Bill Roth’s opening comments for the show reminded the listeners that this week is "Rivalry Week" at Virginia Tech, with both the men’s basketball and football teams playing host to Virginia. The men’s basketball team plays Friday night, and the football team plays Saturday night.

Coach Bustle, the first guest of the evening, commented that the team really needs to play, and that it’s been a long week and a half. He said that so far, the team had practiced inside in Rector Field House due to the wind, but said that they want to get outside in order to be ready for the conditions on Saturday. Most of the rest of the discussion of the game was in direct response to questions from callers and the audience; however, Coach Beamer did discuss the game in his opening and closing thoughts.

Initially, he mentioned that it was very important to focus on the Virginia game with regards to any chances to make one of the BCS bowls after the season. He pointed out that the road team has won six of the last eight games in the series, and Bill Roth added that Virginia has won three of the last four games in Blacksburg.

At the end of the show, he said that he felt that the team had a chance to be well prepared mentally for the game since there would be no external distractions with the student body on break. He also said that the Hokies need to get ready to play a tough team that runs the ball well and plays good, hard defense. He expects to see both of the quarterbacks play in the game for Virginia, and he commented on their wide receivers, whom he said were big and tall and went after the ball.

John in Richmond asked whether Virginia’s decision to not televise its game against NC State was an attempt to prevent Virginia Tech from seeing the game film. Coach Bustle said that he didn’t think that that was the case, especially since the coaching staff had the game film by about 1:00 on Sunday. That led him into a discussion of how good and impressive the Tech film room is, and that, in most cases, football opponents swap game tapes for most of the games. He said that they had exchanged all 11 games with FSU for the Sugar Bowl last year and that Big East teams swap every game as well. The typical agreement with Virginia is that they swap the last four games each year.

Sean mentioned that he had noticed in his review of Tech-Virginia scores in a database that there were three gaps in the series, and that the most recent of those came during Coach Beamer’s playing days in the late 1960’s. Coach Beamer said that he remembered the win in 1966, but that he didn’t know why it hadn’t been played in 1967 or 1968 – his final two seasons as a player. He said that he would make a point to look it up and report back next week.

Bill Roth said he would refrain from making a tongue-in-cheek comment that Virginia had been concerned that a noon game in Charlottesville would make it difficult for the fans to show up for the game! Coach Beamer seemed to agree that it wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate

Later in the show, Bill, a caller from Collinsville, read from "The Hoos and Hokies" that the series had been halted because Virginia reportedly wanted to concentrate on conference games. The book went on to point out that Virginia had lost 12 of the 14 games between 1953 and 1966, and that speculation was that they didn’t feel that they could compete any longer.

On the injury front, Coaches Bustle and Beamer discussed the status of many of the players for this Saturday’s game. Coach Bustle began with the status of starting quarterback Michael Vick. He commented that Vick felt about 90%, and that he was doing everything he had to do in order to be ready to play.

During the week, Vick did everything except go against the Tech starting defense. He ran the option and threw well, though his timing was slightly off. He admitted that there was some limp in his walk and that he wasn’t 100%, but said he ran well and looked good. Vick, himself, had commented earlier in the week that his ankle feels better this year than it did last year against Virginia.

Coach Bustle’s final question of his session came from Brad Bustle in the audience. Since Vick was currently listed at 90%, he asked if that meant he would be 90%, 100% or somewhere in between on Saturday. The senior Bustle said that he was still getting better, and that his condition will probably be higher than 90% by game time.

Dave Meyer, who sustained a rib injury during the Central Florida game, practiced Monday for the most part, and will be sore. Andre Davis had said that he would be ready to play, but he didn’t practice Monday or Tuesday. Coach Bustle said that he needs to be able to practice if he is going to play.

During Coach Beamer’s portion of the show, he mentioned Chad Beasley and his injury. He said that Beasley is one of the players that all of the other players look up to, and that he really wants to play. He said that he will play if he is able, but that they will have to see if it is going to be possible.

Following Coach Bustle’s portion of the show, Bill Roth played a taped interview that he had done with Jim Weaver earlier in the day. The interview covered two topics: which bowl game the team was likely to attend after the season and how Virginia Tech plans to keep its coaching staff in tact.

Weaver addressed the second topic first, saying that there has been an awful lot of movement in college football, and that there will be a lot of interest in Coach Beamer for some of the open positions. He said that he hasn’t heard from Alabama or UNC. He suspects that each will wait until after the Virginia game, and expects them to ask permission to speak to Coach Beamer. He made a point of saying that there is a lot of "innuendo and Internet speculation out there."

Weaver said that he believes Coach Beamer deserves to be in the $1 million club of coaches, and that Virginia Tech is working on a plan to make that happen. He listed the reasons that are making it difficult to compete with some of the other schools. These include not having an 85,000 seat stadium, paying entry fees into the Big East for all-sports, and not receiving basketball revenue.

On the question of bowls, he said that he couldn’t speculate right now. He said that there are still too many what-if’s this week and next week. He said that the USC-Notre Dame game will be a big one, and that since Notre Dame is a glamour school in college football, that he suspects that they will be one of the two at-large teams in the BCS. He said the first key for the Hokies is to take care of business this week against Virginia.

Most of the remaining discussions centered on three topics: the two that Jim Weaver discussed and recruiting.

Coach Beamer’s opening comments indicated that he felt that, if the team wins on Saturday, they have a good chance of playing in one of the BCS bowls. He pointed out that the Hokies are a good team with good players, such as Lee Suggs, Michael Vick, Andre Davis and Ben Taylor, several of whom are in the running for national awards and records. He said that several of the most-watched games last season involved the Hokies and that the team has great fan support.

Eric in Roanoke asked the coach for his take on the Big East having six bowl-eligible teams. Coach Beamer said that the conference is getting better, and that he was surprised that Pitt has slid since the game in Blacksburg. Bill Roth commented that Syracuse is probably the bubble team right now, and that the Big East hopes that Miami & Virginia Tech both go to BCS bowls – leaving four other bowl slots available for the remaining bowl-eligible teams. Roth said that the consensus is that Pittsburgh may have left it all on the field against the Hokies and then were too overconfident against UNC.

Pam in Culpepper asked what steps Virginia Tech takes to protect players from agents during bowl games. Coach Beamer said that the best thing that Tech does is educate the players very carefully about what they can and can’t do with agents. After that, he said, the players must be responsible. Bill Roth mentioned that a lot of people are concerned about Michael Vick being susceptible to influence from agents, but that he will have his choice of the best agents out there, and that they won’t be the ones going after the players.

Brian in Richmond asked if there was any temptation to pull out all of the stops on Saturday in an effort to secure the BCS slot. Coach Beamer said that the team will do whatever they possibly can to win, and that they won’t hold back. He said that he was confident, that the coaches have had two weeks to prepare their strategy, and that they need to be mentally tough on Saturday against a tough Virginia team.

There was also an interesting discussion on the Independence Bowl team in 1993. There is a picture in the halls of the Merriman Center in which the players are receiving the trophy for their victory over Indiana. The discussion centered on how quickly the team has progressed from being excited about being selected for and winning the Independnece Bowl to being under consideration for the Sugar, Fiesta or Orange Bowls each year and concerned that it may have to "settle" for the Gator Bowl.

Many of the callers and guests in the audience commented on the coaching situation. One commented that Virginia Tech was the only school in the country with Maroon and Orange as the school colors and that Coach Beamer looks very good in Maroon and Orange. Another felt that he was the next legend like Lavell Edwards at BYU, Joe Paterno and others, and a third said that he hoped he would become the next Bear Bryant at Tech.

In response to a question from Chris in Christiansburg, Coach Beamer said that all of the speculation this year is a normal occurrence. He acknowledged that he has the greatest coaching staff in country and that he believes that they have done a better job this year than last year. With the inexperience at beginning of season and key injuries throughout the season, the fact that everything has come together indicates that they have done good job. He said that they need to take care of these guys, but that the coaches like working there and that they have as much security as you can have in the coaching business. Finally, he said that he takes all of the speculation as a compliment.

A lot of recruits will be in town for the Virginia games this week, and the Merriman Center has been decorated for the occasion.

Coach Bustle said that he would not be surprised if Tech signs as many as three quarterbacks in the upcoming class, and followed that up by saying that he prefers a quarterback in the mold of Woody Dantzler rather than Chris Weinke. For a good running team like Virginia Tech, he said that it is more important to have a quarterback that provides more versatility, such as running the option, running bootlegs and using play action.

Concerning some of the redshirts that are on the team this year, Coach Bustle said that John Dunn is big and getting bigger and that Richard Johnson is really quick with good speed. He also said that Johnson works hard and will be a good player. On the defensive side, he didn’t specify anyone in particular, but commented that, as a group, they run well.

Coach Beamer briefly discussed the NCAA rules on official visits and commitments, and mentioned that Tech had received in the neighborhood of 11 commitments.

Dick from Blacksburg asked Coach Bustle what innovations he had seen over the last few years. He said that he had noticed a lot of schools committing to some form of a one-back offense, including Northwestern and Clemson, and that it was just one of those trends that come and go over time.

John from Blacksburg asked if the Hokie Bird was still banned from the Orange Bowl for the fight with the Ibis several years ago. Bill Roth said that he didn’t think so because he was there two years ago. He speculated that he may have just gotten hot in the costume.

Eric, a former manager for the Hokies called in regard to a report on graduation rates. He said that the staff at Virginia Tech does a great job and offers each player the chance to be a well-rounded person. He thanked Coach Beamer for the opportunity that he had been provided. The coach said that he thought he knew which year that they were referencing in that report. Seventeen student-athletes entered in that recruiting class, including five who transferred, five who graduated on time, two who graduated the next year and two who had turned pro and are coming back to finish their degrees. Taken as a whole, that means that the real graduation rate should be closer to 75%. Statistics are deceiving, he said, because it always depends upon what the basis of the report is.

• Bill Roth announced a fund-raiser sponsored by the Christiansburg Hokie Club that will support the Marques Hampton Scholarship. It will be held on December 12 at the Gobblertown Tavern in Christiansburg. Guests will include Frank Beamer, Bonnie Henrickson and Rickey Stokes. Happy Hour is at 6:00, and dinner is at 7:00. Contact the Christiansburg Hokie Club for more details.
  
• The forecast for Saturday includes freezing rain & sleet. Most of the guests commented on the weather, including Ricky Bustle, who encouraged the fans to dress warmly.
  
• For the men’s basketball game on Friday, radio coverage will begin at 6:30. For the football game on Saturday coverage will begin at 6:00.
  
• The Hokie Hotline will return to its regular time next week and will include defensive coordinator Bud Foster.
  
• Virginia Tech will defend the Commonwealth Cup on its 420^th day of possession.

-- Apex Hokie

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