1995 Sugar Bowl Memory Lane:

For our 2010 dog days of summer inaugural stroll down Memory Lane -backed by popular Techsideline.com demand- we shall take a retrosight look back at the 1995 Sugar Bowl game down in New Orleans which was played right in the Saints backyard.

Many will likely view the 1995 Sugar Bowl the date that little ole Virginia Tech officially served national football notice to the D-1 pigskin community that the Hokies had arrived. Some of you will no doubt tout this game as the biggest Frank Beamer Bowl win of all-time.

Both are quite plausible O&M lines of thought – considering that Frank and VT were only a handful of seasons removed from going 2-8-1 and a A.D. (Dave Braine) imposed O&M football Staff purging a couple of years after that. Recall that Frank was a basically a .5oo football coach heading into the 1995 Sugar Bowl (SB). 50-49-2 overall does not a College Football Hall of Fame Coach make … also recall that our beloved Hokies got off to a auspicious o-2 start no thanks to a offtrack little engine that could (not). A 14-20 season opener vs. Boston College and a soggy and downright downtrodden o-16 blanking inside Lane at the hands of a very middleocroe 6-5 Cincinnati football team.

Then the 1995 Virginia Tech football season came to life vs. “The U”, and we went on to beat wvu and then scored one of the most dramatic come from behind wins up in scott stadium vs. france (36-29). Helluva a rally or turnaround if you ask me as VT football was actually 1-5 in their last 6 football games heading into the 1995 turnaround game vs. Miami – so it’s not like everything was idyllic or perfect down in the New River Valley 15 years ago.

O&M character, guts, moxie and downright high voltage willpower from J.C. Price, Cornell Brown, weight-room warrior himself Druck’ and company changed all of that. Just ask Bevo and the missing Texas Db; though you may have a tough time calling him by his real name.

(Attendance 70,283)

1^st Quarter 13:26 remaining:
Note #55 Myron Newsome attempt to pick up and advance the dropped pass (it was close to a fumble) by the Texas Wr on this play. Recall that we were in points must mode at this stage of the VT football program where points –no matter how we could come by them- were at a premium. I would like to see a little more of this try for any possible defensive score mentality restored in 2010.

1^st Quarter 13:13 remaining:
Watch #77 right-Ot Mike Bianchin with the trifecta of illegality as he simultaneously commits a Block-in-the-Back, a personal foul Late Hit and a sneaky steal on #96 of Texas over near the sideline at the end of this VT running play. I sincerely doubt that Mike is currently in the employment of Hallmark Cards and you do have to give the Refs a lot of credit in this one (an A.C.C. crew no less); as they did let them play and did not call much of in the way of player on player confrontation(s) all nite long.

1^st Quarter 9:06 remaining:
I missed this one down in the Super Dome myself; however, the game copy I have clearly shows that Druck’ is a lucky man to still be standing after the downright and blatant knee-dive cheap shot that #50 administered on Druck’s right knee at the end of this passing play. Nobody and I mean nobody laid a hand on #50 as he came free on a looping delayed OLb blitz and intentionally dove right at Jim’s knee with absolutely nobody impeding his path.

1^st Quarter 6:45 remaining:
Liked seeing a faster/quicker offensive Ken Oxendine with some real live shift in his hips making Texas defenders miss downfield in this one before we bulked him up and slowed him down. Watch to see how D.Evans carries his new found upper-body right-mass this fall.

1^st Quarter 1:25 remaining:
The old-school “Sprint right, screen left” play is brought outta retirement (diagrammed below) as we fake the dump off pass as a diversion out in the flat to lead Rb #42 Dwayne Thomas; only to throw back across the width of the field to #32 Fb Bryan Edmonds who was virtually ignored as he leaked out on the backside of the play after the 1-thousand one count seal block which caught Texas totally off guard and netted VT a nifty first-down on the play. It does take a strong arm to muscle a quasi screen pass out into the flat about 45 yards horizontally down the Line of Scrimmage across the field and Druck’ did indeed have a 120mm howitzer for an arm.

• Qb #16, Jim Druckenmiller
• Rb #42, Dwayne Thomas
• Fb #32, Brian Edmonds
• Se #17, Bryan Still
• Fl #82, Jermaine Holmes
• Te #81, Bryan Jennings
• L-Ot #71, Jay Haygood
• L-G #51, Chris Malone
• C #61 Billy Conaty
• R-G #64, Gerald Dinapoli
• R-Ot #77 Mike Bianchin

1^st Quarter Notes:
Recall that VT had a very slopping opening 15 minutes of play. 4 penalties, 2 of which were VT defensive linemen with the always bonehead lining-up off-sides call; and 2 VT Turnovers were less than encouraging at this point in time. Texas only had one real drive to show for their 1^st quarter efforting thanks to a splendid one hand retreating catch that kept a Longhorn drive alive inside the VT 20 yard line. Both teams opened up in mouthy, confrontational and all emotionally wound up as each team had 2 dropped throws to show for the opening stanza of play. This one was a violent one from the get go as each side stood toe to toe and traded hay-makers right on the button for the first 15 minutes of play.

Among other things, we all got a good look at much thinner and younger looking Head Coach Frank Beamer (no snow on top) and co-Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster with his 1980’s refugee T.Mags ‘stache in full effect. (Tech Trivia for 1 month of FREE TSL Pass: who did Bud Foster share co-Defensive Coordinator honors with in 1995? First correct answer wins!)

Other noticeable 1995 oddities would be the lack of a female sideline hottie reporter, the absence of the yellow down-n-distance 1^st down marker on the TV screen and the omission of a in-game running play-clock on the same. I don’t know about you; though I must log that as A.B.C. going o for three.

Finally, do recall the near full-time VT no-huddle offense. Not an up-tempo or two minute drill either. Again, this is something you tend to see with a upperclassman or senior Qb in order to limit situational defensive substations and keep the most favorable O&M match-up out on the field. With our current senior Qb and his gang of 4 to 6 quality VT Wideouts; I sure would like to see this philosophy back in vogue for 2010.

………………………………………………………………..

2^nd Quarter 14:20 remaining:
Gotta give credit where credit is due and #96 of Texas is due quite a bit of credit for the Hit of the Game on #71 left-Ot Jay Haygood who forgets to keep his head on a swivel while chasing down the tipped pass pop-up INT from Druck’ to Jennings. I also must say that I am surprised and mutually impressed that Jay got up after this one.

2^nd Quarter 12:55 remaining:
Note that Mr. ebullient one #58 Cornell Brown just has to hit some-freaking-body on every single play! However, there was no Longhorn conveniently nearby – yet there is #21 Brandon Semones available? Yup, “boom goes the dynamite” on poor Brandon as the Ref reaches for his Personal Foul flag and then waves it off as you can not flag friendly fire. Other than this play; Brandon himself was on fire down in New Orleans with a team leading 9 tackles, 3 of which were TFL’s, and 1 sack with one pass broken up. Nice game Brandon!

2^nd Quarter 2:39 remaining:
Hands down the play of the game as #17 Bryan Still electrifies the Hokie crowd and the VT bench as he takes this Texas punt back 60 yards to the house for 6 VT points!

Note that the Texas punt coverage defenders all bunch up right in front of B.Still and knock each other right on over pinball style right onto their keisters which allows B.Still an uncontested –well, unless you count the puny Texas Punter- lane to the outside on the “Riddell” or righthand side VT punt return. Gotta stay in your lane in Kick coverage folks as VT did catch something of a break with all that mid-field Longhorn congestion that helped spring B.Still to the outside. Still, B.Still could flat out motor folks, as Texas never laid a hand on him on this punt return that made the 1995 Sugar Bowl a 10-7 game favor the Longhorns heading into halftime.

2^nd Quarter Notes:

• Punt
• Punt
• Fumble
• INT
• 5 flags, 3 dropped VT passes for 0 points and a 0-10 2nd quarter deficit

Not exactly taking names and kicking ass was it? Recall that VT opened the 1995 Sugar Bowl rather high strung and apparently having trouble adjusting to the AstroTurf playing surface as VT had elected to practice outdoors at the Tulane campus during the week leading up to the game. That said, the VT 1995 stop-unit had no trouble adjusting to the Texas offense as the Longhorns were petty much lucky to have benefited and converted on two short fields –thanks to the VT offense- with one short TD drive and one lengthy fieldgoal try which staked them to their token 10 point lead. In fact one could debate if this game rightfully should have been a 27-zip VT shutout as the Hokies held Texas to 38% passing on the nite and handcuffed superstar Ricky Williams to a paltry 62 yards on the ground.

Also recall just how dominate this 1995 VT stop-unit truly was…

• 1^st in Rushing Defense
• 5^th in Scoring Defense
• 10^th in Total Defense
• Good for 44 Sacks on the year!

Not half bad work from a rookie co-Defensive Coordinator if you can get it folks; and as I have already ghosted on the Pay message-board; this 1995 VT defense came to hit, hit some more and kept right on hitting; sometimes even after the play.

This was also close to the end of the all out attack attack attack mantra from the VT stop-unit as Texas caught and trapped Whip Linebacker Brandon Semones in no-man’s-land and threw over him and just in front of the given VT Db who was isolated in island coverage along the sideline several times on the nite. Don’t see that anymore now that Bud Foster has morphed his defense into a more traditional coverage set with the VT Rover now playing the roll of something resembling a lawful Strong-Safety and the VT Whip no longer hung out to dry covering the invisible man out in the flat. Thus noted, you no longer see as many bone jarring VT defensive collisions and as much O&M intimidation out there either. In 1995 VT basically had 5 or 6 Kam Chancellor tomahawk guided missile defenders running around out there – or the 2009 VT stop-unit only had 1 George Delricco; take your pick. Gone are the days of the very in-your-face intimidation maxed out 1995 VT defense. I for one miss that; though which defense is best? An all out seek and destroy high-velocity approach or the current Bud Foster regime? The defensive numbers vis-à-vis are about the same when you crunch them 1995 vs. 2009 style — so which VT defensive philosophy one do you prefer? Be back in a week or so with your 1995 Memory Lane part II.

Virginia Tech has how many more wins left in it this year? o-1. 2-3. 4 or more. View Results  Loading ...

“LET’S GO!”

“HOKIES!”

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Happy 234^th birthday Uncle Sam!