EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - After an action-packed day of interviewsand a buffet lunch, members of West Virginia University's footballteam strolled out of Giants Stadium.
Waiting at the curb to whisk them from Big East Conference MediaDay to a chartered flight at Newark Airport was a limousine longenough to hold an Olympic pool. Several players snickered atteammate Barrett Green, who had driven his own vehicle. Only onething could have spoiled the moment had the players really noticed onthe sunny, warm North Jersey day.
The limo's color. Maroon.
WVU cannot get a break from Virginia Tech - even in the swamps ofJersey.
Whether the Mountaineers like it or not, they have often spent thelast six years looking up at their neighbor from the next state.Once a program WVU could count on beating two of three times,Virginia Tech has set a recent standard even the Mountaineers mustenvy.
"No question Virginia Tech in the last seven years has been areally good football team," WVU Coach Don Nehlen said Thursday."They've recruited very well. Look at them and Virginia. They wineight, nine games a year. They are doing a very good job of gettingkids from the state of Virginia."
In last winter's recruiting class, 14 of the 23 signed by theHokies were from Virginia. If Nehlen ever tried for that ratio inhis smaller home state, WVU would soon be in the low-rent leagueplaybox with the likes of Rutgers and Temple.
Still, some at WVU must wince as Virginia Tech, with an emphasison defense and special teams that can crush a foe's morale, has shotpast the Mountaineers in league-pecking and national-perceptionorders.
Since the start of the 1993 season - Tech was 2-8-1 in 1992 andperhaps close to sacking Coach Frank Beamer - the Hokies have been acombined 53-19. That includes a 3-3 bowl record and 31-11 Big Eastrecord.
In the same period - and this includes the 11-0 1993 regularseason - WVU is 46-26. Those in Piscataway, Ames or Champaign-Urbanawould no doubt sacrifice their first-born quarterbacks for such arecord. And WVU's 28-14 Big East record in that span is alsoenviable - more so than its 0-5 bowl record.
Yet Tech's overall record has even surpassed that of the rest ofthe league's usual upper division. In the span, Syracuse is 48-22-1overall, 30-12 in league and 2-2 in bowls. Miami (Fla.), saddledwith NCAA probation part of that period, is 50-20, 33-9 and 2-2.
Those credentials aside, 1999 could be a glorious year for Tech.The attention around the Hokies is similar to what stared atMorgantown in 1998, when the Mountaineers held so many NFL prospects,preseason national rankings and their opener with top-rated OhioState.
Tech, even in what was thought to be a rebuilding year, stillmanaged to outplay WVU. The Mountaineers finished 8-4, lost at Tech27-13 and dropped a bowl game against a beatable Missouri. Tech,despite blowing three late leads (one to Temple), was 9-3 andbattered traditional power Alabama 38-7 in the Music City Bowl.
"That Alabama game had significant influence," Beamer said ofnational attention.
If nothing else, it helped soothe Hokie feelings after a 77-6mauling Alabama slopped on Tech in 1973 at Tuscaloosa.
Suddenly this season, the Hokies are hunted. Although it issecond in the Big East preseason poll to revived Miami, Tech isranked in seven of 10 magazine preseason polls. Three have theHokies in the top 10, five among the top 12.
In addition, Tech has almost doubled its season-ticket sales inthe past six years. The Hokies have sold about 22,000 for thisseason and expect 25,000 by the Sept. 4 opener with I-AA JamesMadison. Plans are being made to add to 50,000-seat Lane Stadium.
Oh yes, James Madison. That is followed by a home game withAlabama-Birmingham. The only respectable I-A foe in September isrebuilding Clemson, which travels to Blacksburg for a Sept. 23 ESPNThursday night game. Later critical league matchups with Miami (Nov.13) and Syracuse (Oct. 16) are also home. The hardest league roadgame is WVU (Nov. 6).
"Miami has everyone back, but a tough schedule," Nehlen said."Virginia Tech has everyone back and the schedule will help them."
Adding to Tech's allure this season will be the unveiling ofredshirt freshman quarterback Michael Vick. He is thought to be aclone of Syracuse's four-year menace Donovan McNabb - except thestrongly built, 6-foot-1, 211-pound Vick is left-handed. He is aVirginia product, a native of Newport News.
"He has the quickest release of anyone I've ever seen," Beamersaid. "Very athletic. But the thing about him is he's a goodperson. You'd like to sit down and talk to him."
That can not always be said for some recent Tech players. Evenwith Miami's fading bad-boy image, the Hokies seemingly have led theBig East in player incidents with the law. There were the troublesof talented defender Cornell Brown, fights and former Techquarterback Jim Druckenmiller's recent rape trial.
Beamer, 52, himself survived a 24-40-2 record in his first sixseasons (1987-92) in Blacksburg. A Virginia native and Tech alumnus,he credited the school administration for its patience.
"People today are so eager for change," Beamer said.
Here is the change. People in rural Virginia mad about defenseand somehow not revolted by the school's orange-and-maroon colorscheme.
"It's exciting," said Tech defensive end Corey Moore, the 1998 BigEast Defensive Player of the Year. "Our home crowd, when the defensetakes the field, they give us a standing ovation. Special teams areone of the most feared in the country. I think teams wish they coulddo all the little things we do."
Add those tiny items up and suddenly Blacksburg does not seem aspreposterous as what has happened in State College or Clemson. Orwhat almost happened in 1988 in Morgantown.
"The best days are ahead," Beamer said.
"We don't shy away from talking about national championships."
Writer Mike Cherry can be reached at 348-5170.
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