The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Friday Feedback

September 11, 2015 by Mike Casazza
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Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which brings to you a sign of the times. Yesterday, we saw WVU and Pitt rekindle the Backyard Brawl, and we thanked Twitter for the role it played in the saga. With games come contracts, and one between these two had potential fir it to be interesting for a variety of reasons, mostly potential contentious ones. Yet the eight-page pact for the four-game series is pretty pedestrian, and only one thing stood out to me — and it’s a 2015 thing, for sure. The spotlighted section above is, near as I can tell, a first in a WVU contract.

And come to think of it, you better have it, right? Shane Lyons thinks so.

“That’s just a protection for both of us,” Lyons told me. “The game is seven years away. Over 10 years, a lot can change — just look back 10 years from now, what it looked like then and what it looks like now. So that language is in there. But I think from our standpoint — and I can’t speak for Pitt — this is a game that’s important for us regardless of conference realignment. One of the things you have to look at when doing this is what can happen in the future, what possibilities are out there for one reason or another? Obviously, conference expansion is one of those topics. I think we’re in a climate right now where it’s going to continue to be discussed. I hope we never need it. It’s in there as language to protect for of us, but that is new language for us.”

We’ve been over this, but the more that time passes and the closer we get to the end of these media rights deals the more likely it is that the current conference configurations change. If the ACC, for example, grows and goes with nine conference games, then maybe Pitt needs a non-conference breather somewhere in the series. If, hypothetically, the Big 12 loses members and WVU, again hypothetically, is in another conference, maybe a game against Pitt isn’t in the best interest of the Mountaineers.

There are a lot of maybes out there, so this is in there.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, arrive in style.

Mackstradamus said:

44 points is explosion enough for me. I enjoyed it.

I’d also be morally remiss if I didn’t point out that the Wolf of Wall Street bit on the jumbotron was fire and flames.

Right again!

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No, no, no … this is much better

September 10, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Back to the brawl

by Mike Casazza

You’ll Never Walk Alone: S4E2

by Mike Casazza

We’re back for Week 2 and the second chat of the season. It begins at 11 a.m. As always, we’ll talk about WVU and some other nonsense, I’m sure, for about an hour. If you can’t make it, you can jump into the chat now and drop your questions in the queue. Here’s your link for that, for the live chat and for the transcript after. Tell the world.

An answer to your question

September 9, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Frequently people wonder why WVU restricts access to practice like it does. It’s hard for me to answer, but the best and most honest way to put it is that programs are rightly paranoid because there are smart and clueless people at practices. The smart folks see something and pick up on it and write about it. That’s what they’re there to do, no? The clueless people have no idea what they’re seeing — they either don’t know what they’re watching or don’t realize it’s happening — but they report it because they’re hoarding and distributing video content. For better or worse, that’s what they’re there to do, too.

One side bothers WVU, and other programs, more than the other. I’d ask you to guess, but you know. You should also know that WVU was driven crazy last season by the crowds of people holding cameras around the quarterback drills because that crowd obscured the view of the practice film the coaches would look at later. This year, WVU put a periscope prohibition in practice because it knew people would do it and could show something the Mountaineers didn’t want shown. If it wasn’t a play or a formation, than perhaps it was a fight or confrontation.

If I’m being honest, this is why I think WVU begins practice with special teams work. We get to see 30 minutes here and there, and if it’s not special teams we watch, it’s some menial drills. (On occasion, we do get to see scrimmages. I don’t want to come across as ungrateful, but you get the point.) This is also why I think William Crest was returning punts for the world to see last summer. WVU knows you can’t get anything worth sharing from watching special teams — which is to say, nothing that gives opponents some sort of advantage — and WVU knew it could proliferate Crest’s athleticism by having him do something quarterbacks don’t often do.

To some inside and outside the media, though, this seems silly and petty and manipulative. I can’t convince those people it matters and that opponents have people — plural — who scour the internet to get any intel, any edge, any assistance they can. I mention this because within that fine SBNation piece on Georgia Southern’s preparations for WVU is a tidbit I promise you bothers the Mountaineers.

There’s a photo of WVU’s quarterback — “the photo” — Georgia Southern’s defensive staff found. They’re not sure of the date. They’re not sure if it’s from a scrimmage. But they think “the photo” shows a pre-snap Howard’s eyes wide and focused away from the center.

That’s it.

“We think he’s reading the defensive end. If he’s doing that, we think they could use the zone read with a QB run option,” Curtis says on Tuesday. “There’s a concern he’s going to do it.”

This, in short, is what has WVU and so many others worried.

The Good and the Bad of WVU v. Georgia Southern

by Mike Casazza

Spoiler alert: Lots of Good in this edition. Been a while since the opener afforded us that opportunity. I, too, feel like starting fast, so let’s get into something we have to acknowledge at the outset here, if for no other reason than we talked about this very topic at the outset of the season. Episode Six of the 2015 in 15 countdown was about West Virginia’s luck, how uncanny it was in 2014 and how it just had to change this season.

Well, we’re dealing with a small sample, and that was such a mismatch Saturday that I’m not sure you’re wise to buy or sell too assertively based on it, but let’s state this: The Mountaineers had good luck in their opener. The first fumble recovery of the season (in the first game!) bounced out of a crowd of white and found Karl Joseph.

Then this happened, and it was quite the omen.

Favian Uphaw tackles himself. He might be gone if he doesn’t lose balance and crash. Daryl Workey is on the pitch, and it’d be a lot to ask him to reverse and then catch Upshaw. Nick Kwiatkoski is in the vicinity, but he’s trailing and he’s not catching Upshaw in the open. So if that pops, like it’s supposed to and like it’s going to if not for luck, then it’s a 13-7 game early in the second quarter and the walls close a little bit as the Mountaineers are made to wonder about Georgia Southern maybe figuring things out and how they need to figure out ways to finish drives.

But it didn’t happen.

Instead of celebrating a touchdown or marking off a first down, the Eagles end up punting. Amazing how little things can be big. Add luck to the many things that look to have improved and are worth feeling good about after one week. How did we get here? Let’s find out by examining the good and the bad of WVU v. Georgia Southern.

Good: Starts
What if I told you that one of the few times I checked out of the wedding to check my phone Saturday night was right around 7:30 p.m., and I saw a Tweet about a personal foul penalty on the opening kickoff? And what if I told you I did a search and discovered WVU didn’t even return the kickoff? What was my reaction? (Answer: This.) So when I did sit down to watch the game, I was immensely interested in how this started (and how this was just 16-0 at the half).

Turns out it wasn’t that bad of a start. I mean, K.J. Dillon did something to get a penalty, and I told you he was going to be worth watching, but things got pretty interesting pretty quickly after that. Skyler Howard kept the ball on a zone read to start the season, which was something we debated, and the Mountaineers unrolled a bevy of formations in their quest to be multiple. Two backs and three receivers, four receivers and trips to the left, four receivers and twins on each side, the pistol with three receivers and a tight end on the line, the pistol with three receivers and a tight end in the backfield and then the pistol with motion. Howard was passing and running. The wide receivers were streaking deep. The ball was moving forward. The gaps between plays were short. They never let Georgia Southern get comfortable.

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Dana Holgorsen: Liberty week

September 8, 2015 by Mike Casazza

… Liberty Week sounds kinda fun. Sleep past 9 a.m. Beer around noon. Punch out around 3 p.m. Alas, this is about the Liberty Flames and some forward thought about how FBS peers schedule in the future.

Tuesday Taboo: In store for history?

by Mike Casazza

Of course

by Mike Casazza

No-brainer here, and, TFGD jokes aside, there was a game ball involved Saturday night. It wasn’t headed to Skyler Howard and intercepted by Joseph, but it was given to Joseph, who then gave it to the defense.

It was a night of rarities. A WVU player had never finished with three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Dana Holgorsen had never given out a game ball. The coach hasn’t seen a leader quite like Joseph, who was perhaps as inspirational the week before the opener as he was within it.

Joseph’s nose for the ball came from much more than a generous opposing quarterback, Holgorsen said. It was a product of All-America-level talent — CBS Sports named him to its preseason first team — and top-flight leadership. Joseph stood before the team after its mock game last week and before Saturday’s season-opener and told the players how special this season could be if they were dialed in.

“He’s played over 3,000 snaps in three years,” Holgorsen said. “And for him to take the next step and be the inspirational leader on defense and be the guy that I trust to stand in front of the room and talk and motivate everyone is great. He’s a pretty motivated young man.”

Texts From Georgia Southern Game Day

September 7, 2015 by Mike Casazza

I have no idea why I looked this up last week, but I did, and now it’s useful. Before Saturday night, Georgia Southern hadn’t been shut out since 1995. I wasn’t necessarily thinking WVU could do it as much as I was wondering how long of a streak the Eagles had, even as they played occasional and now regular Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. (The shutout, by the way, was against Montana in the I-AA playoffs. Bob Stitt coaches Montana now. You think about that.) That was impressive, so then I wondered when the last time was that WVU shut out a FBS opponent. Turns out that hadn’t happened since beating Cincinnati 38-0 10 seasons go.

Know what year that was? Uh huh.

All in all, that was a pretty solid opening act for WVU. The defense was legit. The offense did more than enough to win and to validate some preseason promise, but it also stumbled enough that bravado isn’t a worry entering practice for a FCS opponent. The defense can go into this week looking for a second straight shutout. The offense can fixate upon execution inside the 30-yard line and short-yardage runs and some other inefficiencies that have to be cured sooner rather than late. In short, focus ought not be an issue.

Who hold the crown? It ain’t no conversation. I’m being modest, you should be silent unless you’re paying homage. Remain the hottest, texts can’t stop us. That’s just being honest. My edits are in, wait, no, they’re not. No edits. What happened to you all?

11:14:

3:36:
I watched all of Northwestern/Stanford…I now know what Hell is.

7:03:
Do you know what is better than a WVU opening football game? A wedding…said no one…Let’s Go…

7:04:
“Let’s go, Skyler!” Just rolls right off your tongue.

7:08:
You enjoy the wedding sir!

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