Questions about the 2010 Mountaineer Football Team

After the loss that LSU handed WVU on Saturday Night, I had to do some pondering. Here are some of the questions and subsequent thoughts:

• Does this team have 10 wins in them? A: Yes. they do. The Big East is terrible. Pitt being the conference's biggest disappointment. The Mountaineers should win 9 or 10 games this year and go to a BCS Bowl game.

• Is Noel Devine still a candidate for the Heisman Trophy? A: Yes, but not a serious one. Odds are we wont be seeing him at the Heisman Presentation in New York. He needed to shine on Saturday night. It was his opportunity. The Heisman voters and committee do not care that he stubbed his toe. The LSU Defense held him to 37 yards on 14 attempts. Those are not Heisman numbers. He will need to really bust it out for the rest of the season. And pray that he gets a lot of network talk.

• Is Head Coach Bill Stewart the right man for WVU? A: Yes. At this point in time, I still believe he is. The Mountaineers gave the LSU Tigers a good game Saturday night. I hear people saying the Mountaineers weren't prepared for that game. I disagree. They only lost by 6 points. The LSU defense just out played them. And as much as I like Geno Smith, he is still young. The kid made some mistakes. As did the offensive line. I do admit there were some questionable calls, but there always are. However, Coach Stewart has a good record, 22-9 career at WVU. And he has had some big wins. Namely: Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, Auburn at home in the 2008 regular season, and North Carolina in the 2009 Mieneke Car Care Bowl. The loss to Florida State in this years Gator Bowl was disappointing. But to his defense, he and his team walked into a hornets nest in that bowl. They were playing Florida State in Florida for Bobby Bowden's last game. In hindsight, coming out with a win would have been a miracle. All that being said, if you want to argue that Offensive Coordinator Jeff Mullen should be canned, I wholeheartedly agree.

• Should WVU stay in the Big East? A: No. Get the hell out of that conference. Football is college's #1 revenue producer, and Big East Football appears to be going no where. WVU could have much better opportunities in another conference, hopefully the Big Ten or the SEC. The Big East conference schedule is too weak. So the options are to either beef up the non-conference schedule, which would take years, or get out of the conference. The Big East wants to expand, but the odds of them getting any big name teams are very low. Notre Dame will go to the Big Ten if they ever do anything. The Big East will expand with teams like East Carolina, Villanova, or Central Florida. Respectable programs, but not the competition WVU needs. The Big Ten has shown that conference television networks bring in big cash. Therefore, Conferences are looking to expand into Super Conferences. That makes the odds very good that the Big East will get raided again. If WVU is smart, they will make a move, preferably before the proverbial snowball starts to roll down the hill. Athletic Director Oliver Luck hasn't made any verbal commitments to staying in the conference, and I think that is smart. I also realize that consideration will be given to what other Big East Schools, namely Pitt, want to do. Although Penn St. didn't give Pitt or WVU any consideration when it headed to the Big Ten; a great move, by the way. I have to admit, I would really miss being a part of Big East Basketball, but we don't need it. We can get good television coverage and a high tournament seat in another conference.

Yes the LSU loss hurts. WVU could have won and didn't. But when you are getting ready to point fingers and cast blame. Remember who is really responsible. Evil Spock!!!

Whipping the Turtles

The Turtles, I'm sorry, the Terrapins wandered into the Mountaineers backyard again yesterday. And they received the thrashing they deserved as WVU beat Maryland 31-17. Geno Smith was the star of the show once again. He was 19 for 29 for 268 yards and 4 touchdowns. WVU's offense looked impressive. Austin, Sanders, and Devine all had more yards individually than the entire Maryland offense.

Our offense was explosive. And our defense held Maryland to 17 points, 227 yards passing, and -10 rushing yards. The majority of the passing yards (140) came against young cornerback Pat Miller who was starting in place of Brandon Hogan. Hogan was suspended indefinitely this week for a DUI. He was driving the wrong way down Spruce St. at 3:00am and was pulled over. Hey, I think every Mountaineer has been guilty of driving with a buzz. God knows I have. But star players need to be more careful.

Next week the Mountaineers play LSU in Baton Rouge. A game we can win. Yeah, I said it. We can win that game. Both teams will move up in the rankings later today. LSU beat Miss. St. yesterday. LSU may be our only ranked opponent this year, so we need to take this one. And we can. More on that later.

Rivalries

In the fall of 1981, I entered my freshman year at West Virginia University. Yeah, I know, I'm old. Already being a football fan, I was immediately swept up in the atmosphere of the college season. Before then, I had only attended a few WVU games with my father, which was fun but not the same as being a student. I immediately became immersed and loved this new college football world; the tailgating, the band, the hoards alumni, the great atmosphere. What a great sports traditions, and no one does it better than the Mountaineers. During this early time in my college career, I received the students perspective of our rivalries. Back then our rivals were, Pitt, of course, and Penn St. "We hate them!" I was told. "They suck!!" my new friends would say. OK, so I did what I was told, and hated them both. But as I examine the situation now, I see that these were two completely different rivalries. We had not beaten Pitt in 4 years, a long time, but we had beaten them in the recent memory. Penn St. was a completely different matter. They had beaten us 27 years in a row, quite a difference. And we wouldn't beat them till 1984, which made it 30 years. I'll write about that day in a future blog, as I think it is a huge pivotal point in the history of our football program. As was our victory over Oklahoma in 1982. However, after our close call with Marshall Friday night, and our annual game against Maryland coming up, I am thinking about rivalries.

The way I see it, there are four types of rivalries in sports. True Rivalries, One Sided Rivalries, Special Rivalries, and Fake Rivalries. Before I get into the four, let me lay down a few rules as to what I feel constitutes a rivalry. First, you play each other often. At least once a year. The only exception to this rule is the Special Rivalry. Second, The game must have meaning. In other words, it has to count. Rivals are usually in the same division or conference, depending on the sport. Third, there must be history. You should here your Grandfather telling stories of this rivalry. Fourth, they have to form naturally or the fans wont accept them.

Now for the different kinds.

True Rivalries: There are tons of examples of these in all sports both professional and college; UCLA/USC, WVU/Pitt, Michigan/Ohio State, Army/Navy, Clemson/South Carolina, Steelers/Ravens(formerly the Browns, and I love reminding them of that), Redskins/Cowboys, Yankees/Redsox, Packers/Bears, Duke/North Carolina in basketball, etc. The list is endless. These all formed naturally. The teams are in the

same divisions or conferences. The games mean something. The wins are needed. These are very emotional games. There are stories of these games from generations ago. Grandpa talked about these games.

One Sided Rivalries: These are rivalries that are only honored by teams and fans on the losing side. This is what we had with Penn St. until 1984. You get fired up to finally beat the team that pounds you 90% of the time. Or 100% of the time in the case of Penn St. at that time. The perception of a rivalry is viewed solely by the losing side. The winning side usually views the losing side as target practice. There are thousands of these rivalries in sports. WVU currently has this sort of rivalry with Maryland and Rutgers. They will pull an upset on us every once in a while. But most of the time, we dominate them. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the current Cleveland Browns are in this situation in the NFL. As are the Detroit Lions and the entire NFC North.

Special Rivalries: These are the fans favorites. They are rare and very fun. These are the only rivalries where the teams do not have to play often. These are usually teams that have championship history. Lakers/Celtics and Steelers/Cowboys would be good examples. These games bring back great memories and well up huge emotions. They are clashes between titans.

Fake Rivalries: This is a forced rivalry. One that is being promoted out of greed or spite. These rivalries never catch on. Remember, a rivalry has to form naturally or the fans wont accept it. Examples of this can be found in baseball in inter-league play; Pirates/Cleveland, Orioles/National. There is no history. The games have little to no meaning as the teams

strive to reach the post season. The fans do not buy into these rivalries. We have an example in college football as well, WVU/Marshall.

Which takes me to the purpose of this weeks blog. Which I almost titled "The Rivalry That Isn't".

There is one undeniable fact about this annual game: Many of the WVU fans feel that the state government of West Virginia shoved it down our throats. We never wanted it. Our major rival is Pitt, not Marshall. We do not care that they are in the same state. When all this was being set up 5 years ago, I heard that there were state senators in West Virginia who wanted to push through a bill in the state legislature to force WVU to play Marshall every year. I am not sure if this is true, and I am glad it didn't happen. If I were still a West Virginia citizen, I would be pissed if my legislature wasted time on such a thing. They have bigger problems to tackle. But it is a fact that Gov. Joe Manchin pushed hard to make this so called rivalry happen. They even gave it a name, "The Coal Bowl", like that was going to generate interest, and giving it a name doesn't equate it to the Back Yard Brawl. . Gov. Manchin recently announced that "The Coal Bowl" would continue, but athletic directors Oliver Luck of WVU and Mike Hamrick of Marshall have yet to agree to terms for a deal. One of my college friends on Facebook renamed it the "Joe Manchin made us kiss our cousin and play them in football even though we don't want to and can't afford to" Bowl.

OK, I know there is a large part of the state that wants this game. And I figure Marshall probably wants it also. I am sure they make good money on it. And they did almost beat us Friday night. I actually have to be honest, they should have beaten us. QB Geno Smith really pulled it out at the end with two over 90 yard touchdown drives and a two point conversion with only 5:12 left to tie the game. It's not like we did what Virginia Tech did when it lost

to James Madison on Saturday(hee hee). Sorry, but I am still giggling over that one. Getting b

ack to the point, even though Marshall and new Head Coach Doc Holliday deserve respect and credit for Friday nights game, this is still a Fake Rivalry. The fact is WVU has played Marshall 10 times and beaten Marshall 10 times. Those are not the stats of a rivalry. This thing is not real.

And I also think it is indicative of a larger problem that has haunted WVU for years.

WVU has done a great job the since 1980 becoming a major player in the college sport scene. We are well respected in both football and basketball. Teams prepare for us hard and fear us.
We, the fan base, have waited along time for this. Many of us remember when there was no respect. Hell, even in the 1990's I would see our score on ESPN and the letters would be UWV. I even heard them refer to us as the University of West Virginia back then. I never hear that now. That's because they now respect who we are, which is something that the State of West Virginia needs to understand and appreciate. Their little darling grew up. WVU is no longer just a state school. It is a major player and well respected institution on the national scene in college football.

West Virginia, when you are talking about or dealing with WVU, you need to understand that last point. Our university is a major player. It needs to be viewed that way, and treated that way. Our Alma Mater has earned that level of respect.

A Plea to the Major Television Networks: Please Stop Playing "Find the Hillbilly" at West Virginia Games!!

West Virginia University will open against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, this Sat. Sept. 4th. The first nationally televised home game is on ESPNU on Saturday Sept. 18th against the Maryland Terrapins. When that day comes, the television crews will descend on Morgantown. They will show our wonderful stadium, beautiful campus, and great team to the nation. They will do a pre-game show and talk about the upcoming battle with Maryland. It will be a typical college pre-game right up to the kick off. But while all that is going on, they will be doing something else. Something devious. The Television Director, whomever he may be, will instruct his crew to play "Find the Hillbilly". It happens every year. And it doesn't matter which network is televising the game. It has become a certainty. Sometime during the game, they will zoom the cameras in on a hillbilly. They will settle for a redneck if need be, but they really want a hillbilly. He will have a scruffy beard and semi-toothless grin. He'll be wearing a flannel shirt, hunting jacket and pants. And an Elmer Fudd hat. And with our luck, he'll be beating his kids and screaming at his wife because Noel Devine just fumbled the ball. Actually, he'll probably be standing next to his friend Jethro. Jethro will be wearing old faded jeans, boots, a WVU T-shirt with his gut hanging out of it, and a baseball cap that says " Naked Twister, where everyone is a winner." Once the camera hits them, the color commentator will say something like: "Boy the West Virginia faithful really come out in droves to support their team". That statement is true. The West Virginia faithful do come out in droves to support the Mountaineers. And it is wonderful that the citizens of West Virginia support our team the way that they do.

However, I was born in West Virginia. I am a proud WVU alumnus. And I have attended hundreds of WVU home games. And I can never seem to find these hillbillies that the television cameras find. OK, not true, I have found them. I am not going to pretend that they don't exist. But when I do find them, they stand out from the crowd. And that's the point.

My friends here in DC will read this and say "Oh come on Tim, there are hundreds of hillbillies at your games. It's West Virginia!" The fact is, WVU has fans and alumni from all over the country that attend those games. And the vast majority of the fans that are from West Virginia do not dress or act any differently than the rest of the fan base. Most are wearing WVU apparel, or at least blue and gold clothing. But the television director always finds the guy who drove his family up from the holler* to attend the game. They look for the Elmer Fudd hat.

Actually, you can find hillbillies at a lot of games in the Big East, and most of the games in the ACC. And I know you can find them at games in the SEC; Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina. Especially South Carolina. Do you think a hillbilly is going to pass on the chance to yell "You can't beat our Cocks!!" in public? I am also sure they attend games in Conference USA, and the MAC Conference. But I watch those games, and never see them. They are there, but I never see them. I see cheerleaders, fans, marching bands, kids, player's parents, students, but not hillbillies. Because in the eyes of the television director, hillbillies only attend WVU games. And they don't even know if Jethro and his friend are from West Virginia. OK, they probably are. But they could be from Southern Pennsylvania, or Western Maryland, both of which have plenty of hillbillies, and aren't far from Morgantown. If I had to pick one, it would be Western Maryland. I know, I am doing a little wishful thinking here. Ninety nine percent chance they are both from West Virginia.

Our Mascot was originally a hillbilly. Seventy years ago this year our mascot, the beloved Mountaineer, was created. The Mountaineer was originally a moonshine carrying, bib overall wearing, weed chewing hillbilly. Now the Mountaineer is a buck skin wearing, coonskin capped, musket wielding, Daniel Boone type character. Our Mountaineer was just named number 8 in a list of the 12 Coolest Mascots in College Football by the Associated Press. The Mountaineer changed over the years, because we changed over the years. The Mountaineer

represents how the West Virginians view themselves. The Mountaineer represents the years of progress this university's sports programs have gone through. And because of that progress, and the increased television exposure, the Mountaineer is now one of the coolest mascots in college sports. It took WVU decades to earn the respect it now has in football and basketball. Fans my age remember when that wasn't the case. We remember when we were rarely on national television. Now we are televised nationally almost every Saturday. So please, Mr. Television Director, don't play find the hillbilly at our games this year. Don't tarnish our image by searching for stereotypes, just to get a laugh. The West Virginians are a large part of our loyal fan base. They are good people, and don't deserve to be misrepresented. I am just asking for a little respect, that's all.