ACC announces bowl destination changes for 2010

GREENVILLE, N.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced a revamped bowl lineup for 2010 on Thursday. The changes? The Gator and Emerald bowls are out and the Sun and Independence bowls are in.

The Sun Bowl, which is played in El Paso, Texas, will take the Gator’s place in the ACC pecking order. It’ll get the ACC championship game loser, if available, or the third pick out of the conference after BCS selections in a matchup with a Pac-10 school.

The Independence Bowl, which is played in Shreveport, La., will take the place of the Emerald Bowl and match the sixth selection from the ACC against the third pick from the Mountain West Conference.

The Gator Bowl has enjoyed a long relationship with the ACC and has been a big part of Virginia Tech’s postseason history.

Dating back to 1994, the Hokies have played in five of the bowl games, which are played in Jacksonville’s Municipal Stadium. Their most recent trip came in 2006, a 35-24 win over Louisville.

The ACC’s new bowl lineup will be in place until 2013.

***Williams continues to climb charts

Hokies redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams continued his assault on the school’s record book Thursday night.

He had 88 first-half rushing yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season. He is the second Tech freshman running back to run for 1,000 yards in the last two years, joining Darren Evans, who set the school freshman rushing record with 1,265 rushing yards last season.

Tech is only the third school to produce back-to-back 1,000-yard freshman running backs, joining Nevada (Chance Kretschmer in 2001 and Matt Milton in 02) and TCU (Lonta Hobbs in 02 and Robert Merrill in 03).

***Gibson gets nod

Redshirt freshman Lyndell Gibson made his first career start at linebacker Thursday night.

His promotion came at the expense of sophomore Jake Johnson, who had started the Hokies’ first eight games and entered Thursday as Tech’s fourth-leading tackler with 48 stops.

“(Lyndell’s) been playing good. He and Jake have both been playing good,” Tech senior linebacker Cody Grimm said. “They’re kind of similar players. I think (defensive coordinator Bud) Foster just wants to give Lyndell the start because he’s been playing well.”

Gibson had eight tackles in last week’s loss to North Carolina and made 10 stops off the bench in the previous three games.

Johnson, who had eight tackles in Tech’s Oct. 3 win at Duke, saw his playing time steadily decrease in the following three contests.

“Right now, I don’t think we’re really worried about who’s starting as much as we are who’s winning,” Grimm said. “Lyndell’s been playing a good bit for us, and he has been playing well, and I think coach (Foster) just wants to give him an opportunity to start to show everyone he has been playing good and give some credit where credit is due.”

***Another O-line shakeup

For the fourth time in their last five games, the Hokies marched out a different starting offensive line combination Thursday.

Beau Warren, who started the first eight games at center, was out of the lineup because of a sprained knee he suffered in the third quarter of last week’s home loss to North Carolina. He didn’t make the trip to Greenville.

Redshirt freshman Michael Via made his first career start in Warren’s place. He is the third Tech offensive lineman to make his first career start this season, joining tackle Andrew Lanier and guard Greg Nosal.

Left tackle Ed Wang and right guard Jaymes Brooks are the only two Hokies offensive linemen to start every game this season.

***Dr. Lou, Dr. Lou …

ECU coach Skip Holtz’s dad, legendary coach and now entertaining analyst Lou Holtz, was a part of the ESPN broadcast Thursday night.

The Hokies didn’t have to worry about Lou sharing any of their secrets before the game with Skip and his staff. That’s because the elder Holtz wasn’t allowed to participate in any of the pregame interviews that most of the on-air talent are privy to.

***No change after all

Virginia Tech director of athletics Jim Weaver announced during the Tech Talk Live radio show Monday that the Hokies’ 2010 game against Boise State won’t be moved to Labor Day after all.

A week earlier, he said ESPN wanted the Tech-BSU game to be played on national television to kick off the season, but apparently Boise State balked at that request. The game will remain on Oct. 2 at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

Weaver said the Hokies are still looking to fill an opening in next season’s schedule that was created when Western Michigan asked out of their game.

***Extra points

Tech defensive tackle John Graves did not start Thursday, but he saw first-half playing time. Senior Demetrius Taylor started in his place. … Hokies punter Brent Bowden uncorked a career-high 60-yard punt in the second quarter. His previous long was 59. … Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor scored his 17th career rushing touchdown in the second quarter to pass Michael Vick for sole possession of second place at Tech for career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.