ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270097
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Peach Bowl Notes
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
Tuesday was the kickoff date for many of the Peach Bowl's pregame activities, but the attention of college football fanatics in this town and the rest of the Peach State was directed down the road at Athens.
That was where Marshall University coach Jim Donnan was sworn in as Georgia's new football coach, one day after Kansas coach Glen Mason gave up the job he accepted a week ago.
Local sentiment had it that Mason's wavering was an embarrassment for the tradition-rich Georgia program. Virginia coach George Welsh, whose Cavaliers play Georgia in the Peach Bowl, disagreed Tuesday.
``I don't think it was an embarrassment,'' he said at the J.W. Marriott, the Cavaliers' team hotel. ``The guy just changed his mind. I can understand it. If something doesn't feel right, you're making a mistake for five years.''
The question is, how have the events of the last 48 hours changed the mindset of the Georgia players? Many had tuned in to Monday's Kansas-UCLA Aloha Bowl to get a glimpse of Mason working the sidelines in the national spotlight. When he reneged, they wound up with Donnan, who only gets on national television once a year at most, albeit in the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game.
When Bulldogs athletic director Vince Dooley announced Donnan's hiring, Georgia defensive lineman Travis Stroud told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ``He's named who? I have no idea who he is. I've never even heard of him. ... Man!''
Welsh said he didn't think the turnover turmoil would have an effect on the Bulldogs.
``They're young,'' he said, then added, ``They're probably over it today.''
To Virginia tailback Tiki Barber, the Mason-Donnan situation, coupled with current coach Ray Goff's lame-duck status, has to be on the Bulldogs' minds.
``It's definitely a unique situation,'' he said. ``It's got to be a major distraction. Even if they're not thinking about it, they're thinking about it.
``But I guess it depends on how attached they are to [Goff]. It wasn't like they were the ones who drove him out; it was the bureaucracy.''
Welsh just wants to make sure the situation isn't on his players' minds.
``The only thing I'm going to tell the team, and I mentioned it briefly this morning, is that we can't do anything about what Georgia is doing or how motivated they are,'' he said. ``We just have to take care of ourselves.
``You know, it's happened before. In fact, I did it. I took the Virginia job and went back to coach Navy in the Liberty Bowl [a 31-28 loss to Ohio State in 1981].''
How did the Midshipmen handle it?
``I think they were disturbed about it,'' Welsh said. ``Navy's different, though. Their lives aren't tied up in football games.''
HOBBLING HARRIS: Defensive end Jon Harris, who suffered a deep thigh bruise in the Virginia Tech game Nov.18, is not likely to play in Saturday's game.
``It doesn't look good right now,'' Welsh said.
Harris reinjured his thigh in the first of four practices at Furman University last week. That apparently was the only negative to come out of the Furman experience, which replaced practices in Charlottesville.
``As far as the weather was concerned,'' Welsh said, ``we were better off'' at Furman.
RED-LETTER DAY: Welsh said the most important date for the Cavaliers in terms of recruiting may have been Nov.2, the day his team beat then-No.2 Florida State.
``It helped us with exposure,'' he said of Virginia's 33-28 nationally-televised win over the Seminoles. ``It may have helped us get some recruits right now.''
He couldn't say whether he was referring to Thomas Jones, the running back from Big Stone Gap who was rated the No.1 prospect in Virginia by the The Roanoke Times. Jones committed to the Cavaliers on Tuesday.
TICKET TALK: Virginia may be headed to its best-ever bowl-ticket bonanza. Ticket manager Dick Mathias reported that 17,100 tickets to the Peach Bowl were sold in Charlottesville, and he estimated that with purchases made by alumni in the Atlanta area, the total would jump to between19,000 and 20,000.
Officials said Virginia fans purchased approximately 17,000 for the Citrus Bowl in 1989.
And while the Cavaliers didn't get the bigger payout of the Gator Bowl, they said they couldn't have gotten a better deal than the Peach.
``This is the best bowl for us in terms of fan turnout and fund-wise,'' said safety Percy Ellsworth, who along with his teammates has been in Atlanta since Saturday. ``The last two-to-three years you might have found some quarrels on team. But I don't think one person isn't having good time here.''
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