ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
It's not exactly where either of these teams figured to finish the football season.
It surely isn't their desired December destination, a lower-tier bowl that is played in the shadow of the Orange Bowl.
However, to say that the seventh Carquest Bowl is a consolation game to Virginia and Miami would be wrong. Tonight's 7:30 kickoff marks a crucial game for both programs.
It's also one of the more intriguing postseason matchups, not to mention potentially one of the most competitive. It doesn't seem like ACC No.4 versus Big East No.3, maybe because each was picked in the preseason to finish second in those two leagues.
For the second straight year, Virginia (7-4) finishes a season in a bowl foe's backyard. What's strange is that UVa has performed at Pro Player - nee Joe Robbie - Stadium before. The Hurricanes, from just down I-95 in Coral Gables, haven't.
It's not that Miami (8-3) wanted to play this close to home. After beating Syracuse and throwing the Big East title into a three-way proposition and pushing Virginia Tech into the Bowl Alliance, UM coach Butch Davis said his team deserved the league's No.2 slot, in the Gator Bowl.
The Gator took West Virginia, which finished fourth in the Big East, but 8-3 overall, just like the 'Canes. The Carquest was rooting late in the season for Georgia Tech as the ACC team, and then the Yellow Jackets (5-6) didn't even qualify.
What the game ended up with was a better matchup than was thought possible, and Virginia's ticket sales of more than 6,000 have surprised and pleased bowl executives.
The Carquest still isn't expecting many more than about 50,000 fans in the stands, in the same stadium that will host the Virginia Tech-Nebraska matchup in the Orange Bowl before about 70,000 four nights later.
That's better than three of the last four crowds for a bowl that began so promising as the Blockbuster in 1990 with a near-capacity 74,021 for a victory by sixth-ranked Florida State over No.7 Penn State.
Since then, the per-team payoff has dropped from more than $1 million to $750,000 and the Carquest has struggled as a second-rate game in a region where the Orange Bowl has been a national championship player for years.
Now, the Orange has been ordered by the alliance to move into Pro Player, not only the home of the NFL's Dolphins, but also a much nicer location than the blighted bowl in downtown Miami.
The Carquest really needs a good game. It needs a crowd, too, and the question is whether Miami can provide that. The Hurricanes drew only 38,814 to the Orange Bowl last month for homecoming when Virginia Tech visited for a huge Big East game.
Miami isn't accustomed to playing at this level. The Hurricanes haven't played in a bowl that wasn't one of the New Year's Day majors since beating the Hokies in the 1980 Peach Bowl.
That's why Miami can hardly afford a loss to the Cavaliers. The Hurricanes already have fallen several steps behind Florida State and Florida in the Sunshine State and haven't lost four games in a season since an 8-5 finish in 1984.
Miami supporters also have spent the last month playing what if. When the Hurricanes chose to take their NCAA sanctions immediately and remove themselves from the bowl picture last year, they gave up the alliance spot that Virginia Tech gained.
Now, some Miami supporters are sore the school didn't wait to take its punishment this year, when it wasn't expected to win the Big East anyway. The Carquest doesn't excite them, although the school has sold 10,000 tickets.
Virginia comes to the Carquest as it did three years ago, and as it went to the Independence in 1994 and Peach Bowl last year. The Cavaliers find themselves trying to finish impressively after fading in November.
For the first time in 42 weeks of rankings, UVa doesn't appear in The Associated Press poll. The Cavaliers were replaced by a team it beat in September - Texas (8-4), which upset Nebraska in the Big 12 title game for an alliance (Fiesta) berth.
UVa dropped from No.25 without even playing. The Cavaliers were ranked for their last two bowl dates, but this Miami team, at No.19, is superior to the TCU and Georgia clubs UVa beat each of the last two holiday seasons.
Virginia has been only 7-7 in the last four Novembers, and 23-8 in those seasons prior to that. In the '90s, the Cavaliers have been over .500 in the 11th month only once (3-0 in 1991).
``I don't think we have anything to prove,'' Welsh said. "We've won seven games, and I'd like to think we could have won a couple more. I just don't like to end the season with a loss, and I don't think the players do, either.''
What this Carquest has is a matchup of could-have-beens, and one is going to feel very disappointed about the season late tonight.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB