In the weeks leading up to the finish of the Division I-AA regular season, Liberty football coach Danny Rocco felt that road wins against Gardner-Webb and Stony Brook would put his Flames into the playoffs.

Now, he's not so sure.

Stony Brook rallied in the final minute to defeat the Flames 36-33, "but I'm afraid that we wouldn't have gotten in anyway," said Rocco, whose last three teams have gone 8-3, 10-2 and 8-3 without a sniff of postseason play.

That could be rectified next year, when the Big South champion will receive an automatic bid for the first time.

"I don't know why the assumption would be that we would win it," said Rocco, whose team had a 16-game Big South Conference winning streak before Saturday. "It's hard to win a championship three years in a row."

Liberty would have needed an at-large bid to make the I-AA playoffs, and no Big South team has ever gotten one of those.

"If we had beaten Stony Brook, there would have been such an argument for putting us in," Rocco said. "But, I'm telling you, it probably wouldn't have happened. We would have been crushed at the altar again, in my office with the team waiting for a live announcement."

Rocco played non-conference games this season against Division I-A West Virginia and perennial Colonial Athletic Association contender James Madison, but the power rankings do not ascribe much value to a Big South game. When the Flames beat VMI 54-14 late in the year, they were dropped eight spots by a computer.

"I have great respect for VMI," Rocco said. "Look at the game VMI gave Army [in a 22-17 loss]. But, the reality is this: Our conference didn't win outside our conference."

n Rocco said his team will play road games next year with I-A Ball State and JMU, but the Flames need two more games in the worst way and have been unable to persuade Old Dominion to initiate a series. Liberty has inquired about the possibility of playing one or more of the teams that need dates after Northeastern announced Monday that it is discontinuing football.

Chick-fil-A blog

The subject of Virginia Tech making three trips to Atlanta in one season has been discussed by Chick-fil-A bowl officials, "but we know the Hokies' fans well enough to know that this would not be an issue for them at all," director Leeman Bennett wrote in a blog Monday.

"A win against UVa and in their bowl game will give Virginia Tech six straight 10-win seasons.

If things fall the right way, they might just be celebrating that accomplishment in the Chick-fil-A Bowl."

The Hokies opened the season against Alabama in the Georgia Dome and later met Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Possible Tech opponents mentioned in Bennett's blog included Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Oops

A recent story on the status of Virginia football coach Al Groh indicated that athletic director Craig Littlepage must inform Groh by Monday if UVa will exercise the rollover clause in his contract. Littlepage indicated Wednesday that the rollover option expired after the 2008 season.

Nevertheless, look for Littlepage to complete an evaluation no later than Monday.

Local angle

Ingrid Oelschlager, a Bowdoin College junior from Roanoke, was named to the Division III All-America team in field hockey. She is a graduate of Phillips Exeter (N.H.) Academy.

n Cave Spring graduate Stacey Craighead, plagued by injuries over the second half of her Seton Hall volleyball career, was inserted against undefeated Notre Dame in the Pirates' final game. Craighead, a four-year Big East All-Academic selection, underwent foot surgery in 2008 and was close to 100 percent this year before developing a stress fracture in the same foot.

n Counters for the Virginia women's cross country team that finished 15th in the NCAA championships included Laurel MacMillan, a sophomore from Blacksburg High School who won the Group AA outdoor 3,200-meter championship as a senior.

Connections

Former SuperPrep All-American Mike Brown, dismissed by Virginia following the 2007 season, is starting at cornerback for California (Pa.) University. The Vulcans (10-3) have reached the Division II NCAA quarterfinals with another transfer, Josh Portis (Maryland), at quarterback,

Ex-Virginia QB Kevin McCabe led California to the D-II championship game in 2008.