Big Crowd Expected
December 09, 2002 10:39 AM | General
December 9, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Things couldn’t have worked out any better for the Continental Tire Bowl.
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| Coach Rich Rodriguez believes West Virginia will have a big turnout for the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. |
Not only did the first-year bowl get two second-place teams from the Big East and the Atlantic Coast conferences in West Virginia and Virginia, but the two teams could conceivably fill 73,367-seat Ericsson Stadium and make the contest one of the most interesting of the non-BCS bowl games.
In West Virginia, the Continental Tire Bowl also gets the nation’s 13th-ranked team.
“We’re just absolutely delighted to have West Virginia here,” said Continental Tire Bowl executive director Ken Haines. “(West Virginia’s) fans are just unbelievable. The amount of phone calls and emails we’ve gotten here may set a new record on our computers. I think West Virginia is going to travel very well to Charlotte.”
A great selling point for both schools is the fact that the game is within driving distance for fans from both schools.
“The location is obviously very convenient for our fans and I know a lot of fans I’ve seen are excited about it because they can make the trip either the same day or the night before,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “It’s going to be a great situation for our fans and it will be nice for our football team to see a lot of Gold and Blue out there in Ericsson Stadium.”
Like the rest of the bowl games, the Continental Tire Bowl had to wait until the BCS bowl slots were filled before it could make its selection.
“We were really hoping that things would work out the way they did,” admitted Haines. “We very much wanted West Virginia in this game and we knew last weekend with Southern Cal defeating Notre Dame that there was an opportunity for Notre Dame to fall out of the BCS and into the Gator Bowl. It’s been a week of sitting on pin cushions and needles – just a lot of anxiety in the office.”
Haines noted that if the Gator Bowl would have picked West Virginia, his committee had a contingency plan in place.
“We would have probably had a Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech game,” he said. “However, we think that this is the best of both worlds because both teams are within driving distance. I think from the point of view of the fans, it’s an ideal situation because a lot of fans from both schools will be here and we’re expecting a great crowd.”
The game features West Virginia’s run-oriented offense against Virginia’s effective, pro-style passing game.
West Virginia is one of the hottest teams in the country, winning six of its last seven games to finish the season 9-3. WVU’s only loss during that streak was a 40-23 decision to No. 1-ranked Miami.
Running back Avon Cobourne is one of the nation’s best, rushing for a school-record 1,593 yards. Backup Quincy Wilson shows 863 yards and six touchdowns while quarterback Rasheed Marshall has rushed for 618 yards and 12 touchdowns and has passed for 1,401 yards and nine scores.
Virginia, meanwhile, finished the season tied with Maryland for second place in the ACC standings with a 6-2 conference mark.
After losing two-straight games against Colorado State and Florida State to open the season, Virginia won six in a row against South Carolina, Akron, Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson and North Carolina before being tripped up against Georgia Tech.
Virginia captured key games down the stretch against North Carolina State and Maryland to help it finish the season with a solid 8-5 record.
Second-year coach Al Groh has relied on an outstanding passing game led by 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior quarterback Matt Schaub, who completed 272-of-396 passes for 2,794 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Six-four, 208-pound senior wide receiver Billy McMullen has developed into one of the ACC’s best, catching 68 passes for 886 yards and three touchdowns.
“They’ve got some very big wins over some high-quality ACC programs,” said Rodriguez of Virginia.
A victory by West Virginia would give the Mountaineers 10 wins in a season for the first time since 1993.
Virginia is looking for its first nine-win season since 1998.
Although these two border rivals haven’t played since 1985, the two teams have squared off 22 times on the gridiron since 1898. The Cavaliers hold a slim 11-10-1 advantage in series play.
West Virginia and Virginia shared two common opponents during the regular season in Maryland and Virginia Tech.
The Cavaliers defeated Maryland 48-13 and lost to Virginia Tech 21-9, while West Virginia lost to Maryland 48-17 and defeated Virginia Tech 21-18.
Virginia is making its 13th bowl appearance; it is West Virginia’s 22nd bowl appearance.
West Virginia’s final travel plans are not completed, but Rodriguez mentioned Sunday that he is in favor of taking the team down before Christmas in order to maintain a normal practice schedule.
West Virginia University’s ticket allotment is 12,500 and they are now on sale at the Mountaineer Ticket Office by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME. The Dec. 28 game will kickoff at 11 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
