Saturday night, Channel 10 out of Roanoke reported that Virginia Tech had signed a two-game deal with the Marshall Thundering Herd that will have the two teams playing football in the years 2002 and 2005.  Channel 10 was unable to reach a Tech official to verify the report, but they said that the Marshall Athletic Director had verified it.

The sweet part?  Both games are in Blacksburg.  Marshall is an up-and-coming team with a solid fan following, and there are no doubt a lot of teams who want to schedule them, so it's a feather in Tech's cap to be able to sign the Herd to a two-game set at home.

A Marshall/Tech series has been rumored for years, due primarily to the fact that former Tech AD Dave Braine was the AD at Marshall before coming to Tech.  But Braine never signed the Herd, and now Tech AD Jim Weaver has another scheduling notch in his belt.

Sure, Marshall isn't Wisconsin or Penn State (who are both rumored to be on the verge of signing two-game deals with Tech for the mid-late 2000's), but they ain't Akron or Arkansas State, either.  A home game with Marshall is something to smile about, because the Herd has a vocal, well-traveled following, similar to what WVU or ECU brings to the table.

This game is almost a guaranteed sellout, particularly if Marshall continues to do as well as or better than they did last year, when they won a MAC championship and played in the Motor City Bowl.

Tech's out-of-conference schedule for 2002 now features Virginia, Texas A&M, and Marshall (at least, I'm pretty sure the TA&M games are scheduled for 2002 and 2003).

Jim Weaver is improving the schedule, but he continues his search for a real out-of-conference heavyweight, with the previously mentioned Penn State being the best rumored matchup, but that wouldn't be until the mid-2000's.  That's an eternity away in the world of scheduling in today's volatile NCAA football landscape.

Roanoke and NRV Hokies in particular, take note:

All Virginia Tech alumni and fans are cordially invited to The Outback Steakhouse Welcome Back Picnic on Sunday, August 16th in Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech.

The Blacksburg Hokie Club hosts the event and the menu is being donated by The Outback Steakhouse.  There will be steak, chicken, Aussie fries, caesar salad, and rolls.  Festivities will begin at 5:30 pm and conclude at 8 pm.

Tickets must be purchased in advance for $10 per adult.  Children 12 and under accompanied by a parent will be admitted free.

Tickets may be purchased by calling A Cleaner World (540-951-9506), University Travel Consultants (540-961-2700) or University Travel Vacation Center (540-381-3800).

All proceeds from this event will benefit the furnishings for the new football players' lounge (I'm assuming that they mean in the Merryman Center).

Special guests for the picnic will be head coach Frank Beamer, the entire 1998 football team, and other guests from the Athletic Department and University Administration.  Bill Roth and Mike Burnop will be the emcees for the event.

Coach Mike Gentry will present conditioning awards to members of the football team.

As I mentioned last Friday, the East beat the West 30-16 in the annual VHSCA Football All-Star game last Thursday night.  The game was covered like a blanket by the state press, and here are the articles (The Roanoke Times story is not on-line, from what I can tell, and the Newport News Daily Press moves their archives, uh, daily, so I didn't link to their story):

1.)   Curry pleases home crowd, earns MVP / UNC recruit demonstrates versatility
2.)  Hokies well represented in VHSCA all-star game (Tech Notes)
- Jeff White, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Hampton's Curry Shines in East All-Star Win
- Lynchburg News and Advance

Curry just one of the stars in coaches all-star football game
- Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

Kudos to Jeff White and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  Jeff's article on the game (RT-D article #1 above) is the only on-line article with stats.   Jeff also took note of the number of future Hokies who were playing in the game (RT-D article #2)

Among the message board posters who attended, they had the following comments about the players:

Michael Vick (2-7 passing, 96 yards, or 3-6 for 98 yards, depending upon which newspaper you believe):  strong arm, elusive, didn't have a great night.   A couple of posters used the phrase "frozen rope" when referring to his throws.

Jake Houseright:  a monster.  Jake started strong and then tailed off as the night went on.  Sounds like Jake got tired, because in one newspaper story, he was quoted as saying, "Everyone got tired."  Yeah, tired of chasing Ronald Curry.

Ronyell Whitaker (playing tailback, he had 5 carries for 72 yards):   an awesome player who "ought to be given a look on offense."  That's not going to happen, not with Tech's stable of tailbacks, including....

Lee Suggs (8 carries, 57 yards, West MVP):  looked good, with good speed and moves.  Scored a 25-yard TD late in the game.

Offensive line recruit Jake Grove was carried from the field with a knee injury (I HATE ALL-STAR GAMES!!!), but as Jeff White reported in his "Tech Notes" article, no ligament damage was discovered.  Cross your fingers, and we'll wait and see how badly Jake is hurt.

If you to hear want even more about the game, then click here for some reports posted by message board posters who attended.

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