Check the parts from the artilcle from Will "Nostradamus" Stewart in 1998. Interesting in a variety of ways, considering what was on the horizon for the hokies (ryan williams enrolling as a freshman), and the current state of the program:
On the Offense:
"As we have seen more than once this year, the Hokie D and special teams blasted out of the gate, only to see the offense squander opportunities to score, keeping a potential blowout tight."
Hello 2007 and 2008.
On Beamerball at its best:
"In all, the Hokies scored four TD's in 16 and a half minutes. It was an avalanche of points that saw the offense start "drives" at Alabama's 2 yard line, 32 yard line, and 20 yard line. With a short porch like that, even a struggling offense can put up points, and the Hokies did it, burying the Tide under a flood of touchdowns that left them shell-shocked and beaten.
"Beamer-ball," a deadly combination of defense and special teams, was alive and well, and the Hokies had Tech's third win in their last six bowls."
Awesome, just awesome. I hope we get back to avalanches of points this year.
On bowl preparation:
"In the days leading up to the game, I was struck by how relaxed the Tech players and coaches were. Frank Beamer, normally not a big jokester, kept mentioning his quest to find Shania Twain in Nashville, and in one clip shown on the Roanoke TV stations, the Tech players were fooling around playing leapfrog on the Vanderbilt Stadium turf after a practice was canceled due to ice.
That kind of behavior can point to one of two things:
- Tech was focused, relaxed, and confident of an upcoming victory; or
- Tech had read too many positive press clippings and was about to get steamrolled. "
Yeah, and we lost to effing Kansas.
On Bowl Woes:
"2.) Tech got a bowl win that was almost a necessity. Having lost 2 of 3 games going into the bowl, the last thing the Hokies needed was to drop their third game out of four, and to lose their third bowl in a row.
I think it's reasonable to expect your team to win 50% of its bowl games, and since the Hokies started going bowling in 1993, they're exactly at that percentage, going 3-3. If you start to lose more than 50% of your bowl games, then the whispers start, and if, God forbid, you start stringing together multiple bowl losses, the whispers become shouts, repeated like a mantra by any media source that covers your bowl games."
Yeah, remember when we lost to effing Kansas?
On Lee Corso:
"In my game preview, I expressed concern over the fact that every expert, with the exception of ESPN's Lee Corso (who is a circus clown, not a college football expert), was picking the Hokies to win, hands down"
"Lee Corso in particular can't seem to get over the hump and pick Tech to beat a big-name team. He's completely comfortable predicting Hokie wins against the likes of ECU, but when Tech comes up against a team like Alabama or Texas, Lee immediately picks us to lose.
He'll never change, but each time we do something like this, I think the rest of the media - the ones who actually think and analyze things - take notice."
Interesting. Less than a year later, as freshmen, we were holding up a sheet in the that said "WE HEART CORSO" in the West Stands (thursday night clemson game i think). We got the word to Mrs. Beamer that we were there, who told Corso where the sign was going to be, and she said that he saw it!! I also recall seeing at sign at one of the gameday's that year "Corso is God and we are his followers." And not to mention the whole GT lightning game. Corso found the Hokie band wagon, and I think we were pretty good to him.
On the Qb of the future:
"Now it's time to let the next generation quarterback, be it Michael Vick, Grant Noel, or maybe even dark horse Dave Meyer, strap it on. Bolstered by great defense and special teams, next year's QB gets to start off with plenty of support, and when he makes a few mistakes along the way, hopefully it won't kill us.
Just one question: can we start tomorrow?"
Yeah, lets just pick one of those names out of a hat and play some beamerball....
On the future:
"Next year is the beginning of the rest of the Hokie football team's life.
Beginning next year, three years of bumper crops of Tech recruits, headlined by a 1998 class packed with high school All-Americans, are expected to lead the Hokies back to the Alliance Bowl promised land, or more accurately, the "BCS Bowl" promised land.
There are serious road blocks along the way. The Hokies' offensive line still isn't nearly up to snuff, and it will take one or two more years to even hope to return it to the levels it achieved in 1995 and 1996.
The defensive backfield will be decimated by graduation. The Hokies have talented players waiting to step up, but they'll be inexperienced.
And the Miami Hurricanes loom as a formidable opponent for years to come. Wait till you see their quarterback of the future, Kenny Kelly. He's awesome.
Other than offensive line and defensive backs, the Hokies 1999 cupboard will be full. In the Big East title hunt, Tech has home games with Syracuse and Miami, and a road game with a West Virginia team that will be seriously depleted on the offensive and defensive lines.
The future - the immediate future - looks bright indeed, and a big bowl victory over Alabama provides the perfect bridge between now and the seasons to come.
FULL SPEED AHEAD (except for OLING)....anyway....I know whats going to happen!!! Is it just me, or would we be freaking out at bringing in a QB with no experience? The fanbase would be these days. Also, Kenny Kelly?? Ha...how many games did he start against tech? I can't remember if he was any good, but I know he never beat us. Maybe foreshadowing for Jacory Harris....yet another talented miami QB prospect? Of course he already beat us, but i can't remember if he started.
