Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511130110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
It truly was an eerie Saturday in the nation's capital. Inside the Beltway, Virginia Tech and Virginia clinched conference football championships. How times have changed.
Our commonwealth, the football factory. What in the name of Moses Malone is happening? Of course, with a former quarterback and famous coach's son as governor, we should expect anything different?
Tech (8-2) and UVa (8-3) are headed for bowls for the third straight year. William and Mary, Richmond and James Madison are in the Division I-AA poll. Liberty and Hampton are 7-3, and rebounding VMI (4-6) has respectability in sight.
Let's get Mr. Peabody and Sherman to turn on the Way Back Machine. Stop at 1987.
By George, UVa had never won an ACC championship and was playing in only its second bowl. Tech, with a new coach and on NCAA probation for the second time in five years, wasn't even in a league, and the one they joined - the Big East - didn't kick a ball then.
Now, we have the state's Division I-A teams meeting Saturday at Scott Stadium, in a high noon duel and people outside the Old Dominion really care. Those would be the tourists in the bowl blazers.
No longer is this game Ole Miss-Mississippi State. For the third straight year, Tech and UVa meet as bowl-bound, ranked teams. The game is on ABC, Keith Jackson's network. Whoa, Nellie!
If you haven't kept track, the lower-ranked of the rivals at kickoff won the 1993 and '94 dates, and the loser of those games still got the better bowl bid. The winner has gained Independence, twice.
Which brings us back to the present tense. Tech and UVa will play - but not each other - in either the Orange, Sugar, Gator, Peach or Carquest bowls.
Now, that's pinning it down.
The Fiesta Bowl had the lone scouting seat at the Hokies' drowning of Temple on Saturday at RFK. Maybe the guy just wanted frequent flier miles from Phoenix to Washington.
We can say with pretty much certainty that neither state team will be playing in Tempe, Ariz., at the top of the Bowl Alliance. We also can say that when the game is over Saturday in Charlottesville, neither team will know where it will play its next game.
As at least co-champs in their leagues, the Hokies and 'Hoos could figure into the Bowl Alliance's Orange - with the third and fifth picks among conference champs and Notre Dame - or the Sugar (fourth and sixth).
The alliance has nothing to do with rankings. Then, it has everything to do with rankings.
There are no tiebreakers in the ACC or Big East for championships. The alliance bowls can select among co-champs, and it stands to reason they'll take the higher-ranked team available - but maybe not.
The Beatles Anthology may be on the tube next Saturday, but where the Hokies really need ``Help'' that day is from West Virginia or Boston College, against Miami and Syracuse, respectively.
One of those latter two still could tie Tech for the Big East crown, and they play Nov.25 under a Miami moon. If each wins this weekend, a Syracuse win over the Hurricanes probably would be more beneficial to the Hokies, who beat both other contenders.
With a tie in that game, Tech would be headed for the Orange or Sugar. For UVa to reach the Orange or Sugar, Maryland will have to win at Florida State - now, there's an old script from Mission: Impossible - or the visiting Seminoles will have to be dropped in the polls by Florida in their Nov.25 game.
The Gator Bowl has the second picks from the Big East and ACC. No, UVa and Tech aren't going to play a rematch in Jacksonville on New Year's afternoon. So, is Saturday's state of affairs at Scott for a Gator date?
There are two schools of thought making the press box rounds on that. One is that the Gator will take the Tech-UVa winner. The other is that the game doesn't matter, because the bowl has decided it wants the Hokies against Clemson, a matchup that should be played in the bowl's ticket office.
Selfishly, and you'll never get any Gator to growl this, what the bowl really wants is Florida State against Virginia Tech, hoping UVa beats the Hokies, and the 'Noles lose big at Florida, putting UVa neck-and-neck with FSU in the polls.
That's a stretch. The Gator begins a new TV contract with NBC, and says it needs teams with rankings to get Nielsen ratings. That's not going to happen. The Gator goes against the Citrus Bowl, which with Tennessee meeting Ohio State or Northwestern has probably the most attractive game on a six-bowl day.
Tech and Clemson will sell tickets, maybe 40,000. The Gator questions whether Virginia can do that, or will. No matter where the Cavaliers go, if the Wahoo turnout isn't respectable, then new athletic director Terry Holland will have a platform to question whether a lack of support is undermining an outstanding program.
What's better for the Gator? Virginia Tech-Clemson or Virginia-Syracuse? It would seem UVa - although higher in the polls than Tech - has more to play for in this regard on Saturday.
If the Cavaliers win and the Hokies drop behind Syracuse and Miami in the polls, or out of the Top 25 altogether ... well, the Carquest would love to have them.
If the Hokies win at UVa, they're certainly assured of a Gator bid or better, and the Cavaliers will go to the Peach in the Georgia Dome, against the Southeastern Conference's fourth pick.
If Tech gets an alliance spot, then UVa has the Gator, and vice versa. If the Gator is up for grabs Saturday, then one co-champ still could end up disappointed with thirds (UVa in the ACC's Peach spot, Tech in the Big East's Carquest berth).
So, what exactly are Tech and UVa playing for on Saturday?
Other than a ninth win, they still really won't know until a week or two later.
by CNB