You didn’t have to be a member of the media covering Bill Stewart’s interim reign at the Fiesta Bowl to tell there was something dramatically different, though equally effective, when compared to his predecessor. Through that week, his “Aw shucks” demeanor and mastery of the message he wanted to send was unmistakable.

We wondered, though, what the pregame speech would be like and how his players would react because even now you have to admit Rich Rodriguez was a motivational maestro and WVU was going to need ample ammunition to beat Oklahoma.

Sometime tonight, Stewart will step into the locker room and face perhaps his biggest challenge in replacing his predecessor, Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez had a way with words right before the game and he’d deliver a message that motivated the Mountaineers beyond their comprehension.

“He was very fiery and brought a lot of passion,” defensive lineman Keilen Dykes said. “He’d get you going, get you ready to go out there and just dominate.”

Stewart is decidedly calmer and speaks with a sense of authority. No doubt that’s a result of his time spent as head coach at VMI from 1994-96 and as an assistant at Navy and Air Force. His players, enthralled by his interviews and speeches this week, are eager to see what he has planned this evening in his first pre-game speech in 11 years.

“Obviously, he has a military background and he talks to you that way as if you’re all ready to go out there and not actually go to war, but go into a game as if it was a battle against the opponent,” safety Ryan Mundy said. “I’m ready for it. His communication pattern is different, but it’s still very effective. He gets people going and everyone listens to him. Everyone respects who he is and what he has to say.”

Well, we obviously saw that Stewart knows a few things about inspiration and we know the result of his carefully chosen words. We now know what those words were and I can see the T-shirts next fall:

“Leave no doubt tonight.”
“They shouldn’t have played the old gold and blue.”
“Don’t leave your wingman.”