Go Tech Go, Part 41: The First Bid is the Sweetest

With Maurice DeShazo slinging it, the Hokies started putting up points in 1993.
With Maurice DeShazo slinging it, the Hokies started putting up points in 1993.

In what was then a Big East-ACC matchup, Virginia Tech’s offense found itself again on a rainy Saturday in Lane Stadium against the University of Maryland. The Hokies walloped the Terrapins 55-28, piling up 641 total yards, second-most in school history, and the most ever by the Hokies in Lane Stadium.

Maryland actually out-gained Virginia Tech, rolling up 649 yards. It was the biggest combined offensive explosion in Lane Stadium history as the quarterbacks put on a show; Terrapins quarterback Scott Milanovich passed for 498 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions, while quarterback Maurice DeShazo became the first Hokie quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in Lane Stadium. (Amazing, that Don Strock never did it.) For fans who cheered through the Bill Dooley era and Frank Beamer’s early years, it was a milestone of sorts. The game delivered on Frank Beamer’s early promises, that this wasn’t the old-school Hokies. It proved that Virginia Tech could play modern football and win in exciting, explosive fashion.

But what senior center Jim Pyne remembered most in that game was a first-half brawl. “There was a scuffle and both benches cleared,” he said. “Dwayne Thomas and Kevin Martin got ejected along with three Maryland players. You know, there was somebody notable playing for the Terps—Kevin Plank, who now runs Under Armour. He was a linebacker on that team.”

The Maryland explosion set up a big matchup against No. 25 West Virginia in Morgantown. “For the Hokies, it might be the biggest game in their football history,” wrote Roanoke Times & World-News columnist Jack Bogaczyk. “With a victory, Tech is likely to move into the national rankings. When is the last time that happened during the season? (1967, when Tech started 7-0 and was ranked 19th in the UPI poll before losing to Miami). The Hokies haven’t appeared in the AP poll during the season since 1954, when an 8-0-1 team spent nine consecutive weeks ranked, rising as high as No. 14.”

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