South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 51

rrn rag mm, Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, September 24, 1995 Section 6 NdDt ttDn Mfiammm tlhy undl it lb DAVE HYDE Commentary pm i trA fit 'a k. i AP photOALAN KIM Virginia Tech's William Yarborough slams UM quarterback Ryan Collins to the ground. Collins separated his right shoulder on the play. Virginia Tech notches 1st victory over 'Canes INSIDE By RANDALL MELL Staff Writer BLACKSBURG, Va. The Miami Hurricanes stumbled off Worsham Field before the bedlam broke loose.

They were in victory against the 'Canes in 13 tries. The 'Canes (1-2) lost more than a game. They lost their starting quarterback, Ryan Collins, with a right shoulder separation in the first half. They also lost a lot more of their mystique. These same Hokies were shut out 16-0 by Cinncinati last week.

The 'Canes have now lost two of their first three games for the first time since 1978. This loss was UM's first to an unranked team since 1984, ending a string of 71 straight victories. The 'Canes are in danger of falling out of the AP rankings for the first time in a decade, since the first poll of the 1985 season. Even worse, the slide looks PLEASE SEE 'CANES 12D er seen. The 'Canes left the chill of this gray, autumn day with the numbing notion that it could have been worse.

"This game, to be honest with you, should have been over a lot earlier," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "We are satisfied but know we could have put them away earlier." The Hokies (1-2) dropped a sure touchdown pass, missed four field goals and failed to score a touchdown after recovering a blocked punt inside UM's 10. The Hokies were thinking they should have led 23-7 by halftime. "They are not the Miami they used to be," Virginia Tech guard Chris Malone said. It was Virginia Tech's first Irish rout Longhorns Notre Dame wins its first game against a ranked team in two seasons.

Marc Edwards rushes for two touchdowns and catches a pass for another touchdown as the Irish clobber 13th-ranked Texa3 55-27. 30 Hunting Ducks Marlon Evans scores the go-ahead touchdown on a 96-yard kickoff return as Stanford upsets No. 12-ranked Oregon 28-21. Also, Washington State hands No. 16 UCLA its second consecutive loss 24-15.

4D Nebraska 49 Pacific 7 Penn State 59 Rutgers 34 USC 31 Arizona 10 Ohio State 54 Pittsburgh 14 Oklahoma 51 N. Texas 10 Virginia 22 Clemson 3 Tennessee 52 Miss. St. 14 Mississippi 18 Georgia 10 Now's time to take revenge on 'Canes BLACKSBURG, Va. Amen.

I mean, isn't that how you end funerals? Doesn't that show the proper respect? The University of Miami football dynasty officially died Saturday, at age 12, gasping for substance on the field but leaving in fittingly spunky style off it, right down to the memorable eulogy delivered in the locker room. The team chaplain, Father Leo Armbrust, stood by the postgame meal after a 13-7 loss to Virginia Tech and glared at tackle Freeman Brown over some mixed signals. "You don't like it, go pick up the bleeping sandwiches yourself!" he yelled at the 354-pound sophomore as an already solemn room became still. "Like you need another sandwich!" Hey, after that outburst, you didn't know whether to have the Good Father throw three Hail Marys as penance or line up at defensive tackle. Or linebacker.

Or even quarterback, after a Saturday when the offense was equally ineffectual under starter Ryan Collins, who was injured, and backup Ryan Clement. Which ends one debate: Collins isn't the big problem. And begins another: What's the solution? Unranked and unrespected Of course, there won't be any good solutions this year, because UM is just another team now. Just another opponent. Just another college football name on the schedule to play after being the team every opponent hated or feared but always built its season around.

This was the face of UM at dynasty's end: Center K.C. Jones, his face smeared in eye-black paint, walking off in disbelief. Safety Earl Little sitting inside his locker, staring into space. And a Virginia Tech fan broke away from those running onto the field to go up to UM cheerleaders and bleat, "You guys bleep!" So it's payback time now. It's open season on UM, too, as UCLA and now Virginia Tech showed the blueprint on how to beat this weak-muscled Hurricane team.

Virginia Tech, shut out by Cincinnati last week, ran up and down Worsham Field like a sports car. It gained 300 yards rushing, which no team had since 1979, four years before UM's run of four national titles began. The Hokies sacked Miami quarterbacks six times, too Clement five times in just over two quarters. "We did enough poor things to lose two or three football games," first-year coach Butch Davis said in a corner of the field as Virginia Tech fans bounced on a goal post in the background. Here comes (gulp) FSU These fans seemed as surprised as anyone.

They didn't rush the field immediately but came in a trickle, and it took 15 minutes before someone thought to do something as ordinary as tackle the goal post. But the only surprise is that it was close. That was more Virginia Tech's doing than Miami's. The Hokies missed four field goals and dropped a touchdown pass. It dominated the Hurricanes like no regular-season opponent had since UM's 12-year reign began.

With a loss upcoming to Florida State, Miami will have lost four of five games, including the Orange Bowl defeat to Nebraska. But when the question came about FSU and the TV lights went on, linebacker Ray Lewis mustered up the biggest words he could find. "Who is FSU?" he boomed. "FSU is just like Virginia Tech or FAMU. They're no dif-.

ferent. Who is FSU? We'll go into Doak Campbell Stadium and take care of business there." Suddenly, the locker room came alive, players high-fiving Lewis, laughing with him, yelling, "Yeah, yeah!" and "That's our boy!" Then, just as suddenly, the moment was over. The silence returned, as did the reality that for this Hurricane team, it's going to be easier saying such things than doing them. Dave Hyde's column appears four days a week. the lock- I tUi'lrTIIU I er room before a swarming mass of maroon and orange Virginia Tech supporters spilled onto the field to celebrate the Hokies' shocking 13-7 upset of the 17th-ranked 'Canes on Saturday.

They were spared the humiliation of watching students dance on the grass, dangle from goalposts and pile onto each other in a giddy postgame celebration the likes of which this town has nev FSU rolls but UCF's not embarrassed Backup QB leads Colorado past Aggies By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI Los Angeles Times BOULDER, Colo. It wasn't a twist of fate that cost Texas everything from a victory to a national championship. It was a twisted knee and old what's-his-face, uh, John Hessler or is it Kessler? By ALAN SCHMADTKE The Orlando Sentinel TALLAHASSEE This was the University of Central Florida's dream: Playing in Division I-A, taking on the country's top team and giving no ground. Reality was a little more vivid Saturday night, but not nearly as vivid as No. 1 Florida State would have preferred.

The third-ranked Aggies, 29-21 losers to Colorado Saturday at Folsom Field still aren't positive. All i 1 1 I ft' lv 7 1 (i r' VI I) -0 Vl The Semmoles, national targets for a couple weeks for scoring 70 or they know for sure is that they probably ended Buffaloes quarterback Koy Detmer's season and that second-teamer John Hessler essentially ended theirs. "No, I probably couldn't have been able to tell you," said free safety Dennis Allen, asked if he who knew who Colorado's backup quarterback was. "Actually, we were really prepared to go against Koy." All that changed with 3:01 remaining in the first quarter and the Buffaloes facing a second-and-9 from the 25-yard line. Detmer dropped back, dodged one blitzer, stepped to his right, spun counterclockwise, twisted his leg, released the pass and then crumpled without having been touched.

Doctors wouldn't know for sure until after the game, but Detmer, one of the contenders for the Heisman Trophy, had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. In came Hessler, a redshirt sophomore who entered the game with only one more completion (nine) than Detmer had touchdowns (eight). His first three plays: handoff, handoff, disastrous option play and loss of 8. Meanwhile, the Aggies were doing what they more points twice in three games, struggled in untracking their offense and stopping UCF's attack before winning 46-14 at Doak Campbell Stadium. If it's any consolation to the Knights, they played FSU closer than a few of FSU's compatriots in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"The difference between the two programs is time and money, and I think think we can get there," said UCF coach Gene McDowell, an assistant under FSU coach Bobby Bowden during the Seminoles' growth years. "Obviously you're not real happy when you lose to anybody, but we played well in a lot of areas. We did some really nice things, and I'm really happy about that." Said Bowden: "I challenged our team at half-time because I thought they were beating us one-on-one." For more than a half on a crisp, windy night before an announced 76,600, UCF gave the Seminoles fits, so much so that their starters were in the game in the fourth quarter. Not until UCF failed to squib an onside-kick at- For scores, call Source Line at 523-5463 in Broward, 496-5463 in Souih Palm Beach, 625-5463 in North Palm Beach and 866-5463 in Dade. Enter category 3060.

The call it tree. More categories, Page 2C. AP photo ALAN BYRD Central Florida's Kenton Rickerson wins jump-ball against FSU's E.G. Green, breaking up a pass. PLEASE SEE FSU 6D PLEASE SEE COLORADO 7D.