Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which can’t wait for tomorrow’s game against Flori– damn.

Oh, what might have been with WVU and the Seminoles in Tallahassee, surely on national television, on the second Saturday of the season. Instead, No. 6 Florida State is at home as a 10 touchdown favorite against Savannah State. No. 9 WVU is idle (Note: It’s not a bye week. A bye advances you in a tournament.) and $500,000 poorer.

I mention that financial component not to pick at scabs, but because I found today’s real news to be quite apropos. WVU had to beg out of the Florida State game because of the Big 12 schedule and, let’s be candid here, because the Seminoles were too steep a risk to take on the schedule.

Today the Big 12 announced it’s $2.6 billion media rights deal that promises WVU $240.2 million (it’s not $260 million … I’ll explain). Getting rid of the FSU game, removing a landmine from a potentially super regular season and ensuring next week’s payday at FedEx field remains in place will cost WVU 1/480th of the revenue it can expect from the Big 12 contract.

Not too shabby.

I’ll pick this thing apart below and then later in print, but what grabs my attention is the Tier 3 stuff and how much freedom it gives schools. One football game, four men’s basketball games and potentially all other contests can go to the Tier 3 package WVU eventually institutes.

Not only that, but WVU can sell a game back to the Fox network and that, for example, might interest Fox Sports Atlantic when WVU plays Towson. Or, whatever. Just trying to illustrate it. Lots of possibilities there and the Mountaineers can choose their own adventure in a lot of ways when it picks its partner.

Word about this TV deal got out last night. I was watching Pitt v. Cincinnati before flipping over to what I was really watching — you don’t want to know — and I started to think about something. WVU’s cost for leaving the Big East and accepting the Big 12’s conditions for entrance is going to be around $35 million in money paid/not earned. Thirty-five million dollars!

I see $15 million in the settlement (I know it was a $20 million settlement, but WVU is ultimately responsible for “just” $15 million). Big 12 schools will reportedly get $20 million annually, but WVU is a partial member the first three years.

So I see $10 million left behind as a 50-percent partner in the Big 12 revenue this year, $6.6 million left behind next year as a 67-percent partner and $3.2 million left behind as a 84-percent partner in the 2014-15 athletic year. That’s $19.8 million.

Now we’re at $34.8 million. Add the half-a-mill for buying out FSU, which, again, was a move necessitated by taking on a larger conference schedule as a Big 12 member, and you’re definitely over $35 million.

Scary part is that you haven’t even taken into account the changes in coaching salaries across the athletic department, which is merely the biggest of many like changes. I wouldn’t  put that in the same canister as the aforementioned. The former is the cost of the move. The latter seems more like the cost of doing business, and I think it’s the necessary cost of doing business. But it adds up. This is entirely unresearched and non-scientific and simply me spinning numbers in my head last night and this morning, but I’m thinking the changes in coaching salaries — Dana and his assistants and their salary pool, as well hiring and upping the salary for as Randy Mazey — to meet the Big 12 standard is more than $1 million. And none of that accounts for the added travel expenses, which I’m told will be similarly steep as well.

That’s a lot of brown paper bags.

I supposed that, today, you can say it’s all worth it. The sun is shining and and the forecast does’t look to be changing, so why worry? And I don’t see a need to put a stopwatch on this because, to me, time shouldn’t expire as much as time should be enjoyed. Never mind that WVU won’t start turning a profit on the overall cost/investment until 2015, when it gets its final partial-member share of the Big 12 revenue ($10 million this year + $13.4 million next year +$16.8 in the following year = $40.2 million, which is greater than $35ish million).

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, pay attention to detail.

Mr. M said:

GOOD: outscoring the opponent in the first quarter (13-0).

We only did that twice last season (no, not against Marshall — or even Norfolk State but to Bowling Green and Maryland). Probably not a very meaningful statistic, but one that common sense dictates carries some significance.

No, no. I agree. I want to see it happen a few times, though. I’ll never understand that an offense as seemingly simple and liberating as is WVU’s could sputter like it did early in games last season. WVU will be very hard to beat if it gets two touchdowns in the first quarter.

Jeff in Akron said:

Mike, great post! I hope this becomes a Sunday staple after games.

Gotta say, Luck has some work to do with the whole tier-3 thing. I had better access to watching games online in 2008. I am now a member of the FX Channel online and have no idea why! It was all nostalgic listening to the WVU game via online radio, but for now the offering for out-of-state fans has gotten decidedly worse. I’m sure there will be a nice bump in online radio listeners, I gotta believe that does nothing for the tier-3 revenue.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there is absolutely no replay of the game anywhere. Look in my years as a WVU fan I have dealt with much worse, I just have to say as it relates to online access to WVU games WVU has taken a step back, about a decade.

I’m going to try to do this every week, but I’m not sure it’ll make it out every Monday. Travel will preclude that quite a bit. I need to get better clips, too. But honestly, I worried TFGD might not happen this year, so it was a backup. Now it’s an addition. As for TV, I think a lot of your queries and concerns were answered by others — and thanks, because I really don’t experience any of these problems, so admittedly I don’t understand them, though I’m attempting to — but it’s my understanding every Fox/FX game will be replayed on the myriad Fox Sports Net channels. I think Root Sports had the Marshall game on in primetime later in the week, too.

Mack said:

The best part of the FX presentation was the absence of ESPN commentators. I really can’t stand any of the ESPN guys any more (except maybe Blackledge). Clearly, the ESPN guys are being trained by someone who is terrible. (Talk about everything except the game, always hammer home the possibility of an upset and/or a comeback no matter how impossible it may be, and hope/pray for any sort of controversy).

Great post today, Mike.

Great comment Tuesday, Mack. My problem with the people you have a problem with is they treat the game as their stage. The game matters more, right? Or did I miss that transition? I thought Kutcher was kind to get out of the way a lot of the time and Crouch was one of those guys who sees something and wants to tell you about it because he knows about it. It was fine. Like, in the second quarter I thought to myself, “Wait … I haven’t pointed my water bottle at the TV yet. These guys are OK.” But seriously, where the hell was Gus last week? Did anyone see him anywhere?

jmd said:

just to be clear it’s not WVU’s fault that the game video is not available online. It is up to the broadcast rights holder, in this case Fox. Fox is probably the last broadcaster that does not have any type on online streaming available. All the Big XII and Pac-12 and C-USA schools face the same dilemma. Even if WVU wanted to set up an online streaming package they would have to do so at the behest of Fox.

Some of our games will be on ABC/ESPN but no more than 2 or 3 and the rest will be on either Fox, FSN or FX. So if you want to see our games you need to make sure your cable package has broadcast Fox, FX and FSN or an affiliate that will carry FSN broadcasts (Root Sports Pittsburgh for example, NOT Comcast Sports Network.)

The JMU game not withstanding which I’m pretty sure will be considered a local broadcast, probably showing only on Root Sports Pittsburgh.

One thing I heard again and again over the summer was how the Fox group was going to make a big move in sports broadcasts and technology, college football in particular. They obviously hired a name/face for college football pregames and postgame and they’re in the thick of this Big 12 contract. Their people on today’s teleconference said they’ll be doing primetime games now — first is Sept. 22, participants yet unknown — and getting better at the online stuff they lack right now, ie streaming. And you’re on the mark about the availability of games. It’s going to require some work to find the games, but you should be able to.

Patchy said:

I still plan to do an Enrico Palazzo and kidnap/replace the red shirt/hat guy wearing headphones on the 20 yd line. I will ignore all commercial cues from the truck and let the game flow naturally. Miss a play or four? You should have been at the stadium.

It’s much easier that way. Also, I got one bad review of the Red Shirt Guy this past week. Let’s keep an eye on this development!

IrishBillATL said:

Yep – let’s just hope we can find another dynamic playmaker like Tavon for 2013 and beyond. Seems Jacky Marcellus and/or Jordan Squirt Thompson are leading candidates.

I’m not putting Marcellus’ name in my head until until he’s on campus, cool? As for Jordan Thompson? I’ll say it: I didn’t think he did too well. I watched him block, especially when I noticed he wasn’t getting the ball, and he just didn’t show up. Don’t get me wrong: I like the kid and the player and maybe no one has written more about him than me, but his size is a factor that we have to monitor. Was that something Saturday or was that just one day? All of that said, I think the potential is really high. Shannon Dawson also said he was content with Thompson’s game and that he wasn’t intimidated or overwhelmed. He didn’t say much else, though, to be fair, what does one say about two catches for six yards? Also, Marshall took him away every now and then and it occurs to me that was the position Tavon played last season and opponents were forced to defend. 

Bobby Heenan said:

You want to know how important that guy is to this team when he’s not touching the ball? Go watch that stick/draw again on Mike’s previous post. Both the LB and the safety crash over to shadow Austin…their number one priority is him on that play, and that left a HUGE gap for Buie to run through. The safety, #6, has an angle on Buie if he doesn’t commit so heavily to covering Austin. He’s so committed to watching Austin, he actually turns his hips and back away from Geno and Buie.

This is a perfect illustration of what he does for the offense on plays in which he’s not getting all purpose yards. I may be wrong, but I just don’t think a run-of-the mill slot receiver gets that much attention.

And it happens a lot. I wonder if that’s the play’s plan or if that’s the safety’s instinct. Either way, it’s good for WVU.

glibglub said:

Sure, now we can look back on a “long, strange trip”. But back then the appropriate Dead lyric was perhaps from “Casey Jones” (“trouble ahead, trouble behind”).

And when they bust out the new unis for Maryland? “Oh well a touch of grey, kind of suits you anyway.”

Dann White said:

Is anyone else aware of how unfamiliar it feels for us to have the great playmakers and the edge in most of the games to come. Just as Mike’s book hints, it feels like we should be waiting for the bottom to drop out and for the ball to pop out or fly into the hands of the guy in the wrong colored shirt; NOT THIS YEAR.
I am only now becoming comfortable with hearing positive things said about what the Mountaineers are doing right, instead of polite patter about how there just a play or two or a player or two, or a year or two away from greatness.
Greatness is here, it is on the menu for this season; eat men, eat! From conference home to coaching changes, and having the right personnel at the right time, everything has gone WVU’s way since early in 2011, it is time to drink from the champions cup; drink men, drink!
It is your time Mounties, enjoy it.

DW

I’m not touching this.

rekterx said:

I don’t know how the season will turn out. But this offense has the potential to be one of the truly great offenses to have graced the field in the history of college football.

Did I just say that? Yes, I did. And I’m not sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it does, it does. If it doesn’t … look out!

On. The. Record. I’ll say this: What if J.D. Woods can give you 60-700-8? What if Alston is a 1,200-yard back? WVU was really good last year. Really good. But that third option/second outside receiver vanished late and the running game wasn’t consistent.

Josh24601 said:

Who wins between Buie’s block and Dillon’s? We do.

My bad. I was of the impression that was understood. Good looking out.

Wesmo said:

This, after he ended an earlier press conference with “We cool?” then tapping the podium twice and walking off. I wonder if he would help me write a speech for when I finally quit my job?

I’ve interviewed Kevin Sumlin for my book and Mike Gundy for a story and I never asked how Dana informed them they he was leaving. And now I’m ticked off about that. I bet you Dana could help. Hell, I bet you he would help.

pknocker40 said:

This is neat. We’re having fun, right?

It doesn’t suck, man.

StraightOuttaNorthCentral said:

I don’t care, for the purposes of this discussion at least, how long Dana stays here, or if he accomplishes everything we want him to while he’s here. As a fan, he makes it more fun to follow the team, and for that, I tip my cap to him. Both his coaching style and his personality are entertaining. What more can we ask? Think of the alternatives (Tom O’Brien, anyone?) and count your blessings. And enjoy it while it lasts.

Also, Buie’s was indeed slightly better. But they were both pretty frickin’ bitchin’, as Dana will likely say at a future press conference.

I’m with you. Covering a team can be a drag and it can be absolutely brutal to haul yourself to press conferences and interview sessions. There are a lot of them and the participants get tired of them and often the players and coaches only treat both as well as the season treats them. But covering a team and going to press conferences and interview sessions can be a blast, too. We’re in one of those two neighborhoods now.

hershy112 said:

Mike,

Do you think Holgorsen knew what he had in Geno when he came to WVU?

I think he knew the credentials and the potential, but where that goes is up to the player and the coaching. I think Dana knew what he could do and trusted Jake Spavital could take the ball and run, er, pass with it, but he could only guess about what Geno would do with it. This is probably the high end of the expectations, but I have to believe Dana, as confident as he is, thought it was attainable. Great question.

The 25314 said:

By my recollection, the four incomplete passes were:

A screen to Buie that was covered and Geno threw into the ground on purpose

The obvious miscommunication between Geno and Stedman on the route in the end zone

A dropped 5 yard pass by Sticks on 3rd and 20

And the drop/pass break up on the deep post to Sticks.

The deep post was the only ball that Geno probably could have thrown better, and even that maybe should have been caught.

Right you are. I forgot about the screen, which was a smart play. Same as throwing it out of bounds 15 yards deep and 10 yards out of bounds, but with even less risk. The pass to Stedman was a bad play. The third down drop by McCartney was meaningless, but it was catchable. The deeper pass to McCartney was tough. A touch underthrown but a play McCartney could have made. A spectacular play, but I don’t think WVU thinks that’s asking too much. 

The Artist Formerly Known as EER96 said:

Did anybody hear Bill King this morning on Sirius/XM? He thought Alabama’s defensive line would crush WVU’s offensive line – I think he is wrong on that. Me thinks that Madsen, Jenkins, Spain, et al. could hold their own with the best in the country!

He also said that Alabama’s offensive line would steamroll WVU’s defensive line – I agree with that.

Pointless statement unless these two were playing next week. And haven’t I heard Alabama’s line was better last year and that WVU’s best offensive line games last year were against LSU and Clemson, which were the two best defensive lines? I’d be more concerned by and intrigued with the receiver v. cornerback matchup. Alabama has some players there. And as nice as WVU’s offensive line was, Marshall’s defensive line wasn’t much and really misses Vin Curry. 

Mack said:

WVU made a lot of money selling beer last year. That alone is the reason that 10 years from now we will be shocked that beer hasn’t always been sold in college football stadiums.

I wonder how much it catches on, though. It won’t happen in the SEC. ACC schools are against it. It’s not worth it for the non-BCS leagues. But the teams that do engage will have that embarrassing, “What were we thinking all those years?” revelation.

Grumpy said:

Defense wins championships; offense puts people in the seats. Let’s hope this defense improves!

Not sure that’s true. Scoring offense is the King of Stats, which makes scoring defense the Prince. You can do a lot of shaky things on defense and still have a winning scoring defense and a very successful team.

Kevin said:

Realistically, I think we are a few weeks from knowing a whole lot about the defense. Our next 2 opponents shouldn’t challenge WVU athletically, so we will prolly see the same vanilla looks. Baylor could be a big learning experience, but then we play Texas (QB troubles) before a tricky game at Texas Tech.

Once the level of competition steps up, I think a big key in how our defense performs will be how effectively the blitz “gets home” or at least disrupts the QB. If successful, that minimizes a lot of the other concerns we have. If not, it could highlight them.

Beyond that, I think the most important defensive stat may be touchdowns vs. field goals in the red zone….

Field Goals don’t suck, man!

Totally agree on FG v. TD in the red zone. Teams are going to move the ball and WVU is going to surrender yards, sometimes in chunks. Have to be able to defend that final 30 yards. Two things I’ll quibble with, and they’re small: 1) I think it could be years before you know about the defense. Give JDF time to recruit to it, like Casteel was able to. 2) WVU doesn’t really have time to be vanilla. Never mind Texas, where that quarterback think may be fixed. Baylor is good. It’s a good idea to put some stuff on film so WVU can actually study it.

Lee in Dayton said:

How many people did Coach DeFo say he played on D Saturday? 30 or so? Watching the game, it often looked like they were swapping out five or six players every few plays or so – almost looked like line changes in hockey. Except for Dunlap, none of these coaches have seen any of our players in live game action, and none have seen them in this scheme. I think the coaches are still figuring out who best fits at what position and in what situations; hopefully they’ll have it all sorted by Sep 29.

Thirty indeed and two-thirds of them were basically rookies. I think the reason you so saw much personnel swapping was because of game situations — Marshall used a lot of obvious pass formations, so WVU countered with obvious pass defenses. And WVU wanted to used players and try out ideas. Lots of first-game stuff and it won’t always be that way.

NCMountaineer said:

We always seem to struggle early with pass rush. Two years ago werent we the last team in the country to get one? I am optimistic about the defense. I like our size up front, our lbs, and safties. Corner and buck lb concern me. Anderson struggled and we need production from that position.

Silver lining to me is that we seem to be recruiting a different kind of athlete on defense. By the time we open with ‘Bama in 2014 we could have a great defense with Ford Childress entering yr 2 in the offense.

WVU didn’t blitz a lot, either. I’m not even sure they blitzed on all those third-and-longs and fourth downs … which were mostly converted. What troubled coaches was WVU couldn’t win many one-on-one blocks. That’s effort and talent stuff there and WVU didn’t do much with either.

Jeff in Akron said:

I want to see how good/bad the Marshall offense is against future opponents and what kind of numbers they put up. For a brand new defense Marshall had some playmakers that could do some damage and for the most part did not. Cornerback play is a major concern and honestly I thought it would be better than it was and have a hunch if it doesn’t improve drastically we will have two new starters at corner sooner rather than later. The pass rush could be a problem, or it may just be a schematic thing, we’ll find out against Baylor when WVU starts its full blitz packages, I doubt we see much in that regard until then.

Even DeForest was unhappy with the communication between the booth and sidelines and then the sidelines to the defensive calls on the field. The one certainty we can take from that is it will improve dramatically in game two. As fans, we have no idea how much of that, effected the play on the field.

What I liked about the WVU defense on Saturday, Holgorsen wasn’t a spectator standing 30-yards away. One of the defenses greatest assets is Holgorsen and Dawson, having two offensive coaches with that much knowledge brings a different perspective that no other defensive staff in the country can tap into. I believe I read somewhere over the summer that the staff watches game tape together for the upcoming opponent and then breaks into specific areas. I gotta believe Holgorsen and Dawson pick up the oppositions offense and its tells pretty quick, and the defensive staff isn’t a bunch of guys that have no experience. To me, it is that dynamic that will serve the team the best.

If we, as fans, realize that the Mountianeer football team only goes as far as the defense lets it, the coaches knew it long ago. No way Holgorsen and Co. leave that to chance and no way those same coaches believe that they don’t have enough talent. All anyone has to do is watch one of Holgorsen’s press conferences.

Marshall may have something in Cato, I agree, but WVU let him stand back there and work. He’s going to be hurried and harried more than he was Saturday, and probably because  of the WVU game, so don’t be discouraged if Cato struggles or doesn’t have the same success. You’re right, though. Things will get better. In large regard, WVU is still learning about WVU. Add the opponents and it takes time.

Bigk825 said:

I think two things about the defense. One was that against the caliber of teams in game 1 and 2 we are going to see only basic defenses so as to iron out tackling issues, gap assignments, etc. I think Maryland will get a partial dose of blitz packages, after all… our coaches met with LeBeau to learn his schemes. Don’t need to show everything against lesser teams with Baylor on the horizon. Second, as usual, our secondary gives too big of cushions. You would think every receiver out there was Mike Wallace with the space given. No one even tried to jump a route or go for the ball until Pat Miller did at the end of the game, even though they were running the same plays. AT WVU we always let them catch the ball then try to tackle. My question is, Why let them catch the dang ball?

Another good point: Tackling always gets better … unless you’re just awful at it. Other things get fixed just by players realizing they  made a mistake and it’s easy to not make it again. The cornerback issues are as alarming as you say, but without pressure, you can’t ask those two to guard for four and five seconds at a time. Easier to stop plays if they’re in front of you, I suppose.

The 25314 said:

Is it better to not show anything so you can surprise your opposition, or is it better to show everything so your opposition has to spend practice time working on everything? Or does it depend on which answer best justifies the result at the time?

I know, right? And add to that “Is there a correct answer?” Has to differ from coach to coach, yes? My hunch is WVU was more interested in getting a lot of guys in and cataloging as many clips of as many people as possible. Certainly there comes a point when you can only call so many things with the people on the field.

Shannon said:

Great news for West Virginia and the members of the Big 12.
Bad news for Louisville and Cincinnati. It is hard to see how the Big 12 expands with this deal. The financial incentive is not there to expand for a Louisville or Cincinnati. The Cards and Bearcats may be stuck in Conference USA, I mean the Big East.

Bob Bowlsby said expansion is not on the table, but is it ever really off the table? I say no. And I’m getting the feeling this deal isn’t supposed to say anything to Louisville and Cincinnati. It speaks to Clemson, Florida State and Notre Dame, or other bigger fish. You need some dynamite bait to draw them out and I think this qualifies.  

JC said:

Don’t forget the Tier 3 and Champions Bowl money as well……25-26 mil/year total

Based off what I’ve been told, the Tier 3 stuff will fetch between $2-3 million a year. The Champions Bowl could be worth $30-40 million. That’s and extra $5-7 million for WVU — and I have to assume WVU isn’t eligible for the Champions Bowl revenue until the fourth year, which would be second year of the game.

The 25314 said:

How is the money distributed while WVU only receives a percentage of the payout? For instance, in 2013, WVU will only make $10 mil. Does each Big 12 school receive an extra million this year?

I asked this on the teleconference because I always wondered myself. The surrendered money from WVU and TCU is distributable revenue. That’s $19.4 million per school across three years. Some of it is stashed away for contingencies (exit fees, anybody?) but what’s not allocated is split up among the other eight schools. Say the Big 12 keeps half. WVU’s addition is still worth about $400,000 per school for each of the first three years. 

glibglub said:

At long last, yes, but still finalized quicker than Holgs’ deal, was it not? Just an observation.

And only slightly less money involved, too!

Mack said:

With the influx of money, will tickets be cheaper next year? *laughs hysterically*

Enjoy the weekend!