THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511120245
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Virginia Tech's defense did twice Saturday what Temple's offense could only do once - found the end zone. Consequently, Frank Beamer and the rest of the Hokies found some new headgear Saturday evening.
``If you don't mind, I'm going to slip on a hat here I'm real proud of,'' Beamer said as he stood before the press and donned a baseball cap signifying Virginia Tech as Big East champions.
The 21st-ranked Hokies scored a pair of defensive touchdowns during a 21-point second quarter and went on to rout the Owls 38-16 before 20,371 fans at RFK Stadium. Officially it was a Temple home game, but probably 75 percent of the fans were Tech followers.
They saw Tech clinch a share of only its second conference title in the school's 102-year football history. In 1963 the Hokies won the Southern Conference, of which they were longtime members until playing as an independent from 1965-1990.
The Hokies (8-2, 6-1 Big East) have now won eight games in three consecutive seasons for the first time.
Tech could go to the Orange or Sugar bowls. Or, if the Hokies get passed over by the Bowl Alliance in favor of a co-champion - Miami or Syracuse could still tie for the title - then they will be in either the Gator or Carquest bowls.
Saturday, they didn't seem to care where they go. Nothing can change what it says on their caps.
``To start off the season 0-2 and come back and win the Big East, there's no greater feeling in the world,'' defensive tackle Jim Baron said. ``A lot of people don't win a conference championship all the way through high school or college. This is a rare moment.''
Baron was part of what surely must be one of college football's rarer moments: two Tech defensive tackles scored their first collegiate touchdowns just 48 seconds apart.
First Hank Coleman sacked Temple quarterback Pat Bonner - a surprise starter in place of Henry Burris - and jarred the ball loose. Baron scooped it up and ran 46 yards for a touchdown and 17-6 lead with 13:04 left in the first half.
``I wanted to high-step a little,'' Baron said. ``I felt like Deion Sanders.''
Temple got the ball back, and on third down Bonner attempted a screen pass. Hokies defensive tackle J.C. Price got a mitt on the pass, pulled it in and went 19 yards for a touchdown with 12:16 left in the half, juking the quarterback at the end of the play to get in the end zone.
``I was deciding whether to run him over or not,'' Price said. ``I saw it was the quarterback, and I thought about blasting him because you don't get too many clean shots to blast the quarterback. Then I thought I might come up short of the end zone and everyone on the team would be joking me.''
The point-after gave the Hokies a 24-6 lead, and the game looked like it would turn into a joke from that point on. But Temple (1-9, 1-5) hung in fairly well and actually finished with 328 yards of total offense, more than Tech has allowed any team this season except Miami and Pittsburgh.
``We don't get those two fluke touchdowns and it might have been a different game,'' Price said.
Temple actually started the game strong, rushing for 62 yards in the first quarter against the top-ranked rushing defense in the country. Tech came in allowing just 74.3 yards rushing per game.
The Hokies, however, started piling up the sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Temple finished with 79 net yards rushing on 40 carries.
``We did everything possible to lose this football game,'' Temple coach Ron Dickerson said.
The Hokies, meanwhile, were proficient enough offensively to get three touchdowns and a field goal on their own. Quarterback Jim Druckenmiller was 18 of 31 for 244 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Backup tailback Ken Oxendine ran for 64 yards on 15 carries, and backup fullback Marcus Parker scored on touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards.
Tech has now won eight in a row, outscoring opponents 271-90 during that span. It's the Hokies' first eight-game winning streak since they began the season 8-0 in 1905. Tech will go for a school-record nine in a row next week in the regular season finale at Virginia.
Tech has been dissed regularly lately on ESPN and could watch a major bowl choose a co-champion the Hokies beat, but none of that abated the euphoria in the locker room Saturday.
``I don't care who says what, we're the Big East champions and we proved it all year,'' Baron said.
For Beamer, who was 24-40-2 after six seasons at Tech but evened his record at 49-49-2 Saturday, the title capped things off.
``It seems like this has been a long time coming,'' he said. by CNB