By Jimmy Robertson

Lane Stadium in Blacksburg serves as the home for the Hokies. But the Superdome in New Orleans may be Tech's home away from home.

After taking more than 30,000 fans to the 1995 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Tech fans are gobbling up tickets any way they can for the national championship game. The Sugar Bowl allotted 16,000 tickets for each school and members of the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund (Orange and Maroon and above) snagged all of those, leaving Tech with none for public sale. Tech students were allotted 3,000 of those 16,000 tickets.

So fans have been going to travel agencies, on-line brokers and general scalpers looking for tickets. And apparently with some success.

Osceola, Florida State's version of the Hokie Huddler, talked to a couple of different companies and those companies report that they have placed far more orders for Tech fans than FSU fans.

One of those companies, Target Sports Adventure, deals mostly with FSU travel. But they report having sold 4,800 packages to Tech fans compared to just 1,200 for Florida State fans. TicketMax, a ticket and brokerage company, has sold 80 percent of its inventory, with the majority going to Tech fans.

All this seems strange considering that New Orleans is just a seven-hour drive from Tallahassee. And since FSU fans can drive that distance, there's much less expense for them. So it says a lot for Tech fans to go to the trouble and the expense.

Bowls also pay attention to that and often reward schools based on how those schools travel. For the bowls, it's all about filling the stadium.

"Being a TV draw is less important now because ABC [which also owns ESPN] has most of the bowls anyway," Sugar Bowl representative Chuck Zatarain said. "And we've got a great sponsor in Nokia, so we don't really have to worry as much about paying expenses. For us, our job as a bowl is to sell every ticket. It's all about filling the stands."

Another job well done: Lost in all the glamour of Michael Vick's sensational plays and the overall play of Tech's offense was the job done by Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster. Foster stood as one of just five finalists for the Broyles Award given annually to the top assistant in college football. Broyles, the current athletics director at Arkansas, developed a reputation for producing top-notch assistants during his coaching career.

Foster probably would have won the award had it not been for the job done by Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen, who won the honor. Friedgen developed a high-scoring attack led by Heisman runner-up Joe Hamilton. The Yellow Jackets have scored more than 20 points in 26 of the past 27 games and more than 30 in 22 of the past 27 games. Georgia Tech led the nation in total offense (509.2 yards per game) and finished second in scoring offense behind Virginia Tech, averaging 40.7 points per game (which kinda makes you wonder how come Rickey Bustle wasn't a finalist).

But Foster's defense played consistent football all season. The Hokies never gave up more than 20 points in any game this season and finished in the top 10 nationally in just about every defensive category. Tech led the nation in scoring defense (10.5) and finished third in both total defense (247.3) and rushing defense (75.9). The Hokies also led the nation in sacks with 58.

Under the direction of Foster, this unit may be Tech's best ever. Even better than the '95 group - which coincidentally won the Sugar Bowl.

Dobbins makes his return: Tech guard Tony Dobbins returned to the court for the men's basketball game with Liberty after missing three games with a back injury. He finished with 11 points off the bench and gave the Hokies a spark.

"He's an aggressive scorer," Tech coach Ricky Stokes said. "He's looking for his shot, probably during that stretch [near the end of the game] a little more than we wanted him to. I think sometimes to the detriment of our inside guys.

"But I do like his effort and his determination and he gives us another perimeter player. That's an area we were lacking in the Radford and the VMI game."

Dobbins made 4-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. The two misses came with 50 seconds left and the Hokies trailing by one, which really disappointed him.

"We've been struggling at the free-throw line," he said. "I missed two myself, so I can't point the finger at anyone else."

Huge win for Highlanders: The 62-60 win over Tech was a huge one for Radford, a school that tries to get away from the shadow Virginia Tech casts. But the Highlanders nonetheless knew what the victory meant to their fans, students and alumni.

"There's sort of an inferiority complex," said Correy Watkins, who made the game-winning hoop. "Some [Radford] students like Tech, like Tech football or this or that. We just wanted to get this win and hopefully it will help the student body."

But Radford head coach Ron Bradley said he wants the Hokies to win the Sugar Bowl.

"We do root for that team that's coached by the Radford alum," he said, referring to Tech head coach Frank Beamer, who received his master's degree from Radford. "We are rooting for them in New Orleans."

Renewing acquaintances: Watkins and Tech center Dennis Mims renewed acquaintances on the floor of Cassell Coliseum, Watkins, from Badin, N.C., and Mims, from Morganton, N.C., both played in the North Carolina All-Star game after their senior seasons. Both players had major impact in this game. Watkins scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, including the game-winning basket with 11.2 seconds left and finished with a game-high nine rebounds. Mims scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go with the seven blocks.

Whaley stands out: For a team looking for production off the bench, the Hokies got some against VMI when junior forward David Whaley came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points and grab a career-high six rebounds in Tech's 65-46 win. Whaley made six of his eight field-goal attempts in his 16 minutes of action.

"Dave is a burst of energy," Stokes said. "You don't know which way he's going all the time. But more times than not lately, he's done a lot of positive things. He's very active, very athletic and he's a good player."

Whaley gave the Hokies a spark in the first half when Tech desperately needed it. Early on, the Hokies seemed flustered a little in front of VMI's raucous corps of cadet and their pep band, making just three of their first 16 shots. But Whaley, who spent some time at the Naval Academy before transferring to Tech, is used to such displays and scored 12 of the Hokies' 23 first-half points.

"I knew they were going to play hard," he said. "They're in good shape and they're mentally tough. And their crowd was into it. "I love that. I guess some of the city folks on this team aren't used to that. But I'm from the country and that's how rednecks cheer. I eat that stuff up."

As a result of Wheeler's injury, Whaley got the first start of his career against Radford and he also started against Liberty. He's averaged 10.3 points and five rebounds in the past three games.