* Probably the best quote of the year came Friday and was authored, of course, by kicker Pat McAfee. It’d been a trying time for McAfee, who missed two field goals in the loss to Pitt and had his house and car vandalized and death threats posted on his Facebook page. Asked if that was over, he replied, “I think old Coach Rod took that target right off of my back and decided to put it on his. I really appreciate him for that. Everything’s calmed down.”

 * Turns out backup kicker Chris Glenn is quotable, too. He had a field goal blocked in a drill Friday and the loose ball was recovered by Nate Sowers, who is apparently a full-time safety now. Sowers raced up the sideline on the return and was leveled by running back Ed Collington. Glenn wasn’t far behind the play, and as he returned to the sideline and received encouragement after the block, he said, “I’m not upset about that. I wanted Nate. I had tunnel vision. I had him lined up and I was going to leave my feet.” Glenn and the rest of the reserve specialsts then left the field to go kick elsewhere, but Glenn paused. “Let me get some water. I actually ran today.”

* Food for thought provided by defensive end Johnny Dingle. “You ever seen Toy Story? You know Woody? I call Coach Stew Woody.”

 

* Genuine panic moment at Friday’s practice. All-Big EastAll-America left tackle Ryan Stanchek was nowhere to be found and tight end-turned right tackle Selvish Capers was playing Stanchek’s spot. Jake Figner, who Capers bumped to right guard, remained there and didn’t move back to his natural spot. That was filled by John Bradshaw, who once started at guard for WVU, but had been frankly forgotten in recent years. The media was told, however, that Stanchek had traveled with the team from the hotel to practice and was seen getting dressed out. We were assured he was around, somewhere, but before we could get a confirmation, we were asked to leave the field.

* Noel Devine was at practice. Flight was cancelled Wednesday and he couldn’t get to Arizona any earlier than Thursday evening. 

*Teams with interim coaches are 0-3 in bowl games this season: Navy lost to Utah, Southern Mississippi lost to Cincinnati and UCLA lost to BYU. Technically, WVU is the first Bowl Championship Series participant to have an interim coach. When Utah beat Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day 2005, Utes Coach Urban Meyer was off to Florida and Pitt Coach Walt Harris was  off to Stanford. Both coached in the game, though.