By Marty Gordon
Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has reported the Virginia Tech men basketball will play South Carolina in Charlotte, N.C. in the 2023-24 season.
As part of a doubleheader with Virginia and Florida, the Hokies and Gamecocks will meet on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023 in the Spectrum Center. The Veterans Day matchup will be the 32nd all-time between VT and USC, the first since Dec. 5, 1997 in the Pepsi/Harris Teeter Challenge in Charlotte. USC won that game by one, 74-73.
WVU men’s hoops will reportedly host Radford University and Toledo for holiday showdowns at the WVU Coliseum on Dec. 20 and Dec. 23.
Radford will enter the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Former WVU guard and current head coach of the Highlanders, Darris Nichols, will face the Mountaineers for the second time since 2021. WVU took the first meeting back in 2021 by a final score of 67-51.
Virginia Tech has announced details on themed football weeks.
Virginia Tech Athletics announced on Tuesday that the Virginia Tech-Pitt matchup on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Lane Stadium will be a White Effect game, marking Tech’s first conference outing of the season.
As Virginia Tech football prepares to welcome the first Big Ten opponent to Lane Stadium since 2015, Virginia Tech Athletics announced on Monday that the Virginia Tech-Purdue matchup on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Lane Stadium will be an Orange Effect game.
As part of homecoming week, Virginia Tech Athletics announced on Wednesday that the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest matchup on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Lane Stadium will be a Maroon Effect game.
Hokie Effect is a program through the Undergraduate Student Senate (USS) that designs and sells spirit shirts for football and basketball games at Virginia Tech. The Hokie Effect games encourage fans to wear a certain color in order to show school spirit and create a blanketed color effect through the venue.
Rules could be changing again for this year’s college football season.
College football executives are reviewing four options that would cut into the length of games, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.
The measures are “meant to reduce plays for both safety and game length reasons,” according to the report.
College Football Rule Change Proposals
- Outlawing consecutive timeouts. This rule would prevent one timeout from being called right after another, which often happens as teams try to ice kickers.
- Not extending quarters. This rule could make it so that a first or third quarter would not be extended for an un-timed down if the quarter ends on a defensive penalty. In that case, the down would be clocked in the next quarter.3. Running clock. According to this rule, the clock will continue to run after an offense gains a first down except inside two minutes in a half.
- Another running clock rule. This measure, considered the most controversial, will have the clock continue to run after an incomplete pass once the ball has been spotted for play.
The three proposed rule-changes:
The game clock will not stop after a first down
Teams can’t call consecutive timeouts
Penalties at the end of the first and third quarters would transfer to the opening of the next quarter.
These rules changes are “intended to continue the effort to control the flow of the game and encourage more consistent game management,” the NCAA wrote in a news release on March 3.
Now, according to a piece by on3.com’s Ivan Maisel, NCAA Rules Committee Secretary Steve Shaw argues that the changes will be so small that fans “may not even notice” them.
The four rule changes include two minor changes and two major changes to the current way college football’s game clock is operated. The changes are expected to trim at least seven plays off of each game for the sake of “player safety.”
The first proposed change would eliminate back-to-back timeouts. This would not change much about the game except limit kicker icing. Shaw would be correct that fans likely wouldn’t notice much if this rule were adopted.
The second proposal would change the rule surrounding defensive penalties at the end of quarters. Currently, any defensive penalty at the end of a quarter results in an untimed down for the offense if the penalty is accepted. The rule change proposal seeks to eliminate this untimed down at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters and award the untimed down only at the end of halves. Again, Shaw’s assertion is fine with this rule. Most fans would never notice this one.
The third rule change is significantly bigger. The NFL and NCAA have had different rules over the years regarding the clock after first downs. The rule has changed over the years, but this new rule proposal would make it so that the clock would keep running after first downs. The clock would only stop after a first down during the last two minutes of the half.