Wednesday, October 17, 2007

ESPN focuses on UD, DSU


By KRISTIAN POPE and KEVIN TRESOLINI, The News Journal

Failure to meet in football examined

The ESPN show "Outside the Lines" will feature an upcoming segment on the lack of a Delaware-Delaware State football rivalry.

Producers from the show were in Dover on Tuesday to tape interviews with representatives from DSU. They are scheduled to meet with University of Delaware officials in Newark today.

A telecast date has not been announced.

Delaware and Delaware State, two NCAA Division I-AA programs, have never met in a football game. But, as of now, both teams are in contention for a I-AA playoff berth and, under NCAA guidelines, the two could meet in a first-round game Nov. 24 at Delaware Stadium.

Hornets coach Al Lavan said Tuesday he was to be interviewed for the ESPN show with DSU athletic director Rick Costello and senior linebacker Russell Reeves. The network also is planning to tape footage of DSU's game Saturday against Morgan State at Alumni Stadium. Crews shot footage of Delaware's win over Northeastern last Saturday.

"It's good exposure for us," Lavan said. "It is what it is. They are just doing some followup to the recent stories."

The story received national attention when Delaware graduate and former Sports Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman wrote a column for ESPN.com that lambasted UD for not scheduling a game with DSU.

DSU (5-1, 4-0) shares the lead in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference; the champion earns an automatic NCAA bid.

Delaware (6-1, 4-1) is second in the CAA's South Division, but in the running for an at-large bid. The overall conference winner earns the CAA's automatic bid.

The 16-team I-AA field will be announced Nov. 18.

The NCAA handbook reads as follows:

1. The teams awarded the top four seeds are placed in the appropriate positions in the bracket (Nos. 1 and 4 in the upper half, and Nos. 2 and 3 in the lower half), and will be paired with teams that are in closest geographic proximity;

2. The remaining teams will be paired according to geographic proximity and placed in the bracket according to geographic proximity of the four pairings previously placed in the bracket.

The four seeded teams are given a chance to host a game if they can meet the I-AA tournament's minimum financial guarantee requirements: $30,000 for the first round, $40,000 for quarterfinals and $50,000 for semifinals. After that, the NCAA's first three criteria for selecting a host site are "quality of facility," "revenue potential" and "attendance history and potential."

While 22,000-seat Delaware Stadium routinely is filled to capacity during the regular season, playoff crowds always are smaller, in part because students have to pay for tickets and most aren't on campus Thanksgiving weekend.

Delaware's State's 6,800-seat Alumni Stadium would not, therefore, be considered for a Hens-Hornets playoff game.

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