DATE: Saturday, November 22, 1997           TAG: 9711220651

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   58 lines

HOKIES SEEK 3RD STRAIGHT BIG EAST FOOTBALL TITLE

Talk of tiebreakers and an Alliance Bowl bid and millions in dollars of revenue and even the season-ending game with Virginia next week has been swirling about Virginia Tech's campus this week.

But the Hokies say they have only one thing in mind today - winning their third consecutive Big East football title.

The Hokies would claim at least a share of the title by winning at Pittsburgh today in their final conference game. The 3:30 p.m. contest will not be televised.

Tech (7-2 overall, 5-1 in the Big East) shared the title with Miami and Syracuse last season, and was awarded the conference's Alliance Bowl bid to the Orange Bowl. Tech finished tied with Miami in 1995, but was declared champion and went to the Sugar Bowl when the Hurricanes were declared ineligible for a bowl.

``For our seniors to go out with three conference titles would be really special,'' placekicker Shayne Graham said. ``We're not thinking about the Alliance or Virginia or anything else other than beating Pitt.''

Only Syracuse (7-3, 5-1) can catch the Hokies if they win today, and the Orangemen must win at Miami on Nov. 29 to do so.

A victory today would also be a giant step for the Hokies toward their third straight Alliance Bowl bid - probably in the Fiesta Bowl against a Big Ten team.

If Syracuse and Tech tie for the Big East title, Tech gets the Alliance bid unless the Orangemen are rated more than five places higher than the Hokies in the composite of the Associates Press and coaches' polls.

If Syracuse finished five places higher, the Hokies would go to the Gator Bowl where they would likely face ACC runnerup North Carolina.

Tech would earn about $5 million from the Fiesta Bowl and a little more than $1 million from the Gator.

But said Tech coach Frank Beamer: ``I don't believe the finances really get into the players' thought process so much.''

What is on their minds is a resurgent Pitt program that has been the surprise of the Big East season. First-year coach Walt Harris has guided the lowly Panthers to a respectable 4-5 record that includes non-conference losses to Penn State and Notre Dame.

Pitt, which hasn't had a winning season since 1991, nearly upset Syracuse last weekend amid a snowshower at Pitt Stadium. Trailing 19-0 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Pitt rallied to take the lead, only to see the Orangemen rally to win 32-27 with 28 seconds left.

``I think coach (Johnny) Majors left some awfully good players there,'' Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. ``Coach Harris has done a good job putting them into a system on offense that is a good system.

``There's talent and skill there and the coaches that are there now are doing a good job of featuring those players. They're playing to win and not holding back.''

Especially when it comes to passing. Pitt is the Big East's top passing team, averaging 246.2 yards per game. Pitt quarterback Pete Gonzalez leads the league in both passing and total offense.

Pitt is also at its best in the fourth quarter, scoring 102 points - 40 percent of its points - in the final period.

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