Month: October 2011

Since WVU has now beaten the Scarlet Knights I think seventeen times in a row, Rutgers University – rest in peace is a fitting adieu.  The game was terrific…snow, come from behind, shut out in the second half … moving up in the polls.  Looking down the road, if we win out then it’s Orange Bowl against the ACC champ.  If we win then our ranking should be between 5 and 10.  If we lose that game, the ranking will be between 15 and 20.  Now if don’t win out then it’s probably the Car Crash Bowl in Charlotte again.  If we win that final ranking would be 15 to 20.  If we lose then 24 or 25 in the nation.

I still don’t think we will ever play a game in the Big 12.  Personally, I think joining the ACC would be the best fit.

Incidently, Holgorsen was not outcoached at Syracuse.  The players were out of sync.  A good coach takes the blame which is what Dana did at least partially.

Good things await the ‘eers.

 

Don’t buy your blue and gold cowboy boots just yet pardner!  I think there is no way WVU will ever play a game in the Big 12.  This whole announcement think looks terribly suspect.  Although the offer and acceptance to the Big 12 may indeed be real I think deep down everyone has their fingers crossed behind their back because as time passes – as Sherlock Holmes would say – “other game is afoot.”

To begin with I sincerely doubt Oliver Luck would move to the Big 12 without visible consultations with football boosters and other stakeholders.  How strange that we hear absolutely nothing from Oliver then some “word” leaks out of “somewhere” and suddenly here comes to “real deal.”  What is going on is that WVU is hedging its bets which is basically what absolutely everyone else is doing.  Teams are “scrambling” to be in a BCS automatic bid conference but once that picture and the “super conferences” gets a little more real, teams are going to “trade” and jump around a lot.

My guess?  WVU will end up in the ACC.  Can’t get there now so we are parking the WVU car in the Big 12 parking lot until the traffic congestion lessens then we’ll drive over to the ACC.

 

The game was just flat out awful.  We are paying millions of coaching dollars for that?  Good grief.  But….

My wife and I were in Philadelphia.  We had a private dinner at Constitution Hall with her group then went to a sports bar on 12th Street called the Field House.  It was totally crowded so we started to leave when the bouncer told us there was a WV alumi party in the back.  And was there!  About a hundred WVU fans – the Liberty Bell chapter had the back of the bar.  They welcomed us with open arms.  One guy gave us a ten dollar gift certificate.  We sat with a fellow named Hal and his wife.  Then about half time Owen Schmidt showed up.  What a great fellow.  I shook his hand, told him how much I loved his speech after the Fiesta Bowl Oklahomo game and we had our picture taken with him.

At the end of the game the fellow who had given us the gift certificate said he was going to watch the next game despite this one because he “loved those guys.”  Yeah, the team stunk.  Yeah Holgorsen stunk.  But hey we love those guys.  Go ‘eers.

 

Nicely done.  This should be a fun season.  Odds are the lads will drop one somewhere along the way but right now the needle points to a Big East championship and a BCS bowl – probably the Orange Bowl against an ACC team.  The key is one player – the freshman Garrison.  If he can continue to improve (love to watch him run – he has vision  meaning he knows which way to cut to take advantage of a block) then the already superior passing game will get even more effective. 

In terms of realignment, WVU will end up in the ACC I hope.  In terms of quality play the ACC is going to need a pistol like WVU particularly when Miami is banished to the bleachers.  The SEC doesn’t need another quality team but the ACC sure does.

I also like the way Dana coaches.  He puts freshmen in and doesn’t hesitate to reshuffle the deck if someone isn’t getting the job done.  Old school (I won’t mention the coaches by name) placed seniority at the top (which is one way to do it) but in the long run holding back better players just because someone else has been on the team longer is not fair.

If and this is a big if, WVU can run the table and keep hanging 40 plus points on the board each game…..well can you say national championship game???

It’s now all on the coaching staff.  WVU‘s performance against Bowling Green shows that the players know the play book, they can execute the plays and there is enough individual talent to be dominant or at least competitive in any game.  (Hanging points on LSU and coming within a touchdown ain’t bad).  So, going forward, sure there will be teams with more “talent” than Bowling Green and some with less.  This means it now boils down the how the coaches call the games and make adjustments.  In other words, WVU has the potential.  Can the coaching staff do its part?  We will see.