U.Va. likely vehicle for Tire Bowl
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 08, 2002
CHARLOTTESVILLE - After a week of waiting, Virginia's football team today should
finally receive the invitation it had hoped would come last weekend.
Washington State's 48-27 victory over UCLA yesterday almost certainly punched
U.Va.'s ticket to Charlotte, N.C. Virginia (8-5), which tied for second in the
ACC, is expected to meet West Virginia (9-3), the Big East's second-place team,
in the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl on Dec. 28 at Ericsson Stadium.
"We're very hopeful that's the way it will work out and believe it will," Ken
Haines, the Continental Tire's executive director, said last night. "That's what
it's looking it like."
Nothing will be official, however, until the Bowl Championship Series pairings
are announced today at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.
Washington State will advance to the BCS as Pac-10 champion. Southern Cal and
Iowa are expected to get the BCS' at-large bids. Notre Dame also is a candidate
for an at-large invitation, but its credentials aren't as strong as those of
Southern Cal and Iowa, and it's expected to land in the Gator Bowl, dropping WVU
to the Continental Tire.
Notre Dame's dim BCS propects cleared up Virginia Tech's bowl situation
slightly. The Hokies are headed to either the San Francisco Bowl on Dec. 31 to
play Air Force or the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26 in Detroit to play Toledo.
Boston College will fill the slot Tech doesn't. Both Tech and BC have expressed
a desire to be in San Francisco. Which team will get its wish will be known
today.
Had UCLA won yesterday, Virginia would have been bound for the Dec. 30 Seattle
Bowl, with Oregon its likely opponent.
U.Va.'s athletic director, Craig Littlepage, said last Sunday he was confident
the Charlotte bowl would invite the Cavaliers, perhaps as early as that night.
But Continental Tire officials wanted to make sure the bowl's entry from the Big
East was WVU or Virginia Tech. Had they invited Virginia before the WSU-UCLA
outcome was known, they might have found themselves stuck with Pittsburgh.
Neither U.Va. nor Virginia Tech wanted a rematch of their Nov. 30 game in
Blacksburg.
The Cavaliers and the Mountaineers haven't met since 1985. That was George
Welsh's fourth season as U.Va.'s coach, and his team hammered WVU 27-7 at Scott
Stadium. A year earlier, the Cavaliers had won by the same score in Morgantown,
W.Va.
U.Va. leads the series 11-10-1.
Each team is coached by one of its alumni. Rich Rodriguez, a former offensive
coordinator at Clemson, is in his second year at West Virginia. Al Groh, the ACC
coach of the year, is in his second year at Virginia. Both teams struggled in
2001, WVU finishing 3-8 and U.Va. 5-7.
Virginia will receive $750,000 for playing in the Continental Tire Bowl, which
will start at 11 a.m. and be televised by ESPN2. U.Va. expects to sell more than
its allotment of 12,500 tickets.
"This gives Virginia an opportunity to show people it can travel," Haines said.
U.Va. and WVU have two opponents in common: Maryland and Virginia Tech. The
Cavaliers humbled the Terrapins 48-13 on Nov. 23 at Scott Stadium then closed
the regular season with a 21-9 loss to the Hokies at Lane Stadium. WVU lost
48-17 to visiting Maryland on Oct. 5 and upset Tech 21-18 in Blacksburg on Nov.
20.
Virginia is 4-8 in bowls, all under Welsh. U.Va. has lost four straight
postseason games since beating Georgia 34-27 in the 1995 Peach Bowl.
Notre Dame's bowl fate will affect three or four ACC teams and determine the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl matchup this month at Ericsson Stadium.
Whatever happens with the Fighting Irish, the Dec. 28 Continental Tire Bowl is assured of one of the following games: Virginia vs. West Virginia, or Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech.
If Notre Dame gets an at-large bid in the Bowl Championship Series, the trickle-down effect would send the Hokies and Yellow Jackets to Charlotte. If Notre Dame is left out of the BCS, it would go to the Gator Bowl to play N.C. State, leaving the Continental Tire Bowl with a matchup of Virginia against West Virginia.
"West Virginia and Virginia Tech travel very, very well, and that's one reason either matchup is appealing to us," said Ken Haines of Raycom Sports, the Charlotte-based company operating the Continental Tire Bowl. "And in all candor, we are being bombarded with e-mails from Virginia fans claiming they will travel as they have never traveled before if Virginia comes here."
The Continental Tire Bowl could draw between 40,000 and 50,000 fans, most from out of town.
Notre Dame's fate also could determine whether Wake Forest is shut out of a bowl for the second consecutive season. The Deacons are hoping for an at-large bid to the Silicon Valley or Motor City bowl, but the Motor City could be unavailable if Notre Dame goes to the Gator -- starting a domino effect that likely would end with Boston College taking the opening in Detroit.
As if it weren't confusing enough, all those outcomes not only hinge on Notre Dame, but more specifically on Saturday's game between Washington State and UCLA.
If UCLA wins, Southern Cal would claim the Pac-10 title and replace Washington State in the Rose Bowl -- opening an at-large spot for Notre Dame in the BCS. That would set in motion a scenario that would lead to West Virginia going to the Gator Bowl (to play N.C. State) while sending Virginia Tech to Charlotte to play Georgia Tech.
If Washington State wins, Southern Cal would most likely get the last BCS slot, sending Notre Dame to the Gator and West Virginia to Charlotte to play Georgia Tech.
The reason Virginia isn't headed to the Continental Tire Bowl either way is because Virginia and Virginia Tech would not want to stage a repeat of their season-ending game.
Virginia fans seem to prefer Charlotte over the Seattle Bowl, which will get either the Cavs or Jackets -- whoever doesn't come to the Continental Tire Bowl.
"Somebody must have put my e-mail address on a chat room," Haines said, "because when I got to the office this morning I had 280 e-mails, and almost all of them were from Virginia fans."
Tech down to two bowl possibilities
Hokies will play in either Detroit or San Francisco
By David Teel
Daily Press
Published December 8, 2002
MIAMI -- Virginia will play West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl, while
Virginia Tech is headed to either the San Francisco or Motor City Bowl.
Those dominoes fell Saturday evening after Washington State defeated UCLA to
earn the Pacific 10 championship and an automatic spot in the Bowl Championship
Series. The Cougars' victory eliminated Notre Dame from the BCS, sent the Irish
to the Gator Bowl and dropped West Virginia from the Gator to the Continental
Tire.
The inaugural Continental Tire Bowl is Dec. 28 in Charlotte.
Virginia Tech's bowl destination, New Year's in San Francisco or Christmas in
Detroit, was determined Thursday during a contingency vote conducted by Big East
athletic directors. But neither of the affected teams, Virginia Tech and Boston
College, learned the results until late Saturday night or early this morning.
Sensing that Notre Dame might fall from the BCS, and that the Gator Bowl would
then exercise its option to select the Irish instead of a Big East team, Big
East athletic directors crafted contingency plans Thursday. West Virginia, with
rabid fans and a victory against Tech, was a natural for nearby Charlotte.
That left Tech and Boston College. Both prefer the Dec. 31 San Francisco Bowl
against Air Force to the Dec. 26 Motor City Bowl against Toledo. During a
conference call of seven Big East football athletic directors (Temple
abstained), Tech's Jim Weaver and Boston College's Gene DeFilippo made their
cases. Weaver argued that Tech deserved San Francisco based on its victory
against Boston College. DeFilippo countered that head-to-head competition was
ignored last season when the Gator Bowl chose Tech instead of conference
runner-up Syracuse.
Weaver and DeFilippo hung up, and the remaining five ADs voted. As Tech departed
south Florida on Saturday night following a 56-45 loss to No. 1 Miami, school
officials remained
uncertain of where the Hokies will play next.