The Story: When Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan in 2008, many felt that the Mountaineers would implode in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. The team was led by friendly interim coach Bill Stewart, but they were facing the mighty Sooners, led by All-World RB Adrian Peterson.
Well, we all know what happened. West Virginia hammered Oklahoma 48-28, propelling Stewart to the head job while shedding the interim label. Stewart has led his team to back-to-back 9-4 seasons and he has done so with two different quarterbacks. If he wants another 9-win season, he’ll need to do it with yet another new quarterback (more on that later).
The Big East is certainly up for grabs this year. Pittsburgh seems like the best team, but they have a coach in Dave Wannstedt who is not exactly known to win the big games. Cincinnati lost Brian Kelly to Notre Dame and South Florida will have a new coach in Skip Holtz as well. This Mountaineer team may be the best in the league.
The Glaring Stat: 24. The Mountaineer offensive line gave up 24 sacks last year, the most since 2001. For this team to make a push for a third BCS bowl in six years, that number must go down.
The Outlook: West Virginia brings back 16 starters, the most in the Big East (tied with Connecticut). While West Virginia has been known as an offensive juggernaut the past few years, this year’s team might be the best defensive team West Virginia has had in a long, long time.
The defense starts seven seniors (and three juniors) while losing only two starters from a year ago. The Mountaineers utilize the 3-3-5 look on defense, and this year they may have the best secondary depth in the Big East. Keith Tandy and Brandon Hogan have learned a lot from some rough early years. Gone are the days of learning on the job. The junior and senior have experience in the back, something WVU hasn’t had since 2005. Add Broderick Jenkins into the mix and West Virginia should have what it takes to deal with the passing teams in the Big East.
The front six consists of five seniors and a junior, so lack of maturity should not be an issue. Julian Miller is the name to watch. At 6-foot-4, 260 lbs., he should be the best player on a solid unit.
The offense is a bit murkier. Geno Smith takes over for Jarrett Brown at quarterback. The highly touted sophomore had written offers from Florida, Alabama, Miami, Florida State and Oregon, so you know he has talent. Noel Devine is still roaming the backfield, so the Mountaineers still have a home run hitter to force defenses to play it straight.
At wide receiver, look for freshman Ian McCartney to get some early looks. A very highly touted Florida product, he had several big time offers, making him the prize of the 2010 recruiting class. Starters Brad Starks and Tavon Austin are capable as well.
The offensive line returns four starters from a year ago. As discussed above, the unit was not very strong last year and there are hopes that another year together will translate to better continuity as a group.
The Schedule:
9-4-10 Coastal Carolina
9-10-10 @Marshall (Fri.)
9-18-10 Maryland
9-25-10 @LSU
10-9-10 UNLV
10-14-10 USF (Thurs.)
10-23-10 Syracuse
10-29-10 @Connecticut (Fri.)
11-13-10 Cincinnati
11-20-10 @Louisville
11-26-10 @Pittsburgh
12-4-10 Rutgers
The schedule is manageable for sure, but the second half is much stronger than the first. The game at LSU will be a huge test for this team. A win there and the sky is the limit. You have to think WVU doesn’t get out of Baton Rouge with a win. The real meat of the schedule begins with the Thursday night home game with South Florida. The Bulls will be well-coached and they have a talented quarterback. Road games at Connecticut and Pittsburgh will be tough and the home tilt with Cincinnati will be huge. I don’t think this team can win 10 games this year, but with the bowl game included, nine wins is not out of the question.
Prediction: 9-3
LSU, USF, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are all games in which West Virginia could fall. However, they have a solid defense this year and two players in the backfield that will scare teams. While I think 9-3 is the best that they can do, I think it is certainly a real possibility.
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Posted in NCAAF
I don’t particularly like WVU
Fun fact about Johnny: I actually grew up in the tiny sliver of West Virgina between Ohio and Pennsylvania (think north of Wheeling and west of Pittsburgh) Johnny(Quote)
So we think that the 3 WVU losses are LSU, Cuse and Pitt? cycledan(Quote)
UCONN LSU and Pitt Johnny(Quote)
UCF! knightro(Quote)
I could see this. LSU won’t be all that good, but at home they should win. Pitt will be the game that decides the conference, but Cincy has a good offense, so they could be tough too. 8-4 is probably more likely, but I could see WVU getting to 9-3. HuskerDawg(Quote)
Wow the Big East blows
thisevery year. knightwhosaysni(Quote)It does. They have some terrible teams and some decent teams (WVU/Pitt). That’s it. No team is close to elite status. HuskerDawg(Quote)
So what you’re saying to me is that USF is NOT the class of Florida? Johnny(Quote)
Everyone knows UCF is. knightwhosaysni(Quote)
Go Knights!!!! Johnny(Quote)
Well we all know college football is all about money. Many of the SEC teams can guarantee 80,000+ fans for 7 or 8 home games. Almost none of the BE teams can draw that number of fans. The NFL dominates in most markets in the Northeast over college football. What the northeast has is a higher density of population so a good local team might do well in the TV ratings but truthfully, not that many people are sitting home all day Saturday to watch college ball outside of their one team and that is only if that team is successful.
Also the Big East was hurt from the loss of Va Tech, BC and Miami. They are essentially a top flight basketball conference and 2nd tier football. cycledan(Quote)
WV crazies vs. LSU crazies on a Saturday night in Baton Rouge? The jails will be full that night. cabbage(Quote)
I sense sarcasm, but I’ll overlook it.
GO KNIGHTS! F*CK USF!!! knightro(Quote)