ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech's first appearance in one of the traditional New Year's bowls is at a site that can be awe-inspiring.
Hokies coach Frank Beamer isn't worried about the Louisiana Superdome surroundings nearly as much as ninth-ranked Texas in tonight's Sugar Bowl.
``I don't think [the atmosphere] will bother us,'' Beamer said of his 13th-ranked team (9-2). ``I figure half of the crowd will be ours, maybe more. And if the people from New Orleans go for underdogs, we'll have more than that.
``We've played in big games before, so we know what to do. When you're 0-2 and playing Miami [as Tech was in September], that's when you have the jitters.''
The Superdome can be set up for four different football capacities. The capacity for the arena for tonight's game is 76,000.
The largest crowd to see Tech this season was 59,819 at West Virginia. The Sugar Bowl crowd is expected to be in the 74,000 range. If that number is reached, it would eclipse the largest attendance at a Tech game in the 1990s. A crowd of 73,200 watched host Oklahoma defeat Tech in 1991.
The only larger crowd than the Oklahoma turnout to watch one of Beamer's nine Tech clubs was 80,500 at Clemson's ``Death Valley'' in 1988.
HOKIE HIGH: Beamer said at Saturday's bowl eve news conference that his alma mater has reached a pinnacle of pride in athletics.
Beamer and Tech basketball coach Bill Foster, whose team meets Wright State today at Lakefront Arena seven hours before the Sugar Bowl kickoff, attended a reception together Friday night.
``I asked Bill when was the last time our football coach and basketball coach were in the same room, and both of us had our last wins over Virginia,'' Beamer said. ``I told Bill we had to meet like that more often.''
It has been a while since the Hokies defeated UVa in both marquee sports in the same school year. It last happened in 1985-86.
SUPPORT: Tech's sports information office released a statement by All-America defensive end Cornell Brown on his display of the uniform numbers of two arrested and suspended teammates on tape over the ``VT'' logos on his helmet.
Brown has been refusing media interviews during Sugar Bowl week. As for his display of ``8'' and ``13'' on his helmet, Brown's statement read: ``I'm remembering my teammates who didn't make the trip. Tony Morrison and James Crawford are my roommates. This is letting the team know they're still with us in spirit.''
There was no word from Brown on whether he plans to continue or alter the number display in tonight's game.
DR. DEFENSE: Texas teammates of star safety Chris Carter have learned that watching TV with the team's interception leader can be eye-opening.
``Some of us will be sitting around, flipping channels, when I run across the [Learning] channel showing one of those operations,'' Carter said. ``I'll just stop there and watch. The bloodier, the better.''
He was joking, but Carter does want to become a cardiologist. ``Pro football always has been a dream,'' said the junior, ``but five years I see myself in medical school.''
Carter, a first-team All-Southwest Conference selection, has a different goal than most student-athletes. ``The All-America team I want to make is Academic All-America,'' he said.
GOING NOWHERE: Carole Braine, wife of Tech athletic director Dave Braine, was trapped alone in an elevator at the Hokies' headquarters hotel, Le Meridien, for 50 minutes late Thursday night.
Her husband had flown back to Roanoke for the Tech-Virginia basketball game, and Carole was headed back to the couple's room after being a good host in the Hokies' hospitality room.
``I tried to remain calm,'' she said of her time 20-something floors above Canal Street. ``I pushed the [alarm] bell and no one would answer, so I finally just laid on it and someone called.''
She got a phone hookup to the Braine room, then spent most of her time trapped talking with her daughter, Meredith, a Tech volleyball player, until security got the doors open.
BIG GAMER: No coach in the 62nd Sugar Bowl has been involved with as many prominent programs as Texas defensive coordinator Gary Darnell.
Darnell was hired by Longhorns coach John Mackovic when the former Kansas City Chiefs' sideline boss moved from Illinois to UT in 1992. Darnell came to Texas from Notre Dame. He had been at Florida before that.
He even has ties to the Virginia Tech program. Darnell was on the North Carolina staff headed by Bill Dooley when Dooley left UNC for the Hokies' job in 1978. Darnell also worked for Dooley again in 1987 at Wake Forest, after Dooley's nine Hokie seasons.
Tech assistant head coach Billy Hite and Darnell worked together at UNC. Only two of Dooley's Tar Heel aides chose not to move to Tech also.
One was Darnell. The other was Jim Donnan, just named Georgia's head coach last week after success at Marshall. Darnell also became the interim head coach at Florida for the last seven games of the 1989 season, when Galen Hall was fired en route to Steve Spurrier's hiring.
Darnell has coached a Sugar Bowl team, but not in the game. That happened four years ago, when Notre Dame beat Florida at the Superdome. Darnell had put in the Fighting Irish defensive game plan, but was given permission to miss the bowl to interview for a head coaching vacancy at Northwestern.
He didn't get that job, but then was hired by Mackovic to be the defensive boss at Texas.
``Way down deep, this has been a tremendous satisfaction [reaching the Sugar Bowl],'' Darnell said. ``Coach Holtz chewed me out when I didn't come the last time, but the game plan was set and I told Lou, ``Just like you always do, you'll call most of the stuff, anyway.'''
SUGAR CUBES: After a 2 a.m. curfew early in Sugar Bowl week dropped to 1 a.m. Thursday night for the Hokies, the players had to be in their rooms by 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. ... Tech safety William Yarborough said a business-like attitude on his team began after last year's bowl loss. ``We partied too much and lost our focus on the game at the Gator Bowl last year. This year, we put it into perspective. You want to have a little fun, but you always have to concentrate on football.'' ... Maybe Beamer and Mackovic should just stay another week in the Big Easy. The annual American Football Coaches Association convention begins here a week from today.
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