Virginia Tech free safety
seeks respect for Hokies
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
Virginia Tech free safety Torrian
Gray is not happy about being a 17
point underdog to Nebraska in the Dec.
31 Orange Bowl
in Miami.
“It’s a slap in
the face to the
program,” Gray
said. “Nobody
wants to give us
, a lot of respect
nationally.”
Respect will
be one of the
main issues in Gray
Pro Player Stadium on New Year’s
Eve. The Hokies are 10-1 this season
with wins over three top 25 teams, but
they are given little chance to beat the
Huskers.
Some of it has to do with the quick
rise of the program. Tech enjoyed its
first 10-win season last year after a win
over Texas in the Sugar Bowl. This
season, the Hokies won the Big East
Conference for the second straight
year.
“A lot of people don’t know who
we are, or even where we are,” said
Gray, who was named to the All-Big
East second team. “We’ve come out of
a
It's a slap in the face to the program.
Nobody wants to give us a lot of respect
nationally. ”
Torrian Gray
Virginia Tkh free safety
nowhere.”
' The Hokies’ lone loss of the sea
son was a 52-21 blowout to Syracuse
on Sept. 28. Tech only trailed 24-21 in
the third quarter when the Orangemen
scored 28 unanswered points.
The Syracuse offense racked up
338 yards rushing against Virginia
Tech. The Orangemen’s success may
be a good sign for the Huskers, whose
option based attack is similar to Syra
cuse.
“That worries us a bit,” said Gray,
a 6-foot, 200-pound senior from Lake
land, Fla. “But the Syracuse game
wasn’t a game where we couldn’t stop
them. We just lost a lot of our compo
sure. I don’t think that will happen
again.”
Gray, the Hokies’ third-leading
tackier who led the team with 10 pass
breakups, said he was impressed with
NU’s offense in the Big 12 champion
ship game, particularly its ability to run
and control the clock.
“They play smash-mouth football,
that’s for sure,” Gray said. “They’ll run
the ball all night if they can.
“Nebraska likes to wear a team
down, too. We’ve got to shut them
down on drives and gel the ball to our
offense.”
The Blackshirts did not look as
impressive in St. Louis, losing 37-27
to Texas. The Longhorns had four
plays for more than 50 yards and
gained 503 yards
“Their numbers were just incred
ible,” he said. “One bad game doesn’t
mean their defense isn’t great. They
were pretty tough during the regular
season.
“We’ve come up big when we’ve
had to this season,” Gray said. “We
haven’t always played well, but we
know how to get the win.”
Wuerffel
edges ' teivis
for Heisman
NEW YORK (AP) —
Florida quarterback Danny
Wuerffel edged Iowa State’s
Troy Davis for the Heisman Tro
phy on Saturday in the closest
vote since 1989.
“If you guys are watching,”
Wuerffel said, talking to his
Gator teammates, “I hope you
have a sense of accomplishment.
This is just as much you as it is
me.”
The 22-year-old from Fort
Walton Beach, Fla., probably
clinched the Heisman with a six
touchdown, 401-yard perfor
mance in a 45-30 Southeastern
Conference title game victory
over Alabama on Dec. 7.
Arizona State quarterback
Jake Plummer finished third and
Ohio State’s Orlando Pace was
fourth.
Wuerffel, third in last year’s
Heisman ballotting, received
300 first-place votes and 1,363
points. Davis, who ran for 2,158
yards despite the Cyclones’ 2-9
season, received 209 first-place
votes and 1*174 points.
In other college football
news, Colorado linebacker Matt
Russell won the Butkus Award
on Saturday.
NU to ‘play
for pride'
ORANGE from page 9
When we go down there and relax
and play football, we’re a great foot
ball team.”
Senior I-back Damon Benning
said the sixth-ranked Huskers are
looking forward to proving that they
still are a great football team.
“We’ve been in hostile environ
ments before,” Benning said.
“We’re used to going places where
people don’t like us, and that’s OK.
Maybe that’s what we need to help
light our fire a little bit, too. It’s time
for us to get out of our comfort
zone.”
Notes:
Osborne said I-back Ahman
Green was X-rayed last week, and
may play in the Orange Bowl. Green
has a stress fracture in his left foot
and will be X-rayed again before the
bowl game. “Right now there is
some possibility that he might be
able to practice that last-week,”
Osborne said. “How good he’ll be
with that amount of practice, I don’t
know.”
The Huskers will practice three
times this week and leave Lincoln
on Dec. 22 to begin preparation in
Miami.
Kansas Coach Glen Mason has
accepted the head-coaching job at
Minnesota, a position for which NU
Running Backs Coach Frank Solich
was a finalist.
Tfech QB knows
errors will hurt
Druckenmiller says a
win could put the
Hokies on the map.
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Virginia Tech quarterback Jim
Druckenmiller knows all too well that
mistakes on the
to points on the
wrong side of the
scoreboard.
Take his per
formance in the
Hokies* only loss
of the season,
52-21 at Syra
cuse.
Druckenmiller,
a 6-foot-4, 223- niM,^La.un!iiaj
pound senior, "rockenmillep
was 11 -of-23 passing for 157 yards, but
he also threw two interceptions. In the
game, Tech committed four turnovers,
three of which set up Orangemen
touchdowns. Syracuse sewed the final
28 points of the game.
In a 21-18 season-opening win at
4-7 Akron, the Hokies fumbled the ball
away three times and allowed a safety.
Tech also turned the ball over three
times on the ground against East Caro
lina, but won that game 30-14.
In all but two games this year, Tech
has lost a fumble. The Hokies’ only
turnover-free game this year was a 21 -
7 win at Miami. In that game, a 100
yard interception return by Tech’s
Keion Carpenter sealed the win.
“You can’t make mistakes, because
if you do, a good team will take ad
vantage of it,” Druckenmiller said.
“You have to have 11 men on the same
page, and if one man screws up, that
could cost you a touchdown or a turn
over.”
Against Nebraska in Orange Bowl,
Dec. 31 in Miami, Druckenmiller said,
protecting the football is even more
important for the 10-1 Hokies.
“If someone makes a big play off
of a mistake, that really hurts,” he said.
“We would never catch back up to a
team like Nebraska if we make a lot of
mistakes.”
So the game plan will be to hold
onto the football. If the Hokies do that,
NU might be in for a rough New Year’s
Eve.
Druckenmiller, from Northampton,
Penn., is 20-3 as the starter for the
Hokies. This year he has averaged
188.3 yards per game through the air
with a pass-efficiency rating of 144.8.
In last year’s Sugar Bowl—a win
over Texas that the Hokie media guide
refers to as one of the most stirring vic
tories in the university’s athletic his
tory — he completed 18 of 34 passes
for 266 yards, including a 54-yard
touchdown pass.
Tech trailed 10-0 in that game be
fore roaring back to win 28-10. This
year has been even better,
Druckenmiller said.
“It’s been a very special season to
us,” Druckenmiller said. “It’s the best
season in Virginia Tech football his
tory, and to be a part of it is terrific.”
Beating the two-time defending
national champion Comhuskers could
be an even more rewarding experience
than downing Texas last year.
But would a win include the No.
10 Hokies among the upper-echelon
teams like Ohio State, Florida, Florida
State and Nebraska?
“I’d like to think so,”
Druckenmiller said. “We’ve done ev
erything we can these last two years
and a win over Nebraska will put us
on the map.”
Druckenmiller said he will not
make a prediction on the outcome of
the Orange Bowl like Texas quarter
back James Brown did before the Big
12 championship game.
Brown said the Longhorns might
win by 21 points. They won 37-27, but
Druckenmiller said he’s not as bold.
“I’m not going to open my mouth
like he did,” Druckenmiller said. “I’m
a pretty humble guy who can’t say
things like that.”
[ http://www.unl.edu/DaiiyNeb/ |
I .
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