Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511060113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A decision on whether Virginia Tech will play a two-year football series with Auburn could come this week, Hokies athletic director Dave Braine said Saturday.
Tech has been considering games with the Tigers to replace Cincinnati, which has asked Tech out of dates to schedule games in the new Conference USA. The Hokies and Auburn have been discussing dates for 1996 and '97.
Tech has been seeking at least a portion of its Big East Football Conference schedule before agreeing to play Auburn, trying to determine which league foes would be played before or after the Tigers.
That hasn't been possible, because CBS Sports does not have to select its committed Big East dates for 1996 until early next month, although the league and network will have a preliminary meeting this week.
The Hokies also have sought television dates for the Auburn series before giving an OK to the deal.
A source familiar with the negotiations said a Sept. 6 game in 1997 at Lane Stadium seems agreeable to both schools, but that game would not be played without a '96 agreement.
The discussed 1996 dates are Aug. 31 or Sept. 28, at Auburn. ESPN is interested in the early date, CBS - which has both Big East and Southeastern Conference TV rights from 1996-2000 - the other.
BIG CROWD
The sellout crowd of 51,239 for Syracuse's visit was the largest of the season at Lane Stadium and eighth-best in stadium history.
Six of Tech's top 11 crowds have come in the past four seasons, and the stadium capacity has been reduced to accommodate seating for the disabled since a record 54,157 squeezed in for the Virginia game in 1990.
NEW FACILITY
The Hokies formally announced plans for their new $6 million addition to the Jamerson Athletic Center, a multipurpose facility for which football coach Frank Beamer has campaigned.
The facility will be named for the F.W. ``Sonny'' Merryman Jr. family of Rustburg. The family has made a large gift to the university for the project, said Lu Merritt, Tech's director of development for athletics.
Merritt said $3.7 million of the $6 million needed for the project already has been committed by Tech supporters.
NEXT OPPONENT
The Hokies (7-2, 5-1) will play for at least a share of the Big East Football Conference title against Temple (1-8, 1-4) at RFK Stadium. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Tech hasn't played a game in Washington, D.C., since winning 17-12 at George Washington in 1965. The Temple date is the first neutral site regular-season game for the Hokies since losing to the Owls in the Oyster Bowl in Norfolk in 1986. That game later was forfeited to Tech because Temple played an ineligible player.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL VPI
by CNB