The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 31

THE BOANOKE TIMES Orangemen squeezed by mistakes IACK OGACZYK SYRACUSE NY A dumbfound ing drought ended for Virginia Tech the only way possible Saturday night The Hokies pulled the rug out from under Syracuse The Orangemen did what they could to aid their demise contributing lavishly to the needy Hok ies unbeaten season was all but blitzed and bull rushed into oblivi on Just reaching the Bowl Champion ship Series and another Big East football championship suddenly seemed as difficult for the Hokies as well win ning at the Carrier Dome In a teflon topped house where breaking Hokie hearts had become a broken record Syracuse wait for Tech to make mistakes The Orange juiced from the opening kickoff domi nated as usual under the bubble Then the second half began with the same sour Syracuse tone that finished the first and after a couple of short drives and a clincher on a 55 yard Michael Vick run the second ranked Hokies had ended a five game Carrier skid with a 22 14 victory I Syracuse put up the longest drive of the season against the second ranked team and then put up the long est play of the season against the Hok ies too An early 14 0 lead appeared plenty enough even with some ridiculous play calling and hideous clock management at the end of the first half by the Orangemen and some panic stricken decisions by quarterback Troy Nunes because the defense was much better than their offense Orange defensive end Dwight reeney spent so much time across the line of scrimmage he should have been introduced with the offense Vick his Heisman hopes suffering bad rug bums took more hits than beamerballcom The offensive line beaten It was overwhelmed Vick was sacked six times in a going nowhere first half then twice more in the fourth quarter In his 18 career games at Tech only lorida State with Seven in the 1999 Sugar Bowl was in the league at throwing Vick for a loss The Orangemen ended up getting Vick for a career high eight sacks I Tech (7 0) was correct about one thing The video tape lie Syra cuse had by far the best and most mul tiple defense the Hokies have faced The Orangemen came from a myriad of sets with a front seven that yield much and aided by the carpeted sur face ran almost like the national cham pion Seminoles Syracuse was undone by its offense tlie reason the Orangemen are 3 4 for the first time since 1986 their last los ing season the reason SU coach Paul Pasqualoni is the subject of much Orange disgruntlement Nunes threw four interceptions for the second straight game one a falling flinging prayer that became one of Willie three interceptions and was converted into first touch down The first fumble by the Orange Offense this season was converted into the second score Two drives 5 and 2 1 yards then a Vick run that will no doubt become a Heisman hyping highlight how you win with 218 yards below your sea son average Tech plagued by turnovers in recent games despite winning convinc ingly give the ball away Out gained 328 240 by a team that had a 704 yard advantage in its five straight home wins in the series the Hokies hung in by not trying to force things in the kind of game a team needs to win to make a season special i or a long time Tech have much but patience Once the Orange started squeezing itself that was enough Jack Bogaczyk can be reached at 981 3124 or Jackbroanokecom Sports 2 C7 12 WORLD SERIES Bobby Valentine and Joe Torre manage the same way but both in the World Series C7 Sportsunday in sundayoctober 122112000 GAME 7 No 2 Virginia Tech 22 Syracuse 14 Great Dome caper hMgKi i mhMRHHKp' MATT GENTRY I THE ROANOKE TIMES Michael Vick is forced to scramble in the first quarter The Orangemen kept Vick looking for escape routes sacking him eight times The Hokies steal their first win at the Carrier Dome since 1986 by capitalizing on turnovers By RANDY KING THE ROANOKE TIMES SYRACUSE NY Virginj ia Tech finally exorcised the demons of the Carrier Dome on Saturday night On a night de fense owned the title to high powered offense the Hok ies turned two third quarter turnovers into gift touchdowns and staved off the upset minded Orangemen 22 14 for their first victory in the dome since 1986 The triumph was Tech coach rank first in six games in one of the toughest venues to win Tech notes in college statistics C6 football were glad to get a win in this place for coach said Tech safety Willie Pile who had three of the four interceptions gave of the game ball to coach Beamer We knew he won here so he did something never donc great to be part of the bunch hat gave it to With everything on the lines a possible Big East title un( beaten season and a shot for a second straight berth in the na tional title game Tech came1 off the deck in the second half and somehow stole one had a lot of doubts in that game but we ended up making enough plays to Beamer' said play our best' game but Syracuse had a lot to! do with Down 14 3 at halftime the' second ranked Hokies turned third quarter turnovers by the' Orange into a pair of short touchdowns 'll Tech (7 0 5 0 Big East) got the first one after Pile picked off' quarterback Troy Nunes for the1 second time Nunes who was! intercepted four times for the second straight week tripped going back to pass in his own end zone and attempted to heave the ball over the Tech defense Instead he threw the hall right to Pile whose 1 1 yard return took the ball to the SU 5 Two plays later tailback' Lee Suggs scored on a 5 yard pitch to make it 14 9 with 6:29 left in the third quarter Tech failed on the two point conver sion when Ernest Wilford dropped a Michael Vick pass PLEASE SEE TECHC6 GAME 7 No 6 Ronda St 37 Virginia 3 mistakes feed hungry SU defense ASSOCIATED PRESS Antwoine Womack (1) runs into a Seminoles triple team for no gain ive turnovers and five sacks doom UVa which is held to 199 total yards 33 rushing By DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES TALLAHASSEE la In the absence of regular quarterback Dan Ellis Virginia knew it would take a mistake free performance to stay close to sixth ranked lorida State This is not what coach George Welsh had in mind: five turnovers 10 penalties three botched snaps two passes dropped in the end zone and a missed field goal give ourselves a Welsh said after a 37 3 loss at Doak Campbell Stadium turning the ball over at all for five games We were among the na leaders in turnover margin I understand woes began on the third play Saturday when center Dustin Keith snapped the ball over the head of starting quarterback Bryson Spin ner who was in shotgun formation was moving his feet mo tioning guys and the crowd noise was up Keith said were going on a silent count and he usually says osjng before he docs streak C2 that It was so loud that I took his moving his feet as the sign he was ready snapped it high but he said he could have pulled it down if he was Players from both teams chased the ball for 30 yards and Spinner and tailback Antwoine Womack took a swipe at it before lorida Tommy Polley recovered at the Vir ginia 1 yard line was a sickening Spinner said never want to be" put in that William McCray scored one plai later and with 13:36 remaining in? the first quarter and the Seminoles were ahead 7 0 That was all the points lorida State (7 1 5 0 ACC) would need I Virginia (4 3 3 2) managed td extend the fifth longest scoring? streak in Division I A to 194 games but just barely David Greene kicked a 37 yard field goal with 10:39 rU maining in the third quarter 4 1 UVa has not scored a touchdown in six quarters since Ellis suffered pulled hamstring before halftimel Oct 7 in a 31 23 victory oven Maryland 1 1 Ellis was in uniform Saturday 4 PLEASE SEE UVVC2 wBZ 4' jw.