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Wednesday, November 22, 2000

Virginia not a sure thing
for island bowl game

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By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

Despite reports that Virginia is headed this way to take part in either the Aloha or Oahu bowls, executive director Fritz Rohlfing has yet to extend an official invitation to the Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In fact, it may be several days before anyone knows which teams will take part in the two games to be played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because of the strong possibility of Oregon State being selected to the Bowl Championship Series.

The bowl-eligible teams in the Pac-10 are Washington, Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA. The winner of the Arizona-Arizona State game later this week will be the fifth team from the Pac-10 to be eligible for the postseason.

If the No. 6-rated Beavers, who lost to the University of Hawaii in last year's Oahu Bowl, are picked to play in the Fiesta Bowl, then things get dicey for Rohlfing.

Washington is another team already in the BCS. The Huskies likely will play Purdue in the Rose Bowl. Oregon would go to the Holiday Bowl and the Arizona-Arizona State winner would play Wisconsin in the Sun Bowl.

That likely scenario leaves UCLA as the only Pac-10 team to play in the Christmas games. It would open an at-large spot for Rohlfing, who said earlier this week that he would look for a team from either the Big Ten or the Southeastern Conference to fill the dance card.

"We still feel like Oregon State won't be in the BCS," Rohlfing said. "If they aren't, then we would get UCLA and the Arizona-Arizona State winner."

Rohlfing had been leaning toward North Carolina State of the ACC because offensive coordinator Norm Chow has ties to Hawaii. But the Wolfpack lost to the Cavaliers last weekend, giving Virginia a strong shot at coming here.

The other selection would come from the Big East where the most likely candidate is Boston College.