Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510160110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Well, what the heck is Akron?
On a rainy Saturday afternoon on which they likely could have gotten more work facing their scout team, the Hokies rolled to a record-smashing 77-27 win over outmanned Akron at Lane Stadium.
Before the contest mercifully ended with maybe 8,000 of the announced homecoming crowd of 40,688 still on hand, Tech coach Frank Beamer had played virtually everybody on the Hokies' sideline but the water boys.
``I felt like it was getting a little ridiculous toward the end,'' said Tech guard Chris Malone, who, like the rest of the Hokies' first-team offense, took the entire second half off.
``But I'd rather it be that way than be on the other end of it.''
Stung for the most points in its 105-year history, Akron (1-5) had one chance against Tech (4-2). It was called Zip.
Tech, which had scored seven first-quarter points all season, led 26-0 after 15 minutes. By halftime, a Hokies team that had scored seven touchdowns in its first five games had seven more and led 47-0.
Tech tacked on 30 second-half points to reach 77 - that's not I-77, either - to obliterate its previous Lane Stadium high of 59, set in 1983 against William and Mary.
Beamer, who has been apologizing for his offense through most of the year, had to apologize in a different way this time.
``I'm sorry about the score, to be honest with you,'' Beamer said. ``But we were in there and we kept trying to do what we do. I think most of the last scores actually came off runs. We certainly weren't trying to run up the score, just do what our offense does.''
Against Akron's matador defense, the Hokies put some zip back in a stagnant offense that had produced only 67 points in five games.
Tech scored early and often by virtually every way possible - blocked punt recovered in end zone, long passes, long runs, short runs and even a safety when Akron snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt.
The Hokies finished with 638 yards total offense - third best in school history. Of those yards, 453 came on the ground, Tech's most since running up a school-record 500 at Pitt in 1993.
Four Hokies - wideout Cornelius White, backup quarterback Al Clark and backs Ken Oxendine and Marcus Parker - scored two touchdowns each.
``They might not have the best team in the world, but anytime you put that many points up and having the backups doing the scoring it says a lot,'' said Jim Druckenmiller, Tech's starting quarterback, who exited after 20 minutes with the Hokies up 33-0.
``I was done after one quarter. We were calculating it then and we should have hit 120 points. Seriously, though, this does wonders for our confidence. We know we can put the ball in the end zone after today.''
But what does it mean coming against Akron?
``I thought we came out sharp offensively and that's what we were looking for,'' Beamer said. ``Sure, the caliber of competition won't be like it will be next week [at Rutgers] and the week after that [at West Virginia]. I don't care who we're playing. We have to take care of our end of it execution-wise and I think we did that.''
Beamer started sitting starters early in the second quarter. Many of the Hokies' regulars might as well have taken the day off.
``We got to play a lot of people and we got to rest some people I thought needed resting like [defensive tackle] J.C. Price and [defensive end] Cornell Brown. Plus, we got some work for guys like Oxendine and Parker, whom I thought need more work.''
Oxendine carried 14 times for 135 yards, including touchdown runs of 1 and 68 yards. Parker, the former Salem High School star, carried seven times for 85 yards, including scoring runs of 6 and 58 yards.
Clark, who played for two quarters before relinquishing the quarterback spot to third-stringer Cody Whipple, had scoring gallops of 48 and 58 yards en route to 120 yards rushing.
The only bummer on the Tech end was Akron's 27 points. The Zips scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions spanning the third and fourth quarters against the Hokies' second- and third-string defense.
The Tech defensive starters, proud of their position as the nation's fourth-ranked unit in points allowed, had trouble watching that part of the game.
``It's real frustrating,'' said end Lawrence Lewis. ``You see stuff out there that makes you mad. But I'm glad to see the younger guys get in there and play, because we're going to need 'em.''
``After you see all those points go up [by Akron], all of us wanted to go back in. When we saw them scoring, we [the starters] said like, `Hey, stop taking advantage of young guys.'''
The only ones taken advantage of Saturday were the Zips.
``They blocked the punt [66 seconds into the game for a score] and the avalanche started from there,'' said Lee Owens, Akron's first-year coach. ``You could see us getting thrown around on both sides of the ball. We didn't get 'em much of a show.''
Don't fret it, coach. Open dates aren't supposed to be a show.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB