Bravo Mountaineers!
November 21, 2002 01:06 AM | General
November 20, 2002
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- For once, maybe the football gods finally came through for us.
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| West Virginia secondary coach Tony Gibson celebrates the Mountaineers' 21-18 victory over No. 13 Virginia Tech Wednesday night. |
When Virginia Tech was gobbling up huge chunks of fake green real estate with the clock winding down late in the fourth quarter, my mind couldn't help but drift back to some of West Virginia's past failures.
Like the time in 1996 when Miami blocked Brian West's punt in the game's waning seconds and the Hurricanes did their little dance in the end zone. Or in 1999 when an outmanned West Virginia team had Virginia Tech all but beaten before a freshman quarterback named Michael Vick took over the game. His long run up the far sideline led to Shayne Graham's field goal with no time left on the clock, giving the No. 3-ranked Hokies a 22-20 win they didn't deserve.
There were others, but those were my two primary thoughts when Randall scrambled for 14 yards to the West Virginia 11 with 21 seconds left.
Although the Hokies didn't have any timeouts remaining, Tech was in great shape to at least kick a game-tying field goal to send the game in overtime. With a partisan crowd of more than 62,000 cheering on the Hokies, going against the momentum to pull out an overtime win in Lane Stadium would have been too much to ask of the Mountaineers.
Randall's first heave into the end zone sailed harmlessly to the turf. But there was still time left for another disappointment.
His second throw was supposed to go to the right again, but he was flushed out of the pocket by West Virginia's relentless pass rush and he began drifting to his left. How many times have we seen a mobile quarterback break containment and either fling a pass to a wide open player in the end zone or slip by the defense and run past the goal line?
Randall scanned the field and noticed one of his receivers free in the back of the end zone. He flipped the ball toward the maroon jersey in front of him.
West Virginia's Brian King, the man with the broken thumb wearing the big white cast, was the one guy on the field you didn't want to see have to make a game-winning interception.
He made his break on the ball. "I may have been out of position if he saw him sooner, but I was reading his eyes and stepped in front of it and we're celebrating," said King.
King snatched the football out of the air, looked around, and took a knee in the end zone with just 12 seconds left on the clock.
The scoreboard read West Virginia 21, Virginia Tech 18.
All that was left to do was take one snap, down the ball, and the game was over.
While quarterback Rasheed Marshall was taking that last snap to kill the clock, I also couldn't help but remember a West Virginia-Virginia Tech game way back in 1989 under much different circumstances.
If you recall, it was West Virginia firmly established in the national rankings coming off an undefeated regular season in 1988. The Mountaineers had a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Major Harris and had its sights set on another Eastern championship.
Virginia Tech had an upstart young coach named Frank Beamer, whose team had lost seven of the last eight games to the Mountaineers and were itching for some respect.
The Hokies outplayed West Virginia that day and pulled off a 12-10 upset win over the No. 9-rated Mountaineers. I can still remember several Virginia Tech players dancing on the 50-yard line where the Flying WV sits.
I knew then that sometime down the road, sometime much later, we would get them back.
As they say in this business, what comes around goes around.
Wednesday night in Blacksburg, Va., before a national television audience, West Virginia finally got redemption in my eyes.
I know the players on the field today were only 10 when West Virginia lost to Virginia Tech 13 years ago, but for all of us older Mountaineer fans thanks for the payback!
Way to go Brian King, way to go Grant Wiley, way to go David Upchurch, and all of West Virginia's defensive players for making this game so enjoyable! Not only did you win in a hostile environment, you also beat the nation's No. 13-ranked team -- a team ranked in the Top 25 for the last 65 straight weeks -- at their own game: you won it on defense.
When Don Nehlen began turning the WVU football program around in 1981, he knew he had to do it on defense.
Rich Rodriguez, one of the nation's brightest young offensive minds, came to West Virginia and everyone began talking about the exciting no-huddle, spread system he was about to incorporate.
Yes, his offense has churned out more than 300 yards in every game this year, but when things got real tight at the end of the game and his team was backed up to its own goal line, he did the unthinkable and took a safety to put the game on his defense's shoulders.
So was it the football gods? Who knows? I'm going to give the nod to West Virginia's defense. Perhaps it was the night West Virginia's defense came of age.
"Thank God for our defense," said a relieved Avon Cobourne, who was a sideline observer for Tech's come-from-behind win in 1999. "They really played great tonight."
Yes, they sure did Avon.
Now West Virginia, too, can begin thinking about championships.
Bravo Mountaineers!
