From the sidelines
By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Maybe the 1999 team that lost to Florida State in the national championship game had a premonition. Maybe they had seen what was about to happen Friday night in the cards. Either way, only some 17 former players watched a disaster of a game as they were honored at halftime. The team on the field could have used several of those outstanding players.
Led by Coach Frank Beamer, the 1999 team finished 11-1 overall after an undefeated Big East season, the only loss 46-29 to Florida State in the Sugar Bowl’s national championship game. The team’s closest game came in a 22-20 win over West Virginia. The rest of the regular season games were blowouts.
It was Beamer’s 13th season, Bud Foster’s fifth and an offensive coordinator by the name of Rickey Bustle’s sixth. At the time, Lane Stadium had a capacity of 51,907 and it was filled to the brim almost every week. The Hokies would finish the season ranked number 2 in the Associated Press Poll and number 3 in the coach’s poll.
Quarterback Michael Vick, who was present Friday night, led the NCAA in passing efficiency, setting a record for a freshman, which was also good enough for the third-highest all time mark. He was awarded the ESPY award as the nation’s top college player and the Archie Griffin award as college football’s most valuable player. He also finished third in that year’s Heisman Trophy voting. Vick was named the Big East rookie of the year and offensive player of the year and was also a first-team
All-American.
Several of his teammates were also honored: Corey Moore was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous First-Team All-American. He won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Lombardi Award. Kicker Shayne Graham was named the Big East Special Team’s Player of the Year.
Beamer was the Big East Coach of the Year, AFCA coach of the year, Associated Press Coach of the Year,
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year and the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year and won the George Munger award, the Paul “Bear” Bryant award and the Walter Camp Coach of the Year award.
Hokie fans might never see a team as good as the 1999 one. That season was a chance for a national championship trophy to come to Blacksburg. Beamer and staff even put an empty trophy case on display as an example for future teams. Now that case has been taken down.
For the present, changes should be expected. Matter of fact, they should be demanded. The Virginia Tech coaching staff needs a shake up, and maybe Head Coach Justin Fuente needs to do it now instead of later.
All of the criticism has been directed at Fuente, but let’s just hold the horses. He’s the ultimate scapegoat, but the program is not lost. We knew Fuente would have to rebuild and tweak the program to his own liking. It just didn’t come in Year-1 or even Year-2. Instead it has come in Year-3 and Year-4.
When the university upgraded to the new model on the car lot, fans should have expected some sputtering. Fuente was lucky out of the gate that Beamer had left him with some talent. Now, we are seeing him slowly add his touch to the name plate.
Is it the quick fix that Hokie fans had hoped for? As Friday night’s 45-10 beatdown at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils showed us, the answer is a solid no.
Other Tech game notes:
The best part of the game was the lighted-skydiving that brought the American flag and the VT flag to mid-field. It was an amazing sight.
When it came to a late-game light show, the number of fans still left in the stadium was less than desired. Fans started exiting Lane Stadium at the end of the third quarter, a sight I had not seen since the Bill Dooley era and a few lean seasons under Frank
Beamer.
Prior to the contest, the Maui Jim Maui Invitational presented the VT basketball team with an eight-foot, hand-crafted, custom-made surfboard to celebrate the Hokies’ appearance in the 2019 tournament.
The Maui Jim Maui Invitational also announced its mainland schedule, which includes opening games and regional games across the continental U.S. The invitational opens on Nov. 13 and concludes on Nov. 20. Virginia Tech will play Delaware.
The turkey leg tent was back and fully-operational after catching fire two weeks ago.
A small but exuberant crowd of about 300 Duke fans set in the upper right corner of the visitor’s side of the stadium.
Former Atlanta Brave standout baseball player Andruw Jones was on the sidelines as a guest of former Hokie and major leaguer Brad Clontz.