ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Peach Bowl Notes
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
It's difficult to tell what the players on Virginia's football team are doing more of these days: studying game film or twiddling their thumbs.
Both activities are equally undesirable to the Cavaliers.
``Hotel rooms are not for watching film,'' defensive tackle Todd White said Thursday. ``They're for sleeping.''
That's an option, too. Virginia has lots of time on its hands with the Peach Bowl still a day away. Boredom has pretty much become unavoidable.
``I hope so,'' said offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien. ``We let them go out and spend their money and have fun early. Now they've stayed in a couple of nights with nothing to do but think about the game.''
Quarterback Mike Groh said practicing at Furman for four days got the Cavaliers' minds on the game. They left Charlottesville for Greenville, S.C., on Dec.18, and have been in Atlanta since Saturday.
``There's only so many times you can go out in 10 days,'' Groh said.
White said he's experiencing feelings that border on deja vu. ``It's kind of like Christmas,'' he said. ``We're anticipating it coming. We're waiting and waiting. I'm ready for the game to be here now.''
Ditto for the Georgia camp. The Peach Bowl offers the Bulldogs a chance to put a wrap on what has been a turbulent year for the program.
``Could we have possibly played yesterday?'' asked Georgia offensive coordinator Wayne McDuffie. ``How about tonight at midnight in the parking lot?''
GREAT DEBATE: Georgia has a 6-5 record and will lose its coach, Ray Goff, after Saturday's game. Virginia is 8-4 and won a share of the ACC championship.
But does that mean the Bulldogs, members of the Southeastern Conference, really respect the Cavaliers?
``It's not cockiness, but they're like, `The only good team in the ACC is Florida State,''' White said of the Bulldogs.
``I don't think they think too highly of us.''
Virginia is 28-43-6 against teams currently in the SEC. Its last game against an SEC team came in the 1991 Sugar Bowl, a 23-22 loss to Tennessee.
``If we're clicking on all cylinders, I basically don't think it will be a close contest at all,'' White said.
The teams have not had much interaction, but they met each other en masse Tuesday night at Underground Atlanta, a local shopping area.
There were various competitions involving team members, including a peanut race and dance contest. The trash-talking began soon after that.
One Georgia player approached Virginia wide receiver Pete Allen, all 148 pounds of him. ``You're the little fast guy on the team,'' the Bulldogs player said. ``I'm going to catch you and run you down.''
Just then, Allen pointed at the soles of his shoes. ``See these?'' he said. ``That's all you're going to see.''
GIGGLY GOFF: The deposed Georgia coach has been surprisingly jocular this week considering what McDuffie called ``a vendetta put on us'' this season.
Dissatisfied alumni and administrators ran Goff out of town, but they didn't get him down. He's enjoying his last days in his position, even staying in the hospitality suite until midnight the night before an 8 a.m. practice.
``I like y'all's job better than mine,'' Goff told a group of reporters. ``I might have to try it.''
Goff, on the recent coaching turnover in the program: ``We've had more press conferences the last two weeks than they had O.J. updates.''
And finally, when he approached the dais for a press conference, he looked to players Hines Ward and Whit Marshall and said, ``I'm not sitting up here by myself. If they're gonna shoot, they're gonna shoot you, too.''
BUCK STOPPED HERE: Bruce Olecki, who is in charge of the Peach Bowl media hospitality suite, can tell you about football. He played at the University of Maryland.
He can also tell you about playing football in Roanoke, where he was a member of the Buckskins in the old Continental Football League. Olecki wore No.72 as an offensive tackle in 1970 and 1971.
He later went to work at Johnson and Johnson and lived in Roanoke for five years. Olecki is married to the former Edith Marie Brown of Troutville and now works as a general manager of Industrial Tape and Supply in Atlanta.
His greatest memories as a Buckskin? ``Playing against Otis Sistrunk and having Jimmy Piersall as a general manager.''
He also remembers the money he was paid - $225 a game. Roanoke Rush players would probably agree that those were the good old days.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB