Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993 TAG: 9311140121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Tech removed the suspense from what was transpiring below by bowling to a 24-0 lead over Syracuse in the first 18 minutes. Above the cheers, in the press box, the real game hadn't begun.
While the Hokies turned in the latest Orange-crushing performance in the Big East Conference, 45-24, scouts from the Carquest, Peach and Poulan/Weed Eater Independence bowls were playing let's make a deal.
In his luxury suite on the ninth floor of the press box, Tech athletic director Dave Braine held the cards. And if the Tech fans in the stands had known which bowl was his ace in the hole, they'd have come equipped with chain saws to heave onto Worsham Field.
Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese had worked a deal Friday to put Boston College into the league's No. 3 berth in the Carquest and the Hokies in the Independence Bowl, if each team won.
That was before the Peach Bowl put its cards on the table Friday night. The Atlanta game had contracts for the ACC's No. 3 team and a team from the Southeastern Conference; the Peach had been considering a vote for the Hokies as a third-party candidate, in case the SEC didn't have a fourth qualifier.
The Peach scouting pair knew nothing about the Big East deal. However, the duo said if Clemson beat Virginia, East Carolina beat Kentucky and Auburn beat Georgia, then just maybe the Hokies would have a ticket to Atlanta.
It was a tempting offer.
The Carquest figured to have a lock with BC, which pounded Pitt and clinched the bid. The grin on the face of Independence chairman Mike McCarthy widened with each Hokies score. However, Clemson was beating UVa, Auburn was ripping Georgia and East Carolina was up on Kentucky.
Tech's bowl prospects suddenly were looking Peachy. It was 2 p.m., early in the second half, and Braine had gotten Tranghese's home phone number in Providence, R.I., in case he had to call about the Peach prospects.
Was he going to try to break the Big East deal? Well, Tech would take more fans to Atlanta than to Shreveport, La., where the Hokies lost the Independence Bowl to Air Force in 1984. The Peach also pays $200,000 more than the Independence, and the Big East shares little bowl money.
In his box, Braine and assistant athletic director Jeff Bourne were scoreboard-watching like baseball managers in a pennant race. They were flipping through channels on the TV searching for scores.
Braine paced. He watched one TV, walked 10 steps to another room, then watched another. His first bowl bid as an athletic director was in his hands. The first bowl bid in Frank Beamer's seven seasons as Tech's head coach was in Braine's hands. It was no time to fumble.
So, the Tech athletic director walked down one level to the media floor of the press box. The Peach pair was preparing to leave. Braine stopped them on the stairs.
They came back into the press box, looking for a phone. They made a call. Braine went back upstairs. A few minutes later, the Peach scouts followed. Braine talked with them, and they left.
It was the fourth quarter, and McCarthy, with Big East Associate Commissioner Tom McElroy, walked up to Braine and Bourne. Braine smiled. McCarthy smiled. It was 2:55, and a done deal. Spending New Year's Eve in Shreveport sounded more than Peachy to Braine.
"The Peach Bowl was still a `what-if' situation," he said moments later. "They were good guys, but they couldn't get in touch with their head man [Robert Dale Morgan], and there was too much up in the air. They can't make any move until next week at the earliest."
OK, Beamer's players had to vote on whether to officially make their declaration of Independence. After six years of struggle, capped by last season's bowled-over feeling at 2-8-1, the Hokies would have voted to go to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem.
"I don't think anybody will vote to wait [for the Peach]," Braine said at game's end, an hour before the team's thundering voice vote.
Braine didn't gamble. He couldn't. When your program is a resurrected 7-3 and has a bid, you take it and go to play state rival Virginia, which dropped a Peach bid Saturday and is likely headed for the Hall of Fame Bowl after another of the Cavaliers' typical "Death Valley" days.
After the Hokies won, so did Kentucky, all but tossing the Peach to Clemson and Kentucky. LSU remains a possibility for that SEC berth, too. Braine didn't know that when he put his arm around Beamer's shoulder as the alumnus-coach walked off the field.
"You're going to have a bowl," Braine told a beaming Beamer.
For those Hokies who have been waiting for Beamer's coaching homecoming to deliver a holiday gift, well, this year he's sending a Weed Eater.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB