This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

A quick note about the 2016 football season: It’s really exceeded expectations, hasn’t it? West Virginia finished 16th in the College Football Playoff ranking, which we’ll get to, as well as 14th in the media poll and 12th in the coaches poll. The Mountaineers didn’t get a vote in the preseason polls. Teams that did? Miami, Texas A&M, Washington State, San Diego State, Arkansas, Texas, Northwestern, South Florida, Toledo, Mississippi State, BYU, Appalachian State, Duke, Arizona, Marshall, Northern Illinois, Memphis and Indiana. None of them are ranked.

WVU tied for second place in the Big 12 standings with Oklahoma State. The conference coaches slotted the Mountaineers into seventh place in the preseason poll. Dana Holgorsen could win Big 12 coach of the year and Rasul Douglas could win defensive player of the year.

High times!

“Family,” said receiver Daikiel Shorts. “That’s the one word for this team: family. Everybody hangs out together outside of football. We put a lot of work in this off-season and one of our main mottos was ‘12-3-16.’ What team will we be on that date? And here we are sitting at 10-2 and ready to go to a pretty good bowl.”

“We’re gritty,” said defensive tackle Darrien Howard. “We fight until the end. That’s why I love my team. We fight until the very last whistle. We do what it takes to try and get the win. That’s what we do. That’s our identity. We fight.

“I’ve been telling myself for the past 10 months we can do something great. When we started the season, I started to see how everything was clicking, how we were on the same page and how well we communicated. I saw we could do something special.”

And the Mountaineers are feeling it. Following the game Saturday, Dana Holgorsen, with a new contract in his pocket, chose that occasion to speak out and reveal a level of bewilderment that his team was not more highly thought of or, you know, considered for one of the New Year’s Six games. Miami, the opponent in the Russell Athletic Bowl, will be the sixth of 13 opponents with a current winning record. The 10 teams the Mountaineers beat are 54-67. So they’ve got a little work left to do and one more chance to proove themselves.

The Mountaineers held nine of 12 opponents to 21 points or less but also scored 26 or fewer points six times.

“Somehow the committee doesn’t like us, because somehow we win ugly,” said Holgorsen, who is 46-30 as WVU’s coach. “That’s my opinion. I’ll probably get in trouble for it. Somebody won’t like it. I don’t care. I don’t understand how you can have two-loss teams that have bad losses and how you can have three-loss teams that have bad losses (ahead of WVU) yet we have two losses, both to top-10 teams. I don’t get it.”

The Russell Athletic had the third pick from the ACC. Clemson, which won the conference championship game, went to the CFP and the Fiesta Bowl. The Orange then picked first and selected No. 10 Florida State and the Citrus then took No. 15 Louisville. The Russell Athletic was able to choose from anyone else, including a few of WVU’s former Big East rivals like No. 22 Pitt and No. 18 Virginia Tech.

The Panthers are headed to the Pinstripe Bowl. The Hokies, who lost to Clemson in the ACC title game in Orlando and who open the 2017 season against the Mountaineers, will play in the Belk Bowl.

The Mountaineers nevertheless have an old Big East nemesis in the Hurricanes. This will be the 20th matchup, and Miami leads the series, dormant since 2003, 16-3.

“We’ll be down there in droves, I can assure you of that,” Holgorsen said. “If this hasn’t rekindled it, it will pretty quickly. I know it’s going to be fantastic for the bowl game and what it’s all about to have a matchup like this where everyone can be excited about it. This one won’t let anybody down.”

I’m talking about money and the power, power and the money. This text is magic, Stan Van Gundy. My edits are in [brackets].

2:50:
Sincerely hope a surprise switch to the throwback helmets is in the works. Haven’t seen them once this year despite the 125th anniversary.

3:28:
Mario’s Cowboy Wings are the best wings in the world!!!!

3:28:
Gonna throw beer cans and boo Skyler, hopefully will break Geno’s 8 TDs in a game record

3:39:
There goes Marvin Gross again with his Harry Potter magic! Poof…he appears!

3:39:
Premature musket!

3:39:
Im probably alone on this, but I don’t see how he loses the ball like that without the ball hitting the ground at some point.

3:41:
Durante…you gotta catch that bro.

3:43:
This senior tribute video is very Wilson Phillips 1990. #Corny

3:53:
Kick the field goal, [amigo].

3:54:
Oh no…that looked like Bad Skyler. Please leave him at home!

3:56:
[Old] [Josh] Lambert would have made that

3:56:
50 yards? Molina? Come on, son. No.

4:09:
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why anyone would boo Skyler Howard.

4:10:
I dont even want to text you about Skyler.

4:11:
I think that moonshine just kicked in!

4:13:
I would imagine that in your profession the dual sport Saturday + extension news is not ideal.

4:15:
Whew! That multitasking was getting confusing! Big hoops win

4:17:
[Fancy] flags flying everywhere! This game’s a mess

4:23:
9 plays 9 penalties

4:26:
#Imadeit

4:26:
Bad Sky, even after the ovation.

4:26:
50!

4:26:
Petros is being as kind to Skyler Howard’s throws as Harry Doyle was to Ricky Vaughn’s pitches.

4:27:
To be fair to Skyler, Baylor is known as a great defensive tam.

4:27:
Hey, just because Grobe is here, no need to make this a Wake Forest game.

4:27:
We have to be content with Skyler playing like [this].

4:27:
The replay showed Cannon obviously caught it. So why does the game have to be stopped for instant replay?!?!?

4:34:
Molina only one awake

4:34:
You would be hard pressed to play worse than Baylor has and be leading a top 20 team with an above average quarterback on the road.

4:35:
It’s amazing how not a single WVU receiver has been open yet. Then again, tough Baylor defense. I think they held Texas Tech to 56 or so.

4:35:
That was a GAM run for Crawford!

4:38:
Failed pass followed by five big runs. Followed by throw out of bounds.

4:39:
Am I supposed to cheer Skyler right now?

4:39:
I don’t run all the reps that WVU does in practice, but from the 30 yard line, even my internal clock said that the receiver would be out of the back of

4:39:
the end zone by the time the throw got there.

4:39:
What in the actual [world], Skyler????

4:39:
Skyler needs to go to the locker room.

4:39:
(I know I’m late on this, but…) Dear HCDH Haters, RE; HCDH Extension…

4:40:
Failed pass followed by five big runs. Followed by two uncatchable balls. Now it’s fourth and 19. Skyler Howard! Don’t watch the games and you can convin

4:40:
ce yourself he’s as good as Marc Bulger!

4:40:
Beer can strategy didn’t work…Skyler throwing like Helen Keller

4:47:
I can barely muster the energy to text

4:49:
I’m gonna get a little Captain in me to deal with this.

4:50:
Hmmm… maybe WVU should give each of its backs 20 carries tonight.

4:52:
it’s Senior Day – must not boo Skyler. it’s Senior Day – must not boo Skyler. it’s Senior Day – must not boo Skyler. . . .

4:53:
So many home run misses…what is Howard’s yards per incompletion?

4:53:
I would rather watch Bob Hertzel surf the Internet than this game.

4:55:
Okay, getting [extraordinarily] angry now

4:55:
Baylor boys are on [amphibious] mode.

4:58:
So far Skyler’s senior night game is reminiscent of Alex Ruoff’s

4:58:
Think Skyler is playing bad on purpose? Or is it just plain old high emotion, bad Skyler?

5:00:
Which way? Pettaway

5:01:
Holgorsen switching to the I Formation is far more disrespectful to Howard than anything the crowd could shout at him.

5:02:
That was a really ballsy go-for-it. Some might call it “stupid” but I’ll stick with ballsy since it worked.

5:04:
I didn’t know the human body could move it’s feet like that in mid-air. That was impressive.

5:05:
Jesus Christ that was an amazing play by Shorts.

5:05:
This will show that WVU converted a few 4th downs. What it won’t show is the context: Dana is flying by the seat of his pants and Skyler is [that].

5:07:
I know that I am involved in coaching WVU as much as Jim Grobe is involved with coaching Baylor … but his assistants speak to the officials and call ti

5:07:
meouts and Grobe does neither.

5:13:
Ask me about timeouts

5:18:
Senior band tribute is way better than the senior football player video.

5:26:
Good thing we can run the ball. Skyler plays mind games with himself.

5:34:
Iowa State quit in the second half so maybe Baylor will too.

5:34:
A SPECIAL TEAMS THING WENT RIGHT!!!!!

5:34:
Well that’s a shame.

5:35:
BECAUSE OF COURSE! [OH] YOU, BIG 12 REFS!!!

5:35:
Horse [collar] flag.

5:36:
Penalty or not, Shelton went 95 yards in 11 seconds. 285 feet. Eleven seconds. Jesus.

5:43:
Zack Smith is quietly playing almost as poorly as Skyler. The difference is Smith kept one deep throw inbounds and catchable, and Skyler has not done tha

5:43:
t once yet.

5:47:
Registering skylerhowardisanabsolutemagician.com

5:49:
At this point, Pat White and Rasheed Marshall are offended by how poorly Skyler Howard throws the ball.

5:50:
Ford Childress isn’t quite offended by Howard’s performance yet … but it’s close.

5:58:
Well that’s a shame.

6:00:
When you see Crawford get chased down by Baylor DBs … it kind of helps you to realize why Georgia’s defense wasn’t ready for Steve Slaton.

6:00:
Mango farming Molina missing mango farming chip shots

6:00:
Skyler’s only catchable passes have been to Devante “Featherstone” Mathis.

6:01:
Was there a group chat where everyone just got together and decided that today they would just lose? #GroupEffort #EqualOpportunitySuckiness

6:04:
Fists should fly from your keyboard if they lose.

6:08:
Run the dang ball

6:10:
GJ! He ain’t [ever] getting run down.

6:11:
Thank God! Gary Jennings saves the 3rd quarter!

6:15:
Anything but Gross!

6:15:
I never want to hear the AD cite attendance as a reason for firing a coach again. Judging by photos the crowd today is mango farming sparse.

6:17:
Today… is not the day to travel to Bolivia

6:21:
#teamgo4it! Badass.

6:21:
Need 4th down converts against a 6-5 team to win.

6:25:
13!

6:32:
Terrible series. Smh.

6:34:
“Pick it off. I double-dog dare you.” [Soft] [serve] throw.

6:39:
Big 12 officials = bull and [finch]!

6:49:
Jim Caldwell thinks Grobe doesn’t actually coach enough on the sideline.

6:55:
Seems like Baylor just kind of sat around waiting for WVU to win this game. Sort of like the Kansas State game except K State normally wins those types o

6:55:
f games.

6:57:
Wait…WTF? 24 21…we could lose this [showdown]!

6:58:
Ah yes. A battle without honor or humanity. Thanks sound guy at mtneer field.

7:00:
[You know what?] I’d like to get a Jim Grobe-Baylor job at some point in my life. He literally never talks to any of the players.

7:01:
Ask me about kickoffs. Kickoffs.

7:02:
Petros advises that the game is far from over. Huh.

7:03:
Serendipitous!

7:03:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7:04:
I, for one, welcome our continued bed [head] under Dana Holgorsen.

7:04:
Can you throw a penalty from a review?

7:04:
I’ve always believed in the tight end.

7:05:
Shut up Petro Papageorgio!

7:05:
Wesco!

7:07:
Wesco and Gross. You can retire now!

7:07:
Wish I had texted that I thought that was the rule… but Casazza and Mike Periera being silent on it made me think I was wrong. Isn’t that the same thin

7:07:
g RichRod’s team did against Louisville to win that game?

7:10:
If Holgorsen wanted to get Skyler some fan support, he’d have Crest run a couple plays now just to show what the alternative is.

7:11:
This is the stupidest game I’ve ever seen.

7:14:
Just peed my pants I think

7:14:
Dawgs!

7:15:
I think it is senior day for the officials too

7:15:
I need a PowerPoint presentation to understand these officials!

7:15:
This game is too sexy.

7:16:
We’ve reach PEAK BIG 12 REF tonight, folks.

7:16:
Bears #68 was like “Heavens! A pigskin! Get it off me!”

7:19:
Is anyone better at their job than Mike Peireira?

7:21:
Had em all the way.

7:21:
Guess the pressure of playing a mediocre team with a mediocre crowd got to a mediocre QB.

7:22:
Me-“That was too close for comfort”
Wife-“I thought they were going to lose”
Me-“Why?”
Wife-“They always lose.”

7:27:
Pretty good day to be a Mountaineer

7:27:
Marvin Gross had a day