Welcome to an open edition of the Friday Feedback. No fences, no security clad in yellow jackets. Just an 18-month-old puppy that doesn’t much like the dropping temperatures, but is oddly OK with wearing Halloween-themed clothing that keeps her warm.

(I have nothing to do with that.)

Interesting weekened at WVU. I heard a Drake concert last night — I didn’t attend, but it was near my house and I could hear everything — and the streets were overflowing with surprisingly scantily clad co-eds. Autumn took some time off this week. The weather will crest one last time for this football season Saturday. With a night game coming next week, figure tomorrow afternoon’s game will be the last fair-weather one the rest of the season.

I’m curious about the audience for this one. Students really don’t have an excuse and this is the sort of start time that attracts people from a distance. I’m just not sure the distance extends to Las Vegas and I wonder how many UNLV fans will be there. Some, for sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever met a UNLV fan. And I’m a people person!

WVU is still selling tickets and you know the students are going to bail at halftime. Could make for a weird and disinterested atmosphere. Rene Nadeau will be sure to monitor this. 

When the audience is in there, that’s when things could begin to be fun. The point spread is well-known and the last image people have of the Mountaineers is of them losing at LSU, which should have lost last week. In between, you’ve had an antsy Bill Stewart, who just wants to play, and a lot of “Where are things now?” analysis by fans and media alike. I sense everyone really wants this game to come, if for no other reason than to have something new to talk, brag and complain about for a while.  Someone’s walking away saying, “I told you so.”

Call me crazy, but this seems like some sort of a landmark. Satisfy the expectations, win with ease and with style, and everything’s cool.  Bonus points if Noel gets in and gets out early and others carry the ball into the end zone.

Win, but not with the ease or style, and there will be some negativity and criticism of all aspects, I’m sure, as the team moves forward into a short week against recent nemesis times two in Skip Holtz-coached USF. Odd stakes for Stewart & Co., but there’s something to the notion WVU must handle teams it’s expected to handle … much the same as there’s something to preserving a team with a game in five days.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, C.Y.A.

Josh24601 said:

The person is also an idiot simply for going to a football practice in which he — there can be no doubt* the person is a he — is not an active participant. Football practices are extraordinarily boring.

*NO DOUBT!

That’s my favorite part of this: People think Colin or other media are jealous because we’re not allowed in practice. Full disclosure: No one wants to cover practice.  

SkeikYbuti said:

This is a tempest in a teapot. I tagged along with a group of donors attending the final practice of fall camp, and I recall Stewart making a point of saying to the assemblage that the drills would be limited because “he didn’t know who was watching” (he was looking at you, Marco). I therefore assumed I could tell anyone about anything I had seen, and I did: (1) Brunetti looked good; (2) Johnson seemed very raw; (3) Devine appeared to be unstoppable; (4) Lindamood and Trey Johnson were surprisingly impressive; (5) our offense struggled when backed up against its own goal line; and (6) Ryan Clarke ran a LOT of steps. My impressions were confirmed when I read Mike’s report of the practice the following day, which is hardly surprising.

I therefore assume that Stewart (or one or more of his staff to whom such things are delegated) approved of and trusted the message board poster to allow him or her to attend a closed practice. Was that trust misplaced? Maybe, but we don’t know the conditions under which this person was permitted to attend.

Let’s cut to the chase, though, and look at the substance of what was revealed. The public has now learned that: (1) our reserve running backs are getting practice reps (**SHOCKING**); (2) our reserve running backs from last season are also getting practice reps (**EARTH-SHATTERING**); and (3) Noel’s physical condition is such that his practice routine is being curtailed, but not so bad as to hold him out, presumably leading to the conclusion that his status Saturday’s game is questionable (which is exactly what has been consistently reported by the press).

Move along, please. There’s nothing to see here.

Fair enough — I think you cover the principle of the topic with the practicality of one instance — but go back to your initial point. Stewart was “limited” during that one practice because he was worried who was in attendance. That’s the point we’re trying to make. Closed means closed.

NCMountaineer said:

Boy Colin went out a limb and called somebody that posts on that message board an idiot. Have any of you ever read that board? They’re all idiots.

Careful. They have email.

r said:

from the link:
“On Tuesday night, I received the following email from someone, which are the direct contents of a message board post on BlueGoldNews.com (a Scout.com affiliate), which along with WVSports.com (a Rivals.com affiliate) is one of the two most popular message boards for WVU football fans.”

And all this time I thought that WVU Sports with Mike Casazza was the most popular message board for WVU fans.

We’re not a message board.

Parks said:

I agree with Colin’s entire arguement. And i think it is as simple as this: It’s not what they posted they saw. It’s what they COULD have seen and posted. On top of the fact that the media isn’t even allowed in, and if were, would never do something that irresponsible.

I’m getting a flu shot this afternoon. I never, ever get sick. Haven’t had the flu since I was, I don’t know, 8. I won’t get the flu this year. Why? I’m getting a flu shot.

WVUeer220 said:

It’s the price of playing poker, folks. If you expect people to donate big money to the program to help pay for facility upgrades and such, they’re going to want to be treated as a “friend” of the program instead of just a guy who writes checks. That means you invite them along to practices, shake hands and say hello. And occasionally, that means someone does something like this.

Again, in this case, it wasn’t earth-shattering stuff. And, who knows? Maybe the person who posted it might have had a bit more sense than to do so if, say, he saw Geno break his leg or something. But it’s a risk, no doubt. And it’s one they’re almost surely going to continue to take.

You don’t have to extend them any special privileges.

Dave said:

What does all of this really mean? If Geno breaks his leg, we are talking about the time between a visitor posting the news and the media and what the other team can do within that time frame if they take the unofficial report as the truth.

Correct. Not sure I get your point here, but this happened on a Tuesday. WVU released an injury report Thursday — and can be as vague as it wants with no repercussions. UNLV traveled Thursday. Think one day is enough to adequately adjust a game plan?

lowercase jeff said:

enough with the geno breaks his leg stuff

it is now the lead story on eersports.com

you can read the article for a small fee……

Nice.

jd said:

wow, somebody who works in old media is upset about new ways to disseminate information? shocking.

Thank goodness you didn’t call that new media, but you missed the point.

Answer Dude said:

::siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh::

This is no big deal.

No?

Eric said:

Maybe the poster is the same guy/gal who has access to the press box and all press conferences. I wonder if the poster also gets to watch film with the coaches. The point is, fans shouldn’t be allowed in these sensitive areas. For those who say it’s not a big deal, try to open your mind to the possibility of what a big deal it COULD be. Kinda reminds me of that NCAA rule-breaking argument of “everyone else does it… it’s not a big deal.” See where that got us?

Wham!

Wayne said:

There can be consequences to posting information online. Remember when Charlie Taffe was going to be our offensive coordinator?

That’s not the appropriate back story there.

Josh24601 said:

Derek Finchem, the Mountaineer who preceded the great Brady Campbell, shot himself in the face during a game in 2006 — I was there and happened to be looking directly at him when it happened because he had failed to fire at the right time earlier in the game. The 2010 WVU offense has plenty of gunpowder yet to eat.

That’s one way of putting it.

rekterx said:

Mike,

Those are interesting and, I think, valid observations. UConn is starting to play like folks thought they would. Cincy came out of its shell against Oklahoma. USF has talent. And by the time we play them, Pitt will be doing more things right. Heck. Louisville should only get better as the season goes on.

At this point I can see the Mountaineers with 2 conference losses and I can hear the howling already. The howling, of course, will be about the offense. And perhaps, rightly so.

That’s the script, though we don’t know how close the actors will follow it … and WVU will have a part, too. I keep telling people, but watch out for Louisville. Not the Big East champ, but no longer a chump. Whereas the Cardinals did not before, they now have a clue on offense.

Sam said:

If we stopped worrying about the game’s conventions and started doing what we do well, our offense would be better off. Yes, offenses generically have to run the ball to have success, but that doesn’t then mean that every offense everywhere has to run the ball well. We’re much better off throwng the ball everywhere and doing so quickly. See: Marshall, Maryland First Half, LSU First Drive Of Second Half. We simply don’t have the ability to run the ball like football purists might like. We do have the ability to burn everybody when we’re throwing and going quickly. That throwing, incidentally, is what opens up our ground game.

Correct. The main hesitation here is the staff doesn’t want to sustain that pace because the players cannot without losing that which makes them and the tactic effective.

thacker said:

There is identity to this ball club both in its offense and its defense.

Confusion.

Casteel’s defense projects it onto the opposition.

Mullen’s offense in attempts to project it onto the opposition, too often, projects it internally.

Excellent.

EERoverHere said:

Not likely to face a defense like LSU for several years?

Try Rutgers. Ranked #4 in the country in total defense.

When WVU’s offense stutters against them, will the same excuses be made?

Um, I’m going stand by what I said. Rutgers won’t last on the level you can find its defense now. It’s a good defense, I’m sure, because Schiano’s teams generally are, but I’m not going to buy stock in them based on Norfolk State, Tulane and FIU. Then again, they can show us something tonight. They always play well against UConn.

Karl said:

I’ve watched Rutgers play a few times. Their defense really is pretty good, but my word, that offense is atrocious! Aside from Sanu, they don’t have a single player who can move the ball. They lost almost all of what little offensive talent they had in the preseason, and just about the rest of it in their first three games.

Sanu leads the team in carries and yards rushing. He’s a receiver. I do like to watch him, though.

Dave said:

I don’t know … Hertzel’s all over the map in the article on the offense and stats compared to a number of teams who have played a much different schedule than ours are difficult to compare. Is our team viewed differently if we put up 50 on Coastal and had 600 more yards of offense? As for the RR and BYU comparisons, RR had an offensive identify, but it also had a major flaw that repeatedly killed us against USF and, of course, Pitt. BYU might be a QB factory, but it’s been awhile since they’ve presented themselves as a major player and the system in which they won the title in 84 no longer exists.

Back to Hertzel, I guess he completely forgot about the 8 minute drive with Clarke against Maryland when we could drive it down the field and go a long way toward closing the deal. Sure, it was Maryland vs. LSU, but we’ve at least shown the ability to do it against a D1 school.

Part of the offense is coming together, but essentially we still have a young, developing QB and a line that appears to be under-performing this year so far.

Hopefully they do not forget that the high-paced tempo has given other teams problems or dwell on the LSU game. Take the lessons, fix the issues and move forward.

Agreed on the latter two points, but I want to ask a question about the whole P-Rod “major flaw” thing. What if an offensvie identity was abandoned because two teams — Pitt and USF, and then later on ECU — had really, really good tacklers and just played the right game at the right  time? Seems to me Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, etc. are doing OK with it.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Rhetoric question for the audience……and I’m not smart enough in watching football to answer this. Are the reads for the receivers set up to go short to long or long to short…..if it’s short to long, that would explain why all the passes are within 8-10 of the line of scrimmage.

Getting a little farther down the field will open the run up, but it for Noel, end arounds, Clarke, etc.

Interchangeable. The plays aren’t the same. Different calls call for different routes.

Jeff in Akron said:

Apparently, what happens in Montana stays in Montana, too. Ironic that Hauck would choose Las Vegas as his next coaching job. Sweeping incidents under the carpet shouldn’t be as much of a problem, it is the Vegas mantra.

There are no coincidences.

Homer said:

“Ask me about the student newspaper.”

What about student ne– Oh. I get it.

The Artist Formerly Known as EER96 said:

Dang it, Homer. You beat me to it. It never gets old. How about “Ask me about alleged assaults.”

It doesn’t get old, does it?

ffejboc said:

UNLV’s rushing offense is, apparently, abysmal. Something like 111th in the country. Not a good sign for the ol’ runnin’ rebels, whose chances were already slim to none.

In all serious, the UNLV media guide makes a point to say the Runnin’ Rebels are the basketball players only. Maybe they were onto something.

Homer said:

What is Stew talking about comparing Hauck to Houston Nutt at Boise? Nutt coached there one season (1997) and went 5-6. Oh, so memorable.

And lucrative!

Josh24601 said:

Regarding No. 11: there is a more overrated football stat than sacks: time of possession, which I shudder even to call a statistic.

Bill Stewart would like to speak with you … as soon as you get him a stat sheet so he can see the time of possession number.

rekterx said:

Thanks for decoding.

But I must be having a good day as I was able to pretty much track along with Stew. And frankly, if you get most football coaches to talk “scheme” they are going to need some decoding.

That’s why I’m here.

Patchy said:

Gimmicks only get you so far and the 3-3-5 is a gimmick.

I hear you, but I’d disagree with that. And it’s gotten WVU fairly far — not the reason the team didn’t make the title game in ’07.

Parks said:

the 3-3-5, to me at least (take that for what it’s worth), is the only thing we could really run right now and for the exact reasons he said. We don’t have the right linemen to run a 3-4 or 4-3 in my opinion. a 3-4 would put another linebacker on the field and make us considerably thinner there. I just don’t see a defensive scheme with what we have that would be better. You would need to do what we did in basketball years ago, and honestly, could be doing now–continue what you have to work with while bringing in guys that could run a different scheme. The 40 package we have has been incredibly successful this year. And we are still (for the most part) using speedy guys off the outside of the line. If you were to run that 80-90% of the game we’d be gassed. it’s a bend don’t break defense, and so far they aren’t doing a hell of a lot of breaking. Take a few big plays away and this defense is probably the best since 96, if not better at this point in the season.

Be very good in the  3-3-5 or a fledgling/struggling team in a 3-4 or 4-3. I guess the good question to one day ask is whether WVU would ever actively pursue a 3-4 or 4-3 philosophy. I say, with the current constitution on the staff, we’d get an emphatic “no.”

roo poo said:

If you have proper personnel, the 3-3-5 can be a rather versatile defense. It can be converted into a 3-4, 4-4, or 4-3 defensive look depending on down and distance without making substitutions. I just don’t see all the hand wringing with the scheme.

When we have the personnel the scheme works well, and right now we have pretty good personnel.

It’s the same across football. If you have good parts, you have a good whole.

KMS said:

Does it scare the hell out of me? Every game. Does it work? Almost consistently. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

A literal roller coaster.

glibglub said:

I know LSU is, as the kids may or may not still be saying, as much of a hot mess as any top 15 team ever was, but it does chap one’s posterior to lose a close game to them and then plummet from the rankings while the Tigers’ ranking improves.

LSU beats Florida and WVU is relegated to FCS, right?

Birch said:

Oh, indeed.

How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sparring with the puppies?

The game’s out there. It’s play or get played.

Richie Rich said:

All in the game yo, all in the game.

The more we learn, the less we know.

SheikYbuti said:

There is just something inherently wrong with French subtitles superimposed on “The Wire.”

And yet, very funny. I wish everyone opponent had someone named Stringer, Omar, Clay or Bunk. We missed out on four years of Avon.

Dave said:

If they couldn’t determine what was wrong, how do they know it’s all right?