The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 15

THE ROANOKE TIMES TUESDAY JANUARY 4 2005 (Sk '11 IM i Hi ff' KSa ASh Bt I Bfega I few I i I kyl ILl 0 wgBB'gs i MrW jTl tv rT" Tech women enter Top 25 Coming off a victory over a ranked Maryland team Sunday Beth Virginia Tech team enters the AP raninkings at No 25 PAGE 6 Orange Bowl: DSC vs Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winning QBs Matt Leinart and Jason White square off for the national title 8 pm WSET Auburn 16 Virginia Tech 13 rr Auburn's Ronnie Brown breaks free from the line of scrimmage during the first quarter of the Sugar Bowl in the Louisiana Superdome MldnigN 81 1 1 I i rV 4 T'VJr A WOa Si dl di A Mb ''Wi 'Y MraraKMI xL JrtB JSStest 4 Al tiy'W MSI 8sW 3HlaiUMOTtMMfeP jKiAR lira Yk A' LatV 'W3xliX 4 A VvA A Ml 1 rf ySytr! 7' i Zzt W7 GENEVIEVE ROSSE I Landmark Nrws Service hope of rally falls short By Randy King randykingroanokecom 981 3126 I NEW ORLEANS Vir ginia party in the was crashed by the big play Aided by five plays that resulted in nearly half of its offensive output No 3 Auburn ended No 9 unexpected dream ride sea son with a 16 13 victory in the 71st Sugar Bowl on Monday night All four of scor ing drives were fueled by big yardage plays five for all but 120 of the Tigers 299 total yards the kind of plays defense had been able to stop since its season opening loss to No 1 Southern California will get you in a said Tech coach rank Beamer whose club lost for the first time in nine games to finish 10 3 about three or four of those out of there and we played really well on While the Tigers partied well into the night on the wave of a 13 0 season the Hokies had to leave town with a hangover this morning They had plenty of chances to See HOKIES 2 Associated Press EJWWWsfl Virginia Tech fullback Jesse Allen falls to the turf after failing to make a potential go ahead TD pass on fourth and goal Just like that the magic stops NEW OR I EANS Jesse Allen spilled out of the backfield and into the right half of the end zone Space! All kinds of space! Why not him? In this year of improba ble heroes why couldn't a walk on be the one to turn the Sugar Bowl in Virginia Tech's favor? It was all so perfect The call The fake The throw The story There he was the gritty New Englander who had won the starting fullback job in midseason through hard work and desire the little kqown bruiser who caught three passes all year There was already talk of a scholarship and now the bright lights of the Louisiana Superdome were shining squarely on his back and he was open and he was spotted and he was fed a feathery fourth down pass a floating dream with seams Right there where the story breaks down And with 8:07 remaining in the first half the magic wore See McARLING 3 aaronmcfarling tgtroanokecom Aaron Mcarling 981 3222 INSIDE THIS SECTION Quarter by quarter rundown 2 Game statistics 2 Virginia Tech notes 3 Auburn players lobby for co national championship 3 More sports 4 6 4 (Qroanokecom Get more of the action including a photo gallery of night game at roanokecom ft rte SjiO W' if 4.