Va. Tech and Aggie rematch
By HANK KURZ Jr.
Associated Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech gained considerable attention early last season by going into College Station, Texas, and outmuscling Texas A&M 13-3, becoming the first nonconference opponent to leave Kyle Field a winner since 1988.

But that game was between two respected programs with very little nose-to-nose history. It will be a much different scenario when they meet Thursday night.

“This is a top 10 team who last year kind of embarrassed us, in my opinion,” Aggies tackle Alan Reuber said, recalling how the Hokies allowed just 156 yards of offense, then grabbed a piece of field turf for their collection after completing the victory.

“There’s definitely a lot of excitement in the air this week,” Reuber said.

The No. 8 Hokies (2-0) haven’t lost a game before October since 1996, a span of 26 consecutive victories. They also haven’t faced a team this talented yet this year, having beaten upstart Central Florida 49-28 and Division I-AA James Madison 43-0.

The Aggies, also 2-0, haven’t won a road game against a top 10 team since they beat No. 6 Penn State in 1979. They also haven’t been rolling opponents under new coach Dennis Franchione, beating Arkansas State 26-11 and barely holding off Utah, 28-26.

But they sound like they’ve been looking forward to this week, viewing it as a chance to show last year’s 6-6 record wasn’t a sign that the program is in decline.

“All that you heard was that our schedule was too tough, we’ve got too many road games,” quarterback Reggie McNeal said. “So we go up to Virginia and show everybody what we’ve got. That should answer some of the questions that were asked this summer.”

A year ago, the Aggies kept it close by limiting the Hokies vaunted running tandem of Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones to 99 yards, less than half their average.

This year, Jones is still waiting for a breakout effort as the feature back, but Bryan Randall has played so well at quarterback that the Hokies haven’t struggled.

In leading the Hokies to an average of 46 points, Randall has completed a gaudy 73 percent of his passes and thrown for three touchdowns without an interception.