MOUNTAINERS FAIL TO SLOW MCCOY IN LOSS

By Matt whitfield

"We felt confident throughout, stopping the run, but LeSean McCoy is a very talented back. We stopped him a couple times but he just kept coming and managed to break a couple. Every time you have a missed assignment, he makes you pay," said LB Pat Lazear.

That’s what it came down to this past Friday in the 101st edition of the Backyard Brawl. LeSean McCoy the Sophmore star Pitt RB rushed for 183 yards and 2 TD’s in the come from behind win against the Mountaineers.

Despite, the massive amount of yards accumulated by Mccoy, the game lived up to it’s nickname. In a game full of interceptions and great defensive play there were three lead changes with WVU falling behind, then storming back, but then only to relinquish the lead late in the 4th quarter. Pat White and Pat McAfee lead the day for the Mountaineers being responsible for the teams 15 points, in the 19-15 loss. McAfee kicked 3 field goals and Pat White ran for a TD and amassed 236 total yards in the loss. White had a chance to give the Mountaineers the go ahead TD late in the 4th quarter with the ball at the Pitt 18, on a 4th and 1, however White’s incomplete pass ended the Mountaineers hopes for victory.

The Mountaineers host South Florida this Saturday in a game that is being dubbed the White Out. With the win Saturday the Mountaineers will likely be slotted a trip to the Meineke Car Bowl in Charlotte. South Florida has had West Virginia’s number in the past two games however. It should be interesting to see how the Mountaineers respond after the loss in what will be Pat White’s final home game as a Mountaineer.

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IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGIAN

By Matt Whitfield

Ask anyone what they think of when they think of late November, most will tell you Thanksgiving. Ask any current or former WVU or PITT student and there first response might not be Thanksgiving, but the Backyard Brawl. This Friday the Mountaineers take on the Panthers in what will be the 101st meeting of the Backyard Brawl. The brawl is the 14th oldest series in college football, in which the Panthers hold the all time series lead 60-37-3. This years game is extra significant for the Mountaineers as there looking to avenge a 13-9 defeat in last years game; a defeat which kept them out of the national title game.

Between last year and now, coming into the brawl, there has been a vast change of outlook. Last year Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was thought to be fighting for his job as many people had written off the Panthers and already penciled the Mountaineers in the National Championship game. West Virginia unexpectedly lost last years game, and then later much of their coaching staff as Rich Rodriguez and co departed to Ann Arbor. This year many Mountaineer fans will tell you there teams having a let down year, after holding a 7-3 record, and a 3-1 conference record. West Virginia was picked to finish 1st in the Big East, and was picked by many to be in what would be there 4th consecutive BCS Bowl game. That seems unlikely now. Pitt however is right on par with the preseason Polls and is seeing a resurgence in their football program thanks to standout RB Lesean Mccoy.


West Virginia and Pitt run vastly different offenses. The Mountaineers rely heavily on athletes to make plays on the field and in the air while the Panthers rely primarily on their NFL Lottery bound RB Lesean Mccoy. This year Mccoy has almost as many TD’s (18) as the rest of the team. If Pittsburgh is to win tomorrow they’ll need a big game from Mccoy. In fewer than two seasons Mccoy already has twelve 100 yard rushing games, and a 148 yard game in last years Backyard Brawl. West Virginia however ranks 18th in turnover margin, and has vastly improved on the defensive front from the beginning of this season to now. West Virginia is also just allowing 320.4 yards a game, and many Mountaineers vividly remember what Mccoy did last year so expect to see a bullseye on him.

West Virginia is led by a three headed monster of Pat White, Noel Devine, and Jock Sanders. Any of three is capable of scoring in an instant with sub 4.4 speed. However, last year the Panthers held the three to no TD’s and 106 yards of offense combined. If West Virginia is to win they better hope last year was an aberration. This year the three have accounted for 36 TD’s and 3,796 yards of offense. If the Mountainers are to win Friday the trio also need to stay relatively free of the clutches of senior LB Scott Mckillop. The semifinalist of the Bednarik/Lott award leads the nation in solo stops (7.2), is 10th in total tackles (10.6), and is 16th in TFLs (1.45). In last years brawl Mckillop also lead the Panthers with 9 TFL.

Kickoff Friday is slated for Noon at Heinz Field. The Mountaineers have won four out of the last six Backyard Brawls, however there were coached by Rich Rodriguez in each of the six previous games. If current West Virginia coach Bill Stewart loses this game look for the rabid Mountaineer fans to again call for his firing.

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THE GREAT WHITE

By Matt Whitfield

“Dude is unbelievable. I mean, he can do it all. He's fast, he's stronger than he looks and he can throw it. Yeah, I love watching him -- as long as he's not doing it to us.” “He's probably the fastest guy on the field at any time. And he's the quarterback." "We'll need the whole FBI for Pat White."

With quotes like this coming from opposing coaches and players it seems Pat White’s talent isn’t just respected and admired by the Mountaineers and their fans but by perhaps anyone who ever stepped foot on the football field.

Football is a brutal game where respect is earned and talent is lauded. As a freshman Pat White burst onto the scene leading West Virginia to a come from behind win versus Louisville. This past Saturday White played Louisville for the last time and this time the victorious Mountaineers didn’t need a 4th Quarter comeback. In the win White did however shatter two milestones and spark a college football debate about who’s the best QB in the Big East EVER.

This past Saturday Pat White didn’t just run for 200 yards and three TD’s and pass for 122 yards and 2 TD's. He did something more. White broke former Iowa Hawkeye Brad Smith’s NCAA all-time QB rushing record of 4,289 yards. White eclipsed the mark in the 4th quarter and now has 4,292 career yards.

White also took another record away from a famous Syracuse alum. Donovan McNabb held the record for TD’s in the Big East with 96. With five TD’s Saturday White didn’t just tie the record he made it his own now holding the record with 98 TD’s.

White has three more games to pay including a likely bowl game. Breaking more records is always a possibility for White. But according to Coach Bill Stewart this much is certain, “If we don’t admire what number five has done I just don’t know how people can go through life. It’s a tremendous honor for him, for his offensive line and for his coaching staff."

White and the Mountaineers seem to be returning to the team of old. They return to the field this Friday to take on Pittsburgh in the 101st edition of the Backyard Brawl. Look for tensions to be high and play to be fierce as West Virginia looks to avenge it's crushing defeat to the Panthers last year.

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IT'S MAKE OR BREAK TIME

By Matt Whitfied


“We’re far from being out of it. As long as we only worry about ourselves and take care of us, then we’ll be perfectly fine,” said Dorrell Jalloh.

If Jalloh and the rest of the Mountaineers think and play that way they could be headed back to another BCS Bowl game once the NCAA Bowl Games roll around this holiday season. However, despite what the Mountaineers say, the stakes are high this weekend as the Mountaineers visit Louisville to partake in what some might call a make or break game.

West Virginia has won five of its last six, meanwhile Louisville has lost three straight. West Virginia (6-3) is trying to define its season, while Louisville (5-5) is just trying to finish with a winning record. West Virginia is bowl eligible and could see a repeat of last season, while many Louisville players will likely be sitting at home, possibly hung-over during the holidays.

Despite their records, recent history tells us to expect a close game Saturday as the margin of victory has been no more than 10 points by either side since the two teams began squaring off yearly in 2005. Current NCAA Football Odds list WVU as a 7.5-point favorite in this one.

The Cardinals are led by Senior QB Hunter Cantwell who is considered an NFL prospect. Cantwell leads the team in TD’s with 14, however he has also thrown for 12 INT’s. Cantwell has a fairly balanced rushing and receiving corps with Victor Anderson and Brock Bolen leading the way through the defenders, and Doug Beaumeunt and Josh Chichester leading the way in the air. The four have combined for 2,197 yards and half the team’s touchdowns; other than those by Cantwell. If Louisville is to win Saturday they’ll need Cantwell to not be INT prone and West Virginia’s 15th ranked pass efficiency defense and 20th ranked total defense to play down.

West Virginia is led by it’s Senior QB Pat White. He leads the league with a 140.7 passer rating, and has thrown for a conference high 15 TD’s. When rushing White ranks sixth in the Big East in averaging 73.2 yards per game. When White doesn’t run the ball, he most often gets it to one of two Sophomore sloatbacks Noel Devine or Jock Sanders. The two have accounted for 1,591 yards of total yards and 11 TD’s this season. If Louisville is to win, they’ll need their 39th ranked total defense to be clicking on all cylinders Saturday. West Virginia is vulnerable to good defense, however, it also has shown that with the weapons they have they can erupt instantaneously.

The last time West Virginia was in Louisville they lost a gut wrenching shotout to the Cardinals. Steve Slaton and Brian Brohm are gone but pride is on the line for both teams. West Virginia wants to show people they can be as good as the preseason polls said while Louisville just wants to finish with a winning record. Expect a high scoring game as the last three times the two have played they have combined to average 68 points a game.

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DOWN, BUT BCS HOPES AREN’T COMPLETLY OUT

By Matt Whitfield

Cincinnati is vying for its first Big East Championship and BCS bowl birth. This is not a misstatement. At the beginning of the season Cincinnati was thought just to be another mediocre team picked 5th in Big East preseason polls. After a victory tonight over Louisville, the Bearcats are two wins away from winning the Championship and proving the doubters wrong. Mountaineer fans all is not lost however you still have some hope.

Last Saturday the Mountaineers valiant come back try fell short. The Mountaineers scored 13 points, including a 52 yard field goal with less than two minutes left in regulation to force OT. In OT the Mountaineers would get the ball first and settle for a 27 yard field goal from Pat Mcafee. The Bearcats would then get the ball and Tony Pike would hit Kazeem Alli for a two yard TD pass and the game winning touchdown.

The loss puts the Mountaineers in 2nd place in the Big East Standings, tied with Pittsburgh for 3-1 in conference play. Cincinnati who is now 4-1 controls their own destiny. If Cincinnati defeats Pittsburgh next week the Mountaineers would have to win out, and have Cincinnati lose to Syracuse to become the Big East Champion. A Cincinnati loss and a Mountaineer victory over Louisville would mean the Mountaineers control their destiny and thus set the stage for another pivotal Back Yard Brawl.

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BOB HUGGINS ADDING PEPPER TO THE MIX

by Matt Whitfield


'You’ve got to be crazy this kids not in high school!'

That’s what you think when you first take a look at Dalton Pepper. For only a high school senior Pepper is a physical specimen. Pepper is only 18 years old but already is 6-5 and a chiseled 215 pounds.

Pepper is a Rivals three star Small Forward out of Pennsbury, Pa. He gave a solid verbal to West Virginia this past July and just recently signed his letter of intent this week. When asked why he choose the Mountaineers over four other programs Pepper said “I enjoyed the visit when I went down there; I liked the players [and] the coaching staff and it wasn’t too far from home.”

Next fall Pepper will get to know and work with one of the greats of college basketball as he will be coached by Bob Huggins who is known for being tough and physical-just like Pepper.

Bob Huggins isn’t your traditional coach, from throwing chairs to wearing gold suits, Huggins is one of the characters of college basketball. With Huggins you mess up in practice and you pay. In the gymnasium where the Mountaineers practice is a treadmill stationed so that if you mess up you have to sprint for at least 45 seconds at 15 mph! Huggins isn’t a coach for the faint of heart but he is the ideal coach for Pepper. “I liked how he makes all of his players better, makes them work hard, and has good teams all around,” said Pepper.

Pepper has the chance to play for a very good West Virginia team in a year that has college basketball odds in their favor to make some noise in the Big East and nationally. Da’Sean Butler, Joe Mazzulla, and Wellington Smith players that played an integral role in taking West Virginia to the Sweet 16 last year will be in their final year in 2010. In addition Devin Ebanks, should he not declare for the NBA Draft, will be in his sophomore season. This is something Pepper has thought about however he knows there is a good chance Ebanks could declare after this season.


Coming from the suburbs of Philadelphia there will be an adjustment, but Pepper feels that Morgantown, although small, is full of nice people. If Pepper is as talented and tough as he is now in a year, folks in Morgantown will love him like he is one of their own, just like Huggins.

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THE MIRAMAR AIR EXPRESS IS HEADED TO MORGANTOWN

By Matt Whitfield


A month after losing highly touted four star QB recruit Taj Boyd, West Virginia has come up with another highly touted four star QB. Eugene Smith, rated the 5th best Quarterback in the class of 2009 by Rivals, has committed to West Virginia. Smith, of Miramar, Florida spent this past weekend in West Virginia and attended the Cincinnati game. Smith told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that, "Being up there and watching those guys play, I really felt in my heart this was the place I needed to be. The coaches are very classy guys and I could see they were passionate about the program."

Attending the game with Smith was his teammate and three star WR recruit Stedmann Bailey. Bailey, the other half of the Miramar Air Express was also impressed with the Mountaineers coaching staff and offered a verbal commitment to the Mountaineers Monday.

West Virginia now has 2 four star recruits, and 13 three star recruits. The pickup of Smith would fill a huge void at the QB position. The Mountaineers will see Pat White graduate this season, see White’s more than capable backup Jarret Brown graduate next, and will be left with a QB battle in 2010. Freshman Bradley Starks a four star recruit is currently listed third on the depth chart according to Rivals. White’s brother and freshman three star recruit Coley will also be vying for playing time. One of these three will be the starter in 2010. Just which one is anyone’s guess. The only thing that is certain is that in college football, job competition is a good thing.

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BIG EAST TOP TWO-GUARDS 2008-2009: 9) ALEX RUOFF

November 11, 2008



Maybe the best pure shooter of all the two-guards we have profiled resides in West Virginia as senior Alex Ruoff is on target to become the Mountaineer's all-time leader in made three-point baskets this season. The 6-foot-6 senior out of Spring Hill (FL) has a shot as pure as anyone's in the college game.

As a junior, Ruoff averaged nearly 14 points a game in his first season playing for Bob Huggins. Ruoff connected 98 times from beyond the arc in 239 attempts, good for 41% accuracy. These numbers were up pretty significantly from the previous season under John Beilein where Ruoff averaged 10 points a game and was 69-205(34%) from the arc.

With Joe Alexander leaving WVU for the NBA, Ruoff will be asked to do a little more scoring in a variety of ways. He will try to use his size against smaller defenders and take them into the paint to become more than just the designated spot-up shooter that his reputation has become.

With a new point guard (Joe Mazzulla) taking over, Ruoff is now the leader of the backcourt and some of his duties may also increase in the area of ballhandling as well. Ruoff is more than capable contributing in these areas, it is just going to be a little new for him.

The three-point shot will remain his biggest strength and having a player that can connect from long distance at the rate that Ruoff can will definitely help the college basketball odds of the Mountaineers staying in the mix for the NCAA Tournament this season.

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BIG EAST FOOTBALL PREVIEW: GAME #9 WEST VIRGINIA

November 7, 2008


Don't look now, but West Virginia has taken their normal position atop the Big East standings with a 3-0 conference record as we head down the home stretch. After a rough start to the Bill Stewart era, the Mountaineers have won five in a row, but what is more important, they have begin to rev up their offense of late, scoring a 34-17 win over Auburn back on October 23rd and following that up with a 35-13 win at UConn last week.

The key? Pat White returning to health and being in sync with coach Stewart's offense. White threw for 175 yards and three touchdowns against Auburn and he ran for 109 and scored twice on the ground against UConn. With White back as a dual threat, it opens the lanes for Noel Devine, and he shredded Auburn for over 200 yards in that win that seemed to re-energize WVU.

Quitely, Cincinnati remains in the Big East title race and their 24-10 win over South Florida last week re-inforced that notion. With four quarterbacks shuffling in and out of the line-up because of injuries, it looks like Tony Pike has grabbed ahold of the position and his effecient outing against USF (20-28-282-2-1) is a great building block. Facing the Mountaineers in Morgantown on a Saturday night will be a whole new set of challenges, though, for the senior QB that was not even listed in the three-deep depth chart not long ago.

The latest Latest NCAA College Football Odds list the Mountaineers as 7-point favorites. With a team that seems to be coming together, especially offensively, at home in a tough place to play, I think they take care of that number and make another statement that the Big East title needs to be taken from WVU first.

Prediction:

West Virginia 33
Cincinnati 19

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2ND HALF DEFENSE PROPELS MOUNTAINEERS TO 5TH STRAIGHT WIN

By Matt Whitfield

Coming into this season West Virginia had traditionally been known for one thing - it’s offense. That may be starting to shift though as in the past two games West Virginia has held it’s past opponents scoreless in the 2nd half; yes a then #25 ranked Connecticut team with the nations 2nd leading rusher and a well respected Auburn team scoreless without any points in the 2nd half.

Heralded RB Donald Brown looked like he was going to have another stellar day going into halftime with 77 yards. In the 2nd half he only rushed for 5 yards.

West Virginia allowed the Huskies to obtain a 10-0 lead early on, then its defense kicked in forcing five turnovers and leading to four scores en route to a 35-13 victory in East Hartford.

Pat White accounted for 230 yards off offense and ran for 2 TD’s. Jock Sanders also accounted for 3 TD’s and 66 yards of offense in this come from behind win.

West Virginia looks to continue in five game unbeaten streak when they return home to take on Cincinnati this Saturday at 8 P.M. Cincinnati is coming off an upset victory over then #23 ranked South Florida and looking for revenge after losing a close 28-23 game to Mountaineers last year.

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