THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 21, 1995 TAG: 9510210394
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PISCATAWAY, N.J. LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Virginia Tech's football team stayed at a different hotel Friday than it did on its last trip to Rutgers.
Coach Frank Beamer even had someone research what color jersey and pants his team wore for its last game here, to make sure the color combination is different this time.
``Nothing's the same,'' Beamer said.
Beamer was asked repeatedly this week about the Hokies' 1992 trip to Rutgers Stadium. Tech blew a big fourth-quarter lead and lost 50-49 as Rutgers took its first lead of the day on a touchdown with no time left. It was the wildest game in a season so full of creative losses that Beamer's job seemed to be in jeopardy.
In the 2 1/2 seasons since, the Hokies have gone 21-9 and have played in two bowl games, so Beamer can joke about that Rutgers game now. He farcically said he blocked out the last trip to Rutgers - can't remember a thing.
He remembers.
``Worst day in my life on a football field,'' Beamer said earlier this year.
Virginia Tech assistant head coach Billy Hite remembers all the players and coaches sitting on the buses, ready to pull away from Rutgers Stadium - all except one. Hite got off the bus and returned to the Hokies' locker room to find a dejected Beamer sitting alone on a bench, staring at the floor.
``I was worried about Frank,'' Hite said. ``That's the lowest I've ever seen him. He was beat up. I don't think any loss has ever hurt him like that Rutgers loss.''
In its press notes this week, Rutgers calls the game one of the school's best in its 125-year football history.
Beamer has a different perspective.
``It was awful football,'' Beamer said. ``It was just a sickening day.''
The series has sickened defensive coordinators on both sides.
Tech and Rutgers have played three times since joining the Big East. They have combined for 265 points, 37 touchdowns and 3,106 yards of total offense. Tech has won the last two, but each game followed a hauntingly familiar script: The Hokies take a big, seemingly secure lead, only to watch Rutgers roar back and make a game of it in the closing minutes.
``They somehow have our number,'' Tech linebacker George DelRicco said.
The Scarlet Knights have outscored the Hokies 62-7 in the fourth quarter. The only game in which Tech scored in the fourth was the one it lost.
``All of the games are almost identical,'' Rutgers coach Doug Graber said. ``It's been a crazy series.''
The elements are in place for a four-peat.
Rutgers has the best offense in the Big East (441.4 yards per game), but is last in scoring defense (36.6 points allowed) and passing defense (214.2 yards).
The Hokies have an erratic offense that has shown flashes of explosiveness but a defense that ranks fourth in the nation against the run (87 yards per game) and fifth in scoring defense (14.3 per game).
``They're capable of putting all kind of numbers up on the board, but we're a better team defensively than we've been, so I think we're capable of pretty much shutting them out this week,'' DelRicco said.
Rutgers (1-4, 0-2 Big East and losers of three in a row) would be hard to shut out. They have the Big East's top tailback in Terrell Willis (110.6 per game) and leading receiver in Marco Battaglia (7.4 catches per game). Beamer said Rutgers has the ability to score from long range, just like in the previous three seasons.
``In the Rutgers games, we've given up enough long plays to last a lifetime,'' Beamer said.
Last year's Rutgers game started the Hokies' defensive tailspin toward the season's end. Beamer said Tech (4-2, 2-1 and winners of four in a row) will have meetings only and do no physical work on Mondays for the remainder of the season in an attempt to stay fresher during the season's stretch drive.
Based on the last three games against the Scarlet Knights, the Hokies' defense had better be fresh down the stretch today. by CNB