The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 31

i The Roanoke Times Tech offer to Beamer may he too late I BLACKSBURG The chill was 19 degrees at kickoff but through the frig id misty rain and no quit wind Saturday night at Lane Stadium there was a Chattering that had nothing to do with the weather irgirua virgmia Tech football game was played in what felt like a winter won derland As what had been a compslling game turned into a 42 21 Hokies romp there was wonder ing about the Hok Bowl Champi onship Series hopes wondering about coach George UVa future wandering about Tech quarterback Michael poten tial NL early entry In another Lane sellout crowd that was mostly Hokies however most of the wondering was whether rank Beamer was coaching his last game for his alma mater before leaving for North Carolina I Tech wore special maroon jerseys dusting off memories of the late when Beamer played defensive back for the Gobblers The Hokies were hoping the shirt stuff playing as a goodbye tribute for a man that carries the most alumni clout at his alma mat er The Tar Heels think they have their man and Beamer Of course they thought they had their man in basket ball last summer and Roy Williams stayed at Kansas The Tech coach is in the lead for tjh is job like Secretariat once won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths Carolina will make Beamer an over whelming offer the Hokies match and the public pronouncement of ap preciation for Beamer by admin istration on riday played well at all in the second floor football offices of the Jamerson Athletic Center i What Hokies have to realize is that this Auburn Clemson Georgia South Carolina Green Bay or Alabama This is a real deal for Beamer one he i es tne oZnd HK 4 jack BOGACZYK I thinks he wants Before 1996 when con tract was made a five year rollover with a $1 million annuity with a 10 year stay required the Tech deal had an addendum that allowed him to leave for three college jobs of his choice without a buyout A source close to Beamer said when the terms were changed making only a rpove to the NL permissible with no buyout the three schools the coach had chosen were Georgia Tennessee and North Carolina i It remains to be seen whether offer is too little Only Beamer can decide that and he will probably within 72 hours What is certain is that the statement of appreciation may have come too late Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said two weeks ago when be came a Beamer suitor that he had been working on enhancements for contract That begs the question: Why did administration wait until a holiday weekend riday to go public with its intentions? Was the news release from Burruss Hall rooted in alumni heat on President Charles Steger? Of course Otherwise why the timing? Whatever it came off as a spin job a card Tech will try to play if Beamer bolts See what we of fered him? We tried We really did Even those professionally closest to Beamer his loyal assistants have no idea what Beamer will do Much of this Beamer seriousness about the UNC op portunity is about them Sources say Beamer thinks that appreciation for their contributions particularly in an overachieving 10 1 regular season has only come lately from Weaver and his Burruss bosses because of current leverage After taking this flirtation this far Beamer almost has to go to Chapel Hill to look and listen If he he must make up his mind that Tech not only was and is his school but will be for the rest of his career The choice makes a game even one with UVa seem mighty small Jack Bogaczyk can be reached at 981 3124 or jackbroanokecom Sports 2 C7 12 HIGH SCHOOL Salem advances to its third OOTBALL straiShl state final C7 Pulaski pushes unbeaten Heritage to the limit C7 Sportsunday SUNDAY NOVEMBER 26 2000 a A SECTIONiCJA COMMONWEALTH CUP No 6 Virginia Tech 42 Virginia 21 (At )Large victory? Man GENTRY 77 ROANOKE TIMES WSRT fa' te tRBL "ibM i hr'll A ihswijA Z' iwLJ A Lee Suggs rushes for 1 16 i yards and has four TDs i to help keep Tech in the running for a BCS bowl By RANDY KING THK ROANOKE TIMES BLACKSBURG There would be no monumental comeback this time Two years after squander ing the biggest lead in program history to Virginia on the same field Virginia football team about to risk being involved in a possible rerun Saturday night Taking total control after a first quarter trance sixth ranked Tech erupted for 28 straight points bridging the second arid third quarters and spanked its bitter intrastate ri val 42 21 in front of 56272 chilled fans at Qame Lane Stadium stats C2 The victory enabled Tech to Tech iinish 10 1 and C2 kept alive its UVa hopes of landing notes C3 one of two at large berths in the Bowl Champion ship Series either the iesta or Sugar bowls Notre Dame a 38 21 victor over Southern California earlier Saturday is expected to receive one of the two at large spots Barring an Oklahoma loss to Kansas State in this Big 12 championship game ei ther Tech Oregon State (10 1) or Nebraska (9 2) is expected to I be awarded the other BCS at I large spot The four BCS bowls will announce their selection of teams next Sunday On a day full of questions the headliner being the possi bility of this being Tech coach i rank last game in Blacksburg in lieu of North pressing courtship for his services the Hokies 1 had all the answers for the Cav aliers following the opening quarter i this team to win 10 games they deserve all the said Beamer who fended off all questions about overtures to lure 1 him to Chapel Hill football team played amazingly well this Seemingly rejuvenated by the return of star quarterback Michael Vick the Hokies ran up 461 total yards in hanging a season high total of 42 points on the UVa defense After miss ing 2'Zi games because of a sprained right ankle Vick com jileted 16 of 23 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown Donny Green (33) and Boo Battle cut short Michael attempt to leap for yardage Saturday night at Lane Stadium PLEASE SEE TECHC2 No 11 Notre Dame 38 USC 21 Irish Trojans keep going opposite ways 1S SVX7TEH I'IESS (Z Notre Dame quarterback Matt LoVecchio falls just short of the end zone with Troy Polamalu defending but he rushes for two TDs Notre Dame efficiently disposes of USC to put itself in position for a BCS at large berth ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES A giddy Bob Davie and his Notre Dame ighting Irish appear headed to a big time bowl game and happy to talk about it Southern California coach Paul Hackett is likely to be fired any minute and he figures no hurry to discuss it reshman Matt LoVecchio ran for two touchdowns and engineered an efficient offense and the llth ranked Irish turned two blocked punts into touchdowns and two intercep tions into two more scores Sat urday in beating mistake prone USC 38 21 By winning for the seventh st might time LoVecchio became tlieirstarting quarter back the Irish (9 2) are in line for a Bowl Series Championship game likely the iesta Bowl and a $135 million payday certainly hope the i esta Bowl or the Sugar said Davie whose team went 5 7 last season think a team people will enjoy 1 think lie pretty attractive think we're a good team I think a month from now be a really good team We're not a team that wins pretty we're a team that wins because other teams turn the ball over and we turn the ball The Trojans (5 7) mean while endured their first losing season since 1991 and their third in the last 39 years been speculated that Hackett whose teams have a 19 18 record in three seasons will be fired as early as today Athletic director Mike Gar rett said he was deliberat ing" future After giving Davie his staff and the Irish credit and PLEASE SEE IRISHC4 A Sv.