ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
For your pigskin stuffing:
TV SPEAKS: The impact of the new television deals that begin next season in college football is evident. Look at the ACC schedule. Clemson-North Carolina opens the season Aug.31, and Virginia has its four tough dates in the last five weeks - at Florida State, at Duke (not one of the four tough dates), Clemson and UNC at home, then at Virginia Tech.
WAITING: Much is made of Virginia Tech's strong bowl sales, but one of these years, maybe the Hokies will actually sell more season tickets than bowl seats. Isn't that ticket base a more accurate barometer of solid support?
'CAT CALL: Do you think Wake Forest and Duke thought they'd be playing a team coming off a Rose Bowl date when they scheduled Northwestern for back-to-back September weekends in 1996? Who knew the Wildcats would become one of the great stories in college football history. Sports Illustrated had them 79th in their preseason ranking of 108 Division I-A teams, just ahead of Wake and Kentucky.
REAL RANK: The two conferences of the state's I-A football programs, the Big East and ACC, came up anything but big against bullies from another block. The ACC was 0-6 against ranked teams in non-conference games. The Big East was 2-9, and both wins came against the ACC. Virginia Tech won at Virginia, and Syracuse opened with an upset at North Carolina. The ACC was 9-13 against I-A outside opponents, the big East 11-20.
BIGGER EAST: If the Big East really wanted to improve its football, it should boot pitiful Temple - which isn't a basketball member, anyway - and add East Carolina. The Pirates were 3-0 against Big East teams this year, not to mention the best team in North Carolina. The Owls have seven wins in five years. ECU was 8-3 this season.
TRADEMARK: Kansas State's Bill Snyder already has been named as one of the hot coaching candidates after turning the Wildcats into a Top 25 team. If Snyder exits, the negotiations should be intriguing. He owns the patent on the new K-State logo.
RECHARGING: The word in the NFL is San Diego Chargers coach Bobby Ross is tired of dealing with the new ``free agent'' attitude in pro football, and the VMI alumnus wants to return to college ball. Ross won a college title at Georgia Tech and took the Chargers to the Super Bowl. Is UCLA his next stop?
RICH STUFF: When Ohio State coach John Cooper said, ``I don't know if I've ever been so disappointed in my life'' after the unbeaten Buckeyes' lost to Michigan last month, his wallet was talking, too. Cooper's contract calls for a $10,000 bonus for nine wins in a season, providing one is over the Wolverines, a $50,000 bonus for a Rose Bowl date and a $50,000 bonus for winning the national championship.
THE 'SKINNY: You can cite whatever facts you want on close losses or improved statistics or sweeping Dallas, but the bottom line for the Washington Redskins is if coach Norv Turner doesn't get the club to at least 8-8 next season, he's history - particularly with the team moving into the new Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1997 or '98.
BOWL FULL: Thanks to the new alliance, the 18 Division I-A bowls will pay participating teams and conferences more than $102.5 million this year. That's up $30 million from last year, but it still pales to what networks and sponsors would pay for a true playoff system that could be incorporated with the bowls.
BROWN-OUT: The sentiment is to change the nickname of the NFL team leaving Cleveland. Considering a longtime rivalry, the AFC divisional ties and how the Browns left Ohio, how about the Baltimore Stealers?
SHOVEL PASS: In Dallas, some writers have suggested the Cowboys' coach change his name to Bury Switzer.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB