Virginia (7-5, 4-4 ACC) accepted a bid late Saturday night to return to the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte against Pittsburgh (8-4, 5-2 Big East). The game will be played Dec. 27 at 11 a.m. at Ericsson Stadium and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
"We were delighted to accept the bid to play in the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl," Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said. "We're pleased to have another opportunity to extend our season."
Virginia won the inaugural Tire Bowl last year, 48-22, over then 15th-ranked West Virginia in front of 73,535 fans, the largest non-BCS bowl crowd.
Tickets for students to this year's game will go on sale at 9:00 a.m. Thursday and will be $52.50 with a student ID. Virginia brought slightly over 20,000 fans to last year's game, and coach Al Groh hopes to bring 30,000 Virginia fans back to Charlotte.
"I think every aspect of support for the team this year, whether it's student body support, alumni support or fans in general, has been intensified," Groh said. "It was demonstrated in the first game of the season and quite apparent [Saturday]. Given the great support and great time everyone had in Charlotte last year ... I think 30,000 is a very realistic goal to achieve."
Virginia has won two straight after beating rival Virginia Tech, 35-21, Saturday. That win, coupled with the Panthers' 28-14 loss to Miami, led to this matchup.
Littlepage said last week that the Tire Bowl, which pits the ACC's No. 5 team against the Big East's No. 4 team, had indicated a willingness to have Virginia back again, but the Cavs could not have faced the fourth-place Hokies.
Miami's win sent it to the BCS, and West Virginia had already accepted a bid to face Maryland in the Gator Bowl. Pittsburgh finished third in the Big East but played in the Insight Bowl as the 3rd-place team last year. Virginia Tech will instead travel to Phoenix to play in the Insight Bowl, which allowed the Cavaliers to end up in Charlotte.
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