11/26/03 - No Mickey

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Cavaliers not heading to Disneyland
UVa left with Continental Tire or Humanitarian Bowl
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
November 26, 2003

Virginia’s football players can forget about packing swimsuits and sunscreen for their bowl trip.
The Peach and Tangerine Bowls selected Clemson and N.C. State, respectively, on Tuesday, leaving the Continental Tire Bowl (Dec. 27 in Charlotte, N.C.) and the Humanitarian Bowl (Jan. 3 in Boise, Idaho) as the only possibilities for the Cavaliers.
UVa officials had hoped for a bid to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Fla., but its selection committee opted for the Wolfpack after the Peach picked the Tigers. Both N.C. State (7-5) and Clemson (8-4) beat Virginia (6-5) this season.
As ACC champion, Florida State will go to a BCS bowl. After that, the pecking order among bowls with ACC tie-ins goes Gator, Peach, Tangerine, Continental Tire and Humanitarian. The Gator selected Maryland (8-3) on Monday.
The Cavaliers, who complete their regular season Saturday at home against No. 21 Virginia Tech (8-3), played in the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl last year, crushing West Virginia while helping produce a sellout crowd at Ericsson Stadium.
Ken Haines, the bowl’s executive director, did not return several phone messages Tuesday. He previously said the Continental Tire would have no problem inviting Virginia for a second straight year. The potential hangup is the Big East representative in the game, which might be Virginia Tech.
Haines has indicated that the bowl does not want a Virginia-Virginia Tech rematch. Georgia Tech (6-5) is another option out of the ACC, while Miami, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are Big East possibilities.
The bowl probably will wait until after Saturday’s games to make its selections.
The matchup will depend partly on results from the Miami-Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech-Virginia and Georgia Tech-Georgia games.
The Humanitarian Bowl must wait for the Continental Tire before extending its ACC bid. It will probably choose whatever team remains - Virginia or Georgia Tech - though Wake Forest (5-6) also can become bowl eligible by beating Maryland on Saturday.

Multi-purpose Marques. Virginia Tech boasts one of the nation’s best multi-purpose players in junior DeAngelo Hall, a standout cornerback who has returned two punts for touchdowns and caught seven passes as a receiver this season.
But Virginia has its own Mr. Versatility in 5-foot-10 sophomore Marques Hagans.
Hagans doesn’t play defense, but he has performed a variety of roles for the Cavaliers this season. He threw three touchdown passes against Western Michigan while subbing for injured quarterback Matt Schaub on Sept. 13, but he may have had his best all-around performance last Saturday against Georgia Tech.
As a receiver, Hagans caught five passes for 60 yards and threw a 35-yard pass to tight end Heath Miller on a trick play. He returned three punts for 73 yards, including a 53-yarder that set up a touchdown.
He also took three snaps in shotgun formation as a quarterback, completing another pass for one yard and running for a two-yard touchdown. On the scoring run, he was stopped short but stretched the ball over the goal line.
“Our coaches don’t really want me to do that,” he said afterward. “I get caught up in the moment of the game, trying to make a play. I’ll probably get fussed at about it when we watch film.”
No worries. “That’s what gamers do,” said UVa coach Al Groh. “They figure out a way. On that particular play, that’s what it took.”
It may take similar contributions from Hagans for the Cavaliers to win Saturday. On Monday, Hagans had a swollen lower lip that made it uncomfortable to talk, but - unlike the loquacious Hall - he prefers to make his statements on the field.
“He’s a playmaker for us with his athleticism,” Schaub said. “He can make a lot of good things happen if we get him the ball, so that’s what we want to do.”

Double trouble? The Cavaliers are preparing to face both of Virginia Tech’s quarterbacks, junior Bryan Randall and freshman Marcus Vick. The pair has been sharing time much of the season, especially in the past four games, and both are dangerous as runners and passers.
“I think they’re similar enough where it doesn’t change dramatically the approach that we take,” Groh said.
Virginia’s defense may not see much of Vick, however, after he struggled in last Saturday’s loss to Boston College. Randall helped generate 17 points in the first quarter before Vick entered the game, as planned, in the second quarter. The Hokies lost momentum and ended up losing the game, 34-27.
On Monday, Tech coach Frank Beamer said Randall will not necessarily yield to Vick. “Bryan Randall will be our quarterback for Virginia [and] we’ll let the game dictate when Marcus plays,” Beamer said.
Overall, Randall has put up better numbers.
In 11 games, he has completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 1,384 yards and 10 touchdowns with eight interceptions.
In nine games, Vick has thrown for 475 yards and two TDs, with five interceptions and a completion percentage of 53.6.
Randall has rushed for 366 yards and four touchdowns, compared to 69 and zero for Vick.
“They’re both playmakers,” said UVa linebacker Darryl Blackstock. “We’ll need to be ready for both of them.”

Giving thanks. On Thursday, the Cavaliers will practice in the morning, then go their separate ways for Thanksgiving dinner.
Defensive end Chris Johnson, a former Charlottesville High standout who is redshirting this season, says he expects many of his teammates to wind up at his house.
“My mom says they’re always welcome,” Johnson said with a smile. “She’s preparing a whole lot of food, so hopefully we’ll have enough.”

Jones a man among boys in Hokies' backfield
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress staff writer
November 26, 2003

When asked who would play the role of Kevin Jones on Virginia’s scout team in practice this week, it didn’t take long for Cavaliers coach Al Groh to come up with an answer.

“Nobody will replicate him,” Groh said without blinking an eye. “Some will fantasize about it.”

Each week, reserve players on UVa’s roster learn formations and favorite plays of the Cavs’ upcoming opponent and run those plays in practice to help prepare the Wahoos for the game. Whoever plays Jones’ role this week might get arrested for impersonating a Heisman Trophy candidate.

While the Hokies running back may not get an invitation to New York for next month’s Heisman ceremony, Jones still might be the best running back in the country.

“He’s obviously one of the most dynamic players to ever have played in this state and certainly one of the most dynamic players in college football this year,” Groh said. “If there was a lot of those kind of guys around then we wouldn’t be speaking in the superlatives about Kevin that we are, but he’s really a dynamic player.”

Breaking records, ankles

The junior from Chester, Pa., is seventh in the nation in rushing and has broken the 100 yards mark in eight of his last nine starts. He broke Cyrus Lawrence’s single-season rushing mark (1,403) last week against Boston College but did so in 85 less carries.

Included in Jones’ 165-yard rushing totals in the loss to BC, was a spectacular spin move that even left members of Virginia’s defensive teams speechless when they studied him on film.

“He ain’t no ordinary back,” said UVa linebacker Darryl Blackstock. “That spin move he did was amazing. We’re going to have to make big plays against him. You’ve got to run through him, hit him before he makes a move.”

Easier said than done.

How does Jones do it?

What makes Jones so special? After all, Virginia has faced some pretty good backs this season, an assortment of runners from Florida State, Maryland’s Josh Allen, N.C. State’s T.A. McLendon, Duke’s Chris Douglas and Georgia Tech’s P.J. Daniels to mention a few.

“[Jones] is head and shoulders, the most elusive back that we’ve faced,” Groh said. “That’s the most distinguishing quality of all the great backs. They’re hard to tackle. They make people miss.”

Jones has great lateral quickness, has that extra burst and has speed to take it to the house. He has field vision to boot.

“You don’t ever see anyone catch him,” Groh said.

Normally that wouldn’t be good news to a Virginia defense that has struggled in stopping the run this season and has surrendered too many big plays, such as Allen’s 80-yard excursion that eventually dealt a death blow to the Cavaliers’ upset chances.

But the Wahoos returned to the basics last week in preparation for Georgia Tech’s ground game and things worked well. The longest play

from scrimmage by the Yellow Jackets was 16 yards as UVa bounced back for the win.

“We had given up too many long runs, so we worked on that in practice all week,” said Virginia senior linebacker Ray Mann.

“We held P.J. Daniels to under 100 yards and he was the leading rusher in the ACC. That’s what we have to do this week against Kevin Jones.”

Jones rushed for 91 yards in a reserve role during last year’s game against the Hoos as Tech rolled up more than 200 yards on the ground.

But as Mann quickly reminds us, “He’s just like any other running back ... he can’t run without a hole. We’re going to try to keep from giving him a place to run.”

That means while Blackstock and Mann are trying to prevent Jones from turning the corner, where he is deadly, folks like defensive end Chris Canty must contain him at the line of scrimmage.

“I’m looking forward to getting real acquainted with him this Saturday,” said Canty in reference to the challenge of stopping Jones.

But first, UVa’s defensive line must deal with Tech’s massive offensive line, which averages more than 300 pounds per man from tackle to tackle. For those still doubting the Cavaliers’ 3-4 defensive alignment, this will be an even bigger test than last week when the 3-4 held its own against a huge Georgia Tech O-line.

The oddsmakers have made Virginia the favorite in this game, perhaps for the first time in more than five years. But as Groh has said before, he doesn’t feel like a favorite.

“We feel like every week that our backs are against the wall,” Groh said.

“Unless you have a dominant team, that’s the way you feel every week.”

Virginia will be trying to end a four-year losing streak to Tech.

No one on UVa’s team has ever beaten the Hokies and Cavalier fans believe the time is right to end the drought.

Like we said, easier said than done.

QB hoping for less turbulence
Matt Schaub, who struggled last year vs. Tech, will try to help UVa end a four-game losing skid to the Hokies.
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE - By almost any measure, the 2002 Virginia-Virginia Tech football game ranked among the worst of Matt Schaub's college career.

"Frustrating," is the way Schaub described it Monday as he prepared for UVa's first practice of the week.

Frustrating? Is that all?

"'Miserable' would be another word for it," the Cavaliers' quarterback said.

Schaub has had some down moments in his career, including a shoulder injury that sidelined him in the first quarter of UVa's opening game against Duke, but, for sheer numbers, he hasn't had many days to rival last Nov.30 in Blacksburg.

Schaub is a player whose career has been defined by numbers - spectacular numbers, for the most part - and the numbers say it all in this case: 12-of-23 for 43 yards, with one interception.

Schaub threw for more yards than that, 84, in one drive against Duke.

Schaub did throw a touchdown pass in a 21-9 loss to the Hokies, and, if not for the shoulder injury, would have an amazing streak in that regard. Only the Duke game, which he exited with nine minutes remaining in the first quarter, has prevented him from throwing at least one touchdown pass in 23 consecutive games.

Schaub needs two touchdown passes to tie Shawn Moore's school record of 55 in a career - the only school record Schaub does not hold - but there is other unfinished business on his agenda.

Neither Schaub nor any of his UVa teammates has ever beaten the Hokies, who will be at Scott Stadium on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Tech is bidding to become the first team to win five straight games in the series since the Hokies won six in a row between 1958-63.

"We don't want to be remembered as a group of guys who went through five years of school and never beat Virginia Tech," said Schaub, one of five fifth-year seniors on the Cavaliers' roster.

Schaub, who came to Virginia from West Chester, Pa., said he was made aware of the Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry "as soon as I hit the door."

Schaub, whose longevity has helped him pass for nearly 7,000 yards, never started against the Hokies until last year. In 2001, he engineered a second-half comeback that enabled UVa to trim a 31-0 halftime deficit to 31-17.

Schaub's former classmate and seasonlong rival for the starting job, Bryson Spinner, was long gone by the time the Cavaliers arrived in Blacksburg last year to the piercing chill of temperatures in the high 30s and 35-mph winds.

"We were on a good roll," said Schaub, referring to back-to-back victories over North Carolina State and Maryland. "I think we had a good gameplan that would have enabled us to do some good things, but, with the conditions the way they were, we weren't going to be able to do that.

"It was hard to establish a rhythm, something we'd been able to do in every game up until that point. We could tell in pregame that it would be difficult to throw the ball, but we didn't know how difficult it would be."

In the locker room following the game, Schaub was quick to point out that the conditions were the same for both teams. Tech quarterback Bryan Randall threw sparingly (5-of-11 for 85 yards), but the Hokies outgained UVa 272-152 on the ground.

"We've been thinking about it for 365 days now," Schaub said.

Even in the last Virginia victory in the series, the Cavaliers overcame a 29-7 halftime deficit to win 36-32 in 1998. None of the past four games has been close.

"That's all the motivation we have and need," Schaub said. "Guys who have been here know about this game and this rivalry and how the games are, but I think everybody - even the younger guys - is aware of what's at stake."

UVa's Brown gets last laugh
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com

Virginia has been well represented among the recipients of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, which goes to the ACC's top interior lineman, but the Cavaliers have never had a winner like junior offensive guard Elton Brown.

Brown's selection, based on a vote of the ACC's defensive coordinators, came one day after he failed to make the All-ACC first team voted on by the media.

Brown was a second-team choice, nine votes behind Wake Forest's Tyson Clabo, who was the second-leading vote-getter behind Maryland's C.J. Brooks. Brooks finished one vote ahead of Clabo.

The last Jacobs Trophy winner from UVa was Roanoke's John St. Clair in 1999. The Cavaliers also had a pair of two-time winners in Jim Dombrowski (1985-85) and Ray Roberts (1990-91).

Brown receives an invitation to the ACC Awards Banquet that he would not have gotten as a second-team All-ACC choice. The last second-teamer to receives the Jacobs Trophy was Florida State's Tarlos Thomas in 2000.

Beamer keeping positive outlook on '03
By Randy King
randy.king@roanoke.com
981-3126

BLACKSBURG - Three losses in the past five games have dropped the Virginia Tech football team from No.3 to No.21 in country.

The sudden demise of the Hokies has left a lot of folks hurting around these parts. The coaches are disappointed and looking for answers. The players are let down and angry. The fans are all of the aforementioned and much more.

The only good thing is no one has leapt from the roof of a tall building. Not yet, anyway.

"Trust me, our fans are being fans and I share their disappointment," Tech coach Frank Beamer said Tuesday. "They want results and I understand that."

On his Monday night radio show, Beamer said he believed the expectations of the rabid Tech faithful have gotten "a little bit out of whack here."

"It's getting to where if you have one loss, two losses, three losses and it's just like everything is all over," Beamer said. "And it's not all over. We've played some great football, we've had some great moments this year, if we can go up to Charlottesville and beat [Virginia] on Saturday that's going to be a great win and we go back to another bowl.

"I'm going to tell you that the three teams that beat us are three teams that shouldn't have beaten us. I thought we could have won each and every one of those games. But as long as you're up there, I think you've got a shot, and one of these days things are going to turn out right all the way through [the season].

"When you're not up there, that's when it kind of gets rough. To me, you've got to be thankful for what we do have. I'm not going to sit here and feel sorry, I'm going to get to work and try to get our football team ready to play Virginia."

Suddenly backed into a corner and languishing on the ropes, the Hokies (8-3) realize how critical it will be to come out fighting and respond against archrival UVa (6-5) in both clubs' regular-season finale.

"Anybody who doesn't say that after a loss, especially two losses in the last three games ... anybody who says they don't need to respond, their heart is not in it because that's absolutely what we need to do," guard Jacob Gibson said.

When asked his club's current mind-set, Beamer said: "I think there's a mentality that we're not happy with what's taken place, and a win Saturday will solve a lot of issues."

The pot is boiling

over with ...

Frustration. That's the hated, new buzz word that Tech players find themselves using a lot these days.

"When you're losing games you're not as happy as when you're winning and I think there's some frustration going around," quarterback Bryan Randall said. "Eight and three is not what we wanted. If you'd asked me before the season, I'd thought we'd be undefeated going into this game.

"I'm frustrated. I definitely don't like losing games. But at the same time, I think everybody is ready to bounce back and win this next one."

More on QB quandary

After the platooning of Randall and backup Marcus Vick produced mixed results the past four games, Beamer announced Monday that the former will go the distance against UVa unless the game dictates otherwise.

Randall said he plans to sit down with Beamer again at the end of the season and see where the situation stands going into spring drills.

"I think we need to talk about it some more and how things plan to be upcoming," Randall said. "I think it's important that you keep in contact over a situation like this with the coaches and keep communicating because I think when you stop communicating things just get worse."

On a lighter note, Tech tailback Kevin Jones obviously was oblivious to the latest news concerning the quarterbacks. When asked if he was relieved the QBs question had been answered, Jones responded: "What's the answer? Oh, play Bryan. I haven't really thought about it. I guess that's the answer if that's what the coaches came up with."

Jones, Grove honored

Jones and center Jake Grove were named first-team All-Americans by the Football Writers Association of America, tying the largest class of first-teamers in school history.

Jones, who was named the team's sole running back, set several school records in 2003, including the single-season rushing record with 1,419 yards and the single-game rushing record of 241 yards at Pittsburgh. A Doak Walker semifinalist who has gone over 100 yards rushing in eight games this season, Jones is the first Tech running back to make a first-team All-America squad.

Grove, a Rimington Trophy candidate, has started all 11 games this year, playing 637 offensive snaps. The Forest native has graded out at 91 percent for the season with a team-high 43 knockdown blocks. Grove has graded out at 90 percent or better in eight of 11 games and is the fourth Tech offensive lineman to earn first-team status. Eugene Chung (1991), Jim Pyne (1993) and Billy Conaty (1996) also were first-teamers, with Pyne and Conaty also earning first-team honors as a center.

1 that got away

Only a sophomore, Virginia's Heath Miller is already one of the country's best tight ends. Miller, 6-foot-5 and 254 pounds, has 53 receptions for 606 yards and five touchdowns this season.

Beamer said the Hokies tried to recruit Miller, who hails from Swords Creek in far Southwest Virginia.

"We wanted Heath to play another position other than quarterback, and at the time, he said, 'No, I'm going to be a quarterback,'" Beamer recalled. "So he ended up at Virginia, and I tell you, he's really turned into a heck of a tight end. He's a great kid with great talent and great hands who has been very steady for them. On those underneath routes and stop routes, it's hard to miss him out there."

DB out of doghouse

Except for some special-teams work, sophomore free safety Jimmy Williams sat the second half in Tech's 34-27 loss to Boston College last Saturday. Beamer said Monday that Williams "missed a couple assignments" in the first half vs. BC.

When asked Tuesday about Williams possibly having a run-in with a coach on the sideline, Beamer said: "Let me leave it to he had a couple mistakes in the ballgame and we decided to sit him in the second half."

Beamer said plans call for Williams to start against UVa.

Sports Focus: Continental Tire or Humanitarian?
Life in the bowling lane Charlotte and Boise are U.Va.'s possible postseason road trips
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 26, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE The Tangerine Bowl didn't expect N.C. State to be available. After the Wolfpack lost its regular-season finale, though, Chuck Amato's club no longer seemed so appealing to the Gator or the Peach.

That was good news for the Tangerine, which happily selected State yesterday morning, but bad news for Virginia. The Cavaliers, who had hoped to play in the Orlando, Fla., bowl on Dec. 22, instead will head to Charlotte, N.C., for the Dec. 27 Continental Tire or to Boise, Idaho, for the Jan. 3 Humanitarian.

Neither of those bowls is expected to issue invitations before Saturday, when U.Va. (6-5) plays host to 21st-ranked Virginia Tech (8-3).

Four of the ACC's six bowl slots have been filled. Florida State is bound for the Bowl Championship Series, Maryland for the Gator, Clemson for the Peach and N.C. State for the Tangerine.

The Continental Tire will match teams from the ACC and Big East. The Humanitarian will pair an ACC team against a WAC representative. Virginia probably would face Pittsburgh in the Continental Tire. Its opponent in the Humanitarian probably would be No. 18 Boise State.

Nothing against Boise, but most U.Va. players, coaches and fans would prefer another trip to Charlotte. In last year's inaugural Continental Tire, Virginia whipped West Virginia 48-22.

"It's a great city, a great environment and a great game to be a part of," senior quarterback Matt Schaub said yesterday.

Should the Continental Tire have an opportunity to select Virginia Tech, however, the second-year bowl is likely to do so, and that would rule out a return engagement for U.Va. Officials in Charlotte don't want to stage a rematch between the Hokies and the Cavaliers.

If Pittsburgh beats Miami on Saturday night, Pitt almost certainly would represent the Big East in the BCS. West Virginia would go to the Gator. The Insight, which chooses before the Continental Tire in the Big East selection process, would then probably take Miami, leaving Tech for the Continental Tire. If Miami wins, Tech is probably headed to the Insight and Pitt to the Continental Tire.

If the Hokies end up in Charlotte, their opponent probably would be Georgia Tech (6-5), which closes the regular season Saturday against visiting Georgia.

U.Va. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said he's had several conversations recently with Ken Haines, the Continental Tire's executive director, and believes "there's really not more we need to do in terms of 'making our case.' I think our focus needs to be on Virginia Tech."

Littlepage added: "We can only control what we can control. We won our game against Georgia Tech [last weekend], and we made a very favorable impression on the Tangerine Bowl. But we couldn't control what happened with South Carolina and Clemson."

Clemson humbled USC 63-17 last weekend. Had the Tigers lost, they'd probably be headed to Charlotte, with U.Va. bound for Orlando. Even with Clemson's victory, Virginia might well have been invited to the Tangerine had N.C. State beaten Maryland last weekend. The Terrapins rallied to edge the Wolfpack 26-24.

Attempts to reach Haines yesterday for comment were unsuccessful.

HISTORY LESSON: Freshmen get Commonwealth crash course
By Norm Wood
Daily Press
Published November 26, 2003

BLACKSBURG -- As Brandon Gore walked into Virginia Tech's locker room Tuesday, he almost ran into the Commonwealth Cup trophy when he rounded the corner. A small sign attached to the Cup read, "1,506 days in Blacksburg." For almost five years the trophy - awarded to the winner of the annual Virginia-Virginia Tech football game - has stayed on the western side of the state.

As Gore read the sign, Doug Easlick looked up from his locker. Easlick, a senior, began teaching Gore, a redshirt freshman, a history lesson.

"I've never lost to U.Va., and I'm not going to," said Easlick, a fullback.

Gore got the point.

For the freshmen at both universities, Saturday's Virginia-Virginia Tech game means different things. But winning that 4-foot-tall, 100-plus-pound silver-plated cup, with the scores from all of the games engraved on its side, is the lesson of the week.

"You can just tell from all the seniors around here, it's really important to them," Gore said. "The way this season has gone so far, beating U.Va. would mean a lot going into the bowl game."

While the rivalry is important to seniors, this is the first opportunity that many of the younger players will have to play former high school teammates, friends or rivals.

Gore was raised in Warrenton, less than two hours from Charlottesville. Growing up, he said all he ever heard was adults extolling the virtues of U.Va.'s football program. He knows about a dozen players on U.Va.'s team.

Though he's a backup and will be lucky to see 15 snaps Saturday, Gore hopes for a chance to line up against nose tackle Andrew Hoffman. Gore was a sophomore at Liberty-Bealeton High the last time he faced Hoffman, who was a senior at Park View-Sterling High.

"He probably doesn't remember me all that well because it was my first year playing football and he was on his way out, but I remember him because he was kind of the big guy in my area at that time," Gore said.

Kai Parham, a redshirt freshman linebacker for Virginia, is doing his best to forget about high school rivalries and relationships this week. But he said he's looking forward to seeing Tech tailback Cedric Humes, who graduated from Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach a year before Parham.

"He's a good player," Parham said. "He can really play. I'm just going to go out there, play hard, shake his hand at the end of the game and tell him I hope everything is OK. But he needs to know I'm coming to play."

Most of the young players for U.Va. and Virginia Tech don't need to be educated about Saturday's game.

More than half of U.Va.'s team has in-state roots, and nearly two-thirds of Virginia Tech's roster was raised in the state. But that's not to say seniors on both teams haven't been giving refresher courses on hating the other in-state university this week.

Teammates said Almondo Curry, a senior cornerback for the Cavaliers and a Hampton High graduate, started the Hokie-bashing after U.Va.'s 29-17 win against Georgia Tech last Saturday.

Vegas Robinson, a senior linebacker for Virginia Tech, has been Curry's smack-talking rival this week, according to his teammates.

Curry and Robinson have one goal in mind: Teach the younger players that for three hours the guys they used to know won't be their friends.

"We have to go out there and show that the new class at Virginia Tech can play, just like (U.Va.'s young players) want to show that, too," said Hokies defensive end Noland Burchette, a redshirt freshman. "You know who you're going against. You know their tendencies. Now, you've got to beat them."

Tangerine Bowl chooses NC State
By Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 26, 2003

Guide the Gators, Knights, Hurricanes or Seminoles through their 2003 schedule of foes, trying to score as many points as you can along the way.

For nearly a year, Tangerine Bowl officials plotted ways to secure their matchup before December.

They may yet succeed.

They landed the first half of their 2003 game Tuesday, selecting North Carolina State as the Atlantic Coast Conference representative, and the Big 12 representative could come as soon as Saturday.

Tangerine officials narrowly picked the Wolfpack -- who lost to Pittsburgh in the 2001 T-Bowl -- over Virginia as the ACC team for the Dec. 22 game. The T-Bowl gets the fourth pick from the ACC and the seventh pick from the Big 12.

"We talked about a lot of possibilities, but when it came down to a vote, we voted on NC State and Virginia," Tangerine Bowl director Matthew Sign said. "It was close, very close. Having the ACC Player of the Year [quarterback Philip Rivers] helped."

When the team visited in 2001, Wolfpack Coach Chuck Amato's team took in every Orlando attraction and theme park they could that week, and it sounds as if it'll be similar this time. "The bowl is a reward for these youngsters and their season," Amato said. "The reward is when they win a football game, but we want them to have a good time."

The T-Bowl's selection committee had the opportunity to wait on Virginia's game Saturday against Virginia Tech. NC State (7-5) already has concluded its regular season, having lost its final two games.

Having been burned the past two years by having to wait on team availability (which translated into fewer ticket-selling days), bowl officials picked a team the first day they were allowed to do so.

Their selection was set up by ACC Commissioner John Swofford, who Monday nudged the Gator Bowl (Maryland) and Peach Bowl (Clemson) to make their picks and get the process moving. For the T-Bowl, this means having its ACC team a week earlier than last year.

"It's going to be helpful as far as ticket sales," Sign said. "We get a jump before Thanksgiving on one side and right after Thanksgiving on the other. Everybody should have an opportunity to get 21-day advance airfares if they want to fly."

NC State will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday to learn its opponent, but it will be Kansas (6-6), Colorado (5-6) or Nebraska (8-3). Nebraska is a long shot, and Colorado can become bowl-eligible Friday by beating the Huskers. Kansas' regular season is over.

The Big 12 said it would release teams for bowl selections after the end of its regular season on Saturday. That pick also will come a week ahead of last year.

Tom Mickle, executive director of T-Bowl organizer Florida Citrus Sports, explored the possibility of passing the game's Big 12 pick to another Big 12 bowl, the Fort Worth Bowl. But Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg asked the bowls to preserve the order of the process. That means the Fort Worth Bowl could be without a Big 12 team and will need to find an at-large team, which could mean a more attractive game.

Mickle had designs on exploring interest from Navy and Connecticut as possible at-large entrants.

Penetrating enemy lines
Hokies faithful find ways to access Scott Stadium for the Tech-U.Va. clash
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 26, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The president of the Richmond Hokie Club, Steve Adams, has attended the past 11 football games between Virginia Tech and Virginia at Scott Stadium, and he's about to make it 12 straight.

Saturday afternoon, Adams will use one of the tickets from Tech's official allotment, as he's done on his past three visits to Scott Stadium. But he's also gained admittance by using guest tickets purchased by U.Va. students. His sister is a Wahoo, Class of 1988, his wife spent her final year of law school at U.Va., and he has numerous friends who went to graduate school there.

The state's Division I-A football teams meet every other year in Charlottesville, and Tech fans, to the chagrin of U.Va. officials, are famous for gobbling up tickets for their beloved Hokies' appearances at Scott Stadium.

"Virginia Tech fans do the best job they can trying to find tickets for this game," said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, the fund-raising arm of U.Va.'s athletic department. "Our fans are less likely to travel to Blacksburg than their fans are to come to Charlottesville."

Proximity plays a role, said Morris Skeen, a Midlothian resident who's heard weekly with Adams during football season on the Tech Talk Tuesday radio show. The Hokies, like the Cavaliers, have substantial fan bases in Richmond, Tidewater and Northern Virginia, all of which are closer to Charlottesville than to Blacksburg.

"I think for a lot of Tech people, that makes it easier," Skeen said.

Two years ago, a crowd of 61,625, then a Scott Stadium record, watched the Hokies beat the Cavaliers 31-7. That was the first game in the series since the U.Va. stadium's official capacity had increased from 44,000 to 61,5000. So loud were the cheers for the visitors, the Hokies might have thought they were at Lane Stadium.

Tech had received an allotment of 4,400 tickets from U.Va. in 2001 - the same amount it got for this weekend's game - but the crowd appeared to include at least twice that many fans in Chicago maroon and burnt orange.

That game marked Al Groh's first experience with the rivalry as the Cavaliers' head coach. Rest assured, Groh noted the Tech faithful's presence at Scott Stadium. If U.Va. fans want a program that can compete with the nation's elite, he believes, such scenes aren't acceptable.

"That goes hand in hand with it," said Groh, a U.Va. alumnus. "Everybody's got a role. If the fans want their team to be something, then the fans have to participate."

In 2001, Katstra said, "most of the Virginia Tech fans that got tickets outside of the visiting-team allotment got them from our season-ticket holders. It's up to our season-ticket holders to decide or not to decide to give them to their Virginia Tech friends and family members."

Tech fans have many ways of procuring tickets to U.Va.-Tech games at Scott Stadium. Some go so far as to buy U.Va. season tickets, though it's difficult to tell how many, officials said. Others rely on their connections to U.Va. students.

In addition to the 4,400 tickets allotted to Tech, 3,000 guest tickets are available for U.Va. students. They cost $40 apiece, and each student may buy two. Some U.Va. students sell or give these tickets to friends or family members who root for the Hokies. Other U.Va. students have advertised their guest tickets on eBay, though university officials have met with the school's student council to voice concerns about that practice.

No tickets for this game are available to the public, but Virginia Athletics Foundation donors may request additional tickets. Many of these end up in the hands of colleagues and friends who follow the Hokies. Also, corporations that buy U.Va. season tickets often try to accommodate employees who have ties to Tech.

Since the 2001 game, Katstra said, Groh has repeatedly "urged our fans to create an intimidating home-field advantage for us by keeping the opponents' fans out."

VAF officials have preached a similar message, focusing on building "a home-field advantage with great Virginia fans rather than saying, 'Don't give your tickets away,'" said Katstra, also associate athletic director for external affairs at U.Va.

"Because it's really up to them. But we say we're trying to create the very best atmosphere possible in the stadium, which means we need our fans in the stadium, whether the opponent is Penn State or Clemson or Virginia Tech. We need them to be early, loud and a factor in the game."

U.Va. sold a record 36,246 season tickets this season, and, to Groh's delight, Scott Stadium has become more raucous. More than 61,700 fans turned out for the opener with lowly Duke, and Florida State's visit last month drew a record crowd of 62,875.

Virginia fans seem to have accepted Groh's challenge. Still, expect to see more than 4,400 Tech fans at the game Saturday. A lot. Where there's a will, Hokies say, there's a way.

"I think it comes down to passion," Adams said.