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

Vance Bedford is a character, no?

November 6, 2014 by Mike Casazza

The Texas defensive coordinator, who has some pretty fun thoughts about WVU’s successes and struggles on offense, is not a clown. He just doesn’t have much time for the “clown suits” he’s beginning to see around college football.

On if he sees different jerseys coming: You’re asking the wrong person because that’s absolutely, 100 percent, no. It’s The University of Texas. A uniform is going to make you a player? I think that when we wear that white it’s as pretty as any uniform out there. You can put all of the clown suits on everybody else, all of the different color helmets – who are they? When The University of Texas walks out there with that helmet on and that uniform, you know who they are. The respect, in my opinion, is there. You look at USC’s uniform, you know who they are. You look at Notre Dame, you know who they are. It’s nothing personal, but I don’t need all of that stuff. You keep asking the old school guys. I’m not a young guy who needs all of that stuff to say here I am, this is who I am. Give me the nice, clean stuff, and let’s go out and play football.

 

You’ll Never Talk Alone: S3E10

by Brad McElhinny

The show goes on at 11 a.m. We’ll be here for about an hour to talk about WVU football, the game, the season, the bowl possibilities and whatever else you have on your mind. If you’re feeling eager, submit your questions now. The chat is open.

Live Blog You’ll Never Talk Alone: S3E10
 

Joe Manchin, if you need him

November 5, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Tough couple of days for the once and future governor senator. His party lost control of the Senate in Tuesday night’s election and, well, it’s apparent he still follows WVU football closely, hence the seamless comparison between the two.

Using a sports metaphor, Manchin said Senate Democrats have been acting in recent years like the West Virginia University Mountaineers football team did last Saturday: “We had the lead the whole entire game up until the middle of the 4th quarter and they decided to sit on the ball. And guess what? We got beat 31 to 30.”

Wednesday Walkthrough: Texas

by Mike Casazza

I’m fixing the previous post, though it’s sort of hysterical. The press conference was posted. It was. I used it so I could transcribe one part about Kevin White for a story I’m writing. I know it was there. Then it vanished (YouTube tells me the format didn’t convert, which is a new one, but there were a lot of new things Tuesday.) and … AND … was replaced by Red Panda.

But that’s totally fine. I think I might just randomly put that out there every so often now that she’s retired. Still, there’s no way I accidentally did that. The RP video is years old. I’d have to really try  to find it, copy the link and paste it where Holgorsen’s presser was posted. My best guess is someone at the home office saw the video of the presser was dead and had some fun with me.

Speaking of mistakes, I wrote about a few of the many from the TCU game.

Dana Holgorsen: Texas week

November 4, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Interesting, to say the least.

The Good and the Bad of WVU v. TCU

by Mike Casazza
drivechart

Probably should have warned you to avert your eyes, but if you did take a look at that horror story, you’re ably prepared for what follows in today’s episode.

True story: I had an idea for a column last week in which I’d ask and explore whether West Virginia is any “good,” understanding “good” is extremely relative and open to presentation and interpretation. Without giving away too much, because I think it could work still this week and might actually have more flavor now, the thought was that there were some things and some Things about the Mountaineers that left you wondering. These are all variables we’ve talked about to some extent and with some length in the past, but I thought (I think?) the collage makes for an interesting picture.

Anyhow, I got caught up in signs and towels and lips and the like and wrote about something else, which meant I was bitter in the fourth quarter because, honestly, things I had intended to write about or raise questions about were very much what the game was about Saturday. So there I was telling anyone who would listen, “This feels like a 31-30 game, am I wrong?” with nothing to show for it. Nothing!

Hey, I think WVU is good. How “good” is yet unknown, and the performance against TCU invited that sort of suspicion. This is not a lost season or a season headed nowhere, but this season is at the intersection of certain fates Saturday night in Austin.

How did we get here? Let’s find out by taking a look at the Good and the Bad of WVU v. TCU.

ricktrickett

Good: Health
Excellent.

Continue reading…

Texts from TCU Game Day

November 3, 2014 by Mike Casazza

This is so good. I know you all look forward to TFGD — it’s far and away the most popular thing we do here — but more and more I find it gets me through the day Sunday, which is usually a long day spent writing stories and re-watching the game for me and G&B and also sometimes traveling back home.

And today’s entry is another reason why. What follows is tremendously tremendous

You saw the game. You have opinions on what went wrong and why. You know TCU weathered all of the swings and quick changes and WVU, which has done that quite well, did not. You know the Mountaineers both inadvertently and intentionally created a dangerously small margin and were made to pay that bill when the secondary tripped on one decisive play.

“Tempo got us,” WVU safety K.J. Dillon said.

Joseph didn’t play his deep third and Listenbee ran past cornerback Daryl Worley and caught the pass before safety Dravon Henry could cover for Joseph.

“We just didn’t get the communication from the sideline,” Dillon said. “That’s the first thing we preach when we get on the field: Communicate first and then get lined up. We didn’t do the first thing. How can we do the second thing? It cost us, which it shouldn’t have. It was our fault. We gave it to them.”

Gibson said he would have called a timeout if he saw the confusion before the snap, but he didn’t see it and he didn’t expect it, either.

“It was the same coverage stuff we’d been running the whole game,” Gibson said. “It’s not like we pulled out a magic play and tried to fool them.”

You know all of that, and we’ll get into all of that a little later. But for now, the thrill and the agony of TFGD. Lookouts on the corner, focused on the ave. Ladies in the window, focused on the kinfolk. Me under a lamp post, why I got my hand closed? Texts in my palm, watching the long arm of the law. My edits are in [brackets].

3:22:
Do the circle!

3:30:
Boykin scares me. Why do I feel like Chuck Knoblauch will factor prominently today?

3:34:
What’s up with entrance to the game today? I missed the band. Are we on high security alert?!

3:34:
Interested to see what’s going to be today’s game-plan-which-I-will-only-understand-in-hindsight.

3:35:
BTW, this was the first time I watched Gameday in a while. Still using that awful intro by Big & Rich, the Sugar Ray of country.

3:43:
GAM with the wrong-way first down chop!

3:43:
First camo sighting!

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Questions and attempts at answers

November 2, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Things were as downtrodden and oddly managed after the game last night as you’d expect … and perhaps as you witnessed in the game, too.

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WVU v. TVU: Gee wiz

November 1, 2014 by Mike Casazza

In spite of the weather that seemingly hasn’t moved all week, Morgantown’s had a nice little time with College GameDay these past few days. The celebration of the event is more organized, energetic and impressive than it was in 2011 — Tent City, for example, was not around like this last time, and the ESPN people, who are conditioned to such showings, were taken aback by the scene atop the Mountainlair — and the town and the campus have almost uniformly been represented and reported in a way that trumps the other recent headlines.

And no one’s had a better time than Gordon Gee.

Lots and lots and lots of other great signs in the GameDay crowd, and you can only hope the energy makes its way across town.

Because these conditions? The opposite of bae.

It’ll keep hands in pockets and people huddled closely together. It’ll also slow the offenses, which is sad because when you have two groups that go like these two, you’d like to see them do what they do, but also because their exploits tend to bring people out of their seats and their hands out of their pockets.

Anyhow, biggest home game since? I’ll hang up and listen.

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Friday Feedback

October 31, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, safe haven for the 5%ers. Things got a little weird against Baylor two weeks ago and Tony Gibson was drawing and dialing up things I’d never before seen. On one really Good play, the “5” in the 3-3-5 were all lined up on a string 10 or so yards off the line of scrimmage and Bryce Petty was perplexed and so was I, and without a good explanation I called it Cover Pentagon, and I guess it took.

Well, last week things were weird again in a Good way against Oklahoma State and the shell game Gibson was playing. I sort of thought CP was a one day, throwaway defense that could maybe work against Baylor when it ran its empty sets and there wasn’t a concern about a running back gobbling up yards and slashing through caverns in a soft box.

But then it happened again in Stillwater against that unbalanced set.

So what gives?

“We threw a couple different things at them in the second half last week that helped us coverage-wise,” Gibson said. “They were just counting numbers in the box — how many linebackers, where are the defensive backs, is it a one-high shell or a two-high shell — and making run/pass checks at the line of scrimmage. So we went five across the top and put everyone at the same depth and made him guess what we were going to spin to.“

Well then, how’s that for a spooky Halloween costume?

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, think of others.

Sammy said: 

When does Quinton Spain get his shot at returning punts?

At the current rate, Wednesday afternoon. Also: I’ve heard it’ll be Vernon “Run at the Bouncing Ball” Davis and #FreeJaylon Myers Saturday. 

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