Battle of Beamers Drives This Clash : Sugar Bowl: Texas’ BMW backfield has the credibility Virginia Tech coach wants for Hokies.
NEW ORLEANS — John Mackovic has a Beamer, a James Brown-Shon Mitchell-Ricky Williams backfield Texas calls the BMW.
Virginia Tech has a Beamer, Coach Frank, who has two missions in tonight’s Sugar Bowl: Figure out a way to turn off Texas’ BMW and gain some credibility for the Hokies.
If they can do one, the other will follow.
“Texas is at a point we are trying to get to,†Beamer said. “They have a national reputation, have been in many bowls, have been highly ranked. If we can find a way to beat Texas, then we’ll become more of a glamour team.â€
Maybe it’s the nickname--the glamorous Hokies? Well, it’s better than Tech’s other nickname, the Fighting Gobblers.
Beamer is still smarting over the assessment that Virginia Tech (9-2) is a turkey, here only because Miami--which the Hokies beat, 13-7, on Sept. 23, after losing to Boston College and Cincinnati--opted to have the NCAA sanctions assessed for rules infractions pushed ahead to include this bowl season.
“I think we might be more glamorous next year if we can do well in this game,†said Beamer, who has the 13th-ranked Hokies in their third bowl in a row, a first for the school.
“We certainly have some pressure on us, now that we’re here, to show that we belong.â€
To do that, Tech will have to shut down Mitchell, who ran for 1,099 yards in his first season after transferring from Blinn College, a junior college in Austin; and Williams, who ran for a freshman school-record 990 yards and caught passes for 224 more.
A defense that has given up an average of two yards a rush, best in the country, would seem to be in a position to do that.
But then the Hokies must deal with Brown, the Texas quarterback who completed passes for 2,447 yards and 19 touchdowns, both school records.
“The problem with Brown is that when you feel like you have his receivers covered, then he breaks one on you,†said Beamer, acknowledging Brown’s 136 rushing yards, most accomplished before he injured an ankle midway through the season.
That puts pressure on Cornell Browl, Tech’s All-American defensive end and a player in the mold of Bruce Smith, Buffalo’s All-Pro defender and a Hokie alumnus.
Ninth-ranked Texas (10-1-1) answers with its own All-American defensive end, Tony Brackens.
“People are trying to make it a rivalry, him versus me,†Brackens said. “It’s not. I won’t do anything differently than I have all season.â€
That has been good enough. He had 77 tackles and seven sacks in nine games, and the Texas defense became a force when he recovered from a broken leg.
His job, and that of the rest of the Longhorn defense, will be dealing with what Mackovic calls a “balanced Virginia Tech offense.â€
Balanced is a often a buzzword for unspectacular.
“How many people have caught more than 10 passes?†Mackovic said, answering skeptics. “They must have had 10 or 12.â€
Actually, the Hokies had eight, with Bryan Still leading them with 32 catches for 628 yards.
Virginia Tech has won nine games in a row with a playbook that rivals a telephone directory and a quarterback, Jim Druckenmiller, known more for his weightlifting--he bench-presses 321 pounds--and performance in Tough Man contests than for his 2,103 passing yards and 14 touchdowns.
It’s an offense that has an inferiority complex, even after averaging 42.3 points in its last six games.
“After a while you get a little frustrated,†Druckenmiller said of the Hokies’ defensive reputation.
Beamer can understand. He has a whole team that feels that way, one that is on a mission to gain credibility.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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