had a monster game with 13 tackles, 2.5 sacks and two more tackles for loss. Senior tackle J.C. Price had two sacks and senior end Hank Coleman had 11/2.
Navy penetrated the Tech 30-yard line only once. That threat fizzled when Jason Covarrubias slipped and misfired on a 46-yard field goal with 11:15 left in the half.
``Up front we did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage,'' said Bud Foster, Tech's co-defensive coordinator. ``I don't [think] Navy had played against anybody as quick as us.''
Tech, which entered Saturday ranked 10th in scoring defense, hadn't shut out anybody since blanking Vanderbilt 18-0 in '89.
The goose egg on the scoreboard looked good to Brown.
``That's been in the works for the past couple years since I've been here,'' Brown said. ``It feels great to finally get it.''
Now if only the offense would get it, too.
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB