Pregame Buildup
In the weeks leading up to the Independence Bowl, the game received as much or more coverage than the incipient national championship game due to the controversial status of Tech star Bruce Smith, who was embroiled in a legal battle with the NCAA about his participation in the game. Spread bettors favored Air Force to win the game by four points. Ticket sales were slow in the weeks leading up to the bowl, and Virginia Tech was faulted for failing to sell its entire allotment of 12,000 tickets. Tech representatives said they might have to return as many as 8,000 tickets due to the difficulty of selling tickets for a game more than 20 hours away by car.
Read more about this topic: 1984 Independence Bowl
Famous quotes containing the word buildup:
“I think those Southern writers [William Faulkner, Carson McCullers] have analyzed very carefully the buildup in the South of a special consciousness brought about by the self- condemnation resulting from slavery, the humiliation following the War Between the States and the hope, sometimes expressed timidly, for redemption.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)