Rock bottom--Louisville

After 4 weeks of play Rutgers, WVU, USF, and Cincy are all getting top 25 votes wiht Cincy being the upstart this year with a chance to prove themselves in two weeks at Rutgers. UConn is 4-0 and could conceivably get to 7-0 and go bowling this year (next three games for the Huskies are Akron, Virginia, and Louisville which may have given up football by then). However, the real story of the conference right now is the utter collapse at the bottom. The sharks are circling Kragthorpe, Robinson, and Wannstedt as these programs are taking on water at an alarming rate. Syracuse is unfortunately nothing new and as such not worth wasting time on. But the other two deserve further inspection. First up, Louisville.

Louisville is racing with Notre Dame and Michigan to see who can punch themselves in the junk harder. With Michigan righting the ship due to Big10 conference smashmouth football which they can handle it only leaves the Cards and the Irish throwing punches and both are going to need to ice their balls soon. I would like to extend a hardy "Fuck You" to Louisville as they have completely ruined my season. I have season tickets on the 50 and had two extras for the game which I wisely held off on selling so that I could get my season cost back in one game. Similar tickets went for around $600 apiece a few weeks ago, but I held out to get more value as game time approached. Those tickets now are gong for roughly $5.50 if you throw in a hotdog at the game. So Louisville I hope you all get herpes. I'm not the only one pissed, others for non-monetary reasons such as the Card Chronical.

I can't spin this anymore, this is every bit as awful as it looks and as it feels. I'm generally a pretty positive person, but there's absolutely nothing I can pull out of my ass right now to make any of us feel better. I'm still going to watch every week and cheer like hell for our guys, but it sure seems to me like we're witnessing ten years of awe-inspiring hard work being ripped apart block-by-block.

Even if this team does improve, beats USF, WVU or Rutgers, goes to the PapaJohns.com bowl and humiliates the runner-up from the MAC, are we supposed to be excited about 2008? This was supposed to be the season, and one month in it's already an abomination.

And this from the Courier-Journal:

Mario Urrutia continues a downward spiral that can only be categorized as self-inflicted. Not only did he fumble the ball after getting hit, but he dropped a pass on second-and-thirteen with enough open acreage in front of him to run for another ten or fifteen yards. Aside from these two frustrating occurrences (a point Mario himself promised to address), Mario continued his audition for Snoop Dogg's latest video by toting up two more personal fouls -- the first a classless flip of the ball on the fallen defender after getting deep into Syracuse territory; the second a thuggish attempt to pop the defender's head like a Pez with a stiff-arm to the face mask. The second battery resulted in Kragthorpe yanking Mario from the game. (You could read his lips, "Get him out of there.") On the bench he probably would have remained were it not for the fearful injury to Harry Douglas. (No word yet from the athletics department; not a good sign.) Add to that Patrick Carter's senseless Pearl Harboring of a defender near the Syracuse goal line nearly took the Cards out of scoring contention. Like school in summertime: no class.

National title expectations. A defense that can't make an important stop. A defense that can't tackle and also picks up stupid personal fouls. A receiver that has become a headache and maybe thinks he's a little better than he is. A quarterback admirably fighting through a lost senior year. Welcome to WVU football 2004 Louisville fans.

My completely unqualified opinion thus far.

Yes, we looked pretty good on Saturday. My estimation of WVU has grown from Top 15 after Marshall, Top 10 after Maryland to now fully believing we're a legitimate Top 5 team. I'd give us the following grades (and disagree with this guy):

Run offense: A

It won't be a A+ until the offensive line starts blocking like they mean it. Wide receivers get bonus points for great downfield blocking, particularly Dorrel Jalloh. Noel Devine maybe took a step back this week. It looked like he was trying to stretch everything out in hopes of a big play instead of taking what the defense gave him. It was also the first game where he was tackled solidly. WVU is averaging 7.17 ypc as a team. The only Mountaineer averaging less than 6 ypc is Jock Sanders, but he makes up for it running the screen from the slot (10.7 yards per catch).

Pass offense: C+

Sorry, 20 screen passes does not make for a great passing game. True, these screen passes have stretched the field horizontally, but so has our outside running. For some reason, ECU defended the wr screen by giving 10 yard cushions. I thought that was odd. Throwing to Devine and Slaton and Sanders in the slot is a great way to get them into space and has been effective, but we can do so much more with PW's arm, if only RR would call the plays.

Through 4 games, I can recall only a handfull of downfield passes. (I wish I had the time to make up a passing chart.) And by "downfield" I mean only past the line of scrimmage. I'm not asking for much here. Against Maryland, I can recall 3-4 10+ yard throws: 2 of which resulted in huge plays. Against ECU, again, I can only recall 3-4 10+ yard throws. Tito Gonzales let one bounce off his face, but caught one for a crucial first down while Eddie Davis, who is justifiably inexerienced at wr, misjudged a sure touchdown.

Patrick White has proven the ability to hit receivers at the 20 yard range (see bubble/screen/tunnel/jailbreak screens past 3 weeks). He has also shown great decision making capability (screen covered, run for your life!). I suspect against the USF defense, we will have to stretch the field, not only horizontally, but also vertically. So we will hopefully be revising this grade next week.

Run defense: B+

I don't have much to base this on. Other than we've looked pretty good. The defensive line is thin and has been getting pushed around a little. (They've actually looked better at pass rushing so far this year.) If a defensive lineman gets hurt, then we're... well, for lack of a better word: fucked. The linebackers look freakin' great this year. Morty Ivy has immerged as a leader on this side of the ball.

Pass defense: B-

After looking horrible against WMU and Marshall, the secondary has calmed down and is, perhaps, the surprise on this team. In WMU, the secondary faced a quality quarterback perhaps as good as any other QB we'll face this year outside of Brohm (if Brohm doesn't take his ball and go home before then).

Additionally, the pass rush has been much better this year. Blitzes have been very effective coming off the edge. But, perhaps due to the inherent inadequacies of the 3-3-5, we have little middle pass rush, and if we get too aggressive against the pass, we become susceptible to the run. We shall not yet discuss the 3-3-5 any further.

Special Teams: C+

What the hell are we doing on kickoffs? WVU has mixed it up on kickoffs this year now that everyone is kicking from the 30. Pat McAfee seems perfectly capable of kicking to the end zone, but that might be a tad past the coverage. We've also tried "sky kicks" and the tricky kick out of bounds play. On Saturday, WVU kicked the ball deep 3 times resulting in an averaging starting spot (not counting penalties) around the 26 yard line. After squibs and sky kicks, ECU was starting around the 32 yard line.

Let's not forget how awful the kickoffs looked against Marshall.

We need a punter. McAfee can handle only so much kicking and jumping around and tackling.

Vaughn Rivers has done a good job returning punts this year keeping the speedy freshmen on kickoffs only. But what was the deal with getting 3 penalties - 2 clips and a holding - on one return Saturday?

Anyway, it was a good day Saturday and I liked hearing from our readers at the game. You guys keep us posting. Here's a great opportunity for you guys to get involved. Let me know if I'm a complete moron in the comments.

He's at it again

Jon Wilner, AP voter and man about town for the San Jose Mercury News is at it again this week. You can find his votes here, but I'll give you some of the highlights. South Carolina, off a loss to LSU, stays at number 4. Georgia, losers at home to South Carolina a week ago, moves up to 7 after beating a highly suspect Alabama team in overtime. That Alabama team? Number 11. WVU is 14th, Rutgers is 24th, Ohio State is 13th and Tenessee with victories over Southern Miss and Arkansas State and blowout losses to Califormia and Florida is number 25. At least he took Appy State out this week since they lost to Wofford. 7 of the first 8 are either SEC or Pac10 and it's clear from his article, which is here, that he only watches SEC games as every win is a good win and every loss a good loss within the conference. I could go on but I'll let WSUSpartan from the comments take over:

1) Jon maybe one of the worst voters in the AP this year, and these are the reasons why

a) Florida and Cal have a common opponent, and since Florida beat them by more than Cal did, Florida is ahead of Cal. Yet Missouri and Florida have a common opponent at a common location, but Florida is ranked higher because… apparently Florida STate, Troy, Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky (all at home) is better than Mississippi, Illinois, Western Michigan and Illinois State. (with the first two away from home)

b) South Carolina is still ranked high because they didn’t get blown out by too much AND because Georgia beat Alabama who beat Arkansas who beat…. Troy.

lets not forget that Arkansas still has to play noted nat’l powerhouses Chattanooga, Florida International, and North Texas.

c)Oh right, Arkansas is still a quality opponent *gag* despite being 1-2

d) West Virginia is over rated because they’ve played nobodies. Apparently home games against Troy and Western Kentucky are worth more than away games against Maryland and Marshall.

e)Ohio State and BC also deserve to be ranked lower than South CArolina and Georgia because beating the likes of @ Washington and @ Georgia Tech and Wake Forest is easier than beating the likes of Oklahoma State, Louisiana Lafayette and South Carolina State.

f) failing to schedule a nontraditional out of conference road game is a sign of strength, while travelling to non traditional road games and returning favors deserves criticism.

g) getting blown out on the road twice is worth more than blowing out teams while on the road.

h) squeaking out wins against bad teams is worth more than blowing out bad teams.

i) in conference Road win in the SEC = amazing.
out of conference Road win in the SEC = meh.

j) A 13 point win on the road against is worth less than a 2 point win at home vs. that same team

East Carolina 7, Mountaineers 48

Not gonna lie- that was a fun game to watch. The Mounties damn near threw a shutout. PW was 18-20 with 2 TDs and 181 yds. Super Steve rushed for 110 yds on 18 carries and put one in the endzone. Brown ran for more than eighty, and Reynaud caught two TDs while having over 50 yds on the ground and in the air. Fun was had by all in attendance, assuming they weren't wearing purple. Below find a couple views of the action from a Bastards perspective.

The gentleman pictured here sporting his pirate disguise is classic. He tends to pick out one of the opposing players along hte sideline and ride his ass the entire game. On Saturday lucky winner was #98, Khalif Mitchell, a junior DL. I was just a little late getting to my seat so maybe tummysticks can tell us why he was chosen. Once he injured his ankle and had to sit within ear shot, things went from bad to worse for Mitchell. I informed him that if he were to transfer to WVU he could both win games and not wear purple pants. He took so much hazing during the course of the second half I began to fell for him. So the Bastards sent him a lemonade ice. Worried he may get in trouble for accepting gifts and risk NCAA suspension, he hid his delicious treat in a towl. Everyone else on the sideling thought he was just drinking that towel. See our newest friend in purple below.

There was also a wicked awesome Weedhawks show as part of the post game tailgaiting. They played from fourish to tenish. My recollection of anything after nine or so is spatchy at best.

Weekend Watching

Before we get to the games of the weekend some news on a former WVU quarterback. TJ Mitchell was a star in the spring game two years ago, but after a redshirt year he saw the writing on the wall and the writing was Pat White and Jarrett Brown for the next 4 years. That left Mitchell fighting for third string. He was mobile in the pocket, but not enough to move to another position and so he transferred out of Morgantown back towards his hometown of Virginia Beach to Hampton University a historically black university in Hampton, VA. Mitchell has worked his was to the starting quarterback for the Pirates and in a win over Morgan State last night threw for 253 yards and 3 touchdowns to bring his season total to 773 yards and 9 touchdowns. Hampton is currently 3-0 and according to ESPN are playing Morgan State AGAIN in TWO days. This could be a mistake or it maybe the two schools think off days are for pussies.

USC(Cocks not Trojans) v. LSU--On to the games on television. Saturday will start slow with no ranked teams squaring off until South Carolina visits LSU at 3:30. The Tigers are a full fledged nightmare defensively for opposing teams right now. They are number one in total defense, number one in scoring defense at 2.33 points per game. Also the Tigers have 7 interceptions in three games, although they did have 6 in the first. However, LSU always seems to have a lapse game or two during the season and Blake Mitchell is hoping for it to be Saturday. The Gamecocks sandwiched a Georgia victory around a La-Lafayette/South Carolina State shit sandwich. They are lead by the number 8 scoring defense in the country. That may change this week.

Penn State v. Michigan--ABC brings us this as the Big 10 afternoon game of the day. I give the remote a rest and stick with South Carolina and LSU until that gets ugly then it is nappy time. I suggest the same for all.

The late games include two watchable games, a blowout possibility and a pig in a skirt.

Kentucky v. Arkansas--Kentucky likes to throw and run (504 total yards per game). Arkansas likes to run (325 yards per game). Neither play much defense (Kentucky 70th and Arkansas 85th). The chain crew on the sidelines are bringing on IV kit to the sidelines to keep up with the hydration problems.

Georgia v. Alabama--Georgia lost to South Carolina but rebounded by taking out Western Carolina to split with to of the four states of Carolina this season (North and East didn't make the schedule). Matt Stafford has thrown for 621 yards this season and Knowshon Moreno has 268 rushing yards for the Bulldogs. If Georgia is able to stay two-dimensional they could give 'Bama fits. Last week Alabama gave up 450 yards to Arkansas. Arkansas is a one-dimensional team, but that one dimension includes Darren McFadden and Felix Jones (who looks to be 50 years old in his picture) which is like Chuck Norris without a gun. Maybe he'll have to pummel you to death slowly with just his hands and feet, but that doesn't make it any better. The Tide will try to shut down the Bulldog run game and force Stafford to beat them. Stafford doesn't mind the pressure as long as there is beer after the game.

Washington State v. USC--This one could be the blowout for ABCs primetime game for most of the nation. Washington State beat San Diego State and Idaho after losing to Wisconsin. The Cougars are 80th in total defense and scoring defense with most coming through the air at 265 yards a game. Of course the Trojans shouldn't have much problem running the ball either. USC dismantled the Black Shirt defense with 313 yards rushing against the Huskers. John David Booty has yet to unleash the aerial attack and if it doesn't happen soon he is going to assassinate somebody.

Iowa vs. Wisconsin--The other late game and one to avoid unless you graduated from one of these schools or have money on the game. Wisconsin is undefeated but has played even for a half with the Citadel trailed UNLV until the final two minutes. Iowas is 201 with wins over Northern Illinois and Syracuse and a loss to Iowa State. Iowa State had lost to Kent State and Northern Iowa before beating Iowa. If this game comes on in your area do yourself a favor and leave the house, smash the tv, or gouge out your eyeballs to be safe.

Something is wrong with this picture

Is it that Beetlejuice is really not a WVU fan? Was he really not at the WVU/Maryland game? Was he the guy that got tackled? Is he wearing a shirt that may be a little too long for his body type? Is he wearing white shoes given to him by a former WVU football player? No it's the pud wearing the camo shorts. He is attempting to look like cool to the ladies, but couldn't set his real drink down before they took the picture.

Keeping Tabs on Terrence Kerns

Last recruiting season, WVU received a commitment from a 4 star, 208 pound 6'1" running back from Frederick, MD - Terrence Kerns. I believe we mentioned him once or twice. Several weeks later, Noel Devine signed with WVU and, well, we all know how that's going.

We've seen Devine and another true freshman, Jock Sanders, share some second half time. Now that Devine is becoming a bigger part of the first string, I would expect to start seeing Jock Sanders on clean up duty in the fourth quarter. But what happened to this four star guy Kerns? I haven't seen him on the field yet.

Well, there ended up being some injury and academic issues and Kerns is taking the academy route. He is currently playing ball at Chatham Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. Since the spring, Kerns has rehabbed and hit the weights. He has put on 10 or so pounds (listed at 215) and ranked by Rivals as the 20th best prep school player in the nation. So what does he think now that WVU already has its "future back"?

That's gonna work out fine. One two punch. Plus, they like to run the double man back there - it'd be me and Noel back in the backfield just handling business. I like that.

Yes, Terrance, we like that, too. Think Ronnie Brown/Cadillac William circa 2004.

Thomas and Lankster Reinstated

WVU has reinstated JT Thomas and Ellis Lankster for the ECU game on Saturday. The two have entered a pretrial diversion program which means they will receive no jail time and have the charges dropped after a certain amount of time if they stay out of trouble. The full details of the agreement have not been released so the amount of time they have to keep their noses clean is not currently known. Both will be in uniform this weekend, but neither will start according to Rich Rodriguez. The two players have issued apologies.


1st from JT Thomas:

“As many of you in this community know, I was involved in an incident that has caused a great deal of disappointment and embarrassment,” Thomas said. “This last month has been very difficult for me and my family, because of action I have brought upon myself. I have brought embarrassment to myself, my family, my teammates, this University and the State of West Virginia.

“For that I apologize from the bottom of my heart to all of those I have affected. I know that actions speak louder than words, and I know that I am going to have to prove myself all over again. Whether in the classroom or on the field, I promise to work hard to regain the trust and credibility from all of those people I have let down. I thank the University and Coach Rodriguez for their understanding and their support.”

From Ellis Lankster:

“I sincerely apologize to West Virginia University, my teammates, coaches and fans for my recent lapse of judgment,” Lankster said. ”I regret my actions and the embarrassment that I have caused to those closest to me. I appreciate the opportunity to return to WVU football and will work hard to demonstrate my commitment to those who have so generously given me the chance to return to the WVU football team.”

In other news all laptops and plasma screens at the Puskar Center have been bolted down.

New Mountaineer Reading.

FYI- Two regular readers of Bastard Sons of Pinfall Marks have collaborated to form a new blog dedicated primarily to our glorious Mountaineers. Thus far they are dedicated solely to WVU football. Who isn't? (BSR until after the World Series) They call themselves The Unmistakeable Power of Fission (I have no idea) and have been up for a little over a week now. I promised to introduce them when they got a few posts deep- and so I am. Read them here:

http://poweroffission.blogspot.com/

Many of you may recall the fledgling stages of this glorious site. When the three of us made fun of each other with no readers and no cash cow advertising. Well, nothing has changed I guess. We do have some ads- but you assholes won't buy big tickets through OUR stub hub link. We aren't permitted to sit and click the ads ourselves. We still make fun of each other, only now three or four of you are reading it. In time I hope that the Fission guys develop their site into all the wonderment of our own. We DO have a BSPM tailgate coming up. Vladimir and Natty Light on us- come one come all.

Also, be looking forward to my MLB prediction review. Who picked the Brewers when nobody else would? BSR. Where are the Yanks now? A game and half behind the BoSox ready to overtake them the last week of the season. Who loves baseball more than BSR? Nobody- especially since football season is here. I understand this- its okay. WVU football is worth missing a game for. Please leave disparaging comments on the Fission site. I do.

Around the Conference Week 4

A pretty uninspiring third week of the college football season for the Big East on the field leads to the most inspired week of football for the Big East in scheduling. The first two conference games of the season highlight the total mediocrity of this upcoming week as the WVU/ECU game may be the best game on the slate and only two games are even on television for the conference. Maybe it's a week to lay low and lick the wounds for Louisville and Pitt. On to the conference games this week. You have two times to watch a Big East game this week; noon and 7 p.m. (however the late games will only be shown on ESPNU and on Gameplan).

Syracuse at Louisville--The nooners are kicked off with the first conference game this year and the first chance for Syracuse to run to the basement. First the bad. I watched the replay of Louisville-UK and Louisville's defense continues to underwhelm with missed tackles and blown assignments. On the last drive alone UK took possession with under two minutes and Woodson struggled with a few overthows early in the drive. On third and 10 Woodson dumped off a short pass and three missed tackles later it was fourth and 1 with a stopped clock instead of 4th and 9 with a moving clock. Later Kentucky committed a horrible personal foul to move back to midfield only to have the winning touchdown follow one play later on a blown overage and then two Cardinals tackling each other to ensure the touchdown. The offense is under such pressure that Louisville is now going for touchdowns bombs instead of short chunks like the machine of last year, going for it on fourth down, and bypassing field goals to try to get 6. The offense also has no semblance of joy as they move up and down the field as even touchdowns are muted. They play like a rabbit with the hounds chasing them. Every touchdown only serves to hold off the dogs for a few minutes before they are back out there trying to score to save their season. That said, the Cardinals did show a lot of heart in coming back after two turnovers to start the game and had a chance to win with a stop or if Douglas could have scored on the tip. They still put up 467 yards in the defeat and Brohm is on pace to throw for 4500 yards and Douglas had 13 catches and 223 yards versus Kentucky and has combined with Urrutia for already over 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. The ugly is still Syracuse. Syracuse marches into the game with the 116th total offense and 101st total defense. They are averaging 10 points and giving up 39. They are bad enough to make you want to throw an onion.

South Florida makes ESPNs other early game with a tilt at North Carolina. The last time the Bulls were on the field that win over Auburn looked pretty impressive. Now, not so much. North Carolina comes into the game 1-2 with two straight loses to Virginia and East Carolina after a win versus JMU. The Tarheels rely on the passing game which is ranked 19th in the nation at 303 yards per game which should play into the hands of the Bulls' strength which is the secondary. Defensively Carolina is yielding 356 yards per game which is 55th with both the pass (58th) and run (59th) defense being about equal. USF is lead by Mike Ford's 5.8 yards per carry in the backfield and Taurus Johnson's 10 catches at the receiver spot. Grothe has thrown for 422 yards and no interceptions as the Bulls have not been spectacular offensively, but haven't hurt themselves either. Now the kicker is another story.

The second conference game is such a clash it will be shown to millions thousands hundreds of interested fans on ESPNU as UConn takes on Pitt. UConn survived against Temple thanks to a controversial replay which caused Bill Cosby to spit up his pudding pop. UConn can now boast of victories over Duke, Maine, and Temple although that is like boasting about screwing a hooker. Of course you won that's why you paid them. Pitt on the other hand is coming off of a 17-13 loss to Michigan State. In that game the Panthers were only able to throw for 85 yards and were 0-12 on third down. Even more depressing was the fact that the radio announcers have decided to call freshman running back LeSean McCoy by the nickname "Shady" which really sounds stupid from old white dudes. At times Pitt went to the Shady offense which is Arkansas' wildcat with McCoy at tailback. Although his nickname is stupid, McCoy did manage to run for 172 yards on the game and should run all over UConn on Saturday night. The nickname's origin:

"My mom gave me the nickname Shady,'' McCoy said. "She said I was a shady baby. I cried, and then I'd be happy. I was smiling. So, I had a shady attitude. And it just stuck with me since I was little..."

True story when I was a baby I managed to pee on a light bulb which caused it to explode, but nobody ever called me The Stream which is a little disappointing.

The final Big East game is Cincy versus Marshall. Marshall has shot their season wad with the first half against WVU. Since then the Herd has given up 90 points in the last 6 quarters and have reached the polls for the first time this year as ESPN placed them in the "Bottom Ten" so they've got that going for them. Cincy is 3-0 with victories over Oregon State and Miami (OH) the last two weeks. The Bearcats are leading the nation in turnover margin and are in the top 10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Nothing should change after the game this week.

On a side note...

I wanted to thank a former professor of ours, Chuck Disalvo, for finally lowering the prime rate and revigorating reinvigorating this economy. Let's just hope he manages inflation as well as he knows the Federal Rules.

Game Week--ECU

After two straight road games the West Virginia Mountaineers return home this Saturday for a nooner with the East Carolina Pirates. West Virginia is the second leading rushing offense in the country and is currently 16th in total offense and 9th in scoring offense. The pass defense has improved to 68th while rushing defense is 19th in the country for a total defense of 33rd. Steve Slaton is 12 in the nation averaging 130 yards per game on the ground while Noel Devine is now 52nd and Pat White 66th. White is also 15th in passing efficiency while Darius Reynaud is 25th in receiving yards per game with over 93 yards per game. The defense is led by Reed Williams at over 10 tackles per game which is 23rd in the nation.

The Pirates come into the game with a record of 1-2 with a 17-7 loss to VT and a 28-21 loss to Southern Miss. sandwiched around a 34-31 victory over UNC. East Carolina's offense is led by another Pickney, this time Patrick Pickney at QB. Pickney has 724 yards passing and 109 yards rushing to lead ECU. The leading receivers for ECU are Soph. Jamar Bryant, Senior Phillip Henry, and Senior Steven Rogers. Running back Chris Johnson is averaging 20.6 yards per catch and has more receiving yards (165) than rushing yards (92). The total offense ranks 85th in the country with passing leading the way at 242 yards per game (49th). The defense is 61st in the country; 25th against the run and 100th against the pass.

Last year WVU lead 14-7 at the half before winning 27-10. The biggest play of the game was a 60 yard catch and run by Darius Reynaud to finally give WVU some breathing room. Running was tough for WVU as only 153 yards were gained on the ground with Slaton and Whilte both held to 3.5 yards per carry or worse. Offensively ECU went with a 5 WR attack for most of the game and had some success underneath and controlling the clock with James Pinkney attempting 40 passes and Robert Kass attempting 7 more. Of the returning receivers Phillip Henry had the best game with 6 catches for 54 yards.

This season could be another slugfest if WVU doesn't open up the vertical playbook. The Pirates have been stingy against the run again, but hopeless against the pass as they try to survive three new players in the defensive secondary including two sophomores in safeties Van Eskridge and Chris Mattocks. The inability of ECU to run consistently means that the Pirates may take to the air early and often again Saturday. The game should be a good test for the improving WVU secondary before Big East play begins. However, it also means a long game for fans as 40+ passes stops the clock constantly. The move to noon kickoff means most people will be out of the stadium for the night games at least. For those watching at home the game will be on ESPN2 and Sirius channel 123.

Drop in the Rankings and Other Miscellany

While I have no excuse for the previously mentioned voter from San Jose, I can understand WVU's slight dip in rankings. Fox Sports says it this way:

Beating the Terps isn't the same as beating Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Miami or Tennessee.

Close, but I would say it like so:

The beating of the Terps was not the same as the beating of Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Miami or Tennessee (but close).

Can we assume, without too much of an argument, for now, that Virginia Tech and Miami are relatively comparable to Maryland and that Nebraska and Tennessee are slightly better than Maryland. Ok... so

	Score after the third quarter	Scoring Efficiency (if I bothered calculating it)	Opp. Current Ranking SL119
USC	42-10	50%/36%	19
OU	31-13	?	38
LSU	31-0	67%/29%	21
Fla.	35-20	58%/29%	37
WVU	28-7	45%/18%	40

So anyway, what can we tell from that chart? Well, not too much I suppose, but it does at least demonstrate that we dominated a slightly lesser team slightly lesser. (My english teachers would be proud.) Fortunately, college football being what college football is, Oklahoma could lose to Texas in the Red River Shootout and USC could get too cocky and screw the pooch against a lesser team later in the season. LSU and Florida will eventually face each other resulting in at least of those schools losing.

And while the above detailed games do not solely justify WVU's drop from #3 to #5, trailing at the half to a team, who, in the following week, was embarrassingly thumped by a IAA school, may justify the slight slip in the national polls.

I was going to do some more analysis, but this has taken long enough already. I'll leave it up to you guys to elaborate in the comments.

Round of Reubens

WVU had one of the biggest weekends in school history for soccer starting last Friday. The men's soccer team beat a top five Duke team on the road on Friday night 1-0. The women's soccer team lost 2-1 to #5 Texas A&M on the road, but then beat down Xavier 5-1 on Sunday. I'd attempt some in depth analysis, but my soccer knowledge mostly comes from foosball so the team needs to remember that spinning is illegal and drink after you give up a goal.

This turned out to be a bad weekend for many people. WVU football was off after a Thursday game so many people had to rediscover the wife/girlfriend or both if your lucky after a few weeks and she demanded a weekend of attention. That meant a lost weekend for many unfortunate souls. Those without a significant other may have spent the weekend hungover after a football-less bender or even worse drunk enough to talk to that 9 hanging out at Wiley's or da Lizard only to discover the next morning she was a 3. But no matter bad you had it, these weekend warriors had it just as bad.

1. WVU football fans. Not only did WVU not have a game, but the Big East teams that did play may want a do over. Louisville losing to Kentucky hurts Rutgers, USF, and WVU as much as Louisville as all the top Big East teams need to lose only to each other in order to keep schedule strength high. On top of the Cardinals loss WVU fell to #5 in both polls despite continued winning. Thanks to the site WVPressbox as they pointed out the voting of Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News which can be found here. Wilner is an AP voter and has WVU 15th behind Nebraska and has Appy State at 23rd and South Carolina at 4 above Florida, WVU, Texas, etc.

2. Charlie Weiss. He has the same haircut every fat kid has in fourth grade and seems to always have a bit of snot stuck to his upper lip, but his biggest problem is his offensive bodily odor offense. ND has yet to score an offensive touchdown this season and is averaging 4.3 points per game. The Irish are averaging negative 4.67 yards per game rushing and are last in every major offensive category except passing and they are 115th in passing (out of 119). Navy is averaging 378.67 yards per game to lead the nation (WVU is 2nd at 343.67), at this point it may not be a stretch for ND to not achieve that in the entire season. Remember that Weiss is a former offensive coordinator.

3. Mark Snyder. The WVU hangover was worse than a $3 bottle of wine hangover for the Herd as they took a beating from a I-AA team at home. The University of New Hampshire beat Marshall 48-35 and lead at the half 24-0. NH ran for 213 yards and threw for 289 against the Herd defense. Marshall now has the second worse rushing defense in the country and 100th total defense. Remember that Mark Snyder is a former defensive coordinator.

4. However, according to reports the worst weekend belonged to Pitt basketball player Levance Fields. Fields, 20 years old, was asked to leave Pure night club's under 21 alcohol-free party after showing up whiskey bent and hell bound. After yelling and swearing in the night club Fields was ushered outside where he proceeded to start yelling at another male in the street. Fields was approached by Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Johns who working security at Pure. Johns asked Fields to stop the ruckus. Fields then allegedly punched Johns in the chest and grabbed at Johns' gun. Another security guard was nearby and proceeded to taser Fields' ass. Fields was taken to the hospital to piss out the electricity then thrown in jail.

Fields was arraigned yesterday afternoon before District Judge Tara Smith on charges of aggravated assault, disarming a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. He was released on $3,000 bond. His next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24.

I would assume the arrest looked something like the following (NSFW language) with Fields saying "You fucking hammered me." You're going to get it again.

Let's Go Mountaineers!!

Words would not serve this image any justice. Enjoy.

You stay classy, Maryland.

So full of pride those Terp fans are. Affluent. Sophisticated. Tailgating with wine and cheese. Proud of blindsiding a helpless WVU fan.

No, the big moment came when junior American studies major Thomas Agbonyitor took down a West Virginia fan walking through Lot U4, delighting Terps fans tailgating in the area.

Agbonyitor wasn't the only one getting in on the act. Andrew Lynch, an 2007 alumnus, was only too happy to return to the campus for a chance to torment Mountaineers fans."We've been throwing shit at them, sausages and stuff," Lynch said. "We like to f--- with them."

Well, its been a few days since I practiced any criminal law, but I'm pretty sure that's assault. I sure am glad that an "unofficial student newspaper" is on the case and helping local authorities and law firms track down wayward ruffians.

I call bullshit on this story though. Mainly because it would be rediculously irresponsible to publish names of people committing criminal acts, but also because the parking lots weren't anything like that. Sure, there was some trash talking. But from what we observed, there was a lot of inter-school mixing going on. Everyone was pretty much hanging out together having a good time. Hell, we even had a Maryland fan give us a few beers.

Oh, I also wanted to add that those same Maryland fans truly represented their passion for football by getting drown out by the "Let's go"..."Mountaineers!" chant throughout the second half.

Alas, I guess when the following is what you use to fire up a crowd, anything is possible:


Link via Deadspin.

Not a particularly good weekend for the BE

Coming into this weekend (but including Thursday night), the Big East combined was 15-2 this season. Both of those loses came during the Greg Robinson farewell tour. Two of those wins were over presumedly decent teams Oregon State and Auburn. In the AP Poll, the BE was represented by WVU at 4, Louisville at 9, Rutgers at 13, USF at 26 and Cinci falling in at 34 just behind Appy State.

Of course, the biggest hit to the conference was Louisville falling to Kentucky 40-34. Unfortunately, my cable company hates me and decided to pull the plug on ESPN Classic so I didn't get to watch it. But from the Middle Tennessee game and the stats from tonight, the problem is obviously their defense. Coming into the Kentucky game, Louisville had scored on 20 of 25 possessions (16 TDs, 4 FGs, 1 punt, 1 fumble and 3 end of half/game). While that efficiency is gawdy, it was accomplished against less than stiff competition. Enter Kentucky, who managed to stop Louisville on a few drives and suddenly, the Cardinal offense couldn't keep up with the deficiencies in their defense. (Between UK and Mid. Ten., the Cards gave up 1014 yards of offense and 82 points.)

The SEC also hurt the Big East today in a second way: Auburn losing to Miss. St. USF squeaked by Auburn in OT, Auburn lost today to Miss St, and Miss St opened the season by getting pummeled by LSU. So where does that leave the quality of USF's win? Well, it certainly doesn't look as impressive now as it did last weekend.

Pitt, despite looking god awful, hung with a Michigan State team until finally losing 17-13. I doubt it will happen, but if Mich. St. loses to ND next week, jesus... Pitt just sucks. How does Pornstache still have his job?

UConn almost lost to Temple. TEMPLE!

Rutgers played a practice squad again today, so they are neither helping nor hurting the conference at this point. A big test comes next week against a decent Maryland team. I think that game will be the first demonstration of what the Scarlet Knights have this year. Thursday night showed me that Maryland has enough talent to finish in the upper 1/2 of the ACC this year. (Yeah, I know. That's not saying much.)

On the other side of the coin, Cinci helped us today. Yes, their win over Miami Ohio helps some, but I'm talking about their win over Oregon State last week. The Beavers beat Utah 24-7 to open the season. Today, those same Utes knocked off #11 UCLA 44-6. Forty Four to Six!

While most of us recognize the fact that A > B > C does not prove A > C in the world of football, those comparisons unfortunately come into play for voters and computer ranking systems.

Um... I had a point to make when I started writing this post... then I drank 3 more beers while writing it. Hmm..

Three weeks in, four conferences have seperated into the lead team and everyone else: WVU, LSU, Oklahoma (whom I still haven't seen, but the WWL seems to love them), and USC. Similarly, those teams face mild out of conference challenges, if any. Its becoming rather likely that we end up with 3 undefeated teams at the end of the year, potentially even 4. If that comes to pass, for WVU to get the nudge into the championship game, the Big East needs to be stellar this season. We had started out that way, but today was a little bit of a bump. And let's hope that is all it is - just a minor bump.

Noel Devine in action

We give OS a hard time, but I've got to give hime credit for this picture on Devine's 76 yard run which if made into a poster would be in every house in Morgantown. Click the pic for Devine saying hello to the nation. Also, you don't want this guy next to you if you're on the bottom of a pile.

From OS: Feel free to use any of our pics, but if you do, please at least give us a link. We could use the publicity. Thanks.

Maryland Game with Photos

Yesterday was a long day. Even longer I'm sure for tummysticks - he drove - and I sprinkled his car with Doritos and strange smells. Sorry about that. Getting home late and my head cold together managed to keep me in bed until 1:30 (as if I need the excuse to sleep that late).

WVU played its best game of the season last night. Every segment of the team played great. Well, except for Pat McAfee, but that's OK because at least he got his name right. Unlike the game announcer who went through at least 14 different pronounciations for "McAfee". How freaking hard is it to say, "McAfee"?

Wicks had two picks. Larry Williams found his homework. Patrick White continues to make no mistakes (except one irrelevant fumble at the end of the first half). Slaton contributed 147 total yards and 3 touchdowns. Noel Devine (who?) said "Hello" to the nation. Rich Rodriguez called much better plays.

I could keep writing good things all night, but there is also plenty of room for improvement. On offense, it again took about a half for Rodriguez to find the best way to use his weapons. On defense, while the level of intensity was much better and the play calling much more aggressive, there were still lapses and some loss of focus. There were still a few missed downfield blocks. And an offensive lineman occasionally got plowed 5 yards deep on the snap.

On a side note, anyone remember Brian Knobbs? Well, he's apparently resurfaced:

Anyway, here are some select photos with the remainder being available at our photobucket page.

Weekend Watching

Hopefully OS will get his pictures up this weekend as he actually did get some good ones when he finally put his sausage down. A few notes from the game. Maryland's pregame is way more wine and cheese than WVU. Maryland treated the game like a minor league baseball game with trivia contests and little prize games etc. at every break. All that was missing was the Weiner races. Erin Andrew's assistant is as good looking, if not more (a debate that lasted the entire game between myself and OS), than EA. Fridge called a strange game as Maryland had success with the stretch run play and then abandoned it for 2 quarters. The defense looked as good as it has in 2 years with big hits, good coverage, and some pressure on the quarterback, we were especially impressed with Wicks, Ivy, and the d-line. After the third carry by Devine everyone in our section turned to us and asked us who he was. Talking to Maryland fans makes me happy to be a WVU fan, when I asked who their big football rival was they said the ACC doesn't really have football rivalries and that they didn't really like VT (who does?) but they had only played them 3 times. Finally, I'd like to put on record the hogginess of OS. He spent the entire day spewing strange smells and then managed to smash an entire bag of Doritos into my floor board and somehow managed to mix that with leaves. It was like taking a road trip with Pigpen. On to the games:

Tennessee at Florida--Florida is ranked number 5 after wins against Western Kentucky and Troy. Florida is led by Tim Tebow with 536 yeards passing and 131 yards rushing (9 total tds). This week marks a step up in competition, at least for Florida's defense. Tennessee checks in at 1-1 after a loss to California and a win over Southern Miss. In the loss to Cal the Vols gave up 45 points and 471 yards. Southern Miss hung with the Vols for a half before getting the doors blown off in the second. Ainge has thrown for 547 yards and 5 tds already this year and will need a big game to keep pace with the Gators should the D struggle again. Make sure to check with LWS (Vols) or EDSBS (Gators) if you are a fan of either team or just want a laugh at the other team's expense.

Ohio State v. Washington--America gets to meet Huskie QB Jake Locker as does the number 1 total defense in the nation. Ohio State is giving up 122.5 yards per game and 4 points per game. Locker has accounted for about 500 total yards for the Huskies in wins over the Cuse and Boise State. Win or lose Washington has played one of the most challenging non-conference schedules in the nation and are rewarded with UCLA and USC to open Pac-10 play. The Buckeyes will rely on Chris Wells on the ground and receiver Brian Robiskie through the air. Ohio State will also rely on the choke you out slowly (sorry Jim Sorgi) and punch you in the face (sorry Charlie Bauman) style of play that has won so many games for the Buckeyes over the years. Expect a low scoring slugfest (sorry Albert).

Notre Dame v. Michigan--Hey kids it's the 119th ranked offense in the country averaging -4 yards per game rushing versus the 108th ranked defense in the country giving up 505 yards per game. And it's on national tv. Nappy time for everyone.

Arkansas v. Alabama--Another good SEC matchup as Arkansas brings the number one rushing offense in the country and Darren McFadden into Tuscaloosa to face a defense giving up 66.5 yards per game on the ground. Alabama is led by Terry Grant on the ground with 307 yards in wins over Vanderbilt and Western Carolina. At qb the Crimson Tide have JP Wilson who looks and throws similar to Brodie Croyle which isn't necessarily a compliment. Arkansas, on the other hand, has thrown for 157 yards ON THE SEASON in their Land Before Time offense with only 108 coming from the starting quarterback.

USC v. Nebraska--last year Nebraska went into a complete stallball strategy as they lost 28-10 in a game that was in no way competitive. The Huskers have beaten Nevada and WF so far this year behind a rejuvenated running game averaging 264 yards per contest. Marlon Lucky is averaging 161 yards on the ground per game. USC had a week off before this game to prepare a defense that allowed 250 yards to Idaho with 98 coming on the ground. On offense the Trojans have a stable of 5-star running backs to compliment John David Booty. Hopefully this year Nebraska plays to win instead of not get blown out.

BC v. GT--One of those fierce ACC rivalries. BC has beaten Wake Forest and NC State and apparently will never play out of conference again. Matt Ryan has thrown for 550 yards and 6 touchdowns. Georgia Tech, number 8 in total defense, will blitz early and often as they showed in beating Notre Dame and Samford which is a school and not Redd Foxx and friends. Tashard Choice already has 306 rushing yards heading into this game. BC is number 4 in the nation against the run. This game will probably come down to turnovers and whomever scores the most points.