Probably if Coach Bill Stewart and his WVU team had their druthers, this season would have started with Villanova, Marshall, Rutgers, and Syracuse THEN face East Carolina and Colorado.
Because this team needed as many tuneups as possible. I believe that had that been the schedule this year, the team would be 5-0 heading into the Syracuse game.
As it is, though, the team has improved with each game following East Carolina and is now finding itself. "Itself" may not be a 45-point-scoring, 300-yard-rushing quick-strike team, but, after Saturday’s game, it should be 4-2 heading into the Auburn game, which could turn around the season.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Syracuse may be the worst team in a BCS conference but, as we’ve seen over the past two seasons, no favorite, even at home, is safe. So WVU has been preparing hard all week for Saturday’s game.
I believe WVU will beat Syracuse, and soundly, and then have 13 days to prepare for an Auburn team that has just fired its offensive coordinator because the Tigers wouldn’t take to the spread offense.
We know Auburn has a good defense, but I don’t think it’s so much better than WVU’s defense, and we know Auburn’s offense is (or was) much worse than WVU’s offense, even this version of it.
But that’s getting ahead of matters.
First, dispose of the ‘cuse, and WVU is 4-2 and 2-0 in the Big East. By the end of the day, WVU will be one of only three undefeated teams in the Big East and holds its fate in its hands. (Pitt and UConn both have byes on Saturday.)
As I wrote before, the Auburn game is a win-win. If WVU loses, it has no impact on the Big East. If WVU wins, on ESPN, and if WVU wins, that means Pat White has a good game, then WVU forces itself back into the national consciousness, and likely back into the Top 25
comments (1) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
Auburn is "win-win" only if you're satisfied with WVU being a Nehlen-era team. If you want it to remain a national power, than losing to Auburn is a major blow, both to the program and to the Big East. Imagine if WVU gets the league's BCS bid -- with losses to the only three decent non-conference teams it faced (none of which is likely to be ranked at the end of the season). West Virginia and the Big East would be laughingstocks.
Having said that, here's another topic: Isn't I-A football inherently corrupting to a university? You pay coaches 10, 20, 30 times a professor's salary; you take subpar students; you pin your identity on a football team -- a football team! -- rather than an English or biology or law or IT department; your presidents spend a silly amount of time on sports, sometimes debasing themselves by trying to destroy their chief competitors for money and talent (read: the ACC's raid on the Big East); and, at many schools, the best "student-athletes" leave after three years. All so alumni can beat their chests with a ridiculously delusional sense of bravado. And the main problem: It's so freaking addicting, you can't take your eyes off of it.
write a new comment