THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090518
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Frank Beamer would take a road game like this one any day.
Virginia Tech will try to clinch a share of the Big East title Saturday at 1 p.m. with a game against Temple at Washington's RFK Stadium. A crowd of about 20,000 is expected, and best estimates are that upwards of 75 percent will be clad in Hokie maroon and orange. ``This is a welcome game because we've got so many alumni and fan support up in the D.C. area,'' said Beamer, the Hokies' coach. ``I feel we'll have a lot of people there this weekend.''
Temple has averaged 4,630 fans this season at Philadelphia's 66,592-seat Veterans Stadium, or 7 percent of its capacity. Owls coach Ron Dickerson said he made the decision last summer to move the game to Washington in an attempt to establish some recruiting inroads in Washington and Maryland.
But how does turning a home game into a road game help recruiting? ``We're not looking at it that way,'' Dickerson said. ``This is our home game and we're going to have recruits there and treat it as our home game. That's how we're selling it to our kids.''
Speaking of selling, the Owls sold what was supposed to be a home game earlier this season to Kansas State, traveling to Manhattan, Kansas, for the sake of a hefty guarantee.
HEAD(GEAR) CASE: Last Saturday after Tech's win over Syracuse, Hokie quarterback Jim Druckenmiller was holding his helmet under his arm and signing autographs when a fan snatched the helmet and ran off.
Druckenmiller half-jokingly appealed in interviews after the game that the fan return the pilfered prize. Sunday, the thief did just that, much to Druckenmiller's surprise. ``He called me Sunday afternoon and apologized and asked if he could bring over my helmet,'' Druckenmiller said. ``I never thought I'd see the helmet again.''
In exchange, Druckenmiller signed the ticket stub of the fan, an out-of-towner who was visiting a Tech student.
MIAMI HEAT: Miami will make its case before the NCAA Committee on Infractions Friday in Kansas City. Coach Butch Davis will fly to Kansas City, then fly to Boston Friday night to join his team in preparations for Saturday's Boston College game.
The Hurricanes are charged with Pell Grant fraud, pay-for-play schemes and improprieties in the school's drug-testing program.
``As a compliment to the players, we probably went through even more adversity than you could have predicted prior to the start of the season,'' Davis said.
The Hurricanes started 1-3, vanished from the national rankings, saw their fan following in Miami wither and endured a spate of injuries. But they have won four in a row and could still win or share the Big East title, and go on to a major bowl. Assuming, that is, that sanctions don't prevent it.
TV PRATTLE: ESPN came to Virginia Tech this week to do a story on Tech's defense, but the cable network's commentators continue to be part of the story in Blacksburg.
Craig James last week called Syracuse's Donovan McNabb the better quarterback ``by far'' than Druckenmiller, which got the Hokie QB hyped last week. After the game, James' studio partner Lee Corso said Virginia Tech would be the Orange Bowl's worst nightmare, because it is not a college football power and does not boast major media markets.
``I'm not sure that was a great statement,'' Beamer said. ``The question I would ask is why would the Orange Bowl put themselves in an embarrassing situation when they pick third and fifth?''
If any member of the Bowl Alliance gets stuck with an unwanted team, it would be the Sugar Bowl, which picks fourth and sixth.
TACKLE TALE: Virginia Tech senior linebacker George DelRicco on Saturday became the first Tech player to record 100 tackles in three consecutive seasons since Mike Johnson did it from 1981-83. DelRicco has 108 tackles this season, which leads the Hokies.
QUICK HITS: Tech defensive end Cornell Brown was chosen the Big East's defensive player of the week for the second consecutive week, becoming the first defensive player in league history to win it back-to-back. It's the third consecutive week the honor went to a Hokie. . . . If Tech guarantees itself at least a share of the Big East title this week, it will be the second conference title in school history. The Hokies won the Southern Conference in 1963. . . . A Hokie win Saturday would be their eighth in a row. The last time Tech won eight straight in a single season was 1905. ILLUSTRATION: Virginia Tech quarterback Jim Druckenmiller was grateful to get
his pilfered helmet back.
by CNB