THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508060159
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
It's the same old story at the top of the Big East, but the rest of the story is pretty muddled.
Miami is the clear-cut conference favorite. Next comes Boston College, Virginia Tech and West Virginia - in varying orders.
According to attendees at the conference's football media day this week, Miami is the pick, with 20 of the 30 first-place votes. Boston College was second in the voting, although it received just three first-place votes compared with seven for third choice Virginia Tech. West Virginia was fourth, followed by Syracuse, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Temple.
Miami is also the choice to win the league by six of seven preseason magazine polls the Big East provided. The Hokies, who were second a year ago, get the nod by Athlon, but are only listed among the nation's top 25 by one other publication.
The Hokies, Mountaineers and Eagles each are chosen second in the league by at least one of the six magazines that rate Miami the conference favorite.
``It's like all these things say, who knows?'' Beamer said, pointing to the sheet of polls. ``We've got a chance to be a good football team, but so do Boston College, Miami and West Virginia.''
Tech will discover quickly whether it's a title contender. The Hokies open the season with an ESPN Thursday night game Sept. 7 against Boston College, then meet Miami 16 days later in their third game.
``For us it's probably tough the way it's set up,'' Beamer said. ``The good thing is they're both in beautiful Blacksburg. The bad thing is we have a new quarterback and new kickers.''
GIVE THEM LIBERTY: The Big East currently has arrangements to send three teams to bowl games. The conference champion figures into the Bowl Alliance between the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls, which will attempt to create a national championship game.
A second team from the Big East - but not necessarily the second-place team - will play in the Gator Bowl against a second team from the ACC. A third Big East team will play in the Carquest Bowl against either a fourth selection from the ACC or a fifth choice from the Southeastern Conference.
Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese said the league is close to a deal that will send a fourth team to the Liberty Bowl against a Conference USA team.
``Nothing's definite until we sign a piece of paper,'' Tranghese said. ``But I'm an optimistic person and I think it's going to get done.''
EARLY JITTERS: For the second consecutive season, a Big East team is in the Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium. Boston College coach Dan Henning said the Aug. 27 game against Ohio State scares him because of what happened to West Virginia last year.
The Mountaineers, nationally ranked in the preseason, got drilled by eventual national champion Nebraska in the early game, 31-0. The effects of that loss lingered, as West Virginia staggered to a 1-4 start before recovering to win six of its next seven games to earn a Carquest Bowl berth.
``We are going to emphasize to our players that you can't be prepared enough for that game, because look what happened to an outstanding team in our league in it last year,'' Henning said.
TUBE SWITCH: The Big East television package has a new home this year on a a low-power TV station in Hampton Roads. WPEN, a 2-year-old independent station on the Peninsula, has gobbled up the 11-game football schedule and 16-game basketball offering of Big East regional television.
``Big East football in this market is a home run,'' WPEN general manager Dave Hanna said.
The station, channel 68 over the air and channel 62 on Cox Cable, is not currently available on cable systems in Chesapeake (TCI) or Suffolk (Falcon). WPEN covers the entire Peninsula.
Hanna said the station is working on getting added to Chesapeake's cable system, and intends to try to get on in Suffolk as well.
CBS affiliate WTKR had the Big East package last year. WTKR president and general manager Elden Hale, who has been on the job since the station was sold to the New York Times Company in June, said he doesn't know why WTKR didn't retain the Big East.
``The previous owners of the television station made that decision,'' Hale said.
Curt Pires of Creative Sports, which syndicates the Big East package, said other stations in this market were interested in airing Virginia Tech - which will be on the Big East package at least twice.
But Pires said Hampton Roads stations weren't willing to carry all the games the Big East offered. That's one reason the package ended up on a relatively new, obscure station. Pires said the Big East package still has not cleared a station in the Richmond market.
WPEN is carrying close to 50 Baltimore Orioles games this season and had Metro Conference basketball last year. It will also air some Western Athletic Conference football this fall.
``Sports for us obviously is a great calling card,'' Hanna said. by CNB