Post by cviller on Aug 23, 2008 7:56:12 GMT -5
COLUMN: What won’t happen this season
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — To be honest, I have never been one to believe I have an eye toward the future. As proof I offer my portfolio, which includes a whole lot of slow race horses and a lot of penny stocks that started as $25 stocks.
This proves to be something of a hindrance when it comes to my main source of income — sports writing.
See, at this time of year everyone is writing a prediction column for the coming football season.
They may not be Nostradamus, but they all think they are an amateur “Notre Damaus.”
I don’t want to say that I’m bad with my predictions, but I was the one who said Secretariat should be pulling a milk wagon, Michael Phelps should never leave the shallow end of the pool and rock ’n’ roll was just a passing fad and would disappear like the hula hoop.
With that in mind, I have been hesitant to do prediction columns over the years, willing to sit back and watch how everything plays out, but there is always a clamor for that look into the future. Unwilling to prove just how bad a prognosticator I can be, I have decided to honor the hundreds (actually one) of requests for a prediction column but do it by doing what I do best.
Rather than predict what WILL happen, I will turn that around and predict what WON’T happen.
That way, when what I would have predicted doesn’t happen, I can say, “See, I told you so.”
So let’s begin with this one:
• WVU running back Noel Devine will not gain 3,000 all-purpose yards this season.
Oh, he’ll come close running, pass receiving and returning kickoffs.
It can be done. The school rushing record is held by Steve Slaton at 1,744 yards. The kickoff return record is held by Adam Jones at 867. And the pass receiving record is 1,043 by David Saunders. Combined that comes to 3,654 yards, but, of course, it came in three different seasons by three different players.
Still, it’s easy to think Devine might rush for 1,300, return kickoffs for 800 and catch passes for 500, and that would get him to 2,600, which is heady stuff.
• Patrick White will not finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting this year as he did last year.
I will not predict that he will win it, for that would surely put a double-whammy on him, and as good as he is, he doesn’t need that.
But I will say he can make reservations in New York for the announcement.
• Two of the game’s self-acclaimed offensive geniuses will meet in a game on Sept. 23 and they won’t score 35 points combined.
And just who are those geniuses … or is that geniusi?
Why Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez — wow, it’s strange to write that — and Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis.
• Patrick McAfee will not have an 80-yard punt or 70-yard field goal this year.
Not because he can’t. You just need really bad field position to do it and WVU doesn’t figure to have much bad field position all year.
• People will not be saying, “The Mountaineers should have given Rodriguez all he wanted and kept him.”
That will hold true if the Mountaineers go unbeaten or don’t win a game.
• Patrick White will not be known more for his passing than his running this year.
True, they want him to throw the ball more and he may do that, but that should open up the running lanes even more and make it tougher to put a shadow on him.
If he throws successfully, he may run less but will be more dangerous to break off long gains than he was before.
• West Virginia will not redshirt Josh Jenkins.
The Parade All-American out of Parkersburg has already showed them he’s capable of playing at this level as a freshman and even though the offensive line is the deepest segment of the West Virginia football team, there is always room for a budding superstar in a year you think you can win.
• South Florida will not play a game in zero degree weather this year.
But if it happens to be 12 degrees when they come to Morgantown on Dec. 6, so be it, even if that might mean I have to hold my birthday party indoors that day.
• Pitt will not beat West Virginia again.
That is not a prediction.
That is a guarantee.
• They will not hold a national championship game this year without West Virginia.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — To be honest, I have never been one to believe I have an eye toward the future. As proof I offer my portfolio, which includes a whole lot of slow race horses and a lot of penny stocks that started as $25 stocks.
This proves to be something of a hindrance when it comes to my main source of income — sports writing.
See, at this time of year everyone is writing a prediction column for the coming football season.
They may not be Nostradamus, but they all think they are an amateur “Notre Damaus.”
I don’t want to say that I’m bad with my predictions, but I was the one who said Secretariat should be pulling a milk wagon, Michael Phelps should never leave the shallow end of the pool and rock ’n’ roll was just a passing fad and would disappear like the hula hoop.
With that in mind, I have been hesitant to do prediction columns over the years, willing to sit back and watch how everything plays out, but there is always a clamor for that look into the future. Unwilling to prove just how bad a prognosticator I can be, I have decided to honor the hundreds (actually one) of requests for a prediction column but do it by doing what I do best.
Rather than predict what WILL happen, I will turn that around and predict what WON’T happen.
That way, when what I would have predicted doesn’t happen, I can say, “See, I told you so.”
So let’s begin with this one:
• WVU running back Noel Devine will not gain 3,000 all-purpose yards this season.
Oh, he’ll come close running, pass receiving and returning kickoffs.
It can be done. The school rushing record is held by Steve Slaton at 1,744 yards. The kickoff return record is held by Adam Jones at 867. And the pass receiving record is 1,043 by David Saunders. Combined that comes to 3,654 yards, but, of course, it came in three different seasons by three different players.
Still, it’s easy to think Devine might rush for 1,300, return kickoffs for 800 and catch passes for 500, and that would get him to 2,600, which is heady stuff.
• Patrick White will not finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting this year as he did last year.
I will not predict that he will win it, for that would surely put a double-whammy on him, and as good as he is, he doesn’t need that.
But I will say he can make reservations in New York for the announcement.
• Two of the game’s self-acclaimed offensive geniuses will meet in a game on Sept. 23 and they won’t score 35 points combined.
And just who are those geniuses … or is that geniusi?
Why Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez — wow, it’s strange to write that — and Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis.
• Patrick McAfee will not have an 80-yard punt or 70-yard field goal this year.
Not because he can’t. You just need really bad field position to do it and WVU doesn’t figure to have much bad field position all year.
• People will not be saying, “The Mountaineers should have given Rodriguez all he wanted and kept him.”
That will hold true if the Mountaineers go unbeaten or don’t win a game.
• Patrick White will not be known more for his passing than his running this year.
True, they want him to throw the ball more and he may do that, but that should open up the running lanes even more and make it tougher to put a shadow on him.
If he throws successfully, he may run less but will be more dangerous to break off long gains than he was before.
• West Virginia will not redshirt Josh Jenkins.
The Parade All-American out of Parkersburg has already showed them he’s capable of playing at this level as a freshman and even though the offensive line is the deepest segment of the West Virginia football team, there is always room for a budding superstar in a year you think you can win.
• South Florida will not play a game in zero degree weather this year.
But if it happens to be 12 degrees when they come to Morgantown on Dec. 6, so be it, even if that might mean I have to hold my birthday party indoors that day.
• Pitt will not beat West Virginia again.
That is not a prediction.
That is a guarantee.
• They will not hold a national championship game this year without West Virginia.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
