Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180107
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Tech's football fortunes improved as expected Monday, when the Hokies were informed their Big East Football Conference visit to Miami would be a regional telecast on Oct.29.
A Tech spokesman said the game will air at noon, but in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, it will appear not on ABC affiliate WSET (Channel 13), but on WDBJ (Channel 7), a CBS station that picked up ABC's noon CFA package that is pre-empted by WSET's schedule of ACC games.
ABC Sports publicist Maxine Lewis said the network's Oct.29 schedule will not be confirmed and announced until today, however.
It will be 17th-ranked Tech's third major network appearance of what to date is a 6-1 season. The Hokies have had three network TV dates in two previous seasons, 1980 and '82. The Tech-Miami game was televised by CBS in both of those seasons.
The Hokies also will be earning a third TV check of $360,000, matching those from an ESPN date with West Virginia and an ABC regional appearance at Syracuse. Along with Tech-Miami, ABC will show Michigan-Wisconsin from the Big Ten Conference package in the noon time slot. The 3:30 p.m. window has a huge CFA game - between unbeatens Colorado and Nebraska - and Penn State-Ohio State from the Big Ten.
ABC, with the first pick from the CFA package, took the Big Eight battle of unbeatens. ESPN, with the second selection, chose Georgia-Florida for its 7:30 p.m. game ahead of Tech-Miami, although the Bulldogs are coming off a loss to Vanderbilt and Florida fell from No.1 with its loss to unbeaten Auburn. ESPN also usually gets its best prime-time ratings with Miami.
The checks for an ESPN game and an ABC regional are the same, however, increasing Tech's TV take for the season to $1.080 million. The Big East does not pool and share its TV dollars, although revenue-sharing is expected to begin next season.
Tech also learned Monday that its Saturday home date with Pittsburgh will not be televised in the Big East's noon package, which will split its network between Boston College-Rutgers and Miami-West Virginia. That decision makes the Hokies' Nov.12 home game with Rutgers a virtual certainty for the Big East schedule on WSLS (Channel 10).
Also, ABC's decision to air Saturday's North Carolina-Virginia game as a regional telecast at 3:30 p.m. moves the Clemson-Florida State game into the noon spot on the ACC schedule on WSET. Jimmy Rayburn, Jefferson-Pilot's executive producer, said Duke-Florida State will be the Oct.29 noon ACC telecast.
by CNB