You’ll remember the confounding way the WVU-Cincinnati game ended last season. If you look at the box score, you’d say Noel Devine had an OK evening … and you’d probably have to wonder why the key carries went to Jock Sanders.

Well, Noel was nicked and an ankle tugged him to the sideline. Enter Sanders, which not only meant a slight slip at the running back positon, but a deeper dip at receiver. And so it was on third-and-9 at the Cincinnati 26, the Mountaineers chose  not to pass to a group down one receiver and instead said they’d hand to a backup running back. One-yard gain, incomplete pass on fourth down and you know how the rest of the story goes.

Chris Beatty remembers and he’s pretty sure and very hopeful it won’t happen again.

“We’d have to sit back and reevaluate what we do to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to win,” Beatty said. “With that said, I also don’t want to be in a series where we switch personnel where we have to move Jock to a spot and now you have to move Tavon to a spot – where one guy causes multiple changes. I’d like to get away from there and get to where Jock stays in his position.

“I feel really good about Shawne Alston. I feel really good about Daquan Hargrett. Those guys deserve to play. With Noel back there, there’s not a lot of touches, but they deserve to get touches and they deserve an opportunity to show what they can do in a game setting.”

Oh, and if it’s a short-yardage situation, the Mountaineers might be pretty good at it, what with Ryan Clarke and scholarshipped/grateful Matt Lindamood.

“It was good; I was really excited,” Lindamood said of his meeting with Stewart when the coach made the grant-in-aid offer. “My dad, it took a whole lot off his back. He’s in a struggle with his job situation, not knowing if he’ll have it.

“I’m real thankful, real grateful for it. I couldn’t be happier … (The plant is) thinking about shutting down. If they shut down, he’s gone. This definitely takes a lot off, not having to worry about me. He doesn’t care if he loses his job, except for the fact that he can’t put me, put his children, through school any more.”