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Post by cviller on Jan 30, 2008 11:37:20 GMT -5
Rodriguez haters get to rip coach
January 30th, 2008 by Shane
The Wheeling Nailers, taking advantage of the rancor felt by the state’s residents toward a certain former West Virginia football coach, is holding a “Shred Rich Rodriguez” night on Saturday. The hockey team’s promotion is playing off reports that Rodriguez was seen shredding team-related documents before leaving to take the Michigan job in December.So on Saturday night, at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, the Nailers are playing host to the Charlotte Checkers, as well as an industrial-sized paper shredder. Fans who bring in an article or picture of the coach to be shredded will receive a discount, as will fans wearing WVU or Ohio State apparel.
“We wanted to let [fans] release some frustration,” Nailers co-president Rob Brooks said in Monday’s edition of The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register.
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Post by cviller on Dec 1, 2007 9:59:22 GMT -5
Right On!! Your the Best MJ Thanks for all you do for Mountaineer Fans all across the country.
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Post by cviller on Jan 23, 2008 11:18:50 GMT -5
WVU-MU football game moved to Sept. 27
By Doug Smock Staff writer
Marshall and West Virginia will have at least three games under their respective belts when they meet on the gridiron this fall. The third installment of the current series has been moved from Sept. 13 to Sept. 27, MU athletic director Bob Marcum confirmed Thursday.
Marcum said the school was asked by officials from ESPN Inc. to help clear the way to move WVU’s game at Colorado on Sept. 18, a Thursday night. That would have meant a short week of preparation for the Mountaineers, something they have coped with before, but not with such a long trip at the end.
The WVU-Colorado game was originally scheduled for Sept. 27.
The Thundering Herd has some flexibility in its early schedule. It opens the season Aug. 30 against Illinois State, and then travels to Wisconsin on Sept. 6. Its fourth nonconference game comes at home against Cincinnati, but not until Oct. 4.
Unlike the 2007 season, in which the Herd’s nonconference games came in the first four weeks, there is a two-weekend break between such games. That could be filled by two conference games, a conference game and a week off, or perhaps a single mid-week televised game.
To contact staff writer Doug Smock, use e-mail or call 348-5130.
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Post by cviller on Oct 3, 2007 13:03:37 GMT -5
Shawn Falkenstein Morgantown, W.Va.
Fear not Mountaineer fans, in the immortal words of a 11-year-old red head with freckles, "the sun will come out tomorrow."
I know it’s cliche, but it’s true. I woke up Saturday morning and the sun rose in the East and it set in the West. By then I was feeling much better about West Virginia’s 21-13 loss to South Florida. Maybe it was because Florida, Oklahoma and Texas lost or maybe it was because Notre Dame was beat down for the fifth straight week.
You see, it’s all a matter of perspective.
I’m not about to throw the trump card of war, poverty and famine in your face, but I will say this, in the world of college football, it could be a lot worse. A whole lot worse. You could be a Notre Dame fan.
I heard the word "depression" and all it’s forms many times this weekend, and I will freely admit that Friday night’s loss dampened my outlook on life. But, it’s not going to stop me from looking, as Van Morrison puts it, on the bright side of the road.
In all, five top ten teams lost this weekend. No. 3 Oklahoma lost to Colorado, no. 4 Florida fell to Auburn, no. 7 Texas was upset by Kansas State and no. 10 Rutgers lost to Maryland.
In all of Division 1-A (that's right I said Division 1-A not football bowl subdivision) there are ten teams still searching for their first win. There are 47 out of 119 teams with losing records and just 15 that are still undefeated after five weeks.
That’s a lot of numbers, but what does it all add up to?
Well, hopefully it adds up to some hope. You see, it’s not over by a long shot. West Virginia still has a realistic chance to win the Big East conference and go to a BCS bowl. Is there anyone outside Tampa who believes the Bulls are going to run the table? They are a good team, but even after Wet Virginia handed them a gift basket full of turnovers South Florida could only manage 21 points. Rutgers is sitting in the cat bird’s seat and Louisville has so many problems not even Dr. Phil can help. So, that leaves West Virginia with a realistic chance to come back and win the league.
Maybe the national title hopes and dreams have been dashed, but with the season so young even that is not out of the realm of possibility. If West Virginia can finish 11-1 the Mountaineers could be in the national title discussion. If not, a third straight eleven win season is not so bad. That brings me to my next point. We’re all spoiled.
West Virginia did not get beat down Friday night, they beat themselves. The Mountaineers turned the ball over six times and still had a chance to tie the game at the end. Six turnovers and they were still in the game? Are you kidding me? South Florida should have won by 30, but they didn’t because the Mountaineers never quit and they have the talent and skill to stay in games even when they play horrible, and that was about as horrible a game as I’ve seen since 2001.
Over the last five years West Virginia has had more success than any other five year stretch in the history of the school. They've won 51 games to just 17 losses (including a 4-1 record this season) with only four losses since the start of 2005. The Mountaineers are 2-3 in bowl games over that period and have finished ranked in the polls at the end of three of those seasons.
All that has added up to great expectations, and with great expectations come great letdowns. But, really, do things ever live up to their expectations? Sometimes, but more often than not high expectations are only set ups for failure. Look at Tennessee, eight years removed from a national championship and the Phil Fulmer is constantly on the hot seat. Alabama fired a coach that won ten games in 2005 and paid $4 million dollars for a coach because it can’t stand losing to Auburn. Larry Coker was run out on a rail for averaging 10 wins a year at Miami.
There’s no reason to believe that West Virginia can’t compete for a national title next year or the year after. By every indication this program is going to be very good for many years to come. So, don’t let success ruin you, revel in the good times and don’t let the bad times hurt so bad.
Always remember there is a fine line between success and failure and we must all keep everything in perspective.
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Post by cviller on Nov 26, 2007 13:50:29 GMT -5
My God, your right, Pat is the Heisman!!!
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Post by cviller on Nov 26, 2007 0:06:17 GMT -5
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Post by cviller on Feb 6, 2008 16:17:36 GMT -5
All I can say is WOW! What a great incoming bunch of guys! Really some great recruits.
Stewart is really going to be a SUPER coach. I love hearing him talk about the Mountaineers. We truly are blessed!
Glad your gone RR. Now pay up! Shut up! and Stay Away forever!
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Post by cviller on Sept 28, 2007 7:29:28 GMT -5
By Dave Hickman Staff writer
TAMPA, Fla. — So far, the virtual absence of Keilen Dykes from West Virginia’s defense hasn’t been much of a factor. The Mountaineers’ biggest and best defensive lineman has been slowed almost to a crawl by a foot injury the past two games and certainly isn’t 100 percent heading into tonight’s 8 o’clock game with South Florida. Although he started against both Maryland and East Carolina, he played very few snaps. Last week against the Pirates, the number was just eight.
Yet, in those two games, WVU’s defense has played perhaps as well as it has at any time in the past two seasons, with youngsters Thor Merrow and Chris Neild primarily manning Dykes’ nose tackle spot.
“I said, ‘Keilen, you only played five or six snaps and we almost got a shutout,’ ’’ West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said, joking with his senior defensive leader. “Am I noticing a trend there?’ ’
The bottom line, though, is that with limited playing time, Dykes has been able to rest, Merrow and Neild have gotten more valuable experience and, when Dykes returns to the defense, should be even better.
That, of course, begs the question of when Dykes might be at full strength. Rodriguez said he doesn’t think the injury is anything chronic.
“No, it’s something we think will get better each week,’’ Rodriguez said. “It’s kind of a stress thing that’s not a stress fracture, and we don’t want it to become that. So we’ve been resting him.’’
Tonight might be a good time for Dykes to begin playing more. South Florida is expected to get starting center Nick Capogna back after missing two games with a knee injury.
There is an argument to be made that South Florida is better prepared for this game than West Virginia, at least from a competition standpoint.
The Bulls have played one less game, and one of those was against Division I-AA Elon. USF also beat North Carolina at home last weekend and, between those two, had an overtime win on the road at Auburn.
West Virginia, meanwhile, has largely won in routs over Western Michigan, Marshall, Maryland and East Carolina.
“We’ve gotten tested at times. Every time we play somebody, particularly if you’re highly ranked, you’re going to take their best shot,’’ Rodriguez said. “We played at a very talented Maryland team on the road and that was a hostile environment.’’
In truth, the two schedules are remarkably similar. Yes, West Virginia’s opponents have just two wins over Division I-A opponents. But so, too, do USF’s opponents. Elon has none, Auburn has beaten only Kansas State and New Mexico State, and North Carolina has beaten only I-AA James Madison.
USF coach Jim Leavitt is a great quote during the offseason, but when play begins he says almost nothing.
These are actually a few of his more expansive quotes on different subjects this week:
• On WVU freshman Noel Devine. “He’s awfully good. We knew that out of high school. We knew he was one of the better players out there,’’ Leavitt said. “It just gives them another running back that’s awfully talented.’’
• On the Mountaineers’ defense: “I think they’re playing awfully well. They get the football back to the offense and that’s what you want a defense to do.’’ • On his own star linebacker, Ben Moffitt: “You don’t have to coach Ben Moffitt much. He coaches himself.’’
• And on any similarities he sees between WVU quarterback Pat White and his own QB, Matt Grothe: “[White] can run, throw and he’s smart. It’s a good system that fits his abilities. I think he and Matt are different though.’’
Briefly
• Rodriguez’s next victory will be No. 100 for him as a college head coach. He is 99-60-2 at Salem, Glenville and West Virginia.
• Tonight’s game matches the two highest-ranked college teams — No. 5 WVU and No. 18 USF — ever to play in Tampa. Naturally South Florida, which had never been ranked until a week ago, has never played host to a matchup of ranked teams, but the Outback Bowl is also played at Raymond James Stadium. The 2005 version of that bowl matched No. 8 Georgia and No. 16 Wisconsin. And in 1984 at Tampa Stadium, No. 10 Miami beat No. 17 Florida in the season opener.
That No. 8 Georgia team was also the highest-ranked team ever to play in Tampa before now.
• In 165 combined attempts this season, neither White nor Grothe have thrown an interception. But they each threw two in last year’s game in Morgantown.
• West Virginia hasn’t lost on grass in its last nine games on the surface, dating back to the Gator Bowl against Florida State. That includes a 3-0 mark in 2005, 5-0 in 2006 and 1-0 this season.
• West Virginia leads the nation in yards per rush this season, by far. The Mountaineers are averaging 7.2 yards and Arkansas is second at 6.4. The only team in the country with more rushing yards than West Virginia is Navy (1,440-1,428), but the Midshipmen have rushed 46 more times and are averaging 5.9 yards, seventh in the country.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.
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Post by cviller on Sept 22, 2007 8:56:55 GMT -5
Its suppose to be in the mid 80's in Morgantown today, here in Cville its 71 and very cloudy and looks like rain. Can't make it to the game today. Sold my tixs on StubHub for $100 each.
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Post by cviller on Sept 22, 2007 7:47:47 GMT -5
By Dave Hickman Staff writer
MORGANTOWN — Aside from being West Virginia’s only home appearance for the next month, there are at least three things that seem to make the Mountaineers’ game with East Carolina today intriguing.
Two of them may or may not have much bearing on the outcome.
Is Noel Devine ready to become more than a sensational bit player and be given a more fundamental role in West Virginia’s already obscenely talented offense? • How much playing time, if any, will J.T. Thomas and Ellis Lankster be given, and how has a month off affected their impact on the defensive depth chart?
Assuming the No. 5 Mountaineers (3-0) take care of business against 24-point underdog East Carolina (1-2) in today’s ESPN2-televised noon game from Mountaineer Field, Thomas and Lankster seem all but certain to play. If they are going to help WVU’s defense in what figures to be a much more compelling game at No. 23 South Florida next Friday, they will need to at least get their feet wet today.
As for Devine’s role, well, that could be more pertinent to the outcome, which raises the third question of the day: Can East Carolina, for the third season in a row, befuddle West Virginia’s running game like almost no one else has over that span?
In playing the Mountaineers close the past two seasons — losing 20-15 here in 2005 and 27-10 in Greenville a year ago — the Pirates have held WVU to two of its lowest rushing outputs in that span. Two years ago Pernell Williams was West Virginia’s leading rusher with just 55 yards and the team gained only 127. Last season Steve Slaton gained 80 yards but averaged just 3.3 yards on 24 carries as the Mountaineers gained only 153 overall. Both figures were well under half WVU’s season average.
Devine, of course, makes things even tougher on the Pirates. Now there is not only the threat of Slaton, quarterback Pat White and fullback Owen Schmitt, but of the 5-foot-7 freshman who ran for 136 yards on just five carries last week against Maryland.
But East Carolina has obviously defied the odds the past two seasons and there is little reason to assume the Pirates won’t do the same today.
“I don’t think we’ve been surprised by what they’ve done,’’ West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “They’ve executed well, they’ve not given up the big play, they’ve brought their safeties down and they’ve tackled well in the open field.’’
If that sounds simple, it is. But there is still no escaping the fact that if it was as easy as it sounds, West Virginia wouldn’t be averaging a staggering 343 yards rushing per game. What has made East Carolina more effective in stopping WVU’s running game than virtually everyone else?
East Carolina coach Skip Holtz credits the play of his defensive backs, who have been good enough in the open field to make tackles and prevent Slaton and White from turning 5-yard gains into 50-yard touchdowns. But with three new starters in the secondary this year, Holtz is naturally concerned.
Still, East Carolina is giving up just 86 rushing yards per game this season and allowed Virginia Tech to run for just 33 yards on 31 tries in the opener. So those defensive backs — as well as the front seven — are obviously doing something right.
“They’ve done a great job tackling. They’ve got a couple new guys back there, but those safeties are still tackling pretty well and they’re still playing great against the run,’’ Rodriguez said. “They’ve had a few pass plays against them, but it was one of those things where one guy missed a tackle or another guy took the wrong angle and they got a big play out of it.
“Their linebackers are as good as anybody we’ll play all year and it may be the best defensive group of athletes we’ll play all year. They’re a talented team.’’
So, too, of course, is West Virginia. Despite a slip in the Associated Press Top 25 poll in each of the past two weeks — the Mountaineers were No. 3 to start the season — this is still a team that is not only averaging 47 points per game, but has also beaten the betting spread in every game.
“I wish I could have that kind of comfort or feeling going into this game, like they were moving backwards,’’ Holtz said. “I don’t know what people look at in the polls to vote them up or down, but they’re not watching the film I’m watching.’’
East Carolina has some weapons of its own, most notably junior quarterback Patrick Pinkney, who was third on the team’s depth chart the week before the season began, but in his first college start threw for 406 yards in a 34-31 win over North Carolina.
Holtz knows that it doesn’t matter how well Pinkney and the rest of the offense play if his defense doesn’t repeat its effort of the past two games against WVU.
“There are some teams that are great teams because they’re going to win every game 3-0. There are some teams that are going to win 53-13,’’ Holtz said. “Right now they’re one of those teams offensively. They’re going to score a lot of points.’’
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.
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Post by cviller on Dec 15, 2007 13:55:11 GMT -5
How many scholarships will we need if RR goes to MI?
How many guys have allready changed their minds about WVU after the Pitt loss?
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Post by cviller on Dec 15, 2007 13:52:29 GMT -5
By Dave Hickman Staff writer
MORGANTOWN — There are always creative ways to get around the numbers game, and in the case of West Virginia’s football recruiting, a few of those may have to be explored. The Mountaineers seem to have 19 verbal commitments, but they have only 12 scholarship players who will run out of eligibility at the end of the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl game against Oklahoma.
And West Virginia’s coaching staff is still beating the bushes for more newcomers.
That’s not to say, however, that coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff are in over their heads in regard to the NCAA’s limit of 85 scholarships.
First, that list of 12 seniors on their way out could grow, depending upon how many players opt for the NFL draft. The list of outgoing seniors grows to 14 if two players who are technically listed as seniors but could regain a year of eligibility by graduating by next summer — defensive end Johnny Dingle and wide receiver Darius Reynaud — decide not to do that.
There is also the chance that a handful of players could elect to leave early, most notably tailback Steve Slaton. He, along with Dingle, Reynaud and perhaps a few others, are in the process of filing paperwork with the NFL’s College Advisory Committee to test the professional waters. The NCAA and the NFL permit college underclassmen who are at least three seasons out of high school to submit paperwork to the CAC without jeopardizing any future eligibility, providing they do not have dealings with an agent. The period for filing is between the end of the regular season and the first week of January. The CAC is a panel made up of 12 general managers and personnel directors of NFL teams and the directors of the league’s two scouting combines, a group which provides players its best estimate of where — or if — the player would be taken were he to enter the NFL draft.
A player can then choose to meet the NFL’s mid-January deadline for entering the April draft or return to college. A player can also declare for the draft by that deadline and withdraw his name within three days and retain his eligibility.
Slaton, who is generally regarded as a mid- to late-first-round pick in the draft if he comes out, said he won’t make a decision any time soon.
“I guess after the bowl game,’’ Slaton said. “Now’s not the time to think about it.’’
Still, it seems unlikely that the number of exiting scholarship players will match the number of recruits. And so, after the February national signing period ends, that’s when the creativity begins. Some of the difference will no doubt be taken care of by mere attrition — recruits who fail to qualify academically or holdover players who decide to transfer or simply leave the program. If there is still a surplus, a few newcomers would likely be asked to greyshirt, which means delaying enrollment until January of 2009. In that case the player would count against the 2009 recruiting class.
To date, West Virginia’s commitments include three defensive backs, three defensive linemen, three wide receivers, three running backs, three offensive linemen, two linebackers, a kicker and one player who could player any of several skill positions.
Rodriguez has faced the question before so he had a ready answer: Does the disappointment of losing so much at the end of the season have any impact on how a team plays in a bowl game? “You’d like to have momentum going into a bowl game, but you don’t play for a whole month,’’ Rodriguez said. “We’ve been in bowl games when we won our last game and then played awful in the bowl. We played awful [in a 13-9 loss to Pitt], so maybe we’ll play better in the bowl game.’’
Indeed, the reviews from past performances are mixed. In 2002 and 2003 West Virginia carried winning streaks of four and seven games, respectively, into bowl games and got hammered by Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl and Maryland in the Gator Bowl. Last year the Mountaineers won their regular-season finale but still suffered the disappointment of losing a chance to play in the BCS by falling to South Florida the week before. West Virginia then went out and beat Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl.
“There’s so much time in between that I don’t think what you did in your last game [has much impact],’’ Rodriguez said. “It certainly makes the month go faster as a coach [if you win the last game of the regular season]. You sleep a lot better. But outside of that I think it’s easy for guys to kind of move on from the last game.’’
Sometimes, though, the bowl mirrors the end of the season. In 2004 West Virginia lost its last two games and then was beaten by Florida State in the Gator Bowl. But a year later the Mountaineers won six in a row to close the regular season and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
It appears that Oklahoma could be without co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin for the Fiesta Bowl. And even if Sumlin sticks around, he might be distracted.
Sumlin is expected to be named the new coach at the University of Houston today. It has been a rather long process in which Sumlin was considered for the job, then eliminated from contention and then, obviously, reconsidered. It’s not clear whether he will try to coach Oklahoma’s offense while he settles in at Houston.
Sumlin is also the Sooners’ wide receivers coach.
Dick Stemple, the chairman of the Fiesta Bowl and a native of Webster Springs, was talking the other day about how he got to Arizona.
Quite simply, he and his wife were married in 1967, loaded up a 1965 Buick with everything they owned and $700 and started driving west. Every once in a while they would stop for lunch or gas and talk to people.
“Two or three people said, ‘Have you thought about Phoenix?’ And I wrote it down, F-e-e-n-i-x,’’ Stemple said. “Back then it was like saying Smith, Wisconsin. Who knew where Phoenix was back then?’’
They got to Phoenix and found it was 85 degrees and the sun was shining.
“I said, ‘You know what? They’re swimming, it’s late October, this is far enough, isn’t it?’ She said, ‘Yeah,’ ’’ Stemple recalled. “That’s no exaggeration.’’
Stemple graduated from Arizona State in 1969, moved back and taught three years at Bridgeport High School and then went back to where it was warm.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.
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Post by cviller on Nov 25, 2007 15:32:33 GMT -5
Brad Edwards (BCS Expert) projects West Virginia will #2 in BCS standings. And says WVU WILL play in the NC game if they beat Pitt.
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Post by cviller on Sept 28, 2007 7:00:15 GMT -5
That about somes it up! Lets PLAY BALL!!!!
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Post by cviller on Dec 11, 2007 10:48:53 GMT -5
By Jack Bogaczyk Daily Mail Sports Editor
IN its most lucrative telecast football game of the season, West Virginia University stumbled in a bid to play for a national championship.
The Fiesta Bowl-bound and 11th-ranked Mountaineers, however, are among the top two in college football in one fashion in 2007:
That would be television exposure.
Late in the season, Dave Brown, vice president of programming for ESPN and the network's college football schedule-maker, told Big East Conference officials and WVU Deputy Athletic Director Mike Parsons that the Mountaineers figured to be the team with the most exposure on the Disney networks this season.
A check of TV appearances from other conferences makes it apparent that is accurate. That means the only team that had more potential TV exposure during the 2007 is -- surprise, surprise -- Notre Dame, which had 11 of its 12 games nationally televised.
West Virginia had nine of its 12 regular-season games on ABC (2), ESPN (4) or ESPN2 (3). The ABC dates weren't national telecasts, but because of the ESPN distribution system, they received far more than the usual regional treatment.
An Oct. 27 game at Rutgers (a split-national with a Big 12 Conference game) went to 82 percent of the nation's 112.8 million TV homes. WVU's Nov. 24 home game with Connecticut was distributed to 57 percent of the nation as an ABC regional, but 31 percent of homes in other regions got the same telecast on ESPN2 (for 88 percent coverage).
ESPN is available in 96.46 million homes, slightly more than the 96.13 million for ESPN2 (or about 85 percent of all American homes with television).
Yes, there still are about 17 million U.S. homes without cable TV or satellite service.
WVU's three games that weren't aired by the ESPN "family" were a Big East Game of the Week (Syracuse) and two that went primarily to the Mountain State and visiting team areas (Western Michigan and Mississippi State).
The Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl date with third-ranked Oklahoma, on the Fox network, gives Coach Rich Rodriguez's team another national date.
Other schools -- like Boston College and Virginia Tech of the ACC -- had large doses of exposure, but played in more ABC regional and conference syndicated telecasts that didn't have the distribution those WVU dates with Rutgers and UConn had.
Other top programs made more appearances on their conference packages (with smaller regional networks) on ABC regionals that didn't have distribution to match the two WVU games.
It helped that West Virginia was in the top 10 most of the season, that the Big East has only eight football schools (meaning fewer teams to make the contracted appearances compared to other leagues) and that the Big East has been willing to play Thursday and Friday dates and on chilly Saturday nights late in the season.
As for Notre Dame, despite a 3-9 record, the Fighting Irish made 11 "national" TV appearances -- seven home games on NBC, three on ESPN (at Penn State, Stanford and Purdue), and an ABC game at Michigan. The other Irish game was an ABC regional (West Coast and South Bend, Ind.) at UCLA.
Rutgers' seven ESPN family appearances ranked second to WVU's nine in the Big East. South Florida had six. Last season, West Virginia had eight (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) appearances, after getting six in 2005.
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WEST VIRGINIA'S increased exposure is reflected on the bottom line, too. The Big East has notified the Mountaineers that their telecast appearance fees from the conference will total $880,495 this season. That's up from $738,854 a year ago.
The conference puts a weight on appearances, depending on the game date and time, national or regional selection, home or road and opponent. A Big East TV "unit" was worth $25,157.
WVU's most lucrative TV game was its most painful. The 13-9 upset loss to Pitt that kept the Mountaineers out of the BCS National Championship Game paid the two schools $125,785 apiece because it was played on college football's "Championship Saturday," Dec. 1.
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THE BIG East fared better with football telecast appearances than required in the final year of its contract with ESPN that was renegotiated after three schools left the league for the ACC.
ESPN was required to televise four Big East "home" games on ABC and 10 (combined) on ESPN or ESPN2. The Big East landed five ABC dates, 13 home games on ESPN and four on ESPN2 for a total of 22 -- a conference record for major exposures, and one more than a year ago.
Conference teams also had five road game appearances on ESPN or ESPN2, including West Virginia at Marshall and Maryland.
A new, six-year football TV contract with ESPN will take the Big East from about $8 million to a $13 million range annually, starting next season.
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