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Post by elp525 on Oct 31, 2011 4:23:04 GMT -5
October 30, 2011
By Dave Hickman The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - As it turns out, West Virginia's 41-31 win over Rutgers in the snow and cold Saturday hinged on two fourth-down gambles.
The one by the Mountaineers paid off. The bigger one by the Scarlet Knights did not.
Of course, that's the way it usually goes in a series that perhaps ended on Saturday with West Virginia's 17th consecutive win over Rutgers. Nothing the Scarlet Knights ever do seems to work out against the Mountaineers.
The gamble by Rutgers came on the first series of the fourth quarter with the Knights still leading 31-28. They had driven from their 30 to the WVU 11 in fairly easy fashion, not having faced a third down until the drive stalled.
But instead of going for a field goal that would have put RU up by six points, coach Greg Schiano called for a fake.
"I thought it was [the right call],'' Schiano said afterward.
It may have been, but it didn't work, even though the play was executed almost flawlessly. Holder Patrick Kivlehan took the snap and fired a beautiful pass into the end zone toward Brandon Coleman. It was right in Coleman's hands, too, until safety Darwin Cook, playing the receiver and not the ball, drilled the 6-foot-6, 220-pound redshirt freshman just as the ball arrived.
Coleman dropped it.
"It was an opportunity for us to be successful and I didn't execute,'' said Coleman. "I let the ball come to me. I should have gone and got it.''
"That was good,'' West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said. "I think it gave our guys a little bit of life.''
The Rutgers failure led directly to West Virginia's fourth-down success, not to mention to WVU's win. Taking the ball at the 11, the Mountaineers put together their only real sustained drive of the day. Ten plays and 88 yards later, WVU found itself at the Rutgers 1 needing a field goal to tie with just over six minutes to play.
Coach Dana Holgorsen never really hesitated.
"When you're playing well on defense, we don't get it and they're [Rutgers] backed up inside their 4-yard line,'' Holgorsen later offered. "You can use that to your advantage defensively.''
And offensively. West Virginia went straight to the line and quarterback Geno Smith relayed the play call, a play-action fake and a short dump pass over the middle to slot receiver Tyler Urban. With so much of the Rutgers defense crowded at the line to stop a team from the 1-yard line, it could easily have worked.
"But they did a good job,'' Smith said of the Rutgers defense. "They manned it up [not only against Urban, but every other potential target] and it was just me and the safety.''
Now that's not something that happens a lot. Smith has been WVU's starter for nearly two full years and he's run the ball plenty, although not this season. Yet he had never scored a rushing touchdown. He had to beat Rutgers safety Kevin Snyder in the open field.
He did. He put on a little head fake and ran toward the front corner of the end zone and had the angle all the way. He was hit hard as he lunged head-first across the goal line, but scored. Instead of being tied had they settled for the field goal, the Mountaineers led. They put it away with another touchdown a few minutes later.
Smith was just glad he had the chance to make any kind of fourth-down play, but he wasn't surprised.
"Fourth-and-one, game on the line, we're going to score. And the coaches know that,'' Smith said. "They're going to tell us when we're wrong and criticize us and critique our play, but when the game is on the line they also have the faith that we can get it done.''
BRIEFLY: The road gets no easier for West Virginia this week. At noon on Saturday, Louisville comes to Mountaineer Field on the heels of wins over the same two teams WVU just played. On Saturday the Cardinals pounded Syracuse, winning 27-10 over a team that had just pounded the Mountaineers.
Shawne Alston's 110-yard rushing day was the first 100-yard effort of his career and it came on just 14 carries. "We probably should have given him the ball more,'' Holgorsen said.
Saturday's game lasted three hours and 49 minutes, in part because of 39 incomplete passes and in part because of delays caused while waiting for parts of the field to be plowed during timeouts.
"What is it, midnight?'' Holgorsen asked. "It feels like it's midnight.''
Holgorsen's explanation for allowing the clock to run down at the end of the first half when he had a timeout remaining was that he was waiting for the officials to spot the ball and they were slow in doing so. "I was trying to get it set and take a shot [down the field and preserving the timeout],'' Holgorsen said. "But we ran out of time.''
The timeout was finally called with one second to go, but holder Matt Molinari dropped the snap on what would have been a 36-yard Tyler Bitancurt field-goal attempt.
Tavon Austin (offense), Julian Miller (defense) and long snapper Cody Nutter (special teams) were named the team's champions on Sunday. K.J. Myers and Ishmail Showell were the scout team champions.
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:29:14 GMT -5
WVU just signed to join the Big 12!
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:26:55 GMT -5
The Big East contemplates its options after WVU signs with Big 12.
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:25:15 GMT -5
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:18:14 GMT -5
10/29/2011
Chip Fontanazza Piscataway, New Jersey
Adversity is something every team deals with during the season. On Saturday, the Mountaineers fought adversity, Mother Nature and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to get their season back on track.
The Mountaineers were coming off their biggest loss in 20 years after losing the week before to the Syracuse Orange 49-23. Adversity was something the coaching staff and WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen were preaching to the team all week.
All of that preaching and hard work by the Mountaineers paid off in a 41-31 win against Rutgers. After the game, the team was very happy with the way it handled everything.
“I think we responded better than we did last week and that shows signs of improvement for this team,” said junior quarterback Geno Smith. “We grew today.”
“I learned we’re very resilient,” continued Smith. “We had to battle. Like I said, last week we took a tough loss and everyone wanted to see how we would respond and everyone wanted to come out with a blowout victory.”
It wasn’t quite a blowout victory, but it was enough to boost the Mountaineers’ confidence and get them back on the winning track.
Junior running back Shawne Alston sparked things early for the Mountaineers early in the game with a 52-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. That was the first score for West Virginia. Alston says that run gave the team a lot of confidence and helped propel them to the much-needed victory.
“We know that if we face adversity, we can come out and get it done because we did it today,” said Alston. “We can just reflect. We did this before, we can do it again.”
Senior defensive end Julian Miller did his part on defense to help the Mountaineers overcome adversity. He had two fumble recovers that led to scores for WVU. That helped lead West Virginia to 20 unanswered points in the second half.
“I think it was just gut check time,” said Miller. “We realized we have to come out here and we have to respond. We realized what they were doing and we made corrections at halftime and we just knew we had to come out in the second half and play against what they were giving us and just execute.”
“Coach talked about it all week,” said Smith. “What we were going to do when we faced adversity and I think we got back into the locker room and regrouped and we came out with some fire in the second half and [we] were able to come out with a victory.”
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:15:31 GMT -5
Sunday, October 30, 2011
By Mark Viera The New York Times
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The snow-globe conditions for West Virginia's 41-31 victory against Rutgers on Saturday provided a fitting backdrop for two Big East Conference programs caught in the disorienting swirl of conference realignment.
On Friday, the Big 12 announced that West Virginia would join the conference. Its departure, following Pitt and Syracuse out of the Big East, has left that league on unstable footing. Officials from Rutgers, meanwhile, have maintained contact with other conferences.
On Saturday, at least, Rutgers and No. 25 West Virginia were both still angling for positioning in the Big East standings as they head into the final month of the regular season. No. 24 Cincinnati (6-1, 2-0) is in first place.
Playing in a steady snow, the Mountaineers (6-2, 2-1) outlasted Rutgers in the fourth quarter, retaking the lead with less than 10 minutes left.
West Virginia drove 89 yards behind quarterback Geno Smith, who scrambled 1 yard for the go-ahead touchdown. On the ensuing possession, Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova fumbled when the football slipped from his grasp. West Virginia's Tavon Austin then scored on a 20-yard reception, effectively ending the game. The Scarlet Knights (5-3, 2-2) have lost 17 consecutive games against West Virginia.
Smith passed for 218 yards and two touchdowns, completing 20 of 31 passes.
About two hours before kickoff, three pickup trucks, two small utility vehicles and a tractor plowed up and down the field at High Point Solutions Stadium, moving like Zambonis at a hockey rink until strips of artificial turf were revealed from under the snow.
By the opening kickoff, nearly 2 inches of snow had fallen. There were wide swaths of empty benches, and the crowd of approximately 10,000 was bundled up in parkas, ponchos and knit ski caps.
The Scarlet Knights were led onto the field by Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed from the neck down making a tackle in a game against Army last October. It was the first time LeGrand had accompanied the team on the field for a game since his injury.
Running back Jawan Jamison scored two touchdowns in the first half as Rutgers built a 31-21 halftime lead, its first double-digit edge on the Mountaineers since 1994, the Scarlet Knights' last win in the series.
Despite the points on the scoreboard, neither team moved the ball smoothly, though their choppy offenses broke out for several big scoring plays. In the first quarter alone, West Virginia scored on runs of 80 yards by Austin and 52 yards by Shawne Alston, and Rutgers' Mark Harrison caught a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The snow made for difficult conditions. There were fumbled snaps, dropped passes and a botched hold on a field-goal attempt. The players also had trouble staying on their feet, making cuts with short, careful steps.
Nova's fumble while dropping back to pass in the fourth quarter illustrated the weather's impact. In the first quarter, Smith lost a fumble in similar fashion, and Rutgers capitalized when Nova threw a touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu.
Nova threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns, completing 18 of 46 passes. He also threw two interceptions.
Leading 31-28 at the start of the fourth quarter, Rutgers tried a fake field goal after driving to West Virginia's 11, but the Mountaineers' Darwin Cook broke up the pass from the holder, Patrick Kivlehan, to Brandon Coleman.
That set up West Virginia's 11-play, 89-yard scoring drive that gave them the lead. Smith scored on fourth-and-goal, rushing around end out of the shotgun and diving into the end zone. Kicker Tyler Bitancurt missed the extra point.
For Rutgers, the meeting was a chance to test its legitimacy as a contender in the Big East, after having compiled an impressive record against less-than-impressive competition. West Virginia was the first ranked opponent Rutgers had faced this season.
The Mountaineers, however, were coming off of an embarrassing 49-23 loss a week ago to Syracuse. That defeat raised questions about whether West Virginia was indeed the class of the Big East, but the Mountaineers helped their argument with the victory.
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:10:52 GMT -5
October 29, 2011
By Ryan Pritt The Charleston Gazette
Now that fans have had a chance to digest the news of West Virginia's impending move from the Big East to the Big 12 and have been given ample time to react, perhaps its time we let a few guys with direct knowledge of the program have their voices heard.
For starters, former Mountaineer coach Don Nehlen was all for the move.
"I'm happy we're in a stable league, that's for sure," Nehlen said. "I thought the Big East was starting to crumble, big time. The distance bothers me a little bit, but on the other hand there's some awfully good teams in that league and I think we'll be very competitive. I think it will be a big boost for football and basketball and all the rest of the programs."
First-year University of Charleston coach Pat Kirkland spent the five previous years on the WVU staff. He shared in Nehlen's enthusiasm for the move.
"That's been the big talk of everyone for quite some time," Kirkland said. "It was more of a situation where the Big East probably wasn't certain, and kind of knowing that, they put themselves in the best situation possible. The Big 12 gave them an opportunity for certainty. It's exciting for them and it's exciting for the fans. Football-wise, with the exception of the SEC, the Big 12 may be the best conference in college football. Having the opportunity to play teams like Oklahoma and Texas, that's a great opportunity for them. If you can succeed in the Big 12 then you've really done something."
But it isn't all beaming smiles and rousing endorsements. One of the all-time great Mountaineer players, Sam Huff, had a differing opinion.
"I love West Virginia and I want to see them do the right thing but is this all about money?" Huff asked. "How many people from West Virginia are going to Texas to watch a football game when they can see Fairmont State play, or Marshall? You're centrally located in Morgantown, you've got an airport and a great stadium. People have to come to you."
The biggest sticking point for Huff is the geography issue, one that both Nehlen and Kirkland acknowledged. With WVU heading to the Big 12 and Syracuse and Pittsburgh going to the ACC, who knows if these classic rivalries will continue?
"The big problem with this expansion is that those rivalries are starting to disappear," Nehlen said. "I certainly don't think that's good. What it amounts to is you've got to make new rivalries, but it's difficult to make them when they're 900 miles away. I hope Pitt doesn't go off of our schedule, and Syracuse has been a big rivalry as well. I played all those schools 21 times.
"When I was growing up, the game I always wanted to see was Nebraska and Oklahoma. Now they don't even play it. I just hope we don't destroy all of these great rivalries."
Huff sounded a little fed up altogether, insisting that geography should be the say-all, end-all when it comes to scheduling in college football.
"It would make sense to me to play Maryland, to play Penn State, to play Pitt, to play Marshall," Huff said. "The fans in Morgantown want to play Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia. They don't have to go very far from that. That's what the people want. They want to drive a few miles, save a few bucks, and see some quality football. That hasn't changed since I played. Take care of your home base, that's my thinking. But I don't think like [school officials] do."
WVU football coach Dana Holgorsen and men's basketball coach Bob Huggins both have experience coaching in the Big 12. Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator for Oklahoma State while Huggins was the head man at Kansas State for one year before coming to WVU.
"Dana and Bobby both playing in that league certainly can't hurt us," Nehlen said. "I don't know if it's a big advantage, but it's certainly a plus. They know the ins and outs, they know the fields and courts, they know the hotels to stay in, they know where to fly in too. So they know a lot of things that will help."
Assuming the men's basketball team will stay competitive - it has found significant success in what is presumed to be America's best conference over the past few years, and there's nothing to signal the program wouldn't be fine - Mountaineer fans' biggest worry may be the competitiveness of the football team when it takes on a full Big 12 schedule.
Currently the Big 12 has six teams ranked in the BCS Top 25 (Texas A&M will be in the SEC next year) while West Virginia is the Big East's only representative at No. 25.
Huff has his reservations, but Nehlen and Kirkland stay steadfast.
"I think we can fit in there with them," Nehlen said. "I think Texas is down a little bit, Oklahoma looks human, Oklahoma State look I like pretty good, Kansas and Iowa State are in the middle I suppose, and K State is having a good year. I think we'll be able to fit right in there.
"The big thing I think is we're going to have to be able to compete week in and week out more effectively than in the Big East. In the Big East, every team is not a great football team and they're not even all good teams."
"We had great success against good teams," Kirkland said of his time in Morgantown. "We beat Mississippi State two years, we beat an Auburn, we beat Georgia, we beat Oklahoma. Now it's every week. One thing West Virginia has always done is recruit well and nationally. That's what helped them get into the Big 12. Kids know that West Virginia is a good football program so they'll continue to recruit well even if there is a little change geographically."
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:06:22 GMT -5
October 29, 2011
By Dave Hickman The Charleston Gazette
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - There's no guarantee that it won't happen back in Morgantown - in fact, it's a given that eventually it will - but Saturday just might be the worst weather conditions West Virginia plays in on the road in quite a while.
There aren't, after all, a lot of snowstorms like this one in Texas and Oklahoma or even Kansas and Iowa.
Oh, sure, it happens every once in a while, but for the most part the Mountaineers' road trips in the Big 12 aren't going to be like this.
"This was as bad a conditions as I've ever played in or coached in my whole career,'' said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who spent the last decade in the same Southwest region where the Big 12 is based. "The first half especially [was bad] because the field was covered in snow and ice. We had a hard time holding onto the ball. It's not great conditions to throw the ball.''
The snow began falling in the area here in the morning and never stopped. By game time the temperature was 33 degrees and dropping, and for two hours prior to the game plows went up and down the field removing snow. That continued during timeouts in the first half - which were extended for just that reason - but it was pretty much limited to clearing the sidelines and the hash marks. The rest of the field was covered in thick, heavy snow and slush.
"For [defensive backs] who have to back-pedal, it was tough getting your footing,'' said free safety Eain Smith. "The second half they did a better job of clearing the field, but I still changed cleats at halftime.''
As did many other Mountaineers, shifting to a longer cleat for more traction. The field was cleared at halftime and, while the snow never let up, it didn't seem to stick as much. At least the yard lines were visible.
The wind was also a factor. It died down some in the second half, but the first half was brutal. West Virginia was against the wind in the first quarter, got stuck in its own territory and gave Rutgers the ball twice inside the WVU 30 because of it on a short punt and a fumble.
"We had a hard time getting out of that field position,'' Holgorsen said. "But we did the same thing to them to start the second half and it really helped our defense.''
Najee Goode, who is from Cleveland, couldn't help but laugh at some of his own teammates, especially freshman running back Dustin Garrison, who grew up in New Orleans and Houston.
"Garrison kept saying the Bowling Green game was the coldest game he'd ever played in,'' Goode said. "Well, welcome to real cold.''
Briefly
Julian Miller hadn't recovered a fumble in almost three years. On Saturday he recovered two, both by Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova. But he also had to fight for both under a pile of players.
"I can honestly say I've got some aches and pains now,'' Miller said. "They aren't from the whole game, but from the bottom of those piles.''
Doug Rigg played for the first time since breaking a bone in his wrist against LSU, but his replacement stayed in, too. Jewone Snow stayed at middle linebacker while Goode and Rigg played the outside spots. That left Casey Vance as the odd man out.
The 80-yard run Tavon Austin made for a touchdown on a reverse wasn't a play called because of the weather but was actually one of the things Holgorsen thought would work against Rutgers no matter the conditions.
"On our script it was actually the first play of the game,'' Holgorsen said of a play where the play action goes to the side where Austin is in the slot and he comes back against the grain to take a handoff. "We couldn't run it the first play, though, because we were on the wrong hash.''
Geno Smith's go-ahead 1-yard run was the first rushing touchdown of his career. It came on a designed pass play that wasn't open.
"It's never been an option,'' Smith said. "But sometimes you just have to make a play.''
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:02:40 GMT -5
October 29, 2011
By Frank Giardina The Charleston Gazette
THIS WEEKEND, our state is saying farewell to a broadcasting icon, Woody O'Hara, who died Wednesday at age 70.
Woody will always be remembered as the longtime broadcast partner for legendary WVU radio play-by-play voice Jack Fleming. In fact, the well-known three-man crew for MSN radio of Jack, Woody and engineer John McKinney are all now gone. It is the end of a tremendous era in sports play-by-play in West Virginia.
When Woody and Jack were calling the games, it was a different time from today. You didn't see all of the Mountaineer games on television as you do today. You might see two or three football and six to eight basketball telecasts a season. Everything else you got from the radio listening to Woody and Jack. They were all you had for eyes and ears. The rest was up to your imagination.
I never worked regularly with Woody, although we did do the telecast of the 1980 Marshall-WVU basketball game together. But everyone has a Woody O'Hara story, and I have mine.
As a young broadcaster, I did the radio play-by-play for West Virginia State basketball in 1974, when the head coach was a young Curt Price and his assistant was Rance Berry. Among the local players were former Charleston High stars Charles "Dickie" Russell, Dennis Harris and Jimmy Smith, former Northfork star David McDaniel and former East Bank standout Ron Calloway.
One Saturday night, after a game in December, I was driving from Institute to Huntington on Interstate 64. As it so happens there was a wreck that night, and I-64 West quickly became a parking lot.
The WVU basketball team was playing a late Saturday night game out in Salt Lake City, the championship game of the Utah Classic. Woody called the play-by-play that night as Jack wasn't there, probably because of a Steelers conflict the next day.
We sat on the interstate for so long that people began to slowly get out of their cars. Many of us were listening to the WVU game on the radio, and we took turns turning on our car radios so that we could save our batteries. There we sat on the clogged interstate on a chilly December night and listened to Woody call the game.
It was an interstate version of a sports bar today. It was almost like being in the arena as the listeners reacted to every missed and made shot.
The Mountaineers lost that night as Utah star Luther "Ticky" Burden had a big game. He was named MVP of the tournament. Woody said his name so often that for years later, whenever I ran into Woody while I was working at Penn State, I thought of Ticky Burden.
It took a long while to clear the interstate and get traffic moving. What would have normally been a miserable, frustrating delay actually wasn't that bad as we talked on the road and listened to Woody call the game on the radio.
I never told Woody of that story, but now I wish I had. I think he would have appreciated it.
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Post by elp525 on Oct 30, 2011 9:00:00 GMT -5
October 29, 2011
Mountaineers overcome slow start at Rutgers
By Dave Hickman The Charleston Gazette
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - For the longest time Saturday afternoon, West Virginia looked a lot like it did a week ago against Syracuse. And that, of course, was not good.
Keep in mind, though, the opponent on this day was Rutgers, and the Mountaineers always figure out a way to beat Rutgers.
This time it was by doing a defensive about-face in the second half and then getting enough offense to make a difference. The result was a 41-31 win in awful snow and cold and wind at RU's High Point Solutions Stadium, WVU's 17th straight over the Scarlet Knights.
The win was a much-needed one for the No. 25 Mountaineers (6-2, 2-1 Big East), who for a while looked in danger of a repeat of last week's 49-23 embarrassment at Syracuse. The Mountaineer defense gave up 31 first-half points and trailed 31-21.
But that defense did a 180-degree turn in the second half, shutting down Rutgers (5-3, 2-2) and shutting the Knights out. WVU scored a touchdown early in the second half to get close, then two in the final seven minutes of the game to put it away.
Rutgers gained just 165 yards in the second half in front of what was left of a crowd of 47,303 that wasn't driven home by the weather.
Adjustments? Well, yes, there were a few of those. Linebacker Najee Goode said the Mountaineers tweaked their run defense a bit, and RU did gain just 45 rushing yards in the second half after getting 101 in the first.
But more than anything it was effort, the same thing coach Dana Holgorsen has talked about since last weekend's debacle at the Carrier Dome. That and overcoming adversity.
"We've been talking about adversity all week. Adversity happens in every game you play. We got challenged,'' a soaked Holgorsen said after a game that lasted nearly four hours in constant snow showers. "I was proud of how we went out on all three sides of the ball [after halftime]. We played harder than they did.
"Not to take anything away from Rutgers because their effort was tremendous and we knew it would be, but we felt like we went out and outplayed them in the second half.''
West Virginia actually wasn't outplayed that badly in the first. Rutgers took advantage of a strong wind, field position and some breaks because of the wet and cold in the first quarter, scoring a field goal after a 26-yard punt out of the end zone into the wind and a touchdown after West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith simply dropped the ball deep in his own end of the field and Rutgers recovered at the 11.
Even the TD, a 14-yard pass from freshman Gary Nova to Mohamed Sanu on third-and-13, would have been reduced to a field goal try had Sanu not run through a tackle by Keith Tandy just beyond the line of scrimmage.
But Rutgers did score three other times in the half - once on a 45-yard pass to Mark Harrison behind Tandy, another after cornerback Pat Miller was twice called for pass interference and a third on the only real scoring drive of the day. That 74-yard, 11-play march was capped by Jawan Jamison's 18-yard run on a fourth-and-1 play to make it 31-21.
But after that, nothing. The Knights had a chance to kick a field goal early in the fourth quarter while up 31-28, but they faked it and tried a pass into the end zone that Darwin Cook broke up. West Virginia then drove 78 yards in 11 plays and took the lead for good on Smith's improvised 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal with 6:18 to play.
"That was good,'' Holgorsen said of Cook's crucial breakup in the end zone on that fake field goal. "I think it gave our guys a little bit of life.''
West Virginia's offense actually had little spurts of life all day. It was just difficult to tell when they might come.
Smith completed 20-of-31 passes for just 219 yards in the snow, but the Mountaineers got plenty of big plays. Shawne Alston, using his size and speed on the slick turf, gained 110 yards and scored twice, while Tavon Austin scored on and 80-yard run and a 20-yard screen pass. Stedman Bailey again did his part with a spectacular end zone catch for a score. But that came early in the third quarter to make it 31-28 and it would be more than halfway through the fourth before the Mountaineers were able to strike again.
They finally put it away a few plays after Smith's touchdown when Nova did exactly what Smith had done earlier in the game and dropped the ball in the pocket without being touched. It was Miller's second fumble recovery of the game. West Virginia also got two interceptions from Brodrick Jenkins, who started in place of Pat Miller but was quickly replaced. Jenkins made both his thefts as a nickel back and WVU won the turnover battle 4-1 against a Rutgers team that was fifth in the country in turnover margin.
The bottom line, though, was that West Virginia's defense did that about face. By halftime it had given up 80 points in the previous six quarters and was beginning to look like it couldn't stop anyone. And then all of a sudden it once again seemed like the same group that just two weeks ago was ranked No. 16 in the country in total yards.
"I think we responded better than we did last week,'' Smith said, talking about everyone and not just the offense. "We grew up a lot today.''
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Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:52:11 GMT -5
Everyone in Morgantown is glowing from the news of the Big 12 signing!
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Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:48:37 GMT -5
I'm Mr. Leaf Man! Better give me some CANDY!!
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Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:41:44 GMT -5
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Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:17:21 GMT -5
10/28/2011
Garrett Cullen MetroNews Sports
No. 25 West Virginia (5-2, 1-1) will try to rebound from a 26-point loss to Syracuse with another road contest on Saturday against Rutgers (5-2, 2-1 Big East).
The Mountaineers were left stunned a week ago after Syracuse came out strong from the start and didn’t let up, pounding a less-energetic Mountaineer team 49-23.
“They played a little bit harder than us,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “They outcoached us, they outplayed us and it happened on all three sides of the ball. That’s a huge disappointment.”
Rutgers, meanwhile, is coming off of a disappointing loss as well – following a 5-1 start, the Scarlet Knights fell to a Louisville team that had lost three straight, 16-14. The other loss on the year for Rutgers came back on September 10th – a 24-22 loss to North Carolina on the road.
Overall on the year, the Scarlet Knights have been led by their defense, coming in at 9th in the country in scoring defense giving up just 16 points per contest. A lot of that defensive success has come from creating turnovers – Rutgers leads the country having forced 25 turnovers on the year (15 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries). West Virginia, on the other hand, has forced nine turnovers all season.
“There’s a reason they lead the nation,” Holgorsen said. “That’s not always being in the right place at the right time, but it’s also attacking the football. They’ve got good team speed on defense, and they attack the ball. They make plays on the ball whether it’s in the dude’s hands or if it’s in the air. They do a good job of attacking the football.”
Offensively, however, the numbers aren’t quite as glamorous for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers comes into Saturday ranked 66th in scoring, 99th in total offense, 53rd in passing and 112th in rushing. The team has also endured a quarterback change midseason as well – freshman Gary Nova has stepped in and started three straight games, taking over for sophomore Chas Dodd.
However, in the last two games, Nova has thrown for a combined five interceptions.
“I'm sure he's mad, like most of us,” said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. “But you can't do anything about that one. You've got to go to this one.”
Nova’s leading target to throw the football to is junior Mohamed Sanu who has 65 catches on the year for 683 yards and six touchdowns. He leads the Big East in receptions and is second in yards per contest.
“He moves around a bunch,” Holgorsen said of Sanu. “He’ll play inside and outside. Our scheme is to have the corners/cover guys outside. If we load up the box, we’ll put them in one-on-one situations. When those guys release, then you’ve got to have stuff in the middle and identify what routes they’re running and go cover them. We didn’t do a good job with that last week.”
Another thing West Virginia struggled with last week was with the defensive pressure and blitzing brought on by Syracuse. It’s something Holgorsen expects to see again this week as well.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams that handle blitzes better, and you make them pay for it. That’s our goal offensively. We want them to blitz because that means that there’s less space behind them at the line of scrimmage,” Holgorsen said. “If we identify it and do a good job of handling it, we could have easily scored more than 49 points.
“We sat in here as an offense and we went through every play and we said here’s how you attack it. If a few guys would have done that, then we could have easily scored more than 49 points and won the game, but we didn’t do that. We need to be able to handle it better.”
Motivation for Saturday should certainly be improved – if nothing else, last week’s loss to Syracuse served as a bit of a wake up call.
“We need seniors and upperclassmen to step up and take control of this team when things get tough,” Holgorsen said. “The routine of the week is going to be the same. The difference is, when we line up and get hit in the mouth, what are we going to do? Last week, we didn’t do anything. This week, we need guys to step up and be the ones that are going to hit people back in the mouth. That’s called football.”
Looking at the series overall between the two teams, it’s one the Mountaineers have simply dominated. West Virginia has overall won 16 in a row and leads the series 32-4-2. Schiano, meanwhile, is 0-10 against the Mountaineers.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 P.M.
“It’s going to be a challenge to go up there. It’s going to be much like Syracuse,” Holgorsen said. “They’re going to be fired up about playing at home, and they’re going to be fired up about playing the Mountaineers. We’re going to get their best shot. If we want to win a championship this year, then we’ve got to be able to handle that. We didn’t handle it last week, and we need to be able to handle it this week.”
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Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:15:39 GMT -5
10/29/2011
Chip Fontanazza Morgantown
The Mountaineers have a total of seven freshmen on this year’s basketball squad and playing in the Big East is one of the many reasons they decided to come to West Virginia.
Now, those players will spend only one year in the toughest conference in America. Before the official announcement was made that WVU is heading to the Big 12 Conference next school year, many of the Mountaineer freshmen talked about the possibility of leaving the Big East.
And many of them are going to miss playing in the powerful 16 team conference.
“The Big East appealed to me because it is the best conference in basketball, but if we move I haven’t really had enough time to think about that yet,” said forward Kevin Noreen. “I know if we go to the Big 12 it would still be great basketball.”
“I would want it to stay the same because that’s why I came to play in the Big East and play in the basketball conference,” said freshman and Texas native Keaton Miles. “But being down near home is a win-win, but I’m still in favor of the Big East staying the same.”
Miles is more familiar with the Big 12 Conference than any other player on the team. He grew up watching schools like Texas, Baylor and many of the other top schools in the conference. Miles was even recruited by Big 12 standouts Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
West Virginia was the only Big East offer he had. Miles says one of the down sides to playing basketball in the Big 12 is that it isn’t as popular as basketball in the Big East.
“Football is mostly dominated in the Big 12 and I’ve always been in the Big 12. I live in Dallas and I’ve been recruited by a lot of Big 12 schools,” said Miles. “I know the difference between a basketball conference and the Big 12 is a football conference.”
“My family would be able to come see me more,” continued Miles. “As far as the competition and the basketball sense you get from Big East basketball is different than Big 12 basketball.”
Freshman point guard Jabarie Hinds is another one of the talented freshmen on this year’s basketball team. He went to Mount Vernon High School, which is near New York City. He says he’s a little disappointed his family won’t be able to see him play as much, but the important things is for the Mountaineers to play well.
“We just have to stay [together] as one team and play no matter what conference we’re in,” said Hinds. “At least I can say I’ll get a chance to play in the Big East this year.”
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