Prior to last year’s Fiesta Bowl between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Oklahoma Sooners, ESPN ran a national, state-by-state poll asking who users thought would win the game.
Watching the upset loss to Pitt in the season finale and the unexpected, abrupt, and wrenching exit of coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan—and the media frenzy that followed Rodriguez, specifically Lee Corso, pronouncing the abandoned Mountaineers demoralized—college football fans voted against WVU.
Every state outside of West Virginia voted for Oklahoma. Nationally, 84 percent of respondents picked Oklahoma to win.
After WVU’s 48-28 blowout win over Oklahoma, ebullient WVU wideout Dorrell Jalloh wrote “84” on a white board and ran around the field, showing it to celebrating Mountaineer fans.
The message: Only you believed in us. It was the team’s motivation in the unexpected win.
Flash-forward to preseason 2008.
The Mountaineers are ranked a respectable and reasonable No. 8 in both polls. Yet, in the preseason picks for Big East champion, the national consensus is with South Florida, despite the fact that WVU received 22 of 24 votes from Big East sports writers to win the conference.
- B/R Ticket Guide
South Florida, a gritty and talented team, is picked by many to win the Big East because they have beaten the Mountaineers in the past two seasons.
Pittsburgh, thanks to its upset win over WVU last year and the return of freshman running back LeSean McCoy, is the trendy pick to win the Big East.
Indeed, if you look at the ESPN experts’ compilation of picks to win the Big East title, only six of 12 chose WVU (Bob Davie, Jim Donnan, Pat Forde, Rod Gilmore, Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach).
ESPN Radio midday host Colin Cowherd picks South Florida, as do College GameDay host Rece Davis and analyst Andre Ware.
Scouts Inc.’s Todd McShay, reporter Joe Schad, and the usually sensible Bruce Feldman pick Pitt, a team with a 5-7 record last year.
So during August two-a-days, the Mountaineers were able to take their most comfortable and successful position—the underdog.
It looks like this Mountaineer team—supposedly still reeling over Rodriguez’s departure, ravaged by the loss of Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, Darius Reynaud, and most of the defense—is using the same Fiesta Bowl motivation for an entire season.
The Mountaineers have thrived as underdogs, from the 2006 Sugar Bowl to the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.
In fact, in the years following the train wreck that was the 2004 team (Pac-Man Jones, Chris Henry and Kay-Jay Harris), the only time I can remember a Pat White team showing front-runner cockiness came before last season’s loss to South Florida, when some members of the team—following a remark earlier in the week from Rodriguez—got off the plane in Tampa wearing Yankees caps.
That was a bad move, and a mistake not likely to be repeated.
Can a team maintain an underdog mentality all season, especially if it hits the midway mark at 6-0—which would include a high-profile win over Auburn—and a lofty rise in the polls? Hard to say.
But on a Bill Stewart-team led by Pat White, I’ll take those odds.
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2 months ago
Totally agree! I have written a similar article, and I couldn't agree more.
2 months ago
Good article but I don't agree with the headline, if anything it's just the Big East that is still a little bit of an underdog. It's tough to call a team coming off of a BCS blowout win and sports a #8 ranking an underdog. If people are picking USF over WVU maybe they've just watched the last two times they played as it was clear who the winner was, overall every week I watched last year the Mountaineers were 20+ point favorites including 8 pointers in the loss to USF and 28 1/2 in the embarrassment at Pitt. What you have is a loaded team that has a hump to get over and has put themselves in a position to play for the title again, they just need to avoid the stumble which coincidently or not so coincidently takes place when White gets hurt. In any event good luck this year and if WVU gets to the title game no one is shocked.
2 months ago
Frank - Good article.
I have been following all of the preseason press and hype and I also found the number of ESPN folks who are picking either PITT or USF to win the Big East interesting. Especially considering that USF has never won the Big East and PITT was 5-7 last year and did not even make it to a bowl game. Three of their five wins were games against Grambling State, Syracuse, and Eastern Michigan.
I take some solace in the fact that WVU does thrive on being the underdog, just as you have stated. The more people that go on national TV and say that they can't do something the better. I hope that the staff at WVU share with the entire team that many are picking someone else to win the Big East. I hope the players read articles from writers who are saying that "there are too many questions in Morgantown this year" for the Mountaineers to succeed.
Not only will it keep them focused and motivated, but it will make winning the conference and playing in a bowl that much more sweet.
2 months ago
Should be explosive on offense, but with only 3 starters back from an already suspect defense, it'll be hard for WVU to stay in the Top 10, let alone, compete for the Big East Title..
from 2 months ago
yourwrong chris we have 7 starters backon defense and are backups have lots of playing time so sorry but youare very wrong
from 2 months ago
I've hear a lot about how shaky the WVU defense is and about the lack of starters returning, but people aren't telling the whole story. The Mountaineers have several defensive players return who weren't listed as starters last year but who spent a good bit of time on the field. Pat Liebig, who has had a wealth of experience returned after a year away helping his ailing father. The Linebackers are solid, the line is solid. The only question mark is the secondary and they have been described as very talented athletically. Brantwon Bowser a DB who was listed in the media guide as out with season ending surgery, is actually back and available after making an unexpected and amazing recovery. Offensive speedster Brandon Hogan has made the transition to the defensive backfield and has been impressive. They will make a few mistakes here or there on coverages do to the overall experience level, but the secondary member's speed and tenacity will make up for a lot of that. Make no mistake about it: The Mounatineer defense will hit you. They are tough and they won't be run over this season.
from 2 months ago
Wow there were a lot of grammatical errors in that response, sorry about that, but I stand by my points.
2 months ago
What was "already suspect" about WVU's defense? It finished last year ranked 7th in total defense.
2 months ago
Apologies for my tone, Chris.
from 2 months ago
No worries Frank...
I'm just not sold on WVU having that strong of a D this year or being a top 10 team. I think their schedule was extremely cup-cake last year, save @ USF and @ Cincy..
Don't get be wrong, I had WVU in the NT game last season and if White didn't get "injured" they would of been playing there.
I think Owen Schmitt will be missed more than people think, I'm not sure if Devine can handle 20+ carries a game or if White can handle throwing it 20+ times per game...
@ ECU, @ Colorado, Auburn, @ Pitt, USF.. very, very good, tough schedule.. Dare I say 8-4 or 9-3??
2 months ago
Oh, you may dare to say it, Chris, but be prepared for a bunch of angry hoopies to head to Lansing lookin' for some-a yer hide.
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