CORAL GABLES, Fla. (KRT) — It’s fourth-and-5 with five minutes left in the final quarter. Up 58-7, you’re 13 yards away from a touchdown.
Do you:
A. Run.
B. Pass.
C. Attempt a field goal.
D. Take a knee.
E. Pooch punt.
In that situation during the University of Miami’s home victory Saturday against Washington, second-team quarterback Derrick Crudup completed the first touchdown pass of his college career to end the scoring at 65-7 and send some Husky administrators home in a huff.
What’s a coach to do?
“That’s a good question. I don’t know what the best coaching etiquette is,” Larry Coker said Tuesday. “Honestly, I’d rather be on our side of the ball than coach Rick Neuheisel’s. But nobody is totally happy in that situation, because you don’t want to humiliate anybody.
“Had we had Ken Dorsey and starters in and top receiver Andre Johnson in, throwing passes to get Ken Dorsey meaningless stats, trying to get him an award, to me that’s running up the score. I don’t feel badly about what we did. I think we did the right thing, and I think Rick knows that.”
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said he agreed with Coker’s strategy. The top-ranked Hurricanes (10-0, 6-0 Big East) will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to play the 14th-ranked Hokies (8-2, 4-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s a great situation to be in from a coach’s standpoint,” said Beamer, whose Hokies are 13-point underdogs at Lane Stadium. “You have second-team guys in there, and you let them play the game. The second quarterback is not going to get better if he’s not throwing the football and if you don’t play it like you would normally play it. I don’t see a problem there.”
The Canes had the ball on fourth down three times in the final quarter. The first time, one yard from the end zone, freshman Frank Gore rushed for the touchdown to make it 58-7. The second time, 15 yards out, Crudup was sacked for a five-yard loss. The third time, Crudup delivered the 13-yard score to Jason Geathers.
“It felt like so much of my hard work paid off,” said Crudup, a redshirt freshman who is 10 of 22 for 100 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions in eight games. “Coach Coker really wanted me to get experience in a game without changing the offense, just in case Dorsey ever goes down.”
Second-team center Joel Rodriguez, another redshirt freshman, said, “You have to understand, we’re young. I’m sure coach Coker wanted Derrick to feel good about himself because you never know when we’re going to need him in an emergency. I was proud.”
© 2001, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.