9:00 WVU is up 16-10 and they bring in Tarkanian for an interview. Uncomfortable moment ensues. "I really like the way Bob Huggins team is playing." If anyone else would have said that, I would be cool with it. But coming from him I felt kind of sick. Maybe it's just me.
Just some thoughts from last night and tonight: This is definitely not the same team we saw last year. Almost everyone can take it to the rim, and they are much more physical than any WV team I can remember. But they seem to lack a spark unless they are playing off turnovers. There are obviously still some shooters on the team, but the approach of this years team doesn't look for the three first.
The defense is a nice thing to see. These guys get after it. It should get even better with all the freshmen seeing time.
1:00 Kentucky has started giving West Virginia the jump shot, but the Mountaineers haven't been able to hit them. The pace of the game has definitely slowed. WVU 26-16.
That's your halftime score.
2nd Half
15:00 30-20 West Virginia. This is just ugly basketball.
13:00 West Virginia is fouling way too much and not working the ball around on offense. We're up and should be looking for good shots, but were taking the first girl that looks our way every time. 32-24 WVU
8:00 WVU down 37-36...ugly
6:58 Wellington Smith hits a three to tie the game at 39. Ruoff going cold and taking 2 of the 3.
6:20 Haroldson for Kentucky is killing us with the garbage pickups. Even when he get fouled. 41-39 Kentucky.
5:30 Mazzoula picks up an offensive foul, which is like the millionth o-foul in this game. No wonder the score is so low. 41-41.
4:15 Even though the score is 45-41, it seems like things are getting way out of hand for WVU.
Final Ugh, we just had no offense to draw on down the stretch. Not to take anything away from Kentucky, they played solid defense. We were forced to foul and Kentucky hit their shots. 54-43 UK.
Ugh, it just kills me to think about how far the offensive production has dropped off this year. Especially in a depleted Big East. But at least the basketball team gave us something to smile about last night. If you're wondering, my fever riddled brain thought we were playing the Little Rascals last night.
I'm sure Kentucky won't remind me of a depression era kids show. Game time is 1030pm on ESPN2. Hopefully, I'll be able to put together more than a few sentences after the game.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Normally I wouldn't be on here on a holiday, but the parents have taken over the TV and this seems to be the only thing I can do.
I'm not calling Jason Whitlock a turkey, but this article seems a little over the top to me. I understand his anger with the WWL. I get that way too. But to suggest that ESPN has ruined the Heisman trophy is wrong. I see them reporting on the best player at the biggest schools way more than nice stories like Nate Davis. Yes, I'm sure it's a business decision to draw as many eyes as possible. But if you really want to blame anyone for the Heisman being the joke that it is, you should point that finger at SID's at the schools of Heisman candidates. The kind that rent a billboard in Time Square and put up a picture of Joey Harrington. Those type of stunts have been around a lot longer that Chris Fowler or GameDay. And they've produced names like Gino Toretta, Chris Weinke, and Eric Crouch. At least when ESPN promotes a Big 12 quarterback, they are promoting a player the rest of the country can agree has talent and is in the most competitive conference in the country. BY FAR! As an aside, I remember the 1988 Heisman race between Troy Aikman and RodneyPete that was eventually won by Barry Sanders. All year long we had Aikman and Pete force fed to us. Even thought there was an amazing run/pass quarterback named Major Harris that was doing things no quarterback had ever done. Oddly enough, the only time we saw Sanders play all year was on an upstart network called ESPN. Other than that, Sanders won his Heisman based on video game-type stats.
Making a case for Nate Davis is a nice gesture, but the things he's doing weren't done against top competition. Not even close to what the Big 12 quarterbacks have faced. The thing that sticks out in my mind is the bowl game against Rutgers last year in which he seemed lost most of the game until the outcome wasn't in question. His final stats looked good, but Ball State was out of that game before the halftime gun sounded. Unfortunately for him, that was the last time we saw him play against a top 25 team. At least with ESPN, we can see those games now.
With Pat White reaching some considerable milestones last week, some talk has popped up about retiring his jersey. I'd like to go on record as being against this idea. Not that I don't want to honor White as the best football player West Virginia University has ever had. He is, and I do. I just think it would be a much better idea to create a ring of fame around the stadium honoring Mountaineer greats. His name should be immortalized beside other Mountaineer greats, but the number five and other numbers should be used as a way to let future players know they have something to live up to. Like the way Brad Hunt's #70 was passed along to John Ray. From one West Virginia born lineman to another. If a West Virginia quarterback wants to wear the #5, he should have to earn it. But it should be available. In my mind, that's the best way to honor White. By all means, if you're going to do that do it now. His name should be unveiled on the stadium wall at the end of the South Florida game. Give 60,000 fans the chance to say goodbye and thank you. Anything else doesn't do him justice.
We're talking bowl choices here, people. What's in front of us? Maybe the Sun Bowl or the Car Care Bowl. Sure, Syracuse could give us the gift we would really like! But let's just accept for a minute that it won't happen, and we'll have to go to a second tier bowl.
My first thought is, "so what." As in the goals at the beginning of the season are shot, so let's go somewhere not too far away and beat a team and a coach we'd really enjoy beating. No Mountaineer fans, Michigan isn't bowl eligible. I'm talking about Maryland and one Ralph Friedgen. Or we could go way the F--- out west and spend a ton on travel and a hotel room. Sure the Car Bowl is pretty craptastic, but is a Sun Bowl appearance really going further the cause any better? Shit no!
I know this is all speculation and we really have no control over what crappy bowl we go to if we don't get a BCS bid. But Charlotte is about five hours from where I'm sitting or a full tank of gas and a six pack of Magic Hat #9 away. The Sun Bowl? Many tanks and many beers. Probably too many. We recruit on the east coast anyway.
No, I don't want Notre Dame to go to the Sun Bowl instead of a Big East team. And no, I don't want West Virginia to finish any worse than second in the Big East. But I'd really like it if I could keep this whole trip under $300 (I got a place places to stay in Charlotte).
I guess a good way to figure out how to beat Pitt is to look at how it's been done this year. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing doesn't look like something West Virginia has done since Marc Bulger was here. Which is a three to one margin of passing yards to rushing yards. Hell, I'm not sure Bulger ever did that. Don Nehlen wouldn't hear of such.
Of course Bowling Green, Rutgers, and Cincinnati aren't considered running teams this year. Pitt has only been out gained on the ground three times, and two of those were victories. The Cincinnati loss isn't hard to understand, but the Rutgers and Bowling Green losses still have me looking back to make sure I'm right. We've had those kind of losses as well. It makes one mad to think about such things. You know, breaking guitars left and right. Even keyboards were given no quarter...we don't really have drums.
Do I think West Virginia should come out chucking it up? No. Will they? That's what scares me. I just don't think we should be dictated to by anyone. Especially Pitt. We should come out and try to take the crowd out of the game by running like men possessed. I want to hear Wannstedt say, "we need to run faster" again. Wasn't that fun? Sure it was.
It would seem to me that we should see more of Sanders and Devine in the backfield at the same time. Dual wheel routes of glory? You can see it, I know you can. Something else that might work would be to throw it to Tyler Urban. Provided he would catch it. That's not fair, he's only had two or three thrown his way all year. I'm not saying anything about Jock. That didn't really happen...ever. If Pitt isn't getting penetration on a regular basis, maybe a delayed hand off would work. Hey, I'm just throwing it up against the wall to see if anything sticks.
We probably won't see any of the above, but I suspect a dedication to the run will be needed to win. Those teams all beat Pitt by doing what they've done all year. That's what West Virginia is going to have to do. We run the ball well when we commit to it. Sure Pitt has a good run defense and an outstanding linebacker in McKillop. We're just not going to win this game by pretending to be something we're not. And hey, we could use a big game from the defense. Yeah, that would be swell.
The sad thing about this season is that West Virginia has had to bounce back a lot. The good thing is that they have bounced back. My best case scenario for this year was that West Virginia would have a dominating offense and a young defense that would cost them probably two games. Worst case, four. And as if the man needed to remind me one more time that I am not the great predictor, nothing could be further from the truth. At least how they have gotten to this point.
The defense isn't heavy with NFL talent, nor experience. They've just been one of those pleasant surprises that might speak more about why the offense has faltered at times and why the defense has shinned. Continuity. Having Jeff Casteel back as defensive coordinator seems to have made a world of difference. Sure they weren't all that great at the beginning of the year. But they came together for the Colorado game and have been strong since. Despite losing some key players, Casteel has plugged in the next guy on the depth chart and just gone with it.
The offense has confused me all year long. Every time I think we have no chance, we roll over someone like Auburn. So that leads me to think we have things figured out, and then Cincinnati comes to town. In all fairness, Cincinnati is a pretty good team. Apparently, really good teams go to Norman and get throttled. But after the last three years, it's hard to look at and believe what I'm seeing. I was probably looking to a fairytale ending for Pat White, and that's not what I got. Not exactly. But if you look over our last 10 years not counting this one, we've averaged a little less than nine wins a season. Which is skewed a bit by the last three years. But while this year feels like every minute of Rob Gordon's life, it's really something closer to the norm.
There's a feeling of disappointment, sure, but the reality isn't that bad. There's still a good chance to win 10 games, and an outside shot at a Big East title. God forbid, ya know?There were enough times this year that the team could have folded. Booing incidents come to mind. Two straight losses to East Carolina and Colorado sprinkled in there. But the team has remained a team and kept trying no matter what anyone says. There hasn't been any division of the team. They've just grown tighter and defended each other. That's one thing we should have expected from this team.
Hopefully some thoughts on the Pitt game later in the week.
Who the hell is Longwood? And why are they employing the 5-on-2 defense? Anyway, we beat this team 86-54 and no one is happy about it.
“When practice starts, it’s hard. Three hours is hard. It’s harder than anything any of them have done at this point in their career. To not come out when you have people in the stands and not play with the enthusiasm and energy, I don’t understand.”
Again, the numbers on the stat sheet – including the final score – would indicate a dominating effort by the Mountaineers. West Virginia doubled up the Lancers on the boards by a count of 54-27. Included in that total were 19 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 16 second-chance points for WVU.
But a win is a win. Hell, I'm just happy I put up a post about the basketball team!
We're doing a mutual Q&A with Tom Heiser from the Louisville Courier-Journal for the upcoming game between the Mountaineers and the Cardinals. Our answers to Tom's questions about the game can be found here. Be sure to head over to Tom's blog for a live chat of the game starting at 12pm. With that, let's get down to business.
1. You asked me if WVU fans still consider Louisville as big a rival as they did two years ago. Flip that coin over and give us the Louisville perspective. Is it a game still circled on the calender, or is it just another game?
Personally, I'm a big believer in the rivalry. I've been cudgeled by Cardinal and Wildcat fans who cannot believe I don't list UK as are truly implacable foe. While I enjoy playing and beating the Wildcats I think that the rival with West Virginia, as it has stood in the previous three years, was superior due to the repercussions of the outcome. For both teams a BCS bowl berth dangled in the balance. Even though the Cards and Mountaineers have fallen on hard and disappointing times, respectively, I think the series still has enough energy to qualify as a rivalry for most U of L fans.
2. The defense has shown big improvement in my eyes, giving up almost 100 less yards a game and about five less points a game. Talk a little about the guys that have stepped up and the effect of Ron English on the defensive philosophy.
Ron English has certainly earned his salary this year. He took a defensive unit rife with indiscipline and shoddy fundamentals and brought it up beyond the level of respectability. For the most part, the Cardinal defense has been the one shining star in the black hole of 2008. He's a real in-your-grille competitor, a classic tough-love coach and mentors. The most glaring improvement has been on the front line, where L.D. Scott and Adrian Grady have anchored a sturdy run defense and generated good pressure on the quarterback. The linebackers, culled mainly from the JUCO ranks, have performed well, with a few setbacks. The much-maligned secondary of 2007 has drastically improved, but has regressed of late -- surrendering ridiculously long third-down conversions and touchdown passes. Injuries to Richard Raglin and now Woodney Turenne have thinned out an already suspect cohort at the absolute worst time.
3. On the offensive side of the ball, you're way more committed to the run. Talk about the emergence of Victor Anderson.
The surprising commitment to the run is direct result of Anderson's emergence and the struggles of quarterback Hunter Cantwell. Victor solidified a running back corps that was in a state of disarray after the transfer of bruising back Anthony Allen. Bilal Powell and Brock Bolen were originally slated to be the top ball carriers, but Anderson demonstrated early on his ability to break the long run, catch the ball out of the backfield, and gain the tough yards when called on.
4. How hot is the seat Steve Kragthorpe is sitting on? Any chance he gets a pink slip at the end of the year, or is next year a make or break year for him?
Hot? More like molten. The years of success under Bobby Petrino (41-9 and an Orange Bowl victory) seem a long way off right now. The Cards have lost three straight and are staring (with a loss to your Mountaineers and a tough one on the road at resurgent Rutgers) at a 5-game losing streak to close the season and leave the Cards outside of the bowl picture for a second straight year. The message boards and talk radio are alight with searing calls for Kragthorpe's dismissal. Recruiting is suffering (just seven inked so far for 2009), and attendance is showing early signs of a drop off. AD Tom Jurich is foursquare in Kragthorpe's camp, but that hasn't diminished the discontent. Consecutive losses to Syracuse and Kentucky, the recent blow-out at Pittsburgh, and a litany of atrocious penalties and play-calling have brought the situation to a boil. No one in the media expects Kragthorpe to be fired at the end of this year ... or next year ... or the year after that. The feeling is that Jurich feels Kragthorpe is the right man to turn U of L's fortunes around given the bad hand he was dealt (off-field issues, disciplinary actions). Statements of that nature haven't sat well with Cardinal fans, who've overwhelmingly supported Jurich at every turn.
5. Like West Virginia, the quarterback situation has been stable for a long time. Who takes over when Hunter Cantwell moves on?
Matt Simms, son of former NFL star Phil Simms, looks to be the heir apparent. He was pressed into service for a few series in the debacle at Pittsburgh and delivered an average performance. Tyler Wolfe, Zach Stoudt, Bill Ashburn and a few others will battle for the job. Simms hasn't shown me that he's qualitatively superior to his competition, but such is the state of Cardinal football.
6. What does West Virginia have to do to win this game? As a follow up, there's two minutes left in a tie ballgame. Who you got, Bill Stewart or Steve Kragthorpe? Or do you just close your eyes and hope for the best?
The Pat White/Noel Devine combination provides a daunting challenge for the U of L run defense, which has had trouble with some of the league's top rushers (Donald Brown and Curtis Brinkley). Devine's speed and White's scrambling present the type of challenge that makes WVU unique. The Cards haven't faces this type of a running attack all season. I'm equally concerned about White's ability to pass out of play action. Syracuse murdered U of L's secondary on two well-designed calls, and U of L's secondary will be hurting this week with the loss of Turenne at the corner.
7. The Mountaineer offense has struggled compared to last year. From the outside looking in, what is West Virginia missing? Is it a matter of personnel or play calling?
Losing Owen Schmidt and Steve Slaton undoubtedly impacted offensive production, and I was always a fan of Darius Renaud -- he seemed to always have big games against the Cardinals. From what I've seen, the Mountaineers haven't been as explosive as they were in the previous three years. We've all come to expect several rippings of 20 and 30 yards at a time -- any play could result in a blue and gold jersey streaking into the endzone. White doesn't seem as dangerous a threat running the ball, either. Hard to say, from an outsider's perspective, whether more emphasis was put on his throwing this year.
8. Finally, each game has been a scoring fest. Do we continue lighting up the scoreboard on both sides or is this going to be the year things slow down a bit?
If there's going to be a lot of points dancing across the scoreboard, then we're looking at a blowout. Louisville's offense has been stagnate since the 30-point output against South Florida. I think WVU fans will be stunned to see a Cardinal defense that manages to contain Devine and White better than they did with Steve Slaton. (Then again, if we could only have the Mountaineer duo fumble with the frequency of Slaton.) With both teams leaning on the running game, I'd be surprised if we see the pyrotechnics of 2005 (46-44) or 2006 (44-34). A 24-17 outcome wouldn't surprise from either side. I'm hoping for the upset, but I'm not as confident as I was in 2005 or 2006.
Thanks again to Tom for joining me and best of luck the rest of the way. Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN.
The latest Blogpoll Roundtable is brought to us by the fine Virginia Tech blog, College Game Balls. Feel free to leave your answers in the comments.
1. By now everyone has heard that if there is a three way tie in the Big 12 South the highest ranked team in the BCS will play in the Big 12 Championship Game. That means the humans (66% of the BCS Poll) will determine the Big 12 South representative. Let’s assume Oklahoma sinks the pirate ship at home next week. Try to sway the pollsters by arguing which team you think should face off against the Big 12 North.
First off, I would encourage Missouri to forfeit their Big 12 North spot in the title game and let the second ranked team from the South have it. Because everyone wins if we do that. Nothing against Missouri, they are a fine team but if we could watch Oklahoma and Texas again I'm all in. I can't argue one above the other. Great quarterback? Check. Great line play on both sides of the ball? Check. Solid coaching? Check. Close loss on the road is your only blemish? Check (if Tech and Oklahoma is close). I probably like the Sooner defense over the other two, so that's your winner in my book.
2. ESPN is aggressively bidding on the rights to the BCS when Fox’s contract expires after the 2009 season. My half baked theory is if they do win the rights they will push for a +1 system. Lucrative television deals have landed ESPN in bed with each of the BCS conferences. The revenue a playoff would generate could be a huge motivator for the four letter to be the common denominator and unifier among the conferences that finally helps them all to see the light of why a playoff would be good for college football. Help expand upon or debunk this theory.
A plus one could pit #1 against #3 or #4. Like the question above, when they are so close do you really know who #1 and #2 are? That would be a step backwards. I think ESPN is good for college football, though. But if you are going to go playoff, go at least 16 teams, do home games for the higher seeds and get ESPN to pay all travel expenses or the NCAA. I mean, think about the payout for a BCS game, then think about the contract being for $125 million per year. A sixteen team playoff would be gold, Jerry. Schools shouldn't just be breaking even when they go to a big bowl. Make it work for the schools. A playoff system where schools meet at a neutral site sucks for the fans. Sure there's plenty of people that can afford that and are batshit crazy for college football. But the scene at a big home game is awesome and should be worked.
3. Rivalry week is around the corner. How do you think your team will fare? Feel free to talk a little or a lot of trash.
I think both teams will be way up for this game. It means something before it plays out on the field for the first time in a long time. It'll be Pat Whites last chance to audition for Cats.
So, I think we'll see a big night for him and big victory for West Virginia.
4. And now for a little fun… Assemble your dream announcing team. Pick a play-by-play announcer, color commentator, sideline reporter and for the hell of it celebrity guest that drops on by.
Brent Musburger, I like Kirk but I'm not going there. Color Guy-Lou Holtz. I'm serious, tell me he wouldn't make complete sense for five minutes, go off on a tangent for another five, give a motivational speech in between each, and then remind you that Notre Dame is one year away. And you, will think to yourself, "again?" Ray Lewis for sideline reporter. He would be awesome! Celebrity guest? Chris Farley should be the celebrity guest. It would really be awesome!
I did a Q&A earlier with Tom Heiser from the Louisville Courier-Journal. Go give it a read and let me know what ya think. I'll have my questions for Tom up later in the week.
There's lots of praise for both sides going into this game. Coachspeak doesn't tell the story, because both programs should be better, but for one reason or another aren't. Trash talk would be much better, and for that, we have to go to the message boards.
Something that has been fun all year is the opponent look alike threads on Blue-Gold News. And this week doesn't disappoint.
Cantwell Harry Dunne
Hunter Cantwell
Larry the Cable Guy + Shaggy +
Oh well, I don't see a similar thread on the Louisville board. We like to be fair and balanced, but nothing to go on. And I'm not going to do one for WV. But feel free to do your own or point me to one for the Cards.
I'm back on CFB Weekly to discuss WVU Football this week. Hop on over and give it a listen. It's a fun, interesting listen no matter your favorite team. If nothing else, you can listen to Brian from MgoBlog discuss the worst year in Michigan football, evah.
Hey all, sorry to leave you hanging last week. I had a lot of things to do that didn't involve watching college football. Sadly, one of those things was me turning in my resignation at FanHouse. There's no ill will or anything. I just needed to stop that so I could move on to other things.
One of those other things is concentrating on West Virginia and this blog. Sure, I don't make any money here. But over the past couple years I've found myself less and less interested in all things Mountaineers. That's a sad statement, but the time in the day just didn't allow for me to read everything about West Virginia and still fulfill my responsibilities at FanHouse. In the end, I just want to be a fan and do crappy photoshops like the one you see at right.
Enough of that, let's look at West Virginia-Louisville. My how this series has fallen off after the incredible first two games. OK, I already don't want to think about this game. It's sad to think how quickly both programs have fallen off the face of the college football landscape. Two years ago, this game was for a shot at the national title. Things didn't turn out that way, but Louisville could have very easily been there if not for a pesky Rutgers team ruining their season.
Of course the 2007 meeting was once again billed as the league championship before the season started. But Louisville forgot how to play defense last year and the game was almost meaningless by the time it rolled around. Regrettably, West Virginia lost to Pitt and ruined any chance at a national title, then watched DickRod leave for Michigan.
There is something at stake in this game, though. Oddly enough, West Virginia still has a shot at the Big East title if the Mountaineers can win out and someone can beat Cincinnati between now and the end of the season. Louisville still has a shot at a bowl game if they can win one more game. Although some, including Steve Kragthorpe, believe they need to win both of their remaining games to get a bowl invite.
Kragthorpe may or may not be in trouble. He was hand picked by Tom Jurich to replace Bobby Petrino, but the natives are restless as you can see by checking out the live blog of the Monday press conference, here. As usual, I'll be doing a Q&A session with Tom Heiser later in the week. Also, keep an eye on Mike @ Card Chronicle to keep up to date with all things Louisville.
Lastly, it looks like I'm going to have to start thinking basketball as West Virginia's season has already started. But I'm still not sure what this Elon thing is.
The Blogpoll is a collection of independent blogs that focus, at least some of the time, on college football. It's brought to us by Brian @ Mgoblog, and appears on CBS Sports smartly beside the other polls you've grown up with.
Not much change at the top, but resume demands that Texas Tech go to the top. I think the top five teams in the Big 12 are better than the top five in any other conference. Tech only has one more of those to take care of (Oklahoma) and they will have completed one of the more impressive runs that I can remember. It's not that I wouldn't listen to any arguments for Alabama. That's a great story, about to get a whole lot better if they can win the SEC championship. But today, I'm leaning toward Texas Tech.
That TCU thing seems kind of odd to me. I moved them up after a loss? A close loss to the #7 team, but still a loss. But now that I look at it again, I think they beat any of the teams below them on a neutral field. Miami, Boston College, and North Carolina are the ACC Three this week. That should be a song.
First Half
1 
1 
Cantwell
Harry Dunne
+ 
