By Jimmy Robertson
Editor

Corey Moore, Tech's defensive end and Lombardi finalist, isn't known as a gambling man.

But when he saw Shayne Graham trotting out onto Mountaineer Field for the final play of an intense, hard-fought, border war game with West Virginia, he was willing to place the ultimate wager.

"If I had to bet my life on it, I'd bet my life on Shayne Graham," Moore said.

Graham rewarded that faith, laying down a perfectly placed 44-yard trifecta right down the middle as time expired to give Tech a 22-20 win over the Mountaineers and keep the Hokies' Big East and national title hopes alive.

Graham's heroics resembled a day at the track for Tech fans. They nearly suffered a coronary attack while watching the horse they bet on win the race in a photo finish.

Fortunately, the jockey of this stud of a team - quarterback Michael Vick - calmly took the reins after watching the Mountaineers score two touchdowns in a span of two minutes to take the lead. In fact, he went up to head coach Frank Beamer and started talking about plays right after the Mountaineers took the lead.

"I was ready to get on the field," Vick said. "I was ready to go. That's the way I play. I live for moments like that. Once I stepped on that field, I knew everyone was watching."

Starting at the Tech 15 and having no timeouts at his disposal, Vick used his arm and his legs to move the Hokies down the field. He fooled West Virginia linebacker Barrett Green in to thinking that he was going out of bounds on a 26-yard run that put the Hokies in West Virginia territory.

"Michael Vick went down that sideline and I don't know how fast he was going," Beamer said. "But if we had a stopwatch on him, it'd be the fastest 40 he's ever run.

"It looked like he was going out of bounds, and all of the sudden, he hit the jets. It's amazing how much ground he was covering going down that sideline."

After a completion to Ricky Hall, he spiked the ball to stop the clock and handed the game to Graham to bring it down the home stretch. The Denver Broncos had their No. 7 in John Elway. Would the Hokies have theirs?

"I knew the offense could get down there," Graham said. "When Vick got the ball down there on that long run, I knew as long as we got a chance, we were going to win the game."

But the odds on Graham making such a kick? Well, debatable. Last season, at Miami, under similar circumstances, Graham pushed a potential game-winning 35-yarder right with 12 seconds left in regulation and the Hokies needed overtime to pull out the win.

"I could tell, even though we won, that it bothered him," said holder Caleb Hurd, who used his velvety hands to place the ball on the final kick. "He wants the team to win and I'm sure he didn't want this game to be as close as it was. But I know he's been waiting for this since the Miami game."

And he never had kicked a game-winning field goal at Tech. In fact, his last game-winning kick came against Robinson High School in the Group AAA semifinals his freshman year at Pulaski County. That was nearly seven years ago.

To make it even tougher, the Mountaineers called a timeout. They wanted to ice Graham. Instead, he received a word of advice from Hurd and put the game on ice for Tech.

"I normally don't say anything to him, but I told him to keep his head down and let me watch it go through," Hurd said. "He thought he may have raised his head a little on that kick in Miami."

"Things couldn't have worked out better for me and for the team," Graham said. "They just put me in the best position to do my job. Things just worked out for the best for us and I'm glad I got a chance."

As it turned out, Beamer and Tech fans put their money on a winner.

"Some games you're just not sure it's going to work out," Beamer said. "For Shayne Graham and that field goal team to step up and knock it right down the middle S some seasons, it's like this. Things happen right. Players make things happen right."

Now the Hurricanes, who have been rolling of late, come to town in a clash for bragging rights in the Big East. Can the Hokies continue to win? Can they remain in the hunt for the title?

After watching the crazy events which happened against West Virginia, don't bet against it.

Tech drops in BCS rankings

In the latest BCS rankings, the Hokies find themselves third after their close win over West Virginia and Tennessee's whipping of Notre Dame. The Volunteers jumped the Hokies in the rankings. Florida State stands alone at the top.

"I just tell our kids to keep playing each week," Beamer said. "When it's all said and done, the two best teams will play for the national championship. We just need to worry about how we play against Miami and make a great preparation for them."

The strange play

On Jimmy Kibble's kickoff after AndrÚ Kendrick's touchdown, the ball slithered by West Virginia kickoff returner Lewis Daniels and bounced to the end zone, where Daniels then picked it up and threw it out of the end zone.

Tech's Lamar Cobb grabbed the loose ball and rambled into the end zone for an apparent touchdown. But the officials ruled the play an illegal forward pass on Daniels' part and spotted the ball half the distance to the goal at the West Virginia 1, with the Mountaineers retaining possession.

"The explanation I got was that he [Daniels] had control of the ball at the 2 and then threw it forward, making it an illegal forward pass," Beamer said. "The penalty was half the distance to the goal, so they got the ball at the 1.

"I've never seen anything like that to be honest. I'm just not sure he didn't have a foot on the line and that would have made it a safety for us."

Beamer sent the video to the league office just for a clarification of the rule. He wasn't upset with the officials.

"It was a very close call," he said.

What was he thinking?

Daniels' mistake, however, didn't hurt the Mountaineers. Tech forced West Virginia to punt and Tech punt returner Ricky Hall let the Mountaineers off the hook, letting the ball bounce all the way to the Tech 20. By doing so, he cost the Hokies at least 30-35 yards worth of field position. West Virginia punter Mark Fazzolari was credited with a 78-yard punt - the longest ever against Tech, breaking the previous high of 76 yards by Rod Lawrence of William & Mary in 1983.

"I don't think he could have gotten to the ball [on the fly]," Beamer said. "What you hope is that he gets it on the bounce. We had the return set up. We could have gotten great field position. Instead of getting it on their 30, we get it on our 30. We lost a lot of yardage on that deal."

Ready to run

West Virginia had more success running the ball against Tech than any team had all season. Tailback Avon Cobourne hurt the Hokies with his legs, rushing for 133 yards on 27 carries - 105 of those coming in the first half. Tech went into the game allowing just 60.4 yards rushing per game. Cobourne marks the second back to rush for more than 100 yards against the Hokies this season. James Madison's Curtis Keaton - a transfer from West Virginia - rushed for 108.

"I thought we had a good game plan," West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. "We're not as bad a team as everyone thinks. I think you make a terrible mistake by trying to throw on them every play."

Midget's injury

Tech cornerback Anthony Midget re-aggravated a groin injury suffered against Pittsburgh. He left the West Virginia game and never returned. His status for the Miami game is up in the air.

"It's feeling better now than it did this time last week," Beamer said. "We'd like for him to play because he can play both safety and corner."

Huddler Notes
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Jimmy Robertson is the editor of the Hokie Huddler at Virginia Tech. The Hokie Huddler is the athletics department newspaper that is printed 33 times a year - weekly during football and basketball seasons and bi-monthly during the spring.