Thursday, December 09, 2004
Hot stock tip of day: Ride Beamer and his boys
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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I'm not one to gloat, but don't blame my rear end if you didn't make enough money last Saturday to float your boat to 'Nawlins.
A week ago in this space, I told you that Virginia Tech was a stoned lock to upset 7-point favorite Miami in the Orange Bowl last Saturday. I told you the game was basically a license to steal. I told you it would be easy money.
Talk about no sweat. The red-hot Hokies were never in real danger of losing the game, much less not covering the touchdown spread. The sweetest return was reaped by those shrewd enough to grab Tech straight-up on the money line, which paid back a juicy $2.40 to $2.80 on every $1 bet at most wagering outlets.
So what do you do now with that wad of Ben Franklins thick enough to choke Mr. Ed that rides inside your pants pocket?
Being the good samaritan I am, I say put aside a few C-notes for Christmas presents. Also, file a few more away to use as bullets at Harrah's in New Orleans.
Now if Frank Beamer happens to stroll into that place, you might want to double down as you quietly shadow him, especially should the Tech coach get his hot hands on the dice at the craps table. Just lay a chip on every block Ol' Fancy Gap Frank does. It will turn into gold. Bound to.
Rake, stack ... rake, stack! Cocktails on the house, too. Talk about one of life's great exercises.
Go ahead, blow a few Benjamins on Bourbon Street on New Year's Eve. Party like it's 1999. Suck down a load of Hurricanes -- isn't that a somewhat ironic twist? -- at Pat O'Brien's and get plum out of whack, folks.
So what you're hung over the next morning. It's still more than two days until Sugar Bowl kickoff.
Just call room room service and warn 'em that they had better put a girl on roller skates. This party is going to spin for quite a while, folks. Order juicy shrimp cocktails by the dozen. Tee up steak and lobster and a bottle of the hotel's finest wine at every turn.
Go ahead, throw it deep, go uptown, put everything on the fly. Run the bill up like a Bill Dooley-coached Tech team vs. a Bill & Mary.
Hey, so what the hotel-room figure suddenly has got a comma in the bottom-line number. Don't worry, be happy 'cause you've got a Trump card. You're gonna win enough on Tech getting the 7 points vs. Auburn to settle all tabs, right?
Right on.
That's my call. While I would like Tech even more if the game were played this weekend -- when you're hot, you're hot, and you don't like to put the dice down or see the card shoe run out when you're cookin' -- I think the Hokies match up very well with No. 3 Auburn.
Forget the matchup, though. This Tech team has a mojo, a karma, somebody serious looking after it. I'm totally convinced.
Simply put, the Hokies are magic right now. How else do you explain those circus-like catches made last Saturday in the Orange Bowl by Eddie Royal on the game-winning touchdown and Jeff King's critical third-and-10 grab to convert a first down that took two minutes off the clock late. Video and still photos show that both snared the back end of the football on their catches.
Forgive me Tony Ball (wide receivers coach) and Danny Pearman (tight ends coach), but you guys don't teach that kind of stuff. To see one such catch in a season is rare; to see two in the same quarter of one game is totally off the charts. I would have wagered there would have been a round-trip to Pluto scheduled first.
While most seem to think that Auburn has all the incentive in this game after it was denied a shot to play for the national title by the BS of the BCS, I don't think that's the case at all. And if anyone knows anything about cases, it's this Clydesdale guy.
Sure, the Tigers are an incensed crowd. Sure, they'll want to drill Tech, just plain do the Hokey Pokey all over Beamer & Co., and show the world there was a huge mistake made here.
Well, good luck, Plainsmen. No chance, I say. Going into a game with the intentions of burying somebody is bad news. More than once, I've seen the shovels wind up in the hands of the alleged deceased.
While Auburn has a Cadillac, Tech has a Beamer. Which one do you want to drive home?
Tech's defense can play the run. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and his running mate, Ronnie Brown, are the best 1-2 running back tandem in the country. So what. They won't run wild on the Hokies. Book it, Dano.
The defensive numbers say this is going to be a low-scoring game. Auburn ranks No. 1 in the country in scoring defense, allowing 11.2 points per game. Tech ranks third in the nation, yielding 12.6 points per outing.
Offensively, Tech will find a way to move the ball. If Tennesee can run for 200-plus yards on the Tigers, I got to believe a 100-percent Mike Imoh and Cedric Humes, who is running like a runaway locomotive lately, will have success.
While most would lend Auburn's quasi-Heisman candidate Jason Campbell the edge at quarterback, don't count out the guy wearing No. 3 for Tech. Bryan Randall has been proving folks wrong all season, and he will do it one more time. Randall has beaten the odds for years now, so what's one more time? Look in his eyes. They answer all questions.
Auburn has played only one close game all season, a 10-9 decision over LSU at home on Sept. 18. Meanwhile, Tech has been been in the fire most of the season. The Hokies have been in fourth-quarter tussles almost every time out, even in both of their losses to Southern California and North Carolina State. Tech had to go down to the wire against West Virginia, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami.
So who do you want in a close game? I want the bunch that's been there, done that. I sure don't want the unbeaten favorite crowd that hasn't been there in 3 1/2 months and starts feeling all the heat.
Of the six-pack of ACC teams heading to bowls, Tech is the only one that's an underdog. That's lovely for the Hokies. No pressure. They've already accomplished more than anyone could have expected.
So what happens at the Sugar shack? Tech walks the dog. Again.
Where's that deposit slip? That will be the only question Tech fans will be asking come Jan. 4.
