September 2010
16 posts
4 tags
Losing to LSU, 14-20
Saturday’s galling loss to Louisiana State University was almost unthinkably bad for one very specific reason: the coaching staff seemed to believe that we were leading when the score was 14-17 and, as is predictably the case with football coaches playing on the road in an incredibly hostile environment, the offensive gameplan was chucked out the window in favor of conservative play-calling...
LSU - Keys to the Game - Water is Wet Version
WVU and LSU play this Saturday night at 9 PM on ESPN2. I know I’m getting old when I look at a 9:00 kickoff and spend the entire week leading up to the game wondering if I should take a nap earlier in the day.
Two quick thoughts before beginning the game commentary:
- LSU is led by Les Miles who has about as good of a track record with clock management as Coach Stewart. (And while...
3 tags
Playing Brandon Hogan
There is some question as to whether or not Brandon Hogan will be playing this Saturday night against LSU. Bill Stewart alluded to the possibility in a press conference yesterday. The issue? Hogan was indefinitely suspended a few weeks ago after getting arrested for driving under the influence.
Indefinite suspensions, which is what Hogan was given at the time of the arrest, tend to involve more...
4 tags
WVU/Maryland - Safety in Numbers
A recap of the game as told through stats both in and out of the box score
4 – passing touchdowns by Geno Smith. The most by a WVU quarterback against a BCS conference opponent since Brad Lewis in the 2000 Music City Bowl (5 against Ole Miss – 12/28/2000)
2 – touchdown receptions each by Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin, marking the second time two receivers have had two touchdown receptions...
4 tags
Beating Maryland, 31-17
Saturday’s Mountaineer victory was a classic of the genre, one in which the coaching staff, upon seeing impressive success occurring before them, decides that its ramifications are too much and pulls the emergency brake. Hard. Fans in the stadium and watching at home then spend the rest of the game staring in wide-eyed wonder at the scene unfolding in front of them. The final of a game that...
5 tags
Playing Maryland
So far this season, we’ve sloppily beaten the Fighting Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina and barely survived the Fighting Thundering Herd of Marshall University. Does any of that point to a demolition of the Fighting Terrapins of the University of Maryland? No. It doesn’t. Even a bit.
Of course we should demolish them. We’re fast and talented and capable of laying an absolute...
6 tags
Dealing With Marshall In A Rambling Post That...
I like to write posts about games well after they’ve actually occurred, thus decreasing the chance that anybody will ever read them or enjoy them. Call it a strategy. Call it a bad, failing strategy for a website. I model my website strategy off of the offensive strategy that West Virginia University football has had for the last, oh, I don’t know, entirety of my lifetime.
The...
1 tag
WVU/Marshall - Safety in Numbers
A recap of the game as told through stats both in and out of the box score
98 – yards of the last touchdown drive for WVU that began with 3:02 remaining in regulation
97 – seconds remaining in the first quarter before Jock Sanders had his first touch in the game
3 – sacks by Marshall on Friday night
2 – total sacks by Marshall in previous four games against WVU
316 – yards passing...
2 tags
Negativity Free Fridays: Marshall
I have been accused of being relentlessly negative about Morgantown, something which troubles me. Although I passionately dislike its utterly incompetent leadership, I don’t live in this city by accident. It is my home, and I love it here. So it is that I present Negativity Free Fridays. This weekly post will extol a virtue of this wonderful town of mine.
See that explanation up there? I want to...
4 tags
The Warner Closes
Although I didn’t miss this news last week, I did purposefully avoid it, as the closure of the Warner Theater is the closure of a building that I spent more than my fair share of time in during my life. Now though it’s empty. What’s the fun in that?
When I was a senior at Morgantown High School, I took classes at WVU both because I liked them and because it got me out of the...
5 tags
Get Your Facts Straight
According to ESPN, Kentucky’s big man recruit Enes Kanter was paid to play basketball in Turkey, thus making him a professional and incredibly ineligible for the school’s basketball team. Let me say that as a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, I am shocked to hear of such allegations being made about a player ending up on John Calipari’s team.
But more importantly,...
1 tag
WVU/Coastal Carolina - Safety in Numbers
A recap of the game as told through stats both in and out of the box score
0 – times that Coastal Carolina got inside the West Virginia 20 yard line
7,2,8,1 – Noel Devine’s rushing attempts, rushes of negative yards, net rushing yards, and touchdowns on runs inside the 10 yard line
3,0,9,1 – Ryan Clarke’s rushing attempts, rushes of negative yards, net rushing yards, and touchdowns on runs...
3 tags
Beating Coastal Carolina, 31-0
Thoughts about Saturday’s game in no particular order:
-We won 31-0, shutting out the not-at-all formidable Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina. The shutout was impressive, as was the fact that our defense kept the ‘Cleers, as I imagine somebody somewhere calls them, from getting any closer than two long field goal attempts. Both were helpfully shanked by the ‘Cleers kicker,...
4 tags
Coastal Carolina Preview
I once had a personal dream that working at Coastal Carolina University would be fantastic. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see WVU absolutely trounce the…am I getting this right…Coastal Carolina Chanticleers?!? What the Eph is a Chanticleer?
Preparing for games like this as a fan - a game in which the Mountaineers should win big - is always delicate, because...
9 tags
Reasons To Be Excited For This Year's Mountaineers...
As we enter a new season, as I discussed yesterday, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the upcoming season. There are also plenty of reasons to be worried but considering that I constantly worry about the team’s fortunes, and because those worries have been better described elsewhere, I thought it makes more sense to go into the season with a sunny disposition. That way, when...
4 tags
WVU Football's Season, Distantly Previewed By A...
I have spent a lifetime perfecting my involvement with Mountaineer Sports. That involvement could be described as casual. I only regularly visit one Mountaineer blog (although I occasionally stop by Aaron Hawley’s work). While I will read any Mountaineers news that pops up on sites like ESPN, I don’t subscribe to the local papers or listen to the local call-in shows. My money and time...
