ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 23, 1996 TAG: 9611260022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
It's been a mostly civil war for years, and now it's one of the better rivalries in the Big East, too. However, in a football series that has been played occasionally since 1912 and annually since 1973, West Virginia and Virginia Tech meet today as ranked foes for the first time.
Considering the stakes, the Mountaineers and Hokies ought to be playing in Florida.
Among a noontime Lane Stadium sellout crowd of more than 50,000 will be Gator Bowl executive director Rick Catlett. He hasn't flown from Jacksonville to Roanoke and driven a rental car down I-81 just to sit in front of the crackling lobby fireplace at the Red Lion Inn - although he will.
``You can say that the winner of this game is definitely in the driver's seat [for the Gator Bowl],'' said Catlett, describing his scouting mission a couple of days ago.
Actually, you can say a lot more than that, including that the Carquest Bowl would love to have either team. The bottom line is that the tougher choice for the Jan.1 Gator, which matches second selections from the ACC and Big East, will be to decide an opponent for the WVU-Tech winner.
North Carolina isn't the lock it seemed when it fell from Bowl Alliance consideration - if the Tar Heels really had been in such a stratosphere - with a loss at Virginia a week ago.
``Our question,'' Catlett asked, ``is do we pick a 9-2 Carolina, ranked about 12th, that will bring 10,000 fans, or an 8-3 Clemson, ranked about 18th, bringing 25,000 fans?''
The need for the Gator to fret about filling seats is lessened by the potential presence of the 17th-ranked Hokies or No.23 Mountaineers, who will sell plenty of tickets, certainly more than the 11,500 each school is required to buy. If that improves UNC's Gator potential, well, the game also remembers its last sellout of 80,000-plus was Clemson's 27-7 triumph over West Virginia in 1989.
Someone will leave a game between the nation's top defense (WVU) and the league's best offense (Tech) with nine victories. While WVU (8-2) will finish its season, Tech (8-1) still has a Thanksgiving Friday home date with UVa (7-3).
If the Hokies win today and lose to the Cavaliers, maybe Tech isn't as clear-cut a Gator choice. However, they probably still would be, because of the rankings. It's unlikely the Gator would select West Virginia if it were two games behind Tech in the Big East standings.
Of course, a Miami win at Syracuse a week from today could change everything. That could vault Tech into the Bowl Alliance picture. It's also the only way the Hurricanes could get a trip to Jacksonville. The Gator will not take Miami (6-3) with four losses or give a return trip to a three-loss Syracuse (7-2) - which pounded Clemson in last year's rainy Gator.
So, Miami only knocks Tech or WVU out of the Gator if the Hurricanes beat Syracuse and still finish behind the Hokies in the average rankings comparison the Big East will use as an alliance tiebreaker. If Miami goes to the Gator, the game needs Clemson's crowd.
The New Year's afternoon game, on NBC, also has to squeeze out a respectable TV rating to please Toyota, its corporate sponsor, while going against two bowls - the Citrus and Outback - that match the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. Those games will include Northwestern and Tennessee, both nice TV attractions. The competing Cotton Bowl could have a Colorado-Washington game, too.
If West Virginia wins today and the Hokies head to the Carquest, it also compounds Virginia's hopes for the ACC's No. 4 slot in that bowl. Tech could lose to the Mountaineers, then beat Virginia and still be 9-2 and ranked higher than a WVU club with the same record.
Either way today, there is one guy who can't lose. It's Rick Catlett.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines KEYWORDS: 2DAby CNB