ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612030023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
When the Big East Football Conference adopted a tie-breaker formula in March, little did Dave Braine suspect Virginia Tech would be the first beneficiary of the plan.
The Hokies all but officially became the Big East's representative in the Bowl Alliance when they were ranked ahead of Miami and Syracuse in polls released Sunday by The Associated Press and USA Today/CNN. The final regular-season polls to be released Dec.8 will make it official, but neither Miami or Syracuse is likely to pass Tech in those rankings with all three teams having completed their schedules.
It will be the second consecutive Bowl Alliance appearance for Tech, which last year defeated Texas 28-10 in the Sugar Bowl. The most likely destination for the Hokies (10-1) this year is the Orange Bowl at Pro Player Stadium in Miami at 7 p.m. Dec.31.
``Everybody's predicting that, if Florida beats Alabama, Tech will play Florida,'' Braine said, ``but that's still to be determined.''
Also to be determined is Virginia's opponent in the Carquest Bowl, which has the third choice of Big East teams.
Braine said it was possible the Gator Bowl, with the second choice, would take West Virginia because of its fanatical following. That would leave Miami for the Carquest Bowl and Syracuse for the Liberty.
``I think that would be tough for Syracuse, if it were to go from first to fourth [in the bowls' eyes] with one loss,'' Braine said.
Syracuse, Miami and Tech all finished at 6-1 and will be declared co-champions, but the Hokies will get the alliance spot because they were 11th in the Associated Press rankings, picked by the media, and ninth in the USA Today/CNN rankings, picked by the coaches.
Miami was 19th and 20th, respectively, and Syracuse was 22nd in both polls.
Syracuse would have won the championship outright if it had won Saturday, but the Orangemen were upset by Miami at the Carrier Dome, 38-31. One day earlier, Tech had dispatched then-No.20 Virginia 26-9 at Lane Stadium.
That was important because, if Tech had lost and Syracuse had lost, the Big East would have determined its champion by averaging the polls and the Orangemen entered the weekend ahead of the Hokies in the AP poll.
``Some people might say, `There must be a better way,''' said Tech coach Frank Beamer, ``but I would have to say that this is the best way we've found. When we went over this plan, we at Tech were very much in agreement with it.''
When the Hokies and Miami tied last year at 6-1, higher-ranked Tech wasn't assured of an alliance spot until the Hurricanes voluntarily removed themselves from bowl consideration in anticipation of NCAA probation.
``I remember, at this time last year, this whole week was a very unnerving experience,'' Braine said. ``A lot of people were saying Miami was going to go; then, all of a sudden [the Hurricanes] decided to opt out. Nobody wanted to go through that again.''
What concerned the Hokies was their relative lack of movement in the AP poll. After falling to Syracuse 52-21 in September, they dropped out of the AP rankings for five weeks and were 25th when they re-entered Nov.4, despite a 6-1 record.
``What surprised me today was the jump,'' said Braine of Tech's move from 17th to 11th.
The Hokies, who wouldn't have been unhappy to play North Carolina in the Gator Bowl, received a financial windfall from Saturday's development. The payoff for teams in the Bowl Alliance is $8.3 million, compared with $1.8 million for the Gator Bowl.
The Sugar Bowl, with the Nos.1 and 2 choices of Bowl Alliance teams, is expected to select Florida State and Nebraska. The Fiesta Bowl, which had Florida last year, probably will bypass the Gators and use its third choice on Penn State.
That would leave Florida for the Orange Bowl, with the fourth choice. The Fiesta Bowl could use the fifth choice on a wild-card team such as Brigham Young or Colorado, or it could take the Hokies.
``They've seen us play twice,'' said Braine of the Fiesta. ``I think there's an interest.''
But what of Notre Dame? The Fighting Irish (8-3) dropped to 18th in both polls with its 27-20 overtime loss to Southern California, but it is a marquee program with a marquee coach in Lou Holtz, who is stepping down after the season.
``I wasn't sure Notre Dame could go with eight wins,'' Braine said, ``but what I'm told now is that there are three criteria and Notre Dame only has to meet one of them. If Notre Dame can be ranked 18th and still goes to the alliance, I would say there's a fallacy in the system.''
Braine said it was his sense that the Tech coaches and players would like to play Penn State or Notre Dame. For one thing, Florida would likely have the bulk of the crowd support at the Orange Bowl.
That was a scenario few people were discussing before the Miami-Syracuse broadcast Saturday.
``It's amazing how you can be more nervous watching a game like that, in some ways, than you are coaching your own team,'' Beamer said. ``Jimmye Laycock [the William and Mary coach] called with about two minutes left and said, `Congratulations, you've got it.'
``I told him, `I don't know if we've got it or not.' There was no way I could be that confident. We had too much to lose.''
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