The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 28

the Roanoke Times Conference should have nercyonVMl LEXINGTON History as rooted at Virginia Military Institute as Stone wall Parade Ground statue is one thing Humiliation is another The Keydets finished their 78th sea BOGACZYK son of Southern Conference football history Saturday at Alumni Memorial ield A one sided 41 21 handling of The Citadel was sweet but an aber ration As steeped in SoCon history as VMI football is playing two seasons ii i the ancient league before officially joining in December 1924 the Key dets find themselves mired in it too So the school blamed or praised de ending on the source and subject for eing somewhere between grudging and abhorrent to change so many times sounds as prepared to break with de cades of tradition as it broke a 32 game SiC losing streak VMI finally seems ready to give its rogram guided by perfect pedigree doach Cal McCombs a chance about time Cue the applause think our future lies as a Division I AA independent in VMI Su perintendent Josiah Bunting said before kickoff A year from now VMI could play its SoCon football game the way I see said Bunting who will allow a VMI team tp continue to be against Eirograms at much larger state schools vfith obvious advantages be they in funding or recruiting pools While VMI formally propose vfhat Bunting calls its staying Southern for all sports except football at league meetings last week attitudes in the 12 team league spoke volumes A short term hiatus seem to interest most of the foes VMI qeeds nine of 12 nods to get what it wants The Keydets be fellow South ern member Davidson which plays I AA rjon scholarship football basically Di vision III in scope schedule and empha sis VMI would struggle to recruit with ut athletic grants in aid The Patriot League would be a good for entire program Navy and Army play basketball there but a peed based scholarship conference That work for the Keydets ei ther I The Colonial Athletic Association in formally invited VMI to join last sum mer That never went anywhere when re CAA simply tried to survive Rich exit VMI is talking to the CAA again The league needing numbers night be wise to at least listen after 1 lading VMI down a dead end once Bunting said VMI also will talk to le Big South about affiliation no home for a football pro ram however with 1 9 consecutive losing seasons loyalty and longevity in the outhem Conference where it last Won a football title in 1977 lean much More than half of the doz en teams in the league have joined in le last 25 years While some might say the Keydets improved this season over rst year still difficult to rationalize lat the Southern offers VMI a measur i ig stick rather than a ball bat over the 1 ead Asked the schedule he envisions for tn independent VMI Bunting named an clectic bunch including Richmond A illiam and Mary Lafayette Morehead tate Charleston Southern Bucknell A offord The Citadel Navy and Ivy Leaguers Before his first spring practice as a ead coach 19 months ago McCombs said we can win games got to keep from losing He was talking about the attitude His remark could have covered schedule too Leaving Southern Conference foot ball admitting a defeat being realistic Jack Bogaczyk can be reached 1 1 981 3124 or jackbroanokecom Sports 2 C7 12 AUTO RACING Bobby Labonte has worked his way up from the bottom to the brink of a Winston Cup championship C7 Sportsunday 0 GAME 10 No 8 Virginia Tech 44 Central lorida 21 N0VEMBERU12O2000ii A A A 9 1 Hokies in a landslide SECTION Sports newsonline or the latest sports news and scores go online at 1V ERIC BRADY ROANOK TIM Es Lee Suggs runs for some of his 143 yards in Virginia 44 21 win in Orlando la Suggs set the Big East records for the most points and touchdowns in a season 1 flflHHHIflRjnBMB 1 mJ Ajfl Jf A dRR" fli flb flflsf 3 uw tnjiL Ai 1 Lta Jl'yKR 'i YY WU' rt jYr? yA a ww YJR Ktarf' TA Sugrs scores 5 TDs and sets 2 league records By RANDY KING THE ROANOKE TIMES ORLANDO la Virginia 2000 football campaign produced a mjor victory in lorida on Satur day night No recount was required Getting five rushing touchdowns from record setting scoring machine Lee Suggs No 8 Tech treated Central lorida like Reagan did Mondale rolling to a decisive 44 21 victory in front of 50220 fans at the lorida Citrus Bowl hope it was enough margin there that we have to quipped Tech coach rank Beamer alluding to the lorida fiasco that has the presidential election results still in limbo think I want to go back out there and play it if what you Tech improved to 9 1 and kept alive its hopes of landing in a secondary Bowl Championship Series bowl either the iesta or Sugar The Hokies finish the regular season against Virginia on Nov 25 in Blacksburg Suggs was more than willing to take up the slack in PLEASE SEE TECHC6 GENE DALTON THE ROANOKE TIMES jr f'y i fl IRHi 1 rS' 1 XS ZC 1 ii Zy 1 "Jzr aa: 4 "IWMI 1 i Virginia Tech quarterback Dave Meyer' runs past Central Jeff Mauldin in the second 1 quarter Meyer startin tor injured Michael Vick left the game with separatee ribs with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter 1 Tuesday marks 30th anniversary of Marshall crash Haunted by twists of fate Those who get on the plane recall the day when 75 people including seven ex Panthers died ASSOCIATED PRESS HUNTINGTON WVa Rich Taglang missed the bus ride to the airport Nate Ruffin gave up his seat on the team plane Ed Carter was in Texas for his funeral They should have been on re turn flight from North Carolina on that day 30 years ago Instead they were spared left to think for the rest of their lives about the worst disaster in US sports history Thirty six football players and 39 coaches administrators community leaders fans and crew died when the chartered jet crashed at 7:37 pm on Nov 14 1970 into a hill just short of Tri State Airport in ram and fog Among those who died were head coach Rick Tolley a former errum College assistant PLEASE SEE CRASHC2 associa ted press A i 'V dtriKi Y' (l it mi v) wi1 Officials at the site of the 1970 plane crash in Kenova WVa secure an engine for removal VMI41TheCitadel21 Keydets put end to streak in big way VMI stops its 32 game four year Southern Conference losing streak By JACK BOGACZYK THE ROANOKE TIMES LEXINGTON A few days after pushing serious discourse about getting relief from the rigors of Southern Conference football VMI undermined its position The Keydets won Before a ounder's Day crowd of 94 1 1 the fourth largest in Alumni Memorial ield history VMI not only stopped its 32 game four year conference losing streak but did it convincingly with a 4 1 2 1 triumph over its biggest rival The Citadel In many ways per formance in the annual Classic of the was the best in years Winning for only the fourth time in 44 games the Keydets (2 9 1 7) did their most scoring in a conference game since a 47 30 win at The Citadel irr 1986 I It was the first SoCon victory since a 34 double overtime triumph over the Bulldogs in In getting his first conference win as i head coach Ca McCombs watched his alini mater hand over the covetec trophy for the military school series ther used five Air orce bow PLEASE SEE KEYDETSC3.