THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200512
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
On its last trip to West Virginia, Miami lost its shot at the national titleand the Big East title, and it lost the perception of invincibility among its conference brethren.
Saturday, Miami returns. The Hurricanes haven't forgotten what they left in Morgantown, W.Va., last season.
``We're looking forward to going up there,'' Hurricanes coach Dennis Erickson said. ``We got some bad vibes from what happened to us last year.''
What happened was, West Virginia, on the way to an undefeated regular season, beat Miami, 17-14. It remains the only loss the Hurricanes have suffered to a Big East opponent since the league was formed in 1991.
No team has beaten Miami in back-to-back seasons since Florida in 1982 and '83.
The circumstances are different this season, with Miami a 20-point favorite at Mountaineer Field.
Miami is once again the Big East favorite. But with 27 seniors from last year's team departed, West Virginia has struggled to a 3-4 record, with the victories coming against teams with a combined 6-12-1 mark.
``I don't know who the best team in America is, but this team has to be awful, awful close,'' West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said of the Hurricanes.
THE PITS FOR PITT: Last week against Pittsburgh, West Virginia scored with 1:32 to play to take a 40-33 lead. Pitt came back and scored with 38 seconds left and made a 2-point conversion to go ahead, 41-40. West Virginia came right back to go 72 yards on two plays and score a game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds left.
``I'm glad I was watching it, as opposed to coaching in it,'' Miami's Erickson said.
The loss dropped Pitt to 1-6, including losses to West Virginia, Louisville and nationally ranked Texas by a combined 12 points. They have also lost to Ohio State, Boston College and Syracuse - all nationally ranked - while dropping five in a row.
``Pitt's a little better football team than anyone's giving them credit for,'' Nehlen said. ``They're going to beat somebody.''
The Panthers' next chance is Saturday in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech (6-1), which is No. 17 in The Associated Press poll and No. 13 according to USA Today-CNN.
OLD PROS: Boston College's Dan Henning and Rutgers' Doug Graber, the only Big East coaches with NFL coaching experience, face each other as college head coaches for the first time Saturday.
Graber, in his fifth season at Rutgers, formerly served as the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for three seasons. He also spent four seasons coaching the Kansas City Chiefs' secondary.
Much of Henning's career has been in the NFL, both as an assistant and as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers. This is his first season as a college head coach.
``In NFL circles he has an outstanding reputation as one of the better offensive minds around,'' Graber said of Henning.
QUICK HITS: For the first time this season, the Big East has four teams ranked in both the AP and USA Today-CNN polls. In the Bowl Coalition poll (the combination of the two polls), Miami is sixth, Syracuse is 16th, Virginia Tech 17th and Boston College 24th. . . . Virginia Tech quarterback Maurice DeShazo, who was fifth in the nation last season in passing efficiency, has dropped to sixth in the Big East in that statistic this week. by CNB