Pitt Redshirt Diaries : WVU football

Coach Stew gets his poll wish. . . sort of

Chuck Finder — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:54:00 GMT

Little more than two months later, the voters listened to Bill Stewart.

It was the Nov. 2 afternoon after The Associated Press pollsters restored Stew's West Virginia crew to the rankings, at No. 20, for the first time since a September free-fall from No. 8 with a 1-2 start. Saith the coach then: "I don’t want to hear anything about that. That’s where all our trouble started. That’s the worst thing that can happen to Mountaineer football right now. I’d tell every pollster, 'Wait until Game 12, and then you can rank us.' We were ranked all right – we were rank."

Well, it didn't happen until Game 13, after WVU's Meineke Car Care Bowl defeat of home-state North Carolina, but the voters made the Mountaineers No. 23 in the final AP poll released early this morning.

It marked the Mountaineers' unprecedented fourth consecutive Top-25 finish, after being Nos. 5, 10 and 6 the previous Januarys.

Irony or coincidence with WVU?

Chuck Finder — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:29:00 GMT

For the one-year anniversary of the date the plaintiff filed the infamous West Virginia University v. Richard Rodriguez lawsuit, the Mountaineers will spend Dec. 27 playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

It's the very bowl, then known as the Continental Tire Bowl, that the Mountaineers inaugurated in 2002 while beginning their program's unprecedented seven-year post-season run -- all starting with this Charlotte, N.C., game under the aforementioned then-second-year coach.

Also interesting to note: These Mountaineers, favorites in each and every one of their 12 games this season, have been installed as a Pick-'Em against North Carolina.

12/11 update: That's changed already, with North Carolina moving to a 1-point favorite.

Bowl rundown for Pitt, WVU

Chuck Finder — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Louisville-Rutgers on Thursday night will mark the first and possibly last exit on the long and winding road (see below) to a bowl desintation for Pitt and West Virginia.

As of late yesterday, three bowls had both local Big East members high on their wish lists, so long as Rutgers wins and removes 6-6 Notre Dame from conference-tie-in availablilty to the Brut Sun Bowl, whose executive director, Bernie Olivas, readily admits that the Irish remain their top choice.

Let's do this bowl by bowl.

Sun: This Dec. 31 game chooses after the Gator, which will take a Big XII member and thereby leave the Sun with either Notre Dame (why it got into this tie-in business in the first place) or one of the six bowl-eligible Big East members. . . and Rutgers with a win makes six. Ticket boosts mean nothing to these folks, with 80 percent of the sales done around El Paso. It's all about being telegenic here. And a 9-3 and ranked Pitt, should it win at Connecticut Saturday, makes it quite the Sun catch. Olivas is sending a representative to scout Pitt-UConn Saturday, and it's the other two bowl contenders weren't planning to do that for either that game or South Florida-West Virginia. "It's not completely Notre Dame right now," Olivas said, showing a glimmer that Pitt or West Virginia could get there regardless. "But if Rutgers wins, I think . . . Pitt, West Virginia and then Rutgers would be our order of preference. If Pittsburgh loses, that changes our thought processes real quick." Olivas has fond memories of Pitt in 1989 (the game where Paul Hackett was named head coach) and West Virginia in 1987 (before its 11-0 season) coming to the Sun, but "when [Mountaineers fans] left, I don't think there was a drop of tequila left in El Paso." Edge: Pitt first, liquor stores second.

Muffler. . . er, Meineke: This Dec. 27 bowl will wait until the Sun sets its matchup. Yet half of the equation was reportedly set Wednesday when Charlotte, N.C., game officials decided upon a North Carolina that already beat Rutgers. Should the Sun nab Notre Dame or someone other than No. 23 Pitt, the Panthers may well be the favorite here, even if it were to lose at UConn. Scouting no games Saturday "doesn't impact our decision at all as to who we're going to take," said bowl executive director Will Webb, who late yesterday wasn't planning on sending reps on scouting missions. "We're going to see how the Saturday games go." Still and all, Webb talks about Mountaineers fans reaching his bowl on a tank of gas -- they're always linked to liquids, huh? -- and boosting the economy by coming in droves to the 2002 inaugural game. Edge: One of the local teams will be playing here, but it's hard to imagine the Mountaineers slipping past this one.

PapaJohn's.com: Unless Loser. . . pardon, Louisville can somehow end its four-game losing streak, this Dec. 29 date in Birmingham says Hello, Rutgers! Which would be worse, a ranked Pitt or once-No. 8 West Virginia falling to here, or a bunch of Scarlet Knights riding a six-game winning streak? A better question: Have weirder things happened to West Virginia this season than finding a situation that sends it to Legion Field? Get this: The Pizza Bowl, among a half-dozen owned and operated by ESPN (it indeed is all about television), must invite a Sun Belt member because the tied-in Southeastern Conference doesn't have enough bowl-eligible teams. Edge: The 14 locations of Milo's Hamburgers, once Rutgers fans find out how delectable they are.

Then again, we had Dewey plus-3 in '48. No wonder this old coot would prefer a bowl trip to St. Petersburg, but it looks like the South Florida Bulls willl have to make that 23-mile trek south. Poor kids.

Now, back to the greatest front four in musical history. . .

Louisville slugfest

Chuck Finder — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

An updated version of the artistry previously known as: Two teams that really don't like each other

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As part of the friendly rivals' fire that resurfaced in pregame warmups and lasted into the aftermath of this 35-21 West Virginia victory Saturday, Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White -- who jawed at, looked back at and taunted (while running down the sidelines for touchdowns) and pancake-blocked most any Cardinals in his proximity -- had some not-so-nice words about one Louisville player in particular.

On a Noel Devine cutback run, White took a moment from his NCAA record-setting rushing day to block 6-foot-3, 285-pound Cardinals defensive tackle Earl Heyman and topple him to the stadium turf. Heyman took umbrage, grabbing White and rolling him over in what became a two-man somersault. They arose to jaw and posture at one another.

Said White afterward: "He tried to break my neck. No need for ignorant, dirty play."

Then White, still miffed that linebacker Preston Smith denied this incident happened in the teams' meeting last November, added this little nugget: "At least I didn't get spit on."

White admitted that after the last of his three touchdown jaunts he began snapping his fingers in the end zone, showing everyone that his 200-yard day was a "walk in the park." As for establishing the new NCAA Division I-A standard for rushing yards in a quarterback career, the senior shrugged and added that the record will mean something to him "maybe one day when I'm old and in my rocking chair with my grandkids." One last White tidbit: He finished with 1,115 career yards rushing/passing plus a 3-1 record vs. Louisville.

More post-game doodads: Coach Bill Stewart: "I was so frustrated at half. Had 215 yards rushing, two blown opportunities [inside the Louisville 11-yard line]. I wanted to cry, I really did. But I can’t do that." . . . Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen joked of White’s record-breaking, 4-yard run, which was two yards shy of a first down: "That’s the only time he slid all year, the knucklehead." . . . Mullen on West Virginia rushing for a season-high 376 yards against major-college football's heretofore eighth-stingiest rushing defense, all behind an offensive line with Seneca Valley's Don Barclay, in his first start, subbing for Greg Isdaner (head, though he played one series) and Eric Jobe, in his second start, subbing for Mike Dent (neck): "You kidding me? And you replace two all-Big East, All-American candidate guys. We didn't replace a couple of stiffs. That's crazy talk." . . . West Virginia allowed a third-quarter touchdown for only the second time all fall, ending a string of four consecutive games and six of seven without a third- or fourth-quarter score. . . Stewart pooh-poohed the pregame-warmup fracas between the teams, saying his Mountaineers didn't breach protocol by standing on Louisville's midfield Cardinal logo. A few wild punches were thrown, but coaches and game officials separated the two sides.

Scratch Dent?

Chuck Finder — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:08:00 GMT

The second-best college football starter from Jeannette High may have taken his last Division I-A snap.

West Virginia starting center Mike Dent on Tuesday night talked of having a doctor later this week re-evaluate the swollen pinched nerve in his neck, the malady that caused numbness down Dent's arms in the Connecticut game Nov. 1 and a few days later effectively removed him from the Mountaineers' lineup, This fifth-year senior since was erased from the two-deep depth chart and replaced in the starting lineup by Eric Jobe, who is practicing with the first team when left guard Greg Isdaner isn't taking a few snaps at center. Dent said he hopes to play Saturday at Louisville and prepares to start when he "goes to practice very day and takes mental reps. Watches film." But it doesn't sound convincing.

Another Mountaineers member said he thought Dent isn't supposed to see a doctor until next week, and Coach Bill Stewart continued to completely bypass the normal injury coachspeak -- aren't we all "day to day" on this planet? -- and again Tuesday labeled Dent's status as "week to week." Only three regular-season games remain for West Virginia: at Louisville, at Pitt the day after Thanksgiving, and South Florida at home on Senior Day Dec. 6.

"He's definitely going to be missed," said Jobe, who started and played the Mountaineers' Nov. 8 overtime loss to Cincinnati.

"You can't replace a Mike Dent," offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen added. "You're talking about a kid who's a probable NFL performer. An all-Big East player."

Dent, whose high-school basketball records were erased by the same Ohio State starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor who earns the most Jeannette collegiate attention, was second-team all-conference last year and a Rimington Trophy watch-list candidate this fall. He started 21 consecutive Mountaineers games until this ailment.

Huggy Bearcat

Chuck Finder — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:11:00 GMT

He leads the Big East in touchdown receptions and kickoff returns, as West Virginia is about to find out Saturday. He leads the NCAA in the unofficial statistic: Most Nights Slept in Car Behind Drug Store While Trying to Get Scholarship Back. Yet what Cincinnati receiver Mardy Gilyard did in front of a national television audience a week ago will remain etched in minds for a long time.

Read about him here.

Watch it now.

Of defense and outer space

Chuck Finder — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:49:00 GMT

The subject of the recently stout West Virginia defense -- with six sophomores and one freshman starting, salute -- will be scrutinized inside the inky pages of the PG in coming days. But, first, we wanted to run past you a couple or three innerestin' digits.

Since the opening five minutes of the Colorado game, when the host Buffaloes stomped up two hasty touchdowns, the Mountaineers' defense has:

* Yielded just five touchdowns in the past 355 minutes of regulation and one overtime (their 59 points in this span equate to roughly 9.8 points per game, which would rank them second only to USC's touchdown-per-lousy-Pac-10-game average).

* Allowed just four touchdowns, along with seven field goals, in opponents' 17 trips inside the Red Zone (that 64 percentage would rank them sixth among all major-college programs, although, as it is, they stand No. 16 overall in the category).

* Prevented the opposition from scoring on 81 percent of its possessions (Alabama and Penn State, by comparison respectively, are only 1 and 2 percent better for the entire season).

If you really dig math, you'll figure that something's gotta give this week against Cincinnati, which scores on average one of every three possessions this fall.

One note about the special teams, particularly the kickoff-coverage unit that ranks 119th and last: Courtney Stuart (knee) will miss three to six weeks, Jim Lewis (foot) another week and Archie Sims (apparent concussion) an indefinite period, Coach Bill Stewart said. Added the coach: "I asked what planet Archie was on in a meeting and he said 'Earth,' but he looked to me like he was on Jupiter."

Oh, and as expected -- he did beat then-No. 24 South Florida last week -- Tony Pike will start at quarterback for Cincinnati.

'Thoughts from a fat white guy'

Chuck Finder — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:55:00 GMT

No, not this fat white guy, but this one:

Fellow blogger and starting Connecticut defensive tackle Rob Lunn, whose injured shoulder apparently hampers neither his typing nor his wit, posted about West Virginia tonight just a few hours before aligning against them Saturday in a game that will help to shape the Big East title race.

In the above referenced blog, Lunn raved about Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White and tailback Noel Devine. But he instantly will earn the affection of many Mountaineers followers with this reference: "Don't expect WVU dominance in the Big East to stop any time soon (take that". . . um, insert vulgar variation of ex-West Virginia coach's name here. Check out his earlier posts about WVU, including one where he labels fans "Slack-Jawed Yokells(sic)."

We'll see how well Lunn plays Saturday, but, man, ya gotta like his sarcastic writing style, if not his spelling and sweeping generalizations.

Take 5

Chuck Finder — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:13:00 GMT

Hate to get in the way of a Clint Eastwood-styled post that could really make. . . your . . .day, but let's quickly deal with a quizzical quintet of local and national questions:

1. To prepare for the World's Largest Cocktail Party, despite the PC police asking us to refrain from calling it that: They shoot Gators, don't they? Guess the Florida newspapers are too busy with the Tampa Bay Rays' weather story to create some online game involving Dawg stuff.

2. So, Pitt fans, whaddya think of Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis invoking the B-word in reference to the Irish's motivation for Saturday?

3. Tyrone Willingham's not even cold yet at Washington, but are one former and one current USC assistant already preparing to wage a cage match for that job opening?

4. Will an injury to Louisville's top receiver further stir a Big East race that seems to get shaken up every week?

5. How do you stop the nation's No. 1 major-college rusher, Donald Brown of Connecticut? Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, easily the Most Valuable Assistant so far this season for a West Virginia that Saturday confronts the difficult Mr. Brown and his 29 carries for 165.5 yards per game, offers this suggestion: "There's no magic formula to stopping a great back. You have to do all the things that are a cliche in football" -- i.e. maintaining gap assignments, sure tackling, escaping blocks, swarming. "The great backs might still beat you at that. And he's a great player. Great player." Brown, about whom the PG plans to profile in Friday's paper, rushed for 129 yards against WVU last November, and everyone agrees he's a muuuch better back this fall.

Muntaineers have played 3rd-easiest schedule, and mre ffensive discussin

Chuck Finder — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:26:00 GMT

(Get it? No O, as discussed in today's story.)

West Virginia crafted its 4-2 record against the third-easiest schedule in the BCS.

Don't take my word for it, check out the NCAA's computations.

Waaaaay down there . . . keep going. . . you'll find the Muntaineers' first-half schedule ranks 117th of 119 teams with a 5-16 overall record, ahead of only 6-0 Tulsa (coached against 6-20 foes by former WVU co-defensive coordinator Todd Graham) and 3-3 Louisiana-Lafayette (which benefited little from a 4-23 cupcake schedule).True, the NCAA's abacus ciphers differently, because my Big Eight-trained calculations arrive at an 11-19 combined record excluding the best-of-lot 4-1 belonging to Division I-AA Villanova. The governing body, however, discounts all games involving D-I-AA competition, which means in its eyes West Virginia has played at least two winless teams already -- Rutgers and Syracuse beat only Morgan State and Northeastern. Furthermore, it removes from the equation anything outside the major-conference realm of the BCS, which means Marshall's three victories, Colorado's non-WVU victories and the last game East Carolina won (against C-USA rival Tulane waaaaay back on Sept. 13 before it lost three in a row) never show on the NCAA's books.

Heck, remove the Colorado and East Carolina triumphs over West Virginia, and the only victories that matter on this NCAA ledger are an East Carolina upset of Virginia Tech and, uh. . . nothing else. That's right, the Muntaineers' six foes to date have combined to beat only one BCS opponent in 15 other games.

One more time, with feeling: West Virginia's six foes to date have a combined BCS record, excluding games against the Muntaineers, of 1-14.

Then again, Penn State had the 25th-easiest road so far, by this accounting, at 11-17.

And guess what? It only gets more vexing for West Virginia from here: The Muntaineers have the eighth-toughest schedule remaining, at a collective 26-9.

Four of the six opponents left are formerly or currently ranked: 4-3 Auburn (20th last week and once as high as 9th), 5-1 Connecticut (once 24th), 5-1 Cincinnati (which received a vote this week and, remember, lost only to fourth-ranked Oklahoma), 3-2 Louisville, No. 23 and 4-1 Pitt, No. 19 and 5-1 South Florida (as high as 10th before losing to Pitt). Although, by the NCAA's mad math, those upcoming foes are only a combined 24-7. Still, it's the toughest road belonging to any major-college team outside the Big XII, Southeastern Conference and (at least this will make for Wild Wonderful smiles) Rich Rodriguez's employer.

* Auburn announced its 2009 schedule, and the rematch with West Virginia is set for Sept. 19 at Jordan(pronounced Jurr-din)-Hare Stadium. If the Muntaineers are lucky, maybe the Tigers will overlook them for the big tilt that next week against currently undefeated and nationally ranked Ball State.

Wow, who'da thunk come mid-October those phrases would appear in front of David Letterman's alma mater and not Rodriguez's?

Speaking of Auburn, the Tigers are so desperately searching for offense in this down week before next Thursday at Muntaineer Field that they've basically reopened their quarterback derby and included in that race a hotshot freshman heretofore headed for a redshirt, as Charles Goldberg reports.

* More schedule stuff: Jack Bogaczyk reports that LSU may well pop onto West Virginia's slate in 2010 and 2011, what with Michigan State pushing back five years and creating an opening. East Carolina also appears set for a six-year renewal, and Virginia -- as mentioned in Red Di back in August -- remains in play.

Finally, one last stat about the oh-ffensive woes befalling West Virginia. This 2008 unit is the first since the last of the Frank Cignetti teams, 1979, to play this far into a season without once scoring 30-plus points against a major-college opponent. By contrast at this juncture in the intervening 28 West Virginia seasons, seven teams had done it once, eight teams twice, six teams thrice, four teams four times and three teams five times -- including last fall's Mountaineers, who rang up 30 or more points in five of their season-opening six games (and 13 in the other, the loss at South Florida).