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Tuesday, October 19, 1999 Hokies Still #4, But Gaining Ground Saturday night, after Tech's romp over Syracuse, the Tech radio tandem of Bill Roth and Mike Burnop fielded a call from a Tech fan who had a simple question: would the Hokies' 62-0 whipping of the 'Cuse vault Tech up to #3 in the polls? Roth and Burnop both agreed that it would, no question. Close, but no cigar. The Hokies are still #4 this week, but the margin between Tech and #3 Nebraska is now razor thin. Take a look at the rankings from the last two weeks:
In addition to closing the gap on Nebraska, the Hokies earned the total respect of yet another AP voter, because the Hokies now have two #1 votes, instead of just the one they have carried for the entire season. Hokie fans are still left in the position of rooting for other teams to lose in order for Tech to move up the rankings. Florida State, Penn State, and Nebraska are all in front of the Hokies in both polls, and here are the "tough" games remaining on their schedules:
It becomes quickly apparent that this coming weekend, October 23rd, is a big day at the top of the polls. PSU could fall to Purdue, Nebraska could fall to Texas, and there's a chance that FSU might even lose to Clemson. Or maybe all three will win, and nothing will change. Who knows? One thing is clear, though -- trying to move up from #4 to a higher spot is a much longer, slower process than moving up from, say, #24 to a higher spot.
ESPN Loves the Hokies;
Tech/Pitt to be Shown on ESPN2
By all accounts, ESPN came away thoroughly impressed with Virginia
Tech's showing on Saturday, from the record-setting GameDay crowd right
down to the last TD that ran the score to 62-0 (see today's Hokie Hotline
Notes for more commentary on how impressed ESPN was). Monday morning, a quick look at the ESPN/ESPN2 broadcast schedule
showed an open "Big East" slot on ESPN2's schedule for 6:00 on
the night of Tech's game against Pitt, October 30th. Earlier
this season, the Tech/Pitt game was on its way to being a Big East Game of
the Week broadcast, but after last weekend in the 'Burg, the ESPN big-wigs
quickly plugged the fast-rising Hokies into that 6:00 p.m. time slot. So mark it down: the Hokies will once again be shown nationally on
ESPN, making that game the fifth Tech game to be shown on ESPN or
ESPN2 this year. The Disney/ABC/ESPN triumvirate, long reviled by HokieCentral and its
message board fans as a sinister plot to promote other conferences and
drive the Big East into the ground, is paying big dividends for Tech this
year. After years of an uneasy relationship, ESPN has proven to be Tech's
biggest friend this year. The beauty of ESPN is that they're a national network, so their
programming directors can do as they wish, meaning that they're not
subject to the whims and demands of station managers of affiliates in
large media markets. Tech appears on CBS so rarely primarily because the
heavyweights in New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Miami throw their weight
around and get the lion's share of CBS broadcasts allocated to Syracuse,
Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Miami. Add in this year's Rutgers and Temple games, which are being shown as
"ESPN Plus" regional broadcasts, and you've got seven Tech games
being produced and broadcast by ESPN this year. That's amazing. And having Lee Corso predict Virginia Tech for the Sugar Bowl and put
on a Hokie Bird head and a VT blazer is pretty good pub, too.
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