Saturday, October 28, 2006
Hokies turn for better
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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OK, this isn’t a church. And I haven’t heard of one priest, pastor or pope, at least for the record, who has made a wrong turn and wound up at this Web site address the past eight years. Probably a good thing, too, considering some of the seedy tales of debauchery that’s been chronicled here the past eight years.
That’s all right. I confess this unpardonable sin right now.
I surrender. I bow. I pray.
Now, I beg forgiveness. Guide me. Heal me. Or better yet, just grab the nearest leather belt out of the closet and whip me unmercifully until the cows come home.
Yep, I know that plan works. If my late Dad were still around, he could substantiate the results. Nope, never saw one of those cows he always mentioned. I did feel that cowhide, though.
Rip me. Ridicule me. Chastise me. I bad, folks.
Yeah, I know better. Did it anyway, though. In retrospect, of course, I should have known better than to pick Clemson to stroll into Lane Stadium -- on a Thursday night, no less -- and take out Virginia Tech.
I was hardly a lone ranger on this one, though. Of the 16 full-time or quasi Roanoke Times sports staffers who regularly pick 20 college football games per week in Thursday’s "Fearless Forecasters," all but three pegged Clemson. The three who did not entered the week in 12th, 15th and 16th place, respectively, on the season in a 16-horse race. Then there was the guest picker, Susan Lucas of Roanoke. Of course, she took the Hokies. She has a masters degree from Tech and has been a season ticket-holder for 11 years.
Cooing over the Hokies’ triumph, Lucas fired an email to my longtime cohort Doug Doughty, taking us both to task for siding with Clemson. Then she added she had told former Tech great Corey Moore in a phone call Thursday about about our stupidity.
She added Moore was quick to note that King -- who is that guy? -- picked Clemson in 1999 to beat Tech on a Thursday night in Blacksburg.
"Randy said he would never pick against Tech again the rest of the season," Lucas said Moore told her.
I can’t recall who I picked to win -- I would have sworn I picked Tech -- but I’ll remember the game Moore had that night until they send me to the undertaker. It’s the still the most dominating single-game performance by a defensive player I’ve seen in 30 years in this business.
Talk about Superman on a football field. Lightning quick No. 56 was a one-man demolition corps in Tech’s 31-11 romp. Details? Well, all I can remember is Moore turned Tigers quarterback Brandon Streeter into a human rag doll. Moore spent enough time in the Tigers’ backfield to qualify to pay personal property taxes. I’ll go to my grave swearing the dude had more sacks than Paris Hilton that full-moon-lit eve.
Moore’s out-of-this-world show in the prime-time nationally televised game may have single-handedly won him the Bronko Nagurski Trophy that year. I wrote about that game for weeks. Never saw anything like it. Probably won’t ever again, either.
Won’t ever pick Clemson again, either. Not in Blacksburg, anyway. Thursday night ... Saturday afternoon ... I don’t care if the two teams play on a Tuesday morning in the parking lot at New River Valley Mall, I’m taking Tech and spotting a pair of touchdowns.
Man, I give it up to the Tech coaching staff, players and fans for this one.
One Las Vegas tipster tabbed Clemson laying the 4-5 points as the first 50,000-star lock he had ever released to clients. I liked Clemson big, too. Easy money.
I know. I dumb. I bad.
I asked myself how was Tech going to run the ball on Clemson’s defense? No chance, I surmised.
I asked myself how is Tech’s young, struggling offensive line going to handle Clemson’s big, bad front four? No way, I said.
But know what, I forgot about a few things that matter more in football than any other sport. It’s called emotion. It’s called pride. It’s called playing for the guy beside you. It’s called respect for every player in that locker room who has to work harder and longer than any regular Joe on campus could ever imagine.
First and foremost, not only was Tech’s season on the line, I don’t think it’s overstating the case to say that the program’s membership as a player on the national scene was in some ways at stake, too. The Hokies’ perceived bad-boy act was wearing thin, still burning from Marcus Vick’s irreprehensible stomp of Louisville’s Elvis Dumervil in the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl.
After watching the BC game on tape once returning from Boston, I really thought this bunch was unraveling quicker than a ball of yarn in the paws of a frisky kitten. They looked like a time bomb set to implode at any minute. The Hokies were 4-2 overall -- hadn’t beaten a soul of note, though -- and 0-2 in the ACC after consecutive drummings from Georgia Tech and BC.
Meanwhile, some Tech fans -- and I think I’m correct in assuming that most are those who have hopped the bandwagon since the Michael Vick days -- were totally delirious. Not to mention totally ignorant.
Fire Frank Beamer, some hollered after the back-to-back losses. Yeah, that would be real smart. Jettison the guy who has brought Tech football from the bowels of ineptitude to major national player.
Give offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring his pink slip now. Yeah, that’s real intelligent, too. Everybody has all the answers after they get juiced up for hours and file to their Lane seat or plop down in front of the television in their recliner at home. Nobody cares more or has more passion for what he does than Bryan Stinespring, believe me. This is a guy who came out of little Clifton Forge and climbed to where he’s at today the old-fashioned way -- he worked hard and earned it.
Sorta like Tech’s program has the past 13 years.
And where is this team headed now? Well, I’m much more adept at reading people than picking football games. I like what I’ve seen the past two games. I like what I’m hearing from these guys. They’re united. This team’s heart now beats as one.
And my pick? They win the last four. Don't bet on it, however.
