THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411260172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
As strange as it sounds, Virginia may have tumbled from the best to the worst of bowl possibilities for ACC teams by losing Saturday to North Carolina State.
Bowl and league sources said prior to the game that Virginia seemed ``a lock'' for the Sugar, Cotton or Fiesta bowls if it defeated N.C. State.
Tom Fridena, president of the Fiesta Bowl selection committee, said he would like to have a 9-2 Virginia if Florida State was not available to play Colorado.
Even if Florida State went to the Fiesta, a 9-2 record could have put Virginia in the Sugar Bowl if Notre Dame loses to Southern California.
But, at 8-3, Virginia is only a face in a crowd of the four ACC teams including N.C. State, North Carolina, and Duke.
And, while the big bowls were looking at Florida State and Virginia, lesser ones were lining up the other three bowl-bound ACC teams.
N.C. State, before winning, was headed for the Independence. The Peach Bowl was wooing North Carolina, and the Hall of Fame Bowl wanted Duke.
What happens now may depend on the polls.
If North Carolina goes ahead of Virginia in the rankings, the Tar Heels might go to the Fiesta or Sugar bowls.
If Virginia stays ahead of N.C. State and Duke in the polls, and with the same overall record, it would hope to do better than the Independence, which pays only $750,000. However, with N.C. State now in contention for the Gator or Peach bowls, some ACC team has to go to the Independence.
Virginia coach George Welsh was mum on the bowl bidding. ``I'm happy we're going somewhere, but I don't know where,'' he said.
AGREES TO GAMBLE: Virginia quarterback Mike Groh was fully behind Welsh's fourth-quarter gamble to go for a first down instead of seeking a game-tying field goal.
``Who wants a tie when you still have a chance to win the game?'' asked Groh, who was 23-of-34 for 287 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception and ran for another touchdown.
``We had a chance to win nine games, which hasn't been done around here much, and just came up short.''
BREAKDOWN: It doesn't take a coaching genius to figure this out, but defensive coordinator Rick Lantz said breakdowns and missed assignments were responsible for N.C. State's three long scoring plays.
The most crucial was Tremayne Stephens' 84-yard sprint through the middle of Virginia's defense for the touchdown that put the Wolfpack ahead in the fourth period.
Lantz said Virginia was blitzing and one of the linebackers and a safety failed to protect the gap.
Interestingly, the Cavaliers' No. 1 line was on the sidelines taking a breather when the big run came.
``It wouldn't have mattered if we had been in,'' said defensive end Mike Frederick. ``Someone missed an assignment, but it wasn't a lineman.''
BAD DAY: Wide receiver Pat Jeffers would have considered the game one of the best of his career if Virginia had won.
Instead, it turned out to be one of the most bitter for Jeffers.
The senior had six catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. But he let an early pass bounce off his hands for an interception and he fumbled on the N.C. State 12 after a catch in the third period.
``When you win, you remember the positives and when you lose, you dwell on the negatives,'' Jeffers said. by CNB