ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701020073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Their eyes were red, and not from watching the waves of Nebraska players who came at them.
When the end came Tuesday night for one of the best teams in Virginia Tech's football history, the only place the Hokies hadn't beaten the odds was on the scoreboard at Pro Player Stadium.
``I would like to think we'd be remembered as the starting blocks of something something great,'' said linebacker Brandon Semones. ``The biggest honor would be to see this continuing.''
It was an hour after 10th-ranked Tech's 41-21 Orange Bowl loss to No.6 Nebraska, and Semones' eyes still were moist. He had a severe case of senior-itis, a locker-room malady of mixed emotions in a program with a 37-11 record the past four seasons.
``It hurts,'' said Semones, whose play so typified Tech's second consecutive 10-2 team. ``A lot of us were like this. For a guy like me, you realize it's probably the last time you'll walk off a field in uniform.
``You play for so long, and then you stop. I was crying not because we lost, but more so because I love the game.''
It showed in the way Semones always played the game. He wasn't just Tech coach Frank Beamer's nephew. He arguably was the Hokies' best defensive player this season, certainly the most consistent.
``Brandon has worked awfully hard,'' his uncle said. ``If he personifies this team, it's because he's a winner. We have a lot of those.''
Before the date with tradition-rich Nebraska, Beamer said he was going to reserve judgment on whether these Hokies were the best of his 10 teams.
After the game, he said the Cornhuskers were even better than he had thought. As for his team, he still was hedging on its place in history, except in one regard.
``What this team has done to win games, in the face of the odds against it, it's definitely the best at that,'' Beamer said. ``Last year we ended very well in the Sugar Bowl.
``This team, it didn't happen. But against the odds, with all that happened off the field this year, with the tough schedule at the end, it came out ahead more than any other we've had.''
Through injuries, arrests, suspensions and a November to remember against Southwestern Louisiana, East Carolina, Miami, West Virginia and Virginia, the Hokies played with a blinders-on fervor and business-like attitude.
While Cornell Brown was the All-America candidate among these Hokies, the talented and controversial defensive end didn't really reflect his team.
The Hokies were personified by players like Semones and quarterback Jim Druckenmiller, by a defensive line of interchangeable parts who arrived on the Blacksburg campus as walk-ons.
Druckenmiller came to Tech when no one this side of East Stroudsburg and Kutztown, Pa., wanted him. Semones, who had gained almost three miles as a running back at Glenvar High School, was projected as a special-teams player for the Hokies.
What he became was a special player. The Hokies haven't had Top 25 recruiting classes. They've just had a Top 25 team.
``We are kind of like a bunch of overachievers, and I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that,'' Semones said. ``We built players and we built a program. You do it with hard work.
``We were out there and we were playing with Nebraska. I don't think we're quite there yet, obviously. But I think we're close.''
The 1995 Hokies were superior defensively. The '96 club was better with the ball. The Sugar Bowl champs of a year ago became the first Tech team to win 10 games. This season's club was the first to reach double figures during the regular season.
``Our record was better than I thought, realistically, it would be,'' Beamer said.
He's right. The 1996 Hokies finished the season where they were supposed to close it, at Pro Player Stadium - except Tech was projected to be there for a Carquest Bowl date as the third pick in the Big East Football Conference.
Thanks to at least a share of the Big East title, the Hokies found themselves at the Carquest - as spectators being razzed by fans from Miami and Virginia.
So, where do they go from here?
``I know some people are expecting us to have a down year next season,'' junior guard Gennaro DiNapoli said Wednesday morning.
Just what is ``down'' after being one of only nine schools to win at least eight regular-season games in each of the past four seasons?
``After 10-2 twice,'' DiNapoli said with a laugh, ``maybe if we lose three it will be a down year.''
And even when you're better than that, a lot of guys can end up crying.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF Coach Frank Beamer may have beenby CNBdisappointed with the outcome of Tuesday night's game, but his 1996
Hokies became the first Tech team to win 10 games in a regular
season.