Hey, look at that play on words!

I was traveling yesterday and didn’t catch Bill Stewart’s conference call. I was, however, hipped to some details once I got to the airport in Pittsburgh. Among them:

– The status of Reed Williams
– The reason WVU punted from the USF 33
– Possible lineup changes and tweaks to the kicking game
– Not throwing Keith Tandy under the bus two days after saying Tandy wasn’t as good as his opponent
– Lousy officiating

Huh?

I saw this from the field, wasn’t sure what was happening, jotted it down and used it in my column.

The Mountaineers again had their number taken by the Bulls and when the game ended, Coach Bill Stewart stalked to midfield to await his opposite, South Florida’s Jim Leavitt, for the postgame handshake.

Problem was, 6 seconds remained in the game following a change of possession, a fact the officials relayed to Stewart, who dismissed it with a wave of the hand.

He’d seen enough.

It was certainly an illustration of the evening’s frustrations, I thought. I just wasn’t aware from where the frustrations apparently came. Turns out Stew wasn’t a fan of the officiating and a few calls in particular.

You can’t throw a pick when the score is 10-9, we get the ball down there at the 38-yard line after the safety, which I still don’t know if that was a safety or touchdown, I thought touchdown. But anyhow, when it’s judgment. I have no legal counsel to stand on. But anyhow, being what it was, 10-9 and then get the ball at the 38-yard line and throw pick, it just kills you.

I watched the replay this afternoon. It’s marginal, I suppose, though now I must wonder why Stewart didn’t challenge. As for the game-ending scene, there was an explanation there, too.

As for the officiating, Stewart made clear his displeasure at the end of the game when he waved his team from the field with 6 seconds left.

“I’ve been a gentleman,” Stewart said. “Do you want me to get on the officials and get reprimanded like in the SEC? I know how the game works. At that point, I was done. I was not going to watch any more of what I had to watch.”