We all know about Frank Beamer the Head Football Coach at Virginia Tech.
We know about beating wvu.
We know about owning france.
We know about Frank the epic program builder extraordinaire who must be butter as he is on a six 10 win season roll.
(Most) however know as much about Frank Beamer the baller.
Thanks to the always nonpareil generous WalterS., we will now know at least a little bit about the 1968 VT football team on the whole; with an Eye in the Sky look at Frank Beamer whenever warranted courtesy of 1968 old-school reel-to-reel game-film black-and-white Liberty Bowl film-study.
(7-3) Virginia Tech vs. (6-3-1) Mississippi:
Weather: windy, chilly blustery high-30’s to low-40’s Memphis day
Attendance: 46,206
(editorial note, games times are approximate)
1st 15:00 Quarter remaining:
Gotta love the pre-game Rugby scrum along the V.P.I. sidelines as everybody in white was hitting somebody else in white in the somewhat superstitious ritual of trying to knock the pre-game jitters or butterflies right on out. This old-school habit is no longer en vogue for fear of injury – though it was a sight to see way back in 1968 as the white uniformed team was indeed “getting after it” pre-game.
1st Quarter 14:23 remaining:
Watch the retro trickeraton on this play as V.P.I. goes to the old-school so-called muddle-huddle and catches Ole Miss napping as #33 Hb Kenny Edwards takes the Giles Co. ‘ish single-wing direct snap from the Broken-T formation and skates around the balanced-line left-End 58 yards nearly unmolested for 6 points on the second play from scrimmage of the game. Be fully awares that this was the only successful attempt at razzel-dazzle that worked all day for a uncharacteristically Pen and Teller kinda play-calling day out of the normally right of right G.O.P. Goldwater ‘esque Coach Jerry Claiborne. (see: pic)
1st Quarter 7:30 remaining:
Some sophomore Qb known as Archie Manning (father of Payton and Eli) really gets away with one as not one, not two, three Gobblers have A.Manning in their grasp in the Ole Miss endzone as A.Manning unloads a poorly under-thrown ball out into the flat in an attempt to avoid the 2-point safety triggering sack. The pass is so badly under-thrown that a hard-charging #25, none other than futuristic Coach Frank Beamer can not get there in time to intercept what would have been a surefire Pick for 6 points as he would have only been 4 yards away from crossing the Rebel’s goaline for a proto-Beamerball defensive major (or Touchdown).
1st Quarter 1:49 remaining:
Watch V.P.I. catch the up-men on the Ole Miss kickoff return team totally outta position and in full retreat on this unusual onsides kick call that V.P.I. easily recovered. Regrettably, note that the football only went about 9 yards on a bad backspin roll – several accounts of this bowl game stipulate that this play really pissed Ole Miss off as the Rebels took this as a personal insult that the Gobblers were attempting to run the score up as we/V.P.I. lead 17-0 at this time. Clearly this was the emotional turning point in this post-season contest.
1st Quarter Notes:
Tough to get off to a better start as V.P.I. went off for more than one point per minute of play in the first 15 minutes of scrimmaging; and that does not account for a deflected Jack Simscsak botched chip-shot FGA. All-n-all, V.P.I. pretty much dominated the opening stanza of play down in chilly Memphis in front of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. Not only did those in attendance consume a record setting 20,000 hot-dogs; the ravenous Gobbler faithful binged on a series of old-fashioned “broken-T” formation grind it out Dive or Keeper running plays on offense; as V.P.I. only called one pass play in the opening Quarter and it resulted in a sack that took the Gobblers out of FG range. Whereas a very stingy V.P.I. 5-2 or 4-4 defense stonewalled the Ole Miss rushing attack and forced the Rebels to turn to the pass. Such proved to be a double edged O&M sword as the Ole Miss Qb (one Archie Manning) was N.F.L. good and said abandonment of the Rebels running attack really opened things up for Ole Miss vs. the sagging and altogether soft Zone pass defense favored by Coach Claiborne at that time. Still yet, being up 17-zip … it was tough not to like the first 15 minutes of play if you were cheering for V.P.I. Our fighting Gobblers dominated the first quarter right up until the ill-fated onsides kick attempt that appeared to sound an emotional call to arms for the Ole Miss Rebels.
Tech Trivia: for 1 FREE month of TSL Pass … who was the 1st-string all-American on the 1968 V.P.I. football team that season? (first correct time-stamp anywhere on TSL wins!)
2nd Quarter 8:00 remaining:
Watch #11, V.P.I. Qb Al Kincaid serve as the third blocker on this outside running play to the left-hand side on this broken-T formation 47-Sweep pitch to #44 Tb Terry Smoot. This is actually a far move efficacious use of a Qb than the typically lame naked bootleg play fake that you see so many modern-day Qb’s attempt to carry out which fools basically no one. The caveat of course being most contemporary coaches would shy away from risking injury to your given Qb as a lead-blocker.
2nd Quarter 4:35 remaining:
Watch #25 Frank Beamer just miss on his second INT attempt off of the tipped seam route pass as the V.P.I. Safety gambles and comes out of zone coverage to deflect the A.Manning pass attempt that a diving Frank Beamer just misses near the VT goaline that would have otherwise saved the Gobblers 7 point on the ensuing 23 yard TD pass from A.Manning to Felts on the very next play.
2nd Quarter 1:30 remaining:
FREE the old-school Te screen!!! Even the freaky double-entendre Pee-Wee Herman himself has not been caught with his pants down any more than we were was on this Te-screen call. The Rebel’s Te delays for a “one-one thousand” count blocking the Gobblers left-De before sneaking out into the right-hand flat for a wide open play-action dump off pass after a running play fake to the left. This is an ideal call for a superlative blocking Te such as our 2010’s very own Smitty.
2nd Quarter notes:
The O&M recovered yet entirely yellow-flag illegal onsides kick call by Coach Claiborne not only fired the Ole Miss Rebels up; it also basically changed field-position for the bad for the duration of this contest. After this V.P.I. botched attempt at kicking trickeration — either from further impoverished special teams play(s), by penalty, or directly via five forthcoming Gobbler turnovers, Ole Miss feasted on a smorgasbord of short-fields which made for a long day for good ole V.P.I. At this juncture of play, Ole Miss switched to a mixed or balanced blend of play-calling which featured future New Orleans Saints signal-caller A.Manning’s throwing short or medium right down the above 2 (or 3) O&M defensive seams (see pic) with just enough rushing by Stan Hinderman of San Francisco 49’er fame to tell the 1968 Liberty Bowl tale. One has to give credit to Ole Miss Head Coach John Vaught who outfoxed the V.P.I. stop-unit for most of the final 45 minutes of play which was aided and abetted by poor tacking from V.P.I. for the duration.
Also, additionally, and furthermore … does the above 1968 V.P.I. defensive diagram remind you of anything?
Perhaps a certain defense that only had one full-time Safety?
One that Frank imported from Murray State?
One with the acronym of WT-6?
Sure does look like a knockoff version of a Wide-Tackle 6 — does it not?
Note however that the Claiborne alignment always employs a legit NoseGuard lined up in a 0-technique helmet-to-helmet vs. the opposing Center. Nevertheless, further note the wide almost double spaced Gap between the Ng and the strongside De (on the right, above). Now observe the 2 uncovered Inside-Linebackers typically a “Monster” (strongside) and a “Rover” (weakside) who are in no way stacked or shielded behind the Ng nor the Dt. This Claiborne 4-4/5-2 hybrid was designed to plug the internal run first and foremost. It was a bit more susceptible to outside running plays and or seam passing routes. Ole Miss figured this out after about 20 minutes of play to full effect as the Rebel Slot-Wr and Te did very well from that point on using short to medium Flys, Button-Hooks and Hitch patterns vs. such a large Db cushion as our Zone coverage provided. As did the Rebel Halfback (Hinderman) on off-tackle work and the occasional outside sweep.
Finally, it is worthy of remark just how much the 1968 V.P.I. passing attack resembled numerous recent -pre-Indianapolis Colts visitations designed to modernize the VT passing-tree- Hokie pitch-n-catch incarnations. The 1968 Gobbler offense clearly preferred to run in order to set-up the pass. The 1968 Gobbler offense tended away from pure pocket passing and towards having its Qb’s throw the football while moving outside with the option to tuck it under and attempt to sprint up-field as a combo Qb at all times. The 1968 Gobbler offense tended to work away from the middle of the field and throw to potential pass catchers operating on so-called sit-down patterns (i.e. not throwing to Wr’s on the move). And finally the 1968 Gobbler offense was quite comfortable with low risk Screen or Sideline based passing. I’ve said it before, and I am reverently saying it again … Coach Claiborne may be gone, yet he’s still here.
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“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street
Mike Widger was the All-American LB for the Hokies in ’68.
Nice hit 804Hokie10!
Widger had a really good senior year before staring in the Canadian Football League for almost 10 years.
[email protected] to collect.
b’street