Week 12 Blogpoll Ballot- Darts Again

I know what every last one of you is thinking right now, but what you don't know is that you never ever ever fuck with the CK award!

Awwww, goddammit. Not again. For the record, the CK Award claimed yet another victim as Cal fell to 6-4 against USC. And what part of "do not #&$! with the CK Award" does Russ Levine of Football Outsiders not understand? Especially as Michigan is playing not guaranteed-to-blow-it Michigan State but rather Oh God Ohio State this weekend?

#*$@. Just... just... goddammit. The appearance of two other Michigan blogs, including this guy, doesn't help either. Hoist upon my own Picard.

I'm doing this for all our sakes. You can thank me later! I only watched the part where Georgia was kicking the shit out of Kentucky, and while I was watching that, I was thinking that I was watching one of the top five teams in the country. The final score doesn't back me up, but those 30-some minutes I watched did. I hate to say it, but Va. Tech and tOSU both looked good this weekend. And believe me, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Without Dixon, I wonder if Oregon is even a top 25 team. But I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Arizona St. beats UCLA by four, but there is absolutely no one else to step up and take that spot from the Sun Devils. Everything else, you can blame on the whims of the darts in my hands.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	1
2	Kansas	1
3	Missouri	4
4	Georgia	2
5	Virginia Tech	3
6	Ohio State	4
7	West Virginia	2
8	Arizona State	1
9	Oklahoma	5
10	Southern Cal	1
11	Florida	1
12	Texas	1
13	Boston College	7
14	Virginia	1
15	Illinois	2
16	Oregon	15
17	Tennessee	9
18	Boise State	2
19	Wisconsin	3
20	Hawaii	1
21	Kentucky	3
22	Connecticut	2
23	Texas Tech	3
24	South Florida	2
25	Michigan	2

Dropped Out: Clemson (#14), Cincinnati (#21), Mississippi State (#25).

Transmissions From the Satellite Heart

Feeling a bit blown away from just watching "The Fearless Freaks", a documentary of The Flaming Lips. Wow! I thought I knew what it meant to be creative. Now? Not so much.

But that picture does describe how I want UConn to feel after Saturday's meeting between the Mountaineers and the Huskies. Because I don't think it is just enough to win the game for the Mountaineers. As close as the BCS standings are right now, I think it is imperative for RRod to put on his Steve Spurrier hat and win big.

UConn is having an amazing season, and I for one am most surprised at how well they are doing. Coming into the season, I had them pegged for 7th or 8th place in the Big East. I saw nothing from them in 2006 that made me think they were a couple of pieces away from competing for a conference title. But they are, and those two pieces are Tyler Lorenzen and Andre Dixon. If you follow the links, you might not be all that impressed with the stats. But if you're going to follow those links, look at the 2006 numbers for the players they are replacing and you'll see what I mean. Especially with Lorenzen! He has already passed for more yards than either of UConn's quarterbacks combined last year (2,118-1,692), and only trails last years production in touchdowns by two and has thrown four fewer int's. He has also rushed for 300 yards.

And Dixon has been a pleasant surprise, gaining 742 yards averaging 5.1 ypc. Not bad for someone that wasn't being counted on coming into the year. Last years leading rusher, Donald Brown is a close second with 600 yards and seven touchdowns. Again, individually those aren't mind blowing numbers, but between the three of them they are doing enough to win games. And that's what UConn is doing this year. It's not pretty, but there aren't any style points graded for conference championships. It's all about wins and losses.

The defense is a lot like the offense. They are ranked in the middle of the pack in most of the major statistical categories in the Big East. Except the most important one, scoring defense. They are ranked number one, allowing only 14.3 points per game. A stat that had to have been helped by playing Syracuse last week. They aren't big on getting other teams to fumble (thank God!) with only five fumble recoveries this year. But they do have an eye for stealing passes with 21 this year.

In their two losses this year against Virginia and Cincinnati, they weren't able to do much of anything on offense, scoring only 19 points in the two games combined. And yet they almost beat Virginia.

So two of the three things they do well, running the ball and interceptions, play right into West Virginia's hands. Because no one runs on us, and we don't throw the ball enough to be worried about them intercepting too many passes. At first blush, I think the only way we lose this game is if we beat ourselves. And after the last two weeks, I just can't see how we won't take care of the ball. More of this later on in the week. I have to set up the dart board and get drunk so I can do my top 25.

Loni Anderson is the Only Good Thing That Ever Came Out of Cincinnati

Well, WKRP in general. I didn't want to leave that last post up as my last post before the game Saturday between WVU and Cincinnati. Still if you have a really good idea about a new cheer, don't be bashful.

Anyhow, we're playing a team that is somewhat of an enigma. They're 4th in total offense and sixth in total defense in the Big East. However they are 2nd in scoring and 2nd in scoring defense. I know it's been said a million times, but the reason is because they are ball hawks. They are 3rd in the country in turnover margin with a +16. I didn't know this, but WVU is 4th with +12. Hmmm. Anyhow, in their two losses against Louisville and Pitt they lost the turnover battle badly. So it would stand to reason that if we don't turn the ball over, we are going to kick their mother lovin' ass.

Their other Achilles heal is that they commit almost 10 penalties per game for 80 yards per.

On the other hand, last year they only averaged about 20,000 per game home attendance. This year's numbers aren't complete, but it looks like they are getting closer to 35,000 per home game. Which I give total credit to new coach Brian Kelly, who has worked the crowd like no one in school history. Besides taking over the team in December of last year and coaching them to an International Bowl win, he's been out pumping up UC football in every way imaginable. Besides speaking to anyone who would listen in the off season, he ran a daily blog for one of the Cincinnati paper through training camp. I don't believe any of it is available now, but it was good stuff to read. He's brutally honest about things he doesn't like. And you have to respect that from a coach. Most would just gloss any situation over and move on. He tells you what he thinks.
Finally getting some love from the Cincy Media, has been a big hurdle for the Bearcats. But winning will do that for you.

How are we going to attack this team? Defensively we have to do the same thing we've done to everyone else. We have to shut down the run and make them one dimensional. Ben Mauk is a pretty nifty runner in his own right. So someone has to spy on him. Mr. Wicks? Mr. Wicks! Cincy has an almost 2:1 passing yards to rushing yards ratio. So they can throw the ball. Mauk has thrown 21 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions this year.

On offense we can not be predictable. One thing this team is looking for is to jump on what you do, ie bubble screens. Sure we need to run the ball a lot. But we also need to show them one thing, and do something else. When is the last time we did a down out and up? Pump fakes are your friend Pat. Cincy leads the nation in interceptions with 22, though. So if it isn't there, don't throw it! They also are the only other Big East team besides WVU that holds their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing a game.

This is a very winnable game for the Mountaineers, but I think it's going to be a tough one. We desperately need to generate some big plays on both sides of the ball. And we really really really need to have a 300+ yard rushing day. For the sake of any hope at a BCS title game, we need to impress some voters this weekend. We have a nationally televised stage to do it on again this week. My wish is to hear 5,000+ Mountaineer fans cheering Let's Go! Mountaineers! at the end of this one a la 2005.

Crowd Noise vs. Stadium Sound Noise

A couple days ago, I posted this wondering what the hell is wrong with our crowd. And for the past couple days, I've been trying to figure it out. Hell, maybe you don't agree with me at all. But I just know that I really haven't felt any "electricity" at Mountaineer field this year. Especially last Thursday night. It just seems odd to me that we are in the golden years of Mountaineer football and the crowds seem less into the game than I've ever seen.

Part of it might be that people are paying for those fucking seat back seats and getting their fucking money's worth!

Another thing is that people seem to wait until the scoreboard tells them it's an appropriate time to cheer. I'll tell you when it is appropriate to cheer, and pay close attention. If you see anyone for the opposing team trying to communicate on the field or on the sidelines you should be screaming. M'kay? Look, I'm sorry. I probably should have this on a sign and carry it around the stadium rather than posting it on a blog. But in the course of hashing this thing out I'll go off on a tangent from time to time. But no matter what direction I go off on, my point is that it's a matter of pride for me that we have loud and hostile environment at home games.

And yeah, the stadium sound. It's loud and all that, but at some point it just becomes noise. And it seems so artificial to me. It's cool just every once in a while. I mean shit, I learned how to play guitar listening to Metallica, but I swear I would be fine if I never hear For Whom the Bell Tolls again. That noise should be made by the fans. It's much more chaotic and disturbing than the heaviest of heavy metal.

OK, if you've stuck with me this far, let's start talking solutions. First, let's put all the seat back folks together so they can all watch the game on their ass and quit bothering me with the pleas to sit down and be quiet.

Next, we have one good cheer, the first down cheer. We need more stuff like that. I'm not saying we should get rid of the call and respond "Let's Goooo......Mountaineers". It might have a warm place in your heart, but it's not all that impressive. Except when everyone is into it, and that's kind of why we're here talking about this.

What else? An oath to elbow the guy beside you in the ribs if he isn't pulling his weight in the cheering department?

I'd kind of like to go back to that whole cheer thing and have some kind of contest to decide a new cheer that we the Bastards and you the readers could introduce to Mountaineer nation. Feel free to leave your best in the comments. A proper prize is in order for whoever would come up with such a cheer. And at this point I don't have a prize to offer. But give me time.

For reading this all the way through and hopefully not being a fan of tOSU, watch this.

WVU basketball on the tube

For those that don't have season tickets for WVU basketball and have access (Direct TV) you may want to get MASN or make friends with someone who does. MASN will cover 11 games this season and the ESPN family will cover another 11 leaving only 8 games off of major television this year. Note to those without MASN access all MASN games can also be found on ESPN Full Court although that is pay per game for $15 a day or $99 for the season.

ESPN2 12/5--vs. Auburn
MASN 12/8--@ Duquesne
MASN 12/22--@ Canisius
ESPN2 12/29--sv. Oklahoma
ESPN2 1/3--vs. Notre Dame
MASN 1/06--vs. Marquette
ESPN 1/10--@ Louisville
ESPNU 1/13--vs. Syracuse
MASN 1/17--vs. St. John's
MASN 1/20--@ USF
ESPN 1/26--vs. Georgetown
ESPN2 1/30--vs. Cincinnati
MASN 2/02--@ Providence
ESPN 2/7--@ Pitt
ESPN2 2/14--vs. Rutgers
MASN 2/17--vs. Seton Hall
MASN 2/20--@ Villanova
MASN 2/23--vs. Providence
ESPN2 2/27--@ DePaul
MASN 3/01--@UConn
ESPN 3/3--vs. Pitt
MASN 3/08--@ St. John's

Thanks to the cousin in the 'Ville who did all the heavy lifting on this post.

Talking WVU with College Football Weekly

If you've never listened to College Football Weekly, it's an interesting set up. The show revolves around interviews with bloggers, focusing on whatever the biggest stories in college football are for the week. This is my third time being on the show. I'm in there at the 20:30 mark talking about the Cincinnati game, our title hopes, and other general thoughts.

A couple of my favorite non-WVU bloggers, Brian @MGOBlog and Pete from Burnt Orange Nation are also interviewed on this show. So listen to the whole thing. I think you'll be entertained.

Bastard Sons Guide to Mothering

I am not sure if we are allowed to have nudity on this site. I am a contributor, and probably agreed to uphold the bylaws and policies of blogger.com, etc. If this picture is inappropriate, I apologize to the powers to that be. Take it down if you don't like it. The little kid in the front row seems to be loving it. I am interested in reader response to this. Thanks Collegehumor.

Week 11ish Blogpoll Ballot

I really give up after number 10.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oregon	1
2	LSU	1
3	Kansas	2
4	Oklahoma	--
5	West Virginia	1
6	Georgia	3
7	Missouri	--
8	Virginia Tech	4
9	Arizona State	1
10	Ohio State	9
11	Southern Cal	3
12	Florida	3
13	Texas	6
14	Clemson	8
15	Virginia	6
16	Boise State	1
17	Illinois	9
18	Kentucky	2
19	Hawaii	3
20	Boston College	12
21	Cincinnati	3
22	Wisconsin	4
23	Michigan	12
24	Connecticut	11
25	Mississippi State	1

Dropped Out: Auburn (#18), Alabama (#23), Florida State (#25).