Ohhhh, prepare thyself for a ton of observations, photographs and jokes about the attendance today. Literally a ton. If you got them all together and put them on a scale, they would weight no fewer than 2,o00 pounds.

I encourage you to identify the very worst and share your discoveries in the comment section with the rest of the large audience here.

Anyways …

This is not merely the final week of the regular season for West Virginia and Iowa State and many others around the country, but it is also rivalry week around the country. It’s my belief that’s the case here and that the Big 12 kind of wants to make this a regular thing — in fact, the conference’s scheduling aficionado, Tim Allen, said as much on Scoop & Score weeks back. It is not the Backyard Brawl, and I have more and more people telling me these days that that’s not happening again anytime soon, but it’s still not without meaning today. It’s not without animosity, either.

You do know Iowa State’s brain trust, right?

Some other  intriguing pregame reading for you today:

Begin with where all conversations about this season and the coming offseason must begin: Quarterback. WVU has three quarterbacks and each can come back next season. The Mountaineers know a lot about Paul Millard and Clint Trickett and very little about Ford Childress. What I do know about Childress is that he was extremely sharp the week before the Maryland game — and we haven’t seen him since, though I’m sitting here watching him throw right now.

“This is what I’ll say about that: We started him against Georgia State for a reason,” Dawson said. “We started him for a reason. At that point and with what he was doing, we thought dumping the reps on him was the best thing.”

Needless to say, this is the problem that has derailed and defined WVU all season and it’s the one that must be solved during the spring. Today does nothing to fix that, but it’s nevertheless impossible to avoid.

And finish with, well, with the finish. For all we know, this could be Dana Holgorsen’s last game — I’m telling you, do not be fooled by the $11.3 million buyout — though there seems to be a majority opinion that it won’t be. There’s a practical view to be taken by people who are paid to view these things and the injuries, the unpreparedness for the Big 12 and the fact WVU could be pretty good next season seem both valuable and in Holgorsen’s favor.

Let’s blog …