Post by elp525 on Oct 23, 2011 6:06:27 GMT -5
10/22/2011
Chip Fontanazza
Syracuse, New York
It was a game West Virginia was hoping to win out of revenge, but it did ended up being its worst loss of the season.
“Everyone is embarrassed,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel about losing to Syracuse. “The coaches are embarrassed. The kids are embarrassed. You were one national TV and Syracuse put it to us and hopefully we’ll be excited to play Rutgers.”
On Friday night, WVU lost to the Syracuse Orange for the second year in a row, 49-23. Now West Virginia looks to get back on track and keep its Big East Championship and BCS dreams alive.
West Virginia will have a chance to rebound on Saturday against Rutgers. Many of the Mountaineer upperclassmen know it is on them to help steer their team back in the right direction. It’s a challenge they’ve had to deal with before.
“I think it’s going to be on us seniors and upperclassmen to let these younger guys know that yeah we took a step back, but we’re definitely going to have to learn from this and be able to come out and execute,” explained senior defensive end Julian Miller after the loss to Syracuse.
“We know how this league works,” continued Miller. “You may lose one game, but you’re still always in the hunt for the Big East Championship.”
Last season, a couple conference losses cost WVU the outright Big East Championship and the automatic BCS bid. Junior quarterback Geno Smith feels this loss won’t cost the team either of those precious prizes, but he says the Big East is a lot tougher than what many people give it credit for.
“The Big East is a conference where every team is in the same area and that showed tonight,” said Smith. “That’s the way it was last year with the three-way tie and I think we’re a mature team and I think we know we’re going to have to do better than that. I definitely see us showing improvement in the future.”
Miller says the defense is going to have to improve after its collapse Friday night. This was the third time this season WVU has given up 30+ points in a game. Last season, the Mountaineers didn’t give up more than 23 points in a game.
The 49 points were the most the Mountaineers have given up since 1991 when then No. 8 Penn State defeated West Virginia 51-6, which makes this the most points a Jeff Casteel defense has given up at WVU. This was also the most points the Mountaineers have given up to an unranked team since 1978 when West Virginia lost to Colorado State 50-14.
“We’re going to have to learn from this,” said Miller. “I think that’s the big thing from this loss. This is something you don’t want to say. It was something that needed to happen for us to realize that we can’t think we can get through the rest of the season playing the way we’ve been playing, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”
Chip Fontanazza
Syracuse, New York
It was a game West Virginia was hoping to win out of revenge, but it did ended up being its worst loss of the season.
“Everyone is embarrassed,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel about losing to Syracuse. “The coaches are embarrassed. The kids are embarrassed. You were one national TV and Syracuse put it to us and hopefully we’ll be excited to play Rutgers.”
On Friday night, WVU lost to the Syracuse Orange for the second year in a row, 49-23. Now West Virginia looks to get back on track and keep its Big East Championship and BCS dreams alive.
West Virginia will have a chance to rebound on Saturday against Rutgers. Many of the Mountaineer upperclassmen know it is on them to help steer their team back in the right direction. It’s a challenge they’ve had to deal with before.
“I think it’s going to be on us seniors and upperclassmen to let these younger guys know that yeah we took a step back, but we’re definitely going to have to learn from this and be able to come out and execute,” explained senior defensive end Julian Miller after the loss to Syracuse.
“We know how this league works,” continued Miller. “You may lose one game, but you’re still always in the hunt for the Big East Championship.”
Last season, a couple conference losses cost WVU the outright Big East Championship and the automatic BCS bid. Junior quarterback Geno Smith feels this loss won’t cost the team either of those precious prizes, but he says the Big East is a lot tougher than what many people give it credit for.
“The Big East is a conference where every team is in the same area and that showed tonight,” said Smith. “That’s the way it was last year with the three-way tie and I think we’re a mature team and I think we know we’re going to have to do better than that. I definitely see us showing improvement in the future.”
Miller says the defense is going to have to improve after its collapse Friday night. This was the third time this season WVU has given up 30+ points in a game. Last season, the Mountaineers didn’t give up more than 23 points in a game.
The 49 points were the most the Mountaineers have given up since 1991 when then No. 8 Penn State defeated West Virginia 51-6, which makes this the most points a Jeff Casteel defense has given up at WVU. This was also the most points the Mountaineers have given up to an unranked team since 1978 when West Virginia lost to Colorado State 50-14.
“We’re going to have to learn from this,” said Miller. “I think that’s the big thing from this loss. This is something you don’t want to say. It was something that needed to happen for us to realize that we can’t think we can get through the rest of the season playing the way we’ve been playing, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”
