Thursday, November 08, 2007
A free ride for the ages?
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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Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer drives a black Cadillac courtesy car that's included in his contract with the school. On Tuesday afternoons, Beamer is carted back and forth to his weekly news conference in Shott Center in a golf cart.
If senior defensive end Chris Ellis has his way, the Hokies' coach will be the recipient of yet another free ride when the Tech-Florida State ends Saturday night sometime around 7 o'clock in Lane Stadium.
"Yeah, we want to be carrying him off the field for this game!" Ellis said. "I know he wants this as bad as we do, being 0-for-7 against them. I'm only 0-for-1, technically. But he's 0-for-7, so we're going to try and hoist him on our shoulders after this game because I know it's a big hump to get over. It's got to be."
It shouldn't take that many guys to carry Beamer off the field, right? I mean we're not talking Kansas' round-mound coach Larry Mangino here.
"No," Ellis said. "If I can get him by myself, I've got him. I won't drop him. I almost ran into him in practice on one of the days. I didn't drop him then so I'm not going to drop him now. If I get him up there, I've got him."
Ellis and his teammates know it's about time to put a stop to all this talk of Tech being jinxed when it comes to beating legendary coach Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles. In case you've been in a foxhole somewhere the past week, Bowden is 15-0 as a head coach vs. Tech. The first three wins came when he was at West Virginia, the last dozen have come since he's been at FSU.
"Nah, we're not buying any jinx talk, not when you come to Blacksburg, where anything can happen," Ellis said. "We're 0 and 12, we've got to do something. We've got to come up with something. I feel good about our mind-set this time. We've had our two hard losses [to LSU and Boston College, both ranked No. 2 at the time], and we don't plan on having a third if we can help it. Us being 0 and 12 against them just adds an extra incentive."
Bowden and the 'Noles have spoiled two of the biggest moments in Tech football history. First, there was the 2000 Sugar Bowl national championship game in which Tech led going into the fourth quarter before losing, 46-29. Then there was the inaugural ACC Championship game two years ago in Jacksonville, Fla., in which the Seminoles stunned the 14-point favored Hokies, 27-22.
"Yeah, those are people you can't get over," Ellis said. "So we've got to get over that hump this year, especially since it's going to be my last go at them."
Like many of the current Tech players, Ellis watched the Seminoles growing up in the 1990s. That was when FSU was one top of the college football world, finishing in the top four in the rankings for 14 consecutive seasons from 1987-2000.
"I watched Florida State as a kid, [quarterback] Charlie Ward and those guys," Ellis recalled. "That's definitely where all the hype was when we were younger. Coming to Tech, I felt we had the speed to match up with them and that was the biggest key."
While few seem to recall it, Tech was a 1-point favorite over FSU in the 2002 Gator Bowl, only to lose, 30-17.
Two years ago in Jacksonville, the Hokies were considered almost a lock to snap the losing skein to FSU. Tech entered the game as a whopping 14-point favorite over an FSU club that entered the contest with three consecutive losses. The Hokies saw Willie Reid return a punt 83 yards for a touchdown to break a 3-3 tie and trigger a 24-point FSU explosion in the third quarter. Tech committed 17 penalties in the game for 143 yards. The yardage in penalties was Tech's most since it accumulated 163 yards against Wake Forest in 1983.
"That team was better than us that night, even though their record didn't show it prior to," Ellis recalled. "We've got to go in this with a better mind-set than we had two years ago. That's something we're not going to let happen this time, though.
"People say we were overconfident in that game. Well, there was no need to be overconfident. We were 0 and 11 at that point, so it would be stupid to be overconfident. I just think they were better than us that night."
Ellis said he hears a lot of chatter on campus about FSU's so-called "hex" on Tech.
"Yeah, the people who have seen those 12 losses, I'm sure want it bad for us, too," he said. "But them coming into Lane Stadium, that's something we're going to put on our backs to help us get over the hump."
Ellis and the rest of Tech's defensive line will have to put some pressure on FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford, who has completed 64 of 92 passes for 710 yards and two touchdowns without an interception the past two games. It's the same guy who was 21-for-35 passing without a pick in FSU's triumph in the ACC title game in '05.
"If we don't get pressure on him, he's going to sit back there and make big plays on us," Ellis said. "Hopefully, we get the pressure on Weatherford and we get him to play for us a little bit."
Ellis watched FSU take down BC last Saturday in Boston. He was impressed.
"They're always fast, that's one thing that's not going to change," Ellis said. "The athletes are going to be there. As far as record-wise, everbody would say that this team is different. But if you look on film, they're the same. They're still out there, they're fast as lightning, they've still got playmakers, athletes. And with that on the field, it's always the possibility of a win, so it's nothing you're going to overlook.
"But like I say, we need one against them."
Get it and Beamer gets another free ride. It's one the coach won't ever forget, too.
