It was reported late Wednesday afternoon by wire services (and released in this ESPN.com article) that Georgia Tech has decided not to participate in a rescheduled Black Coaches Association (BCA) game on December 1^st. All other involved parties except for GT -- including Virginia Tech, ESPN, and the BCA -- had proposed rescheduling the game to that date, which is a Friday, but GT said no.

An alternate opponent is now being sought for the December 1^st date. For more information, see this more detailed ESPN article.

By agreeing to the date and then waiting on Georgia Tech's answer, the other parties held the Yellow Jackets' feet to the fire, but to no avail. By turning down the game, Georgia Tech Athletic Director Dave Braine, who was the AD at Virginia Tech from 1988 to 1997, exposes himself and his school to a lot of criticism, on a number of fronts.

Not the least of those fronts is the fact that the BCA football game is the chief fund raiser for the BCA, which makes about $300,000 from the event. In a perfect world, all parties involved would be participating in the game for the benefit of the BCA and no other reason, but as you can imagine, it turns out that making money for the BCA is pretty far down the list of reasons why Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and ESPN participate in playing and broadcasting the game.

Virginia Tech seeks to play the game in order to strengthen their out of conference schedule, have a seventh home game, and make money (approximately $600,000 goes to each participating school). ESPN seeks to broadcast the game to make money, of course.

On the other hand, Georgia Tech officials, including Braine and Coach George O'Leary, have stated that their primary reason for playing the game was to gain experience for new starting quarterback George Godsey prior to an early September 9^th contest against FSU. As a matter of fact, Braine was against playing the game, but O'Leary agreed to it, and that's how it came about.

Georgia Tech never said they were playing for the money, and they never said they were playing for the benefit of the Black Coaches Association. So, if you change the August 27^th date to December 1^st, the Yellow Jackets suddenly have no desire to play, despite the fact that $600,000 is being dangled in front of them. The Jackets already spent about $100,000 on the ill-fated trip last weekend, so even if they had to come to Blacksburg again, they would still come out way ahead financially.

As you can guess, the cries of "Chicken!!" are going up on the message board as we speak, but the Jackets aren't afraid of the Hokies -- they're just a strange bunch, because you won't find many schools that will sniff at a $600,000 paycheck and walk away. There are a lot of athletic departments in the country that would kill to get that kind of money.

So now the Hokies, ESPN, and the BCA are at a crossroads. Namely, whom to approach? It's a question that you can attack logically and come up with a few candidates rather quickly. But the prognosis for a strong opponent and an interesting matchup is not good.

First of all, no "big-name" teams from the top conferences (Big 10, PAC 10, SEC, Big 12, ACC) are going to take the bid. They wouldn't take it as a preseason game, so why would they take it now? Barring anything unforeseen and amazing, let go of those dreams of Michigan, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas State and the like visiting Lane Stadium on December 1^st.

Those other power conferences have championship games and BCS bids that provide plenty of income to their schools, plus their conferences have oodles of bowl tie-ins, so decent teams from those conferences will be going to bowls. So they don't need the money badly enough to take the challenge of visiting Blacksburg in the late, late fall.

You might be able to find one of the mid-level teams from those conferences that will visit Tech, but it's not likely, so start thinking MAC, or Conference USA. The problem is, the MAC has a championship game on the following Saturday, so picking a team from that conference is like playing Russian roulette, particularly if you pick a good team.  Plus, the Hokies already have a 2-game series scheduled with Marshall in 2002 and 2005, so yet another visit by the Thundering Herd doesn't hold much allure for Hokie fans. And Tech's already seemingly playing every other team in the MAC over the next few years (but my cynical side realizes that that won't stop Jim Weaver and company from scheduling yet another team from the MAC).

So that leaves Conference USA. Hmm, Conference USA. The Hokies are already playing ECU this year, so they're out. Who else might be willing to take up the challenge? How about Southern Mississippi, one of the C-USA favorites and a preseason Top 25 team? The Golden Eagles might jump on the chance to make another $600,000 minus about $100,000 in expenses. They're cash-poor in Conference USA.

Or how about Louisville, the team that Hokie fans love to hate? (If you younger Hokies have no idea why that would be, ask the older Hokies on the message board, but be wary that the responses might set your hair on fire.)

Those are two good candidates that would be interesting teams to play, although Southern Miss would provide the more challenging game, by far. But from where I sit, after those two teams, the pickings grow slim.

It's possible that the Hokies might yet be able to land an intriguing matchup with a cash-starved, hungry-for-competition team. One thing is for sure: the BCA organizers could afford to be picky when they were first shopping around for teams, but now they're much more likely to take the first school that says yes.

So be warned: the Hokies' new date for the BCA might be a real dog.

• A weather link for Blacksburg has been added to HokieCentral's Football Page (look near the top of the page). A weather link will also be included in each game preview.

• Speaking of game previews, I did not do one for the Georgia Tech game (good thing, too -- that's time that wasn't wasted), but I will do one for each game from here on out, including the bowl game. The Akron preview will be posted Thursday afternoon. And those of you who are mad at me for picking Miami to win the Big East, stick around, because I seemingly always pick the Hokies to win in my individual previews. I'll bet I pick them to beat the Canes later this year when I preview the game.

• I kept getting the question "What's ESPN+?" via email, so I wrote up a description of ESPN+ and linked it to most places on the web site where ESPN+ is mentioned. Also, the TV listings on the home page and the 2000 Football Schedule page are now linked to the web sites that contain the full listings for those networks (in other words, click on "ESPN" on those football schedules, and you'll be taken to an ESPN/ESPN2 schedule on the ESPN.com web site).

• Injuries: Whip linebacker Nick Sorensen (bruised shoulder), cornerback Larry Austin (hamstring), and safety Kevin McCadam (ankle sprain) have all had another week to heal. Despite the injury, Austin was going to start against Georgia Tech, so he should definitely be a go for Akron. McCadam may or may not be cleared to play.

• As for Sorensen, although he is healthy, Coach Beamer surprisingly told the Roanoke Times's Randy King that Phillip Summers might start anyway at Whip. "Right now, Summers is partially considered a starter there," Beamer said, in one of this week's more interesting quotes. "Really, it doesn't make any difference. It's who kind of runs out there first." Hmm, methinks that's Coach Beamer playing dumb again when he's not. We'll just have to wait and see what that cryptic quote means.

• Another previously injured player of note is receiver Shawn Witten, whose fractured left pinkie (broken when he caught a Vick pass in practice) has healed quicker than expected. Witten will be ready to play against Akron, although it was originally thought that he might be out for a couple more weeks. Not only that, but in a surprise depth chart move, Witten has been switched from flanker to split end and has broken the two-deep at split end. The two-deep at split end for the Georgia Tech game was Emmett Johnson backed up by Ronald Moody, but the two-deep released by Tech for the Akron game shows Emmett Johnson backed up by Witten. Witten's toughness and hard work in recovering from his injury apparently blew away the coaching staff, and they moved him up.

• Student ticket pickup for the Akron game was reportedly heavy early in the week, but as of 4:30 Wednesday afternoon, the Tech ticket office reported that student tickets were still available (no report on how many). Any leftover tickets will be made available to the general public, so watch the Tech web site and the HokieCentral.com message board for that announcement, provided the students don't completely pick up their allotment.

• A message board poster reported Wednesday afternoon that gravel was being put down in Lot 5, the grassy lot across Southgate Drive from Lane Stadium. Lot 9, which turned into a dangerous mud-bog, will be partially closed for Saturday's game. See this link for more information on where Lot 9 passes will be honored, and how many spots are available in Lot 9.

• The Big East schedule gets underway this weekend with Boston College at WVU. Unfortunately, the game is at noon, so those of you in the stadium to watch Tech play won't be able to see it.

TSL News and Notes Archives