ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 1, 1997 TAG: 9701020058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: MIAMI
TYPE: ORANGE BOWL NOTES
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Many of the South Florida natives simply refer to the Orange Bowl as the OB Bowl.
That could have stood for Out of Bounds Bowl on Tuesday night.
The game, being played for the first time at 75,192-seat Pro Player Stadium instead of the antiquated Orange Bowl in downtown Miami, drew an announced crowd of 51,212 fans, the smallest crowd in Orange Bowl history since Jan.1, 1947 when 36,152 watched Rice defeat Tennessee 8-0.
Since 64,000 tickets were sold for the Tech matchup, obviously, many fans came disguised as empty seats.
The locals apparently found better things to do on New Year's Eve than watch Virginia Tech and Nebraska, a pairing that didn't exactly rival marquee matchups of past Orange Bowls.
It didn't help matters that many Cornhuskers fans stayed home and watched the game on television. Nebraska ended up selling approximately 7,800 tickets.
Tech fans, meanwhile, were much more excited about the game. The Hokies sold 16,000 tickets in Blacksburg and more Tech supporters bought tickets once in Miami.
The game, which was moved from its traditional Jan.1 spot to Dec.31 to accommodate the Bowl Alliance, also wasn't helped by the fact that Nebraska was a top-heavy 17-point favorite.
Like in last year's Sugar Bowl, many of the prime seats were left vacant by corporate sponsors who bought huge blocks of tickets that went unused.
Many of the stadium's numerous luxury boxes also were vacant.
IRON MAN: When Tech's offense went on the field for the first time against Nebraska, center Billy Conaty officially entered the Hokies' record book.
The game marked the 48th consecutive start for the senior anchor of Tech's offensive line. Conaty had shared the record of 47 straight starts with former teammate Chris Malone.
Conaty managed to keep his streak alive despite breaking both of his ankles and undergoing knee surgery after his freshman season.
``I've been pretty lucky, and I guess pretty determined,'' Conaty said. ``I'd feel bad missing a game. I've been lucky to get hurt at the right time.''
Conaty's closest call was last year's Sugar Bowl, which came six weeks after he broke his right ankle in Tech's regular-season finale against Virginia.
``I was hurting a little for the Sugar Bowl,'' Conaty said. ``But, hey, nothing was going to keep me out of that game.''
Conaty said the record ``is kind of neat.''
``It's cool to have some kind of record,'' he said. ``Linemen don't get too many records.''
OSBORNE APOLOGY: Nebraska coach Tom Osborne apologized Monday for remarks he made last year when the Cornhuskers were creating headlines for criminal misconduct.
Specifically, Osborne said he was sorry for saying his team was not like the Miami Hurricanes.
``That was a terrible statement, it was a stupid on my part,'' said Osborne, who sent letters of apology to Miami president Tad Foote and 'Canes coach Butch Davis.
``I shouldn't have said that ... we may be worse than Miami.''
CORSO ATTACK: ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso has jumped Tech again.
Corso, whose snide comments about Tech irked Tech followers before last year's Sugar Bowl, said the Hokies' long list of off-field woes would hurt the team against Nebraska.
``It's bad enough when you have a team named the Hokies,'' Corso said. ``Then they get in trouble. Now you have double trouble - like dumb and dumber.
``They're now starting to get some publicity, but the wrong kind of publicity.''
MANIC MELFA: The Washington boys - T.J. and Todd - said Tech's appearance in the Orange Bowl has things stirred up back in their hometown of Melfa, located on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
``T.J. and I are the only Eastern Shore football players at Tech, and the town and high school are going nuts,'' Todd Washington said.
Tony Washington, the boys' father who is retiring after 28 years as football coach at Nandua High School, and many of his co-workers traveled south for the game.
``This is like a belated Christmas present,'' Todd Washington said.
WINNING NUMBERS: The game paired two of the seven winningest teams in college football the past two seasons.
Nebraska's 22 victories ranks second only to Florida (23). Florida State ad Ohio State have won 21, while Virginia Tech, Tennessee and Brigham Young have won 20 games each.
Entering Tuesday, Nebraska's and Tech's combined record was 82-13 the past four years, 42-5 the past two.
ORANGE SLICES: Former Hokies in attendance included J.C. Price, Mike Bianchin, William Yarborough and last year's Sugar Bowl hero, Bryan Still. Atlanta Braves pitcher Brad Clontz, a Patrick County native who played baseball at Tech, also was at the game. ... Nebraska was the 38th ranked team Tech has played in Frank Beamer's 10 years as coach. Including bowls, Tech has played 17 ranked teams the past four seasons. ... While the Huskers are scheduled to return home this morning, the Hokies will spend another day in Florida as a bowl-game reward.
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Virginia Tech's Shawn Scales (right) tumbles intoby CNBthe end zone as Nebraska's Mike Minter defends. Scales caught the
touchdown pass from Jim Druckenmiller in the second quarter.