Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione told Sports Illustrated this week that plans were in place for Oklahoma to play Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl before the proposed game was rejected by the Conference Commissioners Association, which administers the Bowl Championship Series.

Oklahoma, slotted for the Fiesta Bowl as the Big 12 champion, sought to invoke a little-known clause in the BCS agreement that allows for an adjustment in the pairings if college football can benefit. Since the BCS rankings had dictated a championship game between Ohio State and LSU, third-ranked Oklahoma wanted to face No. 4 Tech.

The difference between the top four teams was close enough that Oklahoma might have felt it could have vaulted past the Ohio State-LSU winner with an impressive victory over the Hokies. Of course, Tech might have had the same opportunity.

"I just hope, at some point in time, we can hear an explanation of why this wasn't possible, given the fact the rules provided that opportunity if it was in everybody's best interest," Castiglione said.

The ACC's position is that Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive is the current BCS coordinator and official spokesman.

Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said he was unaware of Oklahoma's efforts until he was handed a printout of the SI.com story.

He was unaware of the clause that might have led to such a match-up.

"I don't think you can look at that article and know exactly how involved this got," Weaver said.

Gilchrist stymied

The ACC has rejected an appeal on behalf of Maryland basketball signee Gus Gilchrist, who signed with Virginia Tech in the fall of 2006 but sat out the fall semester and is looking to enroll at Maryland for the second semester.

Gilchrist had talked about the possibility of joining the team after the end of first-semester classes and beginning his eligibility next fall at the latest, but ACC rules require a player to sit out one season when transferring from one conference school to another.

Moreover, Gilchrist will lose a year's eligibility, ACC official Shane Lyons said Wednesday. Tech gave Gilchrist a release from his letter-of-intent but that didn't matter.

"Part of the intent is to prevent players from hopping from one school to another and creating hard feelings," Lyons said.

Moving again

Todd Turner, 55, resigned as athletic director at the University of Washington on Dec. 11, one week after giving a vote of confidence to football coach Tyrone Willingham.

Turner, who had been at UW for three years, got his start in sports administration at UVa. He previously had served as athletic director at Connecticut, North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.

"I just came to the realization that there is too much controversy in the air,'' said Turner, who was criticized for his support of Willingham. "It's taken a lot of the fun out of it for me. I'm at a point in my career where I don't have to be an athletic director to be happy or be successful.''

n Another former Virginia administrator, Kim Record, has resigned after 13 years as the senior women's administrator at Florida State.

Record is the third upper-level administrator to resign at Florida State since the Seminoles announced that the contract of athletic director Dave Hart would not be renewed.

Tech commitment

Virginia Tech's latest football commitment is from Nick Becton, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive lineman from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, N.C. Becton, rated the No. 20 prospect in North Carolina before the season, did not play organized football until 2006 but had offers from Penn State, Clemson, South Carolina and Maryland.

Becton, who has a basketball background, was rated one of the top 11 prospects at the Shrine Bowl that matches all-star teams from North Carolina and South Carolina.

He is one of 27 players who have committed to Tech for 2008, at least two of whom are scheduled to enroll next month.

More Barber TDs

Ronde Barber's string of Pro Bowl selections ended at three this week but Barber, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers' cornerback from Cave Spring High School and the University of Virginia, reached another kind of milestone when he scored the 10th touchdown of his 11-year career.

That tied him with Ken Houston, Deion Sanders and Darren Sharper behind Rod Woodson (13) and Aeneas Williams (12).

Connections

Coaching changes at Arkansas and Mississippi will have an impact on assistant coach Bobby Allen, a three-year Virginia Tech football letterman from 1979-1981 who has been a college assistant for 25 years.

Allen continues to be listed as the secondary coach at Arkansas, although his boss for the past 10 years, Houston Nutt, has taken over the program at Mississippi.

Local update

Donzell Williams, a sophomore from Glenvar High School, has started every game for Division II Catawba (N.C.) College, which is 4-4 and 0-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. Williams leads the team in assists and has a 2.7-to-1 assist-turnover ratio. His minutes have risen from 7.6 per game last year to 25.1 this year.

n Northside graduate Chance Smith has been coming off the bench as a freshman at Concord University and had 19 points in a 74-60 victory over Bluefield State, where he was 7-for-8 from the field and made all five of his 3-point shots.