1. Carlton Mitchell is in the NFL.
2. Keith Tandy is playing pretty well for the Mountaineers.

Nevertheless, Tandy won’t be able to separate himself from Mitchell this week as WVU prepares for Thursday night’s game against USF and Tandy readies for redemption.

Tandy comes into the game in much different circumstances. After two interceptions in Saturday’s 49-10 rout of UNLV, the junior from Hopkinsville, Ky., shares the Big East season lead in picks with three – all on tipped balls – and is one off the national lead.

Hey, that’s how it goes at cornerback. It was only a few weeks ago that Marshall’s Aaron Dobson was running past Tandy en route to a Coal Bowl-record 96-yard scoring reception at Edwards Stadium.

“I’ve been waiting for this (USF) game, like, for a year,” Tandy said Saturday. “We lost. It was a tight game. Maybe if I make a play or knock the ball down, we would have won. But I felt like I gained confidence from that, because I came back and made a couple of plays after.”

Actually, Mitchell catches aside, Tandy said he felt like the USF loss was one of his better overall games last season. WVU cornerbacks coach David Lockwood didn’t disagree, obviously. When USF plays at West Virginia (4-1) Thursday, Tandy will be making his 20th consecutive start.