Senior Rover
Aaron Rouse
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A Look Back
The Coastal Division champions in 2005, Virginia Tech finished 11-2 overall and 7-1 in league play, earning a spot in the inaugural ACC Championship Game … head coach Frank Beamer was named ACC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season while guiding the Hokies to a perfect 8-0 start for the fourth time in the last seven years under his reign … led all conference schools with five first-team selections and nine selections overall … the Hokies made their 13th straight bowl appearance, downing Louisville in the Toyota Gator Bowl … bolstered a perfect 4-0 non-conference ledger, outscoring the opposition 155-55.
Who’s Gone
Thirteen starters with a combined 337 career starts will be lost from last season’s Coastal Division winning squad, including eight players who started in all 13 games in 2005 … offensive linemen Will Montgomery, Jason Murphy and Jimmy Martin all depart, while TB Cedric Humes (11) and TE Jeff King (6) combined for 17 touchdowns resulting in 31 percent of Tech’s scoring a season ago … Darryl Tapp led the Hokies and ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in TFL (14.5), sacks (10) and forced fumbles (3).
A Look Ahead
Frank Beamer welcomes back nine total starters, including four starters on offense and five on the defensive sides of the ball … senior David Clowney, the Hokies leading receiver in receptions (34) and yards (619) in 2005, heads an experienced core of wide outs that combine for 52 career starts … Brandon Pace will handle placekicking duties for the third straight year posting an 81.6% (40-of-49) career field goal success rate while converting on 98-of-100 extra point attempts … LB’s Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi will lead the defensive effort for the Hokies that has ranked in the top two in the ACC in total defense the past two seasons.
Numbers
5 - The Virginia Tech defense set a school single-season record returning five interceptions for touchdowns a season ago.
7 - Virginia Tech led the ACC with seven non-offensive touchdowns in 2005 … since the start of the 1993 season, Tech is 55-8 in games in which it scores at least one touchdown on defense or special teams.
43.2 - Senior Nic Schmitt ranked third in the ACC in punting averaging 43.2 yards per punt, the second highest average in school history.
100 - Sophomore TB Branden Ore tallied three 100-yard rushing games in 2005 while leading the Hokie ground attack on three separate occasions … finished second on the team in rushing with 647 yards and six touchdowns.
101 - Since the arrival of head coach Frank Beamer in 1987, the Hokie defense and special teams have combined for 101 touchdowns, including 84 in Virginia Tech’s last 150 games.
108 - Brandon Pace led the ACC in kick scoring with 108 points on 19 field goals and 51 extra points in 2005 … the senior PK will look to join Florida State’s Scott Bentley (’93, ’95-’96) and Sebastian Janikowski (’97-’99) and Maryland’s Nick Novak (’01-’03) as just the fourth kicker in league history to lead the ACC in kick scoring on three separate occasions and the first to score 100 points or more in all three seasons.
247.6 - Virginia Tech became the second straight ACC team, and only the fourth all-time, to lead the nation in total defense, allowing an average of 247.6 yards per game.
Frank Beamer enters his 20th season at Virginia Tech and his 26th year as a collegiate head coach ranked third among active Division I-A coaches in victories with 188. His Tech teams have posted a 122-38 (.763) record over the past 13 seasons and have appeared in a bowl game every year during that span. In 2004, the Hokies’ first year in the ACC, Beamer guided Virginia Tech to a conference title en route to being named ACC Coach of the Year. He repeated as Coach of the Year in 2005, when he led the Hokies to a 7-1 league record, the Coastal Division title and a spot in the inaugural ACC Championship Game. Beamer’s Hokies have earned the highest national rankings in the program’s history, spending 73 weeks in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll over the last seven seasons. During one stretch that ended in 2004, Tech was ranked in 84 straight AP polls. For his part in the Hokies’ national title run in 1999, Beamer earned eight National Coach of the Year awards and was named the Big East Conference Coach of the Year for the third time. When Big East Conference football celebrated its first 10 years of existence in 2000, Beamer was voted the Coach of the Decade by the league’s media. Following consecutive 10-2 seasons in 1995 and 1996, Beamer was voted Big East Conference Coach of the Year by the league coaches and was one of five finalists for the 1995 National Coach of the Year. Beamer’s record at Tech now stands at 146-79-2. Counting six years as head coach at Murray State prior to joining the Hokies, Beamer’s overall 25-year record is 188-102-4. Beamer, the first alumnus to guide the Hokies since the 1940s, took over the Tech reins from Bill Dooley in January 1987. During his undergraduate days at Virginia Tech, Beamer started three years as a cornerback and played on the Hokies’ 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowl teams. Beamer began his coaching career as an assistant at Radford High School from 1969 through 1971. Then, after one season as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland, he went to The Citadel where he worked five seasons under Bobby Ross and one year under Art Baker. His last two years at The Citadel, Beamer was the defensive coordinator. In 1979, Beamer went to Murray State as the defensive coordinator under Mike Gottfried. He was named head coach at Murray State in 1981.
