MONROE - It may have been an in-state game, but Bustle and the UL coaching staff received encouragement from a far northern point during the week.
Bustle got a fax message from the Virginia Tech football staff, extending best wishes in Saturday's season finale. The message was signed by Hokie head coach Frank Beamer and all the members of the Tech staff.
"Thinking about you - pulling for you," said Beamer's handwritten note on the type-set message.
Bustle coached at Virginia Tech as an assistant under Beamer from 1987 through 2001 except for one year at South Carolina in 1994.
He was quarterbacks/wide receivers coach from 1987-92 and quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator from 1992 on, and the Hokies played in eight bowl games during that time including a national championship game appearance in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.
OFFICIAL INVITATION: At least one of the New Orleans Bowl's official invitations won't be extended until Tuesday.
Arkansas State claimed one berth in the bowl Saturday with its 31-24 victory at North Texas, but ASU officials asked that bowl personnel not make the official announcement until Tuesday on the Indians' campus.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com