Pregame Buildup
On the day prior to the game, spread bettors favored Virginia Tech to win by 11.5 points. Despite that advantage, Tech head coach Frank Beamer warned his team and the public about the threat underdog Air Force posed to the Hokies' chances of winning. Both Beamer and Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry were among the longest-tenured coaches in college football at the time. DeBerry had been a college coach for 19 years, while Beamer had coached for 16 years. The game would be an opportunity for DeBerry to gain his 150th career win and defeat a ranked team for the first time since 1999. Ticket sales prior to the game were sluggish, as both teams failed to sell out their assigned allotments, and local sales registered fewer than 8,000 tickets sold. In addition, local media coverage of the game was sparse.
Read more about this topic: 2002 San Francisco 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.)