DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010891

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.             LENGTH:   66 lines

HURRICANES VOTED BEAST OF THE EAST ONCE AGAIN VIRGINIA TECH AND SYRACUSE ALSO FIGURE IN THE TITLE RACE.

There are two ways to handle the role of preseason conference favorite: deny, deny, deny and act incredulous that everybody else is blind to your shortcomings.

Then there is the Miami way, which is to say, ``Yep, we're good, and we know it.''

Miami, under coach Butch Davis the past two seasons, has not approached the perennial national title contending Hurricanes teams of recent seasons. But, once again, the Hurricanes are considered the class of the Big East.

``It is our usual and comfortable position to be No. 1 and to be the team everyone is shooting for,'' Miami quarterback Ryan Clement said Thursday during the conference's media day at Giants Stadium. ``It's something we relish. Every one of these teams, our game is highlighted on their schedule right now.''

Here are three games to highlight in the Big East race: Syracuse at Virginia Tech on Sept. 13, Miami at Virginia Tech on Nov. 8 and Syracuse at Miami on Nov. 29. Those three teams were regular-season co-champions at 6-1 last year and are regarded as the class of the conference again. Theirs are likely to be the games that determine the Big East representative in the Bowl Alliance, a spot Tech has claimed each of the past two seasons.

A horde of former Hokies are rookies trying to make it in NFL camps right now, so conventional wisdom says Tech's streak of major bowl bids will end as Miami and Syracuse vie for the crown.

Of course, the conventional wisdom of the media selecting the preseason favorite the past two years did not project Tech would appear in the Sugar and Orange bowls.

``Every guy in our program knows we have the ability to be the best team in the Big East, or to contend to be the best team in the Big East,'' Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said.

Beamer said a lot of things will have to go right for Tech to ring in the new year at a major bowl. His top concerns: new starters at center and quarterback; a lot of newcomers and lack of depth on the offensive line; a toss-up for the tight end job between seven players with little or no experience; overall youth on a defense he's confident is full of talent and will, eventually, be good.

``I think this football team's got a chance, and that's the way I felt the last couple of years,'' Beamer said.

Syracuse, picked ahead of Miami in several preseason publications, has disappointed recently when expectations loomed. Last year, the Alliance Bowl bid was the Orangemen's for the taking before they were upset at home by Miami.

``I really don't think what happened the year before is going to have any impact on what happens this year,'' said Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni when asked if the Miami loss could be a motivational factor or an albatross. ``I think if you do think like that, you're in trouble.''

Trouble is what most of the bottom half of the league seems to be in for this year. Boston College, with former Virginia offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien as its new coach, is trying to recover from the scars of last season's gambling scandal in which 13 players allegedly bet on college football.

``The biggest thing that has to be done at Boston College is to bring continuity to the program,'' O'Brien said, noting he is the Eagles' fourth head coach in 1990s, third for the fifth-year seniors, and that B.C. will employ its fifth different defensive scheme in five years.

Walt Harris at Pittsburgh is the league's other new coach. Though the faces change, the names of the league's bottom three teams are expected to remain the same. Pitt, Rutgers and Temple have been the Big East's bottom feeders three of the last four years.

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