THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.
Like the mountain foliage around its campus, Virginia Tech's football team was on fire in October.
The Hokies closed out the month Saturday by winning their sixth consecutive game with a shutout of West Virginia. In October, Tech scored 163 points and allowed its four opponents just 44.
``I felt it was a total team effort,''
Tech coach Frank Beamer said after Saturday's 27-0 win, the Hokies' first shutout of the Mountaineers since a 15-0 victory in 1960. ``That's what I've been proud of the last couple weeks. I feel we are putting it together as a football team. We're not totally flashy offensively, but we get enough points to get the job done.''
Saturday, Tech has a big job when Big East-leading Syracuse (6-1, 3-0) comes to Blacksburg. If Tech wins, it will move into sole possession of first place in the Big East and vault into contention for a spot in the bowl alliance, which will probably produce a Sugar Bowl berth for the Big East champion.
The Hokies' 6-2 overall and 4-1 conference records look impressive. But they are not as imposing when you consider the only team with a winning record Tech has beaten is Miami (4-3). That's probably why the Hokies still have not cracked either poll, falling one spot short in The Associated Press and two shy of the USA Today-CNN top 25.
Syracuse is ranked No. 15 by USA Today-CNN and No. 20 by the AP. The Orangemen vs. Virginia Tech is finally a game of some national significance for the lowly Big East in its football season to forget.
The question now for Virginia Tech is: Can it stay on fire, or will it be like those leaves that wither and die come November?
- STEVE CARLSON Even without Sparrow NSU can pile up points
With Aaron Sparrow playing his last season at Norfolk State and the schedule winding down, the prospects of next season and what would happen at quarterback had begun to creep into coach Darnell Moore's thoughts.
He already was talking about
bringing in two quarterbacks with this year's recruiting class, although he hinted that he had high hopes for backup Robert Morris.
Moore, and a homecoming crowd of over 20,000, learned firsthand what the future holds for the Spartans when Sparrow went down with a slight separation of his left shoulder in the first quarter Saturday against Johnson C. Smith.
Morris, who had done little more than punt all season, stepped in and the Spartans hardly missed a beat, scoring 42 points with the 6-foot-3, 205-pound sophomore at the helm.
The athletic Morris had been pigeonholed as an option quarterback throughout his high school career and one year at Eastern New Mexico. But after transferring to Norfolk State, Morris began to prove this fall that he could throw the ball. If not as well as the All-American Sparrow, then darn close.
Prior to Saturday's emergency shift, Morris had completed just one pass in seven attempts and had been picked off twice. But with an opportunity to work exclusively with the first team, Morris completed 16 of 30 attempts for 217 yards and three touchdowns and did not give up an interception.
Sparrow will be gone next year. So will All-American receiver James Roe. But three other receivers who already have caught 30 or more passes in '95 - Marty Conner, Darius Blount and Ronald Boone - return.
And the offensive fireworks will in all likelihood continue.
RICH RADFORD by CNB