Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990                   TAG: 9007010141
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Scott Blanchard
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`CONFERENCE' PLAY ALREADY UNDER WAY

On Thursday, the eight-team Metro formally announced that it is seeking to add Miami, West Virginia, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Temple, Rutgers and East Carolina.

"There's no timetable for competition at this point," Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen said, "but . . . a lot of these people play one another right now.

"The schedule wouldn't have to change that dramatically to make this work."

He's right.

Each of the 16 teams has at least four Metro or could-be Metro teams on its 1990 football schedule. Five schools have seven potential conference mates already on the schedule; three have six; five have five; and two, Miami and South Carolina, have four. West Virginia has eight, one more than the new league would require.

Some of the scheduling crossover has occurred because many teams normally schedule regional opponents. But more unusual matchups are present. Syracuse, for example, plays Tulane this year, and Pitt and Boston College both play Louisville.

Virginia Tech is one of the teams which has six "new Metro" teams on its schedule: ECU, South Carolina, Florida State, West Virginia, Temple and Southern Mississippi.