ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9610010008
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Monday Morning QB
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
Future Virginia opponents could learn something from Texas running back Ricky Williams: Don't badmouth the Barber brothers.
``They asked him what he remembered about last year's game and he said how good [he] was and how big the holes were,'' Tiki Barber said. ``Who could be so stupid as to say something like that before the game?''
Virginia moved to No.12 in the new Associated Press poll after thumping Texas 37-13 on Saturday night.
Williams, who has been compared to former Texas running back and Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell, also implied that he hardly knew who Barber was.
``He said something like, `Oh, I think he has a twin,' or whatnot,'' Virginia cornerback Ronde Barber said. ``I bet he walked out of the stadium knowing who Tiki and Ronde Barber are.''
Ronde Barber had an interception and two tackles for loss, stopping Williams once for minus-7 yards. Tiki Barber rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns, compared to Williams' 19-carry, 44-yard effort.
``Ricky Williams saying he doesn't know who we are? He must be ignorant as hell,'' Ronde said. ``Tiki's definitely a Heisman candidate and I feel I'm one of the better [defensive backs] in the country.
``Stuff like that that's just asking to be posterboard material. Tiki showed him. Tiki's probably one of the best backs in the country. I can't say for Little Earl. Little Earl nothing. Tiki did it all today. He did nothing.''
Who was that guy?
Ronde Barber said the Cavaliers had little advance knowledge of back-up Texas quarterback Richard Walton, who was 14-of-27 for 180 yards after replacing ineffective starter James Brown.
``I didn't even know what [Walton's] name was,'' UVa coach George Welsh confessed. ``Frankly, I didn't. It was all James Brown for two years. That's all we ever heard.
``I don't know why they would take Brown out. Take him out for a series or so, [but] I don't know why they wouldn't play him in the second half. He [Walton] throws the football pretty well, though.''
Brown's fourth-down pass completions and late-game scrambles last year set up the winning field goal in the Longhorns' 17-16 victory over UVa, but he was only 4-of-9 Saturday, with three interceptions.
Distinguished visitor
Tennessee quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Peyton Manning took advantage of an open date to attend the Virginia-Texas game.
Manning dates Ashley Thompson, one of the sisters of Will Thompson, a walk-on from Memphis, Tenn. Will Thompson is Virginia's No.3 quarterback. Ashley also is a UVa student.
Don't streak here
Virginia Tech's two longest win streaks since 1967 have ended against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
The Hokies, who had a 13-game winning streak stopped Saturday, saw their seven-game winning streak bridging 1993 and '94 end against SU in the dome.
Tech dropped out of the AP Top 25 after being blitzed 52-21 by Syracuse. The Hokies were 18th in last week's poll.
Short move
In a first, Tech moved All-American defensive end Cornell Brown from the line to a stand-up linebacker spot for one play early in the second quarter. It didn't work. Syracuse's Tebucky Jones blew up the middle for a career-high 26-yard run on the play.
Brown was credited with nine tackles and one quarterback sack, his fifth of the season. Brown needs 13 sacks in Tech's final seven games to tie Bruce Smith's school-record total of 46.
Linebacker Myron Newsome posted a team-high 16 tackles. Free safety Torrian Gray and linebacker Tony Morrison each had 11.
Negative numbers
Before Syracuse erupted for 21 fourth-quarter points, Tech had permitted just 28 final-quarter points in its past 15 games. Syracuse killed Tech on third downs. The Orange were successful on 13 of 18 third-down conversions. Tech's first three opponents had converted only 10 of 42 third-down opportunities. Through four games, Tech has 11 giveaways and only five takeaways. Before Saturday's game, Tech's turnover margin ranked No.103 among the nation's 111 Division I-A schools. The Hokies, who led the Big East in rushing offense (221.7 yards per game) before Saturday, managed a season-low 111 yards. Freshman Shyrone Stith, whose 274 yards rushing rated fifth in the Big East through three games, had only five carries for 21 yards in a backup role behind Ken Oxendine. Fullback Brian Edmonds, who had carried 17 times for 125 yards the previous two weeks, inexplicably carried only twice for 1 yard.
Time to recover
Tech has the month of October to rebound from the crushing setback. The Hokies have two off Saturdays (Oct.5 and Oct.19) and get Big East patsies Temple (Oct.12) and Pitt (Oct.26) at home.
``Yeah, we'll recover,'' said Oxendine. ``We've got to bounce back somehow from the bad news, the bad luck, the bad everything.''
Rueger pistol
The last time Washington and Lee senior quarterback Tommy Rueger started a football game, he wasn't even in college. The year was 1992. Rueger was a senior at Norfolk Academy.
If you told the people at Centre (Ky.) College that Saturday, they wouldn't have believed it. Not after Rueger and the previously winless Generals shocked the previously unbeaten Colonels 29-21 in Danville, Ky. W&L's victory ensured that no Old Dominion Athletic Conference team would go winless for the first time since 1993.
Rueger, starting for an injured Brooks Fischer (sore right throwing shoulder) passed for one touchdown and ran for two as the Generals rallied from an early 21-7 deficit.
His best play took him back to Norfolk Academy. Rueger was holding on a field goal attempt with 8:21 to go and W&L trailing 21-19. The kicker was junior Matt Holbrook, a first-year starter who was Rueger's kicker in high school.
The snap went high over Rueger's head, but he got it down a split second before Holbrook's foot swung through. It was as if they had been doing it for years, and they probably had.
T-shirt tribute
In an emotional locker room ceremony following VMI's 31-14 loss to Furman on Saturday, All-America tailback Thomas Haskins presented the parents of Scott Hickey with three VMI football travel T-shirts.
Hickey was a freshman manager of the 1995 football team. He died Jan.19 after a bacteria that causes meningitis infected his blood. Hickey's father, David R. Hickey, was a classmate of Keydets assistant head coach Donnie Ross at VMI.
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