ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
A good football rivalry is like a Thanksgiving dinner.
It takes time to cook and simmer. It's definitely more tasty when it comes with trimmings. And when visitors from afar partake, it only adds to the experience.
There are no leftovers being served this afternoon at Lane Stadium, where Virginia and Virginia Tech should add spice to what in recent years has become one of college football's more meaningful rivalries. Still, not enough people have noticed.
Although the Cavaliers and Hokies are meeting for the 78th time in a span of 101 seasons, it's a game that hasn't mattered much to the rest of the pigskin planet. When the sport's great rivalries are mentioned, Tech-UVa usually is mentioned somewhere south of Washington-Washington State and a bit north of Ole Miss-Mississippi State. And that isn't only geographically speaking.
People just aren't paying attention. Maybe it's because the Tech-UVa game hasn't been played for one of those rivalry artifacts, a bucket or barrel. Probably, history says, it's because in most seasons when one team has been better than mediocre, the other hasn't.
For years, within the state lines, this game has been Virginia's biggest sports event without carburetors and lugnuts. More than 50,000 fans will pack something other than a shopping mall today to watch, and in one indication that someone somewhere else is paying attention, CBS has moved the game to a holiday weekend for telecast - then is sending it to less than 40 percent of the nation.
However, the Tech-UVa game should be a legitimate national - as well as provincial - attraction. Here's some dressing to chew on: Among all of the major-college football rivalries, there are only three in which both teams have been ranked in the Associated Press poll at kickoff each of the past four seasons - Florida-Florida State, Nebraska-Colorado and Virginia-Virginia Tech.
That's downright uncommon wealth.
Not Ohio State-Michigan. Not FSU-Miami. Not Notre Dame-Southern Cal. Not even what is likely the state rivalry with the most fervor, Alabama-Auburn. And really, the Cornhuskers' traditional rival isn't Colorado, but Oklahoma, in a series that Big 12 Conference divisional scheduling will interrupt next season.
The rivalries with the most clamor and glamour are those among neighbors in the same conference. The Tech-UVa game doesn't have that advantage. The significance of that has grown, too, with bowl spots tied to conference performance, as the Hokies and Cavaliers each displayed with postseason positioning performances in their most recent outings.
Maybe the lack of national recognition really is a conference thing, relating to the shape of the ball. When someone mentions the ACC and Big East, they usually think of Billy Packer before Keith Jackson. There is little question, however, that Tech's emergence in tandem with its Big East football membership has added to the state series.
For the first time, Tech and Virginia will play for something other than bragging rights. That's the Commonwealth Cup, a 4-foot, 65-pound rookie on whose face is engraved visages of Virginia's eight native presidents. It doesn't have tradition yet, but Washington to Wilson is a combination that goes deep.
It has been a very competitive rivalry for years. Not only has the road team won four in a row, but in the three previous twin-ranking years, the lower team in the polls has won. Only twice since 1963 has Tech or UVa managed to string together at least three victories in succession, and 16 of the past 26 games have been decided by seven or fewer points.
The increased interest in the series also might be tied to less fractured loyalties in big-time football in the state since the late '70s, when NCAA Division I-AA was created and VMI, Richmond and William and Mary stepped down. The dual success of UVa and Tech also could be linked to sideline consistency. When next season starts, George Welsh and Frank Beamer will both rank in the top 12 in Division I-A coaching longevity at their current posts.
Today's game is likely to disappoint only the loser on the scoreboard. If 10 games mean anything, No. 17 Tech (9-1) has the more consistent and productive offense, but 20th-ranked UVa (7-3) is stronger and faster on defense. The Cavaliers have the edge and experience among the kickers and return men, but the Hokies' special-teams play is more special and often produces the spectacular.
The NCAA computer says UVa has played the better opponents, by a few victories, but Tech is meeting a ranked opponent for the third consecutive game - and week - for the first time in its history. Virginia has won at least seven games in 10 consecutive seasons. Only eight major teams have more than the Hokies' 36 victories in the past four years.
Ralph Sampson, Dell Curry, Allen Iverson and Moses Malone may be natives, but isn't it about time more people noticed Virginia really is shaped kind of like a football?
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - Top-Rank Matchup KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB