Friday, November 24, 2006
Wake screwed up; seating was a mess
Tech recruit goes over 7,000-yard mark
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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The best estimates I've gotten indicate that Virginia Tech fans made up 35 to 40 percent of the crowd at last week's Tech-Wake Forest football game in Winston-Salem , N.C. , and the Deacons weren't happy about it.
In fact, athletic director Ron Wellman wrote a letter to Deacon supporters who complained that Wake had compromised itself by selling seats in the student section to Tech fans.
Wellman said there was a problem with counterfeiting, but “one rumor about the reason for the problems at the game is false,” he said.
“We did not sell any student tickets to the opponent's fans or to our fans. We allocate 3,077 tickets to our students each game. The number of student tickets has not changed in years.
“The average number of tickets used the first five games this football season was 2,872. On Saturday, 3,939 students were admitted to the game. The additional 1,067 students over our average student attendance – and 862 more than the number of seats allocated to students – caused a severe problem.
“We would not, under any circumstances, jeopardize student involvement and certainly not in an effort to accommodate more visiting team fans.”
On the other hand, the Deacons should have recognized the increased interest generated by a 9-1 start and an ACC championship bid and revised its estimates accordingly. Without having been there, I imagine that there were Tech fans who were also inconvenienced.
“‘Standing room only' tickets were sold and those patrons were not directed to an area designated for them,” Wellman wrote. “Unfortunately, when fans do not have a reserved seat, many of them assume that they can go to the student section and find a seat there since those sections do not have reserved seats.”
Can you blame them?
“All of these problems will be solved with a new ticket system that will be implemented next year,” Wellman said.
WHILE SEARCHING FOR Wellman's letter to Wake fans, I came across a website in which Wellman holds a weekly Q & A. The last question on there was from a Wake fan wondering why Virginia Tech defensive back Aaron Rouse wasn't penalized for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Wake fullback Kevin Harris.
When I saw the play on television, I thought Rouse should have been penalized and a former league officiating supervisor with Roanoke ties agreed with me on the subject. I must add, however, that my assessment was not shared by media personalities Greg Roberts and Randy King, neither of whom felt Rouse was at fault.
“Jim Grobe and I discussed the play that Kevin was injured,” Wellman wrote. “Jim had reviewed the video tape of the numerous times. You [the Wake e-mailer] are correct that it is illegal for a player to use his helmet as a weapon or lead with his helmet in making contact.
“The reason that no penalty was called on that particular play is that both players lowered their heads before contact was made. If just one player lowers his head and uses his helmet as a weapon, there is definitely a violation of the rule and a penalty should be called.
“However, our video tape clearly identifies Kevin and the VT player lowering their heads prior to contact. Thus, no penalty at called. At practice on Monday, Jim and his staff once again warned our players not to lead with their helmets, as it is not only illegal but also very dangerous.”
Roberts, observing his second straight off day at the end of a four-hour work week, did not host his radio show Friday.
VIRGINIA TECH RECRUIT Darren Evans has rushed for a state-leading 2,605 yards for Warren Central High School and is being mentioned among the ranks of the top football teams in Indiana history as it goes for an unprecented fourth straight 5A state championship Saturday against Carmel in the RCA Dome.
At 14-0, Warren Central is ranked No. 4 in the country and expects to have 10 Division I signees, including safety Jerimy Linch to Michigan . Evans has scored a state-record 58 touchdowns in Warren Central's Wing-T offense.
Evans said at the time of his July 16 commitment that he probably would not have chosen Tech if not for the Hokies' assurance that he would get a chance to play running back. He also uttered this increasingly famous line to rivals.com: “The only thing I didn't like was the smell of the cow manure.”
In a recent Indianapolis Star feature, Evans was compared to some of the best players ever to come out of Indiana , including former Notre Dame standouts Vagas Ferguson and Tim Brown. Evans, who recently went over the 7,000-yard rushing mark for his career, is the fourth-leading rusher in state history and has the record for a player in his classification, the state's largest.
Warren Central's most famous football alumnus is quarterback Jeff George.
ALTHOUGH VIRGINIA QUARTERBACK Christian Olsen has bragging rights after the Cavaliers' 17-7 victory over Miami and his younger brother, Greg, the big winner in the Olsen family last weekend was father Chris.
On Friday night, Chris Olsen coached undefeated Wayne Hills (N.J.) High School to a 33-0 victory over Passaic Valley in a first-round playoff game. The Olsens, including youngest son Kevin, drove to Charlottesville immediately after the game for the Miami-UVa game, which kicked off at noon.
Wayne Hills has outscored its first 11 opponents by a total of 438-37.
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1956 Virginia-Virginia Tech football game at Victory Stadium has brought back memories of a chippy affair that “ended in a near riot,” according to Maury Fitzgerald of The Washington Post
Not surprisingly, the combatants included Virginia end Tucker McLaughlin, whose son and sportswriting namesake, aka “The Original Ink-Stained Wretch,” has been a frequent, unwitting contributor to this column.
It turns out that Tucker McLaughlin the Elder had caught a pass late in the Hokies' 14-7 victory over the Cavaliers before he was driven to the sideline by the Hokies' Pat Carpenito.
“Thery came up swinging,” wrote Roland Hughes of the afternoon Roanoke World-News. “One version was that Carpenito ‘worked him over' after the tackle. But, from, the opposing camp, it was reported McLaughlin ‘stuck the ball in his face' after the tackle.”
The field had to be cleared of fans before play could be restored.
“At the final gun, coach [Ben] Martin consoled McLaughlin and guided him toward the dressing room,” sportswriter Ozzie Worley wrote.
If the dad looked anything like the son, that must have been a sight.
