Berlin Won’t Lose Job as Starter

Miami quarterback Brock Berlin will keep his starting job despite getting benched against Virginia Tech.

“We’re going to play the best player we feel like gives us an opportunity to win,” Coach Larry Coker said Sunday. “But we’re not going to have a quarterback change. Nothing warrants that.”

Berlin will start Saturday when the sixth-ranked Hurricanes play host to No. 18 Tennessee.

Berlin struggled under constant pressure in Miami’s 31-7 loss to the Hokies on Saturday night. He was sacked three times and was scrambling on both his interceptions. One was returned for a score to make it 17-0 in the third quarter. The other was returned to the Miami 10, setting up a touchdown that made it 24-0.

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Washington quarterback Cody Pickett sustained a concussion in the first half of a 42-10 win over Oregon, team officials confirmed. He is considered questionable for Saturday’s game at Arizona.

Pickett, who last season set a Pacific 10 Conference season record with 4,458 yards passing, completed 11 of 21 passes for 97 yards in the first half last Saturday. He was sidelined for the second half.

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Virginia Tech hopes it answered its many critics with the biggest victory in school history. Now the challenge is to build on it.

“About when you think things are right, they’re not right and that’s exactly how I feel right now,” Coach Frank Beamer said Sunday, about 12 hours after his team defeated Miami.

“We had a great day yesterday, but if anybody should know this is week to week in this business, it should be us.”

The Hokies, who jumped five spots to No. 5 in The Associated Press top 25, are in familiar territory. On Oct. 11, they seemed to validate their then-No. 3 ranking with a 51-7 home victory against Syracuse. Eleven days later, they did everything wrong in a 28-7 wipeout at West Virginia.

The loss sent the Hokies tumbling in the polls and bowl championship series standings.