Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511130103
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
As far as Virginia Tech is concerned, there's only one 1995 Big East Conference football champion.
And it beat Temple 38-16 on a rainy Saturday in front of 20,371 witnesses at RFK Stadium.
``I don't care what happens down the line,'' said Jim Baron, a senior defensive tackle for the Hokies.
``If Miami or Syracuse ties us, so what ... we beat both of them. Whatever happens, happens, and all I know is we're Big East champs. We're Big East champs, no matter who says what.''
Technically, however, the Hokies might end up having to share the school's first football conference title since they won the Southern Conference in 1963.
Miami and Syracuse, both 4-1 after winning league games Saturday, each has a shot to tie Tech (8-2), which finished 6-1 in the Big East. Only one can catch Tech, though, because the teams meet on Nov.25 in Miami.
If Miami wins, the Hokies figure to draw the short straw from the Bowl Alliance and are likely to be sent to the Gator Bowl for a second straight appearance.
Forget that stuff for now, though. After ripping off their school-record tying eighth straight victory, the Hokies wanted to relish the school's second league championship in 102 seasons of football.
Sparked by what might have been a college football first - a pair of touchdowns by defensive tackles in a 48-second span - Tech scored 21 points in the second quarter to take a 31-9 lead into halftime.
Leading 10-6 after Jim Druckenmiller's 35-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Still, Tech's ferocious defense decided it was time to play offense, too.
On the first of five Tech sacks in the second quarter, end Hank Coleman buried Temple quarterback Pat Bonner. The ball jarred loose into Baron's hands, and the 6-foot-4, 260-pound tackle lugged it 46 yards to the end zone.
``I wasn't going to let anybody catch me ... not with a chance to find the end zone,'' a happy Baron said. ``I haven't scored a touchdown since my freshman year of high school. I wanted to do some high-stepping and dancing ... I felt like Deion Sanders, but I just couldn't do it.''
Forty-eight seconds later, it was big tackle J.C. Price's turn to dance. Tech's 6-foot-3, 275-pound defensive bell cow picked off a Bonner pass in the flat with one hand and took it 19 yards to the end zone.
At about the 5, the lumbering Price put his best juke on the backtracking Bonner and walked in for his first touchdown since his senior year of high school.
``It wasn't that good of a move,'' said a smiling Price, ``because [Bonner] didn't bite on it. I was trying to decide whether to run him over or not. I wanted to blast him, but I didn't. I felt if I ran him over and fell short of the end zone, everybody would be joking about that forever.''
After Temple (1-9 overall, 1-5 Big East) cut it to 24-9 on the third of Zane Michalski's career-best three field goals, Tech's offense, after going eight minutes-plus without the ball, got back into the act.
After Druckenmiller, on fourth-and-four from the Temple 32, found Still for a 25-yard slant to the 7, sophomore fullback Marcus Parker dove over from the 2 to make it 31-9 at halftime.
It was over. After a scoreless third quarter, Parker, the ex-Salem High star, applied the final stamp on a 1-yard dive with 9:52 to play that made it 38-9.
The Owls scored their only touchdown with 5:58 left on Henry Burris' 18-yard pass to Troy Kersey.
The Owls gained 328 yards on Tech, but they were killed by four turnovers.
No matter what happens in the league race, the Hokies say they always will know the real story.
``In my mind and our minds, we are the Big East champions,'' said Druckenmiller, who threw for 244 of Tech's 360 yards.
``Personally, we know inside, and we don't care what anybody else says about it.''
see microfilm for box score
by CNB