ASU-Virginia Tech
Coach Jerry Moore of Appalachian State hasn’t shown any tape of the 2007 victory over Michigan to inspire players heading into the Virginia Tech game. All the players, along with the rest of the free world, are well aware of that landmark upset, and two current players – Brian Quick and Gordy Witte – actually played in that game and others were part of the 2007 team as redshirt freshmen.
But Moore did show clips of TCU’s victory over Wisconsin in last season’s Rose Bowl. TCU was the first program from a non-BCS conference to play in that storied bowl game since the advent of the BCS.
Moore and staff members have visited TCU on occasion to watch practice, and he likes that program’s approach.
“I felt like our ballgame with Virginia Tech is very much like TCU’s ballgame with Wisconsin,” Moore said. “They were underdogs going in there.”
Coach Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech isn’t treating ASU as underdogs.
He said he doesn’t recall the circumstances of the Mountaineers being added to the Hokies’ schedule. “But whatever it was, it probably seemed like a better idea then than it does this week,” Beamer said. “When you start looking at these guys it doesn’t seem like such a good idea.”
Beamer and Moore are icons of their programs.
Both are in the all-time top 20 in career victories in Division I. Beamer is No. 14 with 240 wins; Moore No. 20 with 226.
They know each other, and have met and talked on occasion.
In fact, Moore said that he and Beamer met once in the late 1980s when Moore was exploring job opportunities before he wound up at ASU and Beamer was in the early stages of building Tech’s program. Moore said he was grateful for the opportunity to talk about a job possibility, but didn’t pursue one. “I didn’t give him a chance to turn me down,” Moore said humbly.
Beamer spoke highly of Moore earlier this week. “I know him fairly well,” he said. “I’ve admired his work quite a bit.
“Coach Moore has done a great job and he’s had a good staff there. They’ve coached them up. He’s done a fantastic job.”
Charlie Cobb, ASU’s athletics director, has said that he views Virginia Tech as a model for ASU’s growing program, and that where Virginia Tech was about 25 years ago could be compared to where ASU is now.
Beamer said that ASU’s aspiration to move to the FBS level is well-founded.
“I think as far as playing at the next level up there’s no question about their ability to do that,” Beamer said. “I don’t know about the conference they could be in and all those things, but as far as their ability to play at the next level up there’s absolutely no question there.”
ASU will debut its newly-installed 3-4 defense against Virginia Tech, although expectations are that the Mountaineers will mix in their traditional 4-3 on occasion this season.
Moore said that the 3-4 is a good fit for his personnel, that the Mountaineers have adequate size to go with a three-man front.
“We’ve never been a very big football team,” Moore said. “We’ve lost a couple of ballgames that when we analyze it afterward we’re just not quite as big…when we played Montana in the semifinals twice and got beat out there, they were bigger up front than we were. We’re not going to sacrifice speed for size. We’ve got three or four guys (among down linemen) right at 300 pounds but they can run like guys we used to have that were 270 or 275 in there.
“We’ve always had a good abundance of linebackers, guys who could play linebacker and defensive end, and one of those positions (the hybrid bandit position in the 3-4) the guy needs to be like Lanston Tanyi, that’s a 255-pound linebacker-defensive end type.”
The Mountaineers’ defensive unit will get an early trial against Virginia Tech’s veteran offensive line.
“I think this will be a great test for us for the rest of the season,” nose tackle Dan Wylie said.
Captains for ASU this season were selected by team members and announced Monday. They are senior offensive lineman Orry Frye, senior quarterback DeAndre Presley, senior receiver Brian Quick, senior nose tackle Chris Aiken, senior bandit Demery Brewer and senior cornerback Ed Gainey.
Virginia Tech will have a new quarterback this season in Logan Thomas, a 6-6, 254-pound sophomore with a strong arm and who wears size-18 shoes.
“Just watching him, I think he’s going to do fine,” Beamer said. “He’s a smart guy, an even-keeled kind of guy. I don’t think a situation is going to be too big for him. I think he knows that he’s got good players around him so he’s just got to manage the game and do what he does and everything will be fine.”
NOTES: The Mountaineers are 0-3 against the Hokies. They lost in Blacksburg 41-32 in 1979, 34-12 in 1981 and 34-0 in 1982…. The Mountaineers are 7-38-1 against FBS teams…. Of the Hokies’ projected defensive starters, only one is a senior. Four are juniors and six are sophomores…. The Hokies will enter the season ranked No. 13 in major FBS polls. The Mountaineers are No. 2 in FBS preseason polls.