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Tech's Second Six Bowls Part 2 of a 2-part series on the history of VT bowl games Click here for Part 1 by Go VT - posted 12/26/98 Note from Will: HokieCentral is proud to present a two-part series by HokieCentral columnist Go VT on the history of Virginia Tech's bowl games. As many of you know, Go VT has a great appreciation for the history of Tech football and Tech athletics in general. He has put a tremendous amount of work and research into these two articles, and as Tech prepares to play in the Music City Bowl, we felt it appropriate to remind you of Tech's rich history in football bowl games. The Last Half of a Twelve-Pack by Go VT with no help at all from 'Network' Hokie, but some help from the new little one. Well, you folks seemed to like the review for the first six bowls. We'll go to the last six (well....five but this years is number six) after a small mailbag segment. Go VT's Mailbag- A Mr. SMB sent in the following-
HokieMac sent in an anecdote about the Sun Bowl in 1946-
One more thing. A thanks to NovaHokie95 for planting the seed for these two columns. Thanks to the Academy errrr...Will for giving us HokieCentral. I know it's not Thanksgiving, but we should also be thankful around the Holidays. Now enough with the mail and my ramblings, and on to the info... Virginia Tech Bowls- 1987-Present After a stunning Peach Bowl victory and much controversy and some probation the players, coaches, and fans would spend some holiday seasons at home. We would have an athletic director who was here only slightly longer than Andropov was Premier of the Soviet Union, Fawn Hall and Oliver North became household names, Jim and Tammy Faye would get in trouble, and Tech would join a conference for Football after 20 some years as an independent. Eugene Chung would garner some honors for his 1991 campaign by being named to the 1st Team Football Writers All American Team. 1993 Independence Bowl, Shreveport LAThe Season: Tech was led by a high powered big play offense and young aggressive defense. After the 1992 season (no more detail needed) Beamer made many changes to his staff, his schemes, and in attitudes. Phil Elmassian brought an attacking D that used speed as a weapon. After a few slow starts, Rickey Bustle brought the shotgun into Maurice DeShazo's arsenal. Antonio Freeman led through the air, Jim Pyne (1st Team Football Writers All-American, 1st Team Walter Camp All-American, 1st Team AP All-American, 1st Team UPI All-American, 1st Team Coaches' Kodak All-American) opened up holes for Dwayne Thomas, and Ken Brown and Tyrone Drakeford led a young defense with speed to burn). Some mark Tech's 63-21 dismantling of Pitt (now Pittsburgh) has the dawning of the present era. This was an exciting team that was truly fun to watch. Stats:
Notes on the Game: It was bright and sunny and absolutely gorgeous even if Tech was wearing the Orange pants. The stands had over 7k Tech fans sitting in the sun and enjoying the feeling of being in a bowl...any bowl. Tech used the big plays to set an I-Bowl record for points in a game. The game was mostly a slugfest and big plays made the difference. Tech welcomed back injured star Tyronne Drakeford by matching him up against Thomas Lewis. Drake played well but Thomas (who Drake said was the best player he had ever played against up to that point) did make two nice TD catch and runs. The stars of the day were on Tech's D and special teams. All season the Offense got the press but on this day the D and special teamers would make the spectacular plays. The game was tight (14-13 Tech) and IU had the ball. A combo by George DelRicco and DeWayne Knight jarred the ball loose from the IU QB and Lawrence Lewis caught it on a bounce to return it for a TD with 23 seconds left in the half. Think Tech was done? You are/were wrong. IU got the ball back and marched down the field to try and get a last second field goal. Time expired in the half...or so Tech thought. IU and more importantly the officials thought that 1 second remained. Tech got it's players from the locker room and Beamer told them 'to make them pay for that'. They did. IU lined up for a long FG try and Jeff Holland proceeded to block it and Antonio Banks made a spectacular return for 80 yards for a TD to put Tech way ahead and demoralize the Hoosiers and effectively decide the game. Tech came into the season unheralded with no expectations. They ended it with the second bowl victory in school history and a season ending ranking in the polls (22 AP, 20 Coaches). Expectations were rising. 1994 Gator Bowl, Gainesville FLThe season: Tech started the season with high expectations and rose rather highly in the polls until a late game collapse in the dome against Syracuse. They had already beaten BC in a tough game at Chestnut Hill and dismantled WVU on ESPN. Things would unravel a bit as the season progressed and Tech started allowing a lot of points late in the game (SU and RU) and a date with the Canes was still a loss at that time. Tech ended the season in ugly fashion by losing to UVa at home by turning the ball over more times than I would like to remember. Tech did receive its highest mid-season rankings ever up until that point (10 coaches, 13 AP). The reward was a trip to a big time bowl and a big time opponent. The Gator and the University of Tennessee and freshman QB Peyton Manning. Stats:
Notes on the game: This game was moved from Jacksonville while the real Gator Bowl was being renovated. Speed traps and a closed down college town aside it might have been a fun trip. Only the stats are close. Except the most important stat of course, the score. Tech was out of this one from the get go. They were outplayed, period. Gary Tranquill, the offensive coordinator for Tech at the time, had given his notice that he would be going to Michigan State for the same position after the UVa game. Apparently he was a cause of some adversity for this team and was told he was not needed for the bowl game. With him, without him it wouldn't have made a difference. There isn't much to say about this game except there were mistakes after mistakes by Tech. We did get to see a glimpse of our next QB, Jim Druckenmiller. Note who the two qb's were for UT. Peyton Manning (too many awards for me to mention here) and Brandon Stewart. Stewart transferred to Texas A&M and is the starter in place of the normal starter who is injured and Manning (son of Tech 1968 Liberty Bowl for Archie Manning) who would be the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft. This is probably one of the few times that Tennessee has actually won in The Swamp. The news in Blacksburg was that a new QB was coming to town. Someone very few of us knew much about, Jim Druckenmiller. I don't remember the expectations being really high but the team sure would achieve. 1995 Sugar Bowl, New Orleans LAThe Season: The 95 campaign started on two low notes. A loss to BC on ESPN in the opener and a home shutout loss to Cinci had fingers pointing and blame being bandied about by everyone but the players and coaches. Game three would bring the Canes to the Burg where Tech would win a slugfest thriller in the muck to notch their first victory ever of Miami. That would be the first win of nine in a row for Tech to close the regular season. The season included 'The Drop' (BC), 'The Boo Birds' (Cinci), 'The Pass Defense' (Miami), 'The Blocked Punts' (Pitt),'The Boring Game' (Navy), 'The Rout' (Akron), 'The Rainstorm' (Rutgers), 'The Butt Whooping for the Mountaineers' (WVU...sorry couldn't think of anything else to call it), 'The No Respect Game' (Syracuse),and 'The Clincher at RFK' (Temple). Then there was the matter of the final game of the season. I could call it 'The Comeback' but that doesn't do it justice. There are two plays that no Hokie will ever forget. 'The Catch' and 'The Trip'. To say Tech was led by any one person would not do this team justice. Two players were honored with AA honors. Cornell Brown was named 1st team AP, UPI, Football Writers, The Sporting News, and Football News All American and JC Price was named 3rd team AP All American. They were honored but many others made contributions. Names like George DelRicco, Jermaine Holmes, Angelo Harrison, Loren Johnson, Brandon Semones, Billy Conaty, Todd and TJ Washington, Jim Baron, Waverly Jackson, Myron Newsome, Torrian Gray, Antonio Banks, Brian Edmonds, Jim Druckenmiller, Bryan Still, Bryan Jennings, Jay Hagood, and many others. The reward for winning the Big East Conference? A trip to one of the newly created Alliance Bowls (the alliance was new the Bowls were still the same old bowls). Tech was sent to New Orleans and a date with the Longhorns of Texas. Stats:
Notes on the game: Texas jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then the Bryan Still show took over. Still was outstanding in his last game for the Hokies. He returned a punt for 60 yards (known as 'The Return') near the end of the 1st half to give Tech a boost. Tech took the lead for good on a short Marcus Parker TD run and then Druck hooked up with Still to put it away. Hank Coleman and Jim Baron put the icing on with a fumble return late in the game to seal the Victory. Texas was highly regarded coming into the game. The Horns featured the vaunted BMW backfield. This backfield was directed by QB James Brown. He had Shon Mitchell and Future Heisman winner Ricky Williams (then just a freshman) has his running backs. Tech was not that impressed. They manhandled Texas in the second half and harassed Brown all game long. New Orleans had become a Tech town for a New Years that Hokies would never forget. There wasn't enough beer in the US to make the offseason that was to come any better though. Too many athletes would come into the spotlight for the wrong reasons and Tech would be mentioned not as a good school or football team but as a program of thugs. 1996 Orange Bowl, Miami FLThe Season: Most of the stars returned for one more year. Dwayne Thomas, Bryan Still and a few others departed but most of the pieces of the Sugar Bowl team returned. The team would play well but everything was overshadowed by criminal accusations against more than just a couple of players. It would dampen many fans enthusiasm and bring hard questions to bear on AD Dave Braine, President Torgersen, and Coach Beamer. All these questions and comments couldn't shake the team. They would unite and forge towards another big bowl and Tech's first 10 win regular season in school history. They started the season slowly with a real close win at Akron after freshman Shyrone Stith stepped in for an injured Ox. Romps over BC and Rutgers followed. A date with the Cuse in that cursed dome dashed hopes for an undefeated season and may have dampened some talk of another Big East title as the Orange crushed the Hokies. Four easy wins followed before a date with Miami in the Orange Bowl. Miami was mad at finally having lost to Tech the previous year. Keion Carpenter would pick off a Cane pass and return it 100yards to seal the victory and put his name forever into Hokie Legend. All that was left was the squashing of WVU and UVa. After those blowouts on TV it was off to another Big Bowl. Tech would be selected to play a disappointed Nebraska team in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska had been upset in the Big 12 title game by Tech's previous bowl opponent Texas. Stats:
Notes on the game: The telling tale of this game was depth. Nebraska had more of it. The game was tight into the fourth but NU brought wave after wave at Tech. Tech played valiantly in defeat. There isn't much to say about the game itself. The stats were close but as the game wore on you could just tell that NU was in control. The lasting moment of this game happened at the end when it was over and Jim Druckenmiller and Ricky Bustle hugged and cried. Tech would say goodbye to many. Cornell Brown (1st team AP and 2nd team Walter Camp AA), Billy Conaty (1st team Sporting News AA), Brandon Semones, Jim Druckenmiller, and many others who had shaped and molded Tech football.
Dave Braine would leave one Tech for another and new rules or guidelines were put into place on how to handle athletes in trouble with the authorities. 1997 Gator Bowl, Jacksonville FLThe Season: Expectations and appetites had risen with the previous two years results. A new QB in Al Clark would take the helm. The Ox and Marcus Parker would lead the way from the backfield and Shawn Scales would fly through the air with the greatest of ease. A funny thing happened on the way to another Big East title...injuries and a bit of ego. Tech started the season off just fine. Four quick and mostly easy wins that included a payback shellacking and varnishing of the Cuse started the season. Tech would suffer its first setback via the trick play and looking ahead. Miami (OH) came to the Burg for a homecoming date and spoiled the party. They would leave with a victory and Tech would lose a coach to heart trouble and Shawn Scales to an injury. Tech would fight back to win against BC but would suffer a big blow two weeks later in Morgantown. The Mounties were out for blood after the recent years setbacks against Tech. Al Clark would suffer a knee injury that would limit his mobility for the rest of the season. He would still rally the troops for a win against Miami (Fl). Setbacks to Pittsburgh and UVa would end the season as Tech's D would start to fall apart against the pass. Tech would still finish second in the Conference and be rewarded to a Gator Bowl that would actually be played in the Gator Bowl against a team that had been snubbed by the alliance. It would not be pretty. Stats:
Notes on the game: Ugly. The one bright spot was that we brought twice as many fans as they did. To be honest UNC should not have been in this game. They should have played in an alliance bowl. Tech had still not recovered from all the injuries. The main one to Al Clark was still not fully healed. UNC dominated early and often. Even when Tech made a great play (which was rare) it was usually called back by a penalty. UNC had a defense that was loaded with All Americans and/or future NFL'ers. They were also mad at their now former coach Mack Brown for lying to them about leaving for Texas. It sure was ugly.
Tech would sign its highest rated recruiting class ever and the women's basketball team would win a game in the NCAA tournament after winning the A-10 tournament. 1998 Music City Bowl, Nashville TNThe Season: Three plays. Some would say the season could be boiled down to three plays. A different result on the first two and Tech would be playing in the Bowl Championship series. Injuries to the QB, OL, and FB spots took a toll on the team and hampered offensive consistency. There were some highlights to the season (even losing season have highlights in my opinion). The thrashing of Clemson in Death Valley, The overtime victory at Miami, The goal line stands (all of them), and the nice run by Jarrett Ferguson (minus a shoe) at Syracuse. Do you have anymore highlights to add? Tech was led by the Defense this year and a Mr. Corey Moore (Big East Defensive Player of the Year) led them. All of the ups and downs of the season still led Tech to a Bowl game. The Music City Bowl chose Tech to be in its Inaugural game. I consider it an honor. Tech will be pitted against a team it has never beaten though it has come close a few times, Alabama. Mostly it has been one sided. Alabama has rolled its tide over Tech a few times. What will happen? We shall find out on December 29th at 5pm eastern as Tech takes the field for the 12th time in a Bowl game. I hope you have enjoyed this undertaking. I have enjoyed putting it together. If you have any questions, comments, or stories about Tech sports you can email me if you like. If I get enough comments maybe I can write just like Randy King and his Tech Insiders column! ;-) Go VT Errors will gladly be corrected. Please email Go VT Reference materials and thanks to- Arizona Hokie for copies of the Bowl Programs that I don't own, Hokies n Hoos by Doug Doughty and Roland Lazenby, a bunch of old Hokie Huddlers, and the 'Hokies Handbook' by Chris Colston. Don't leave home without 'em. Copyright HokieCentral.com members only and Go VT, 1998. |
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