Cue the ESPN montage and music: “Welcome to Morgantown on a clear, crisp autumn night at Mountaineer Field. Auburn is 4-3 and has already fired its offensive coordinator, but there’s reason to believe things can start a new. Kodi Burns is the starting quarterbackfor the rest of the season and the defense remains as good as they come, now coordinated by Paul Rhoads, who engineered Pitt’s upset of WVU last year while working with the Panthers. Meanwhile, WVU is 4-2 and the goal is now a Big East title instead of a national title. At 2-0 in the Big East, hope remains, despite some concerns. The quarterbacks are dinged, the passing game wheezes and the offensive coordinator, Jeff Mullen, feels as if he’s walking the Green Mile. Things need to start anew tonight. It’s Auburn-West Virginia, it’s Rhoads-Mullen next on ESPN!”

Really, doesn’t the edge have to go to WVU Mullen because he can study last year’s Pitt game? Or does that just minimize Auburn’s edge? Or enhance it? Not sure what to think other than this is the make-or-break moment of the season.

Teams aren’t scared of defending WVU with loaded fronts and man coverage because it has yet to fight back with its Fiesta Bowl blueprint.

And here comes Rhoads with plans to relive the past.

“We’ve certainly watched last year’s film,” Stewart said. “I’d be a fibber if I said different.”

He’d be a fool, too. The Mountaineers can’t be thwarted again, not with 12 days to prepare, not with a keen anticipation of what’s to come, not with an idea of how to handle it.

It’s players. It’s plays. It’s time to give the players the right plays and for the players to make the plays work.

“If they load the box, I hope we can do it,” Stewart said. “I want guys to believe we’ll do everything we can to try to win. I hope we can pitch and catch the ball and fling it out there a bit. If we do get lucky and grab one, it’ll help us.”