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

The good and the bad of WVU v. JMU

September 18, 2012 by Mike Casazza

The game is now long in the books and WVU is $2,303,382.50 richer, less expenses, for the experience. The Mountaineers, now ranked eighth, are better than they were a week and certainly two weeks ago, though this one win wasn’t performed as emphatically or stylishly as the first one.

The offense was again sharp at the start, the defense was very good when challenged and then the offense seized momentum when it needed to and ran with it. There were also some dubious moments to keep us talking and thinking about what’s to come — and Baylor is coming quick.

Let’s take a closer look and examine the good and the bad …

Good: Heat

May God have mercy on Colin Dunlap if the Pirates and Cubs went extra innings. Joel Hanrahan got us out in time for the Root Sports intro.  Apparently it wasn’t easy.

Good: Washington monuments

Seriously, if you give Geno Smith five seconds and more than enough time to make the third read on a deep square-in to convert a third-and-11, you, kind defensive coordinator, are screwed.

JMU tried some pressure and succeeded from time to time, which contributed to a safety, one big hit on Geno and a handful of negative yardage running plays, but WVU’s offensive line was again up to the task.

Maryland’s defensive line is going to have the most talent yet, led by Joe Vellano in the middle, but it sure looks like WVU is able to win many of these 5-on-3 or 5-on-4 situations. Bring a fifth or sixth? The story changes.

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Personally speaking personnel

September 17, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Quite a bit of Dana Holgorsen’s postgame press conference Saturday dealt with who played. Basically, more guys saw the field as WVU tried to figure out who it was by seeing who had what.

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Darwin Cook excited about Dana’s odd decisions

by Mike Casazza

This was touched on briefly in the game blog, but Dana Holgorsen’s emotional reactions — admittedly emotional reactions — to stubbed toes in the first two games are worth circling. Twice now he’s watched his offense get shut down on a third-and-short and angrily decided to go for the first down.

Twice it failed.

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Texts from JMU Game Day

by Mike Casazza

Alternate title: The day Mike Logan edited his diploma

Haven’t watched the replay yet, which means The Good and the Bad will be another day, but, honestly, I’m kind of excited based on what follows. I watch bad movies — Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans — and really bad horror movies — The Gingerdead Man — and I’m the moth when the light is awful announcing.

The game itself, I would argue, was entertaining. For a 42-12 final and after a 28-0 lead, it had some action: Sharp offense, high level skill and exploits, WVU punting, big hits, goal line defense, questionable decisions, just a bunch of stuff to write and talk about even a few days later.

And, again, you might want to get used to this. The crowd wasn’t large, but was larger than expected and helped greatly by a big walkup crowd. WVU v. JMU drew around 10,000 more than UConn v. Maryland at Byrd Stadium. If you’re FedEx Field or M&T Bank Stadium, or Paul Brown Stadium or Bank of America Stadium, you know WVU and the right opponent can give you a good crowd.

But make no mistake and switch up my channel, I’m Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle. What could it be? It’s a mirage. You’re texting on a thing. It’s sabotage.

My edits, and a few of your (especially boisterous) edits, are in [brackets].

3:08
Tatanka went to JMU!

3:57
Pitt!

4:17
Middle-aged women reading a JMU tshirt: “Punch em in the [lower abdomen]?” “No idea what that means.”

4:20
A woman, wearing a wvu shirt and drinking white wine from a bonafide wineglass, saw Luck gladhanding in the lot and asked “who is that?” I schooled her.

4:37
JMU Dukes, eh?  Dukes doesn’t seem very democratic.  Why not the Dead Presidents?

4:40
Someone behind me is toking.

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WVU v. JMU: Relax, it’s FedEx

September 15, 2012 by Mike Casazza

So there’s a theme today: New experiences. We’re going to try a new live blog function that’s seemingly free of bugs. WVU and JMU, of course, are doing this off-site football game at FedEx Field. Organizing this game? Former SMU athletic director Russ Potts, who would see today’s game as one with 39,000 opportunties.

He’s the same man who once answered a question about a crowd of 6,000 for an SMU-Rice game by saying: “I see we lead the nation in opportunities. We have sixty-six thousand of them. The way I look at it, every empty seat is an opportunity.”

Interesting guy with a background that perhaps lends some insight into today’s event.

As for the rest of the fun, click below to enter …

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Friday Feedback

September 14, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which also gets paid no matter who’s in the stands or on the field Saturday. Might want to prepare yourself from some anti-WVU, anti-Oliver Luck backlash next week because this weekend’s game isn’t going to look too good. I was told by a few people yesterday the Mountaineers are hoping for a crowd around 35,000 in a stadium that seats more than twice that.

Good thing hardly anyone else can see it on television!

Anyhow, the natural reaction is going to be a point-and-tsk in WVU’s direction for taking a game that could be played at home on the road or for playing a staged game against an inferior opponent. People will say the opportunity was there to play JMU at home and a better opponent at a neutral site, or other possibly true hypotheticals that will probably look good when placed next to what’s expected to happen Saturday.

I just don’t see WVU readying an apology or conceding anything. This is not only the way of the present, whether detractors like it or not, but it’s the way of the future. WVU has a non-dependent  guarantee for the game, meaning it makes $2.3 million no matter where it’s played, who the opponent is or how many tickets are sold.

WVU isn’t paying the opponent a guarantee, isn’t responsible for a ticket allotment, isn’t paying operation costs at Mountaineer Field and, as such, isn’t really worried about how this might look. Surely the Mountaineers want a sold-out FedEx Field. I want to cover the EPL. There’s a Rolling Stones song about this, I think.

But this is what it is and is what it had to be. Athletic Director Oliver Luck has seven home games, and though he could have had eight, there were expenses involved for both sides that he didn’t want to install. And which two teams among Marshall, JMU and Maryland do you want to see at home? This unique deal doesn’t exist for Marshall or Maryland — and even next year’s game against the Terrapins at M&T Bank Stadium is treated like a traditional road game.

The idea here with neutral-site games in pro stadiums is to schedule, as Luck said, “bowl games at the beginning of the year” and create matchups that might not otherwise exist.

“In my discussions with (Athletic Director) Jim Weaver, our only opportunity to play a Virginia Tech might be this kind of game because they are not really interested in a home-and-home,” Luck said. “It’s less of a commitment.”

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know your audience.

Josh24601 said:

Dana TROLLgorsen!

And didn’t you just know who’d take the bait?

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Geno Smith’s mad dash

by Mike Casazza

WVU’s Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback is not a fan of the dual-threat label or even the suggestion he’s now a running option — which is very different from running the option, but still maddening all the same.

I mean, it’s kind of funny how dismissive he is of the idea, and he’s right because he’s not looking to run. “Never have, never will,” he told me. Still, he knows an opportunity to run when he see sees one. And this Geno will take those opportunities and make something of them.

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WVU receives Ivan McCartney

September 13, 2012 by Mike Casazza

In what qualifies as a story here, Ivan McCartney did something in a football game. In fact, he caught a 52-yard pass, which actually trumps what he did in the final four games last season.

To be fair, and honest, I think it was probably a good sign, in that he dropped one pass — that would have still preceded a punt — and probably didn’t go all out on another pass, but the coaches still had him out there long after the game had been decided.

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Isaiah Bruce lets loose

by Mike Casazza

College debut. Big 12 Conference defensive player of the week. Fumble return touchdown. Sixteen tackles. Say hello to linebacker Isaiah Bruce, who erupted in his first college game after redshirting last season and wondering what it would be like to play for WVU.

Never did he dream, or dare to dream, about making the 16 tackles he would make.

“Not even close,” he said. “That was a pretty good start.”

Pretty good, yes, but do you know what’s better than 16 tackles? Twenty-one tackles.

“If he played a little more under control, he would have had more than 20 tackles,” said WVU’s linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator, Keith Patterson. “He missed five tackles where he was totally out of control.”

If the debut seems too good to be true, if Patterson sounds as though he expects more from Bruce, understand that both coach and player see something special down the road.

YNTA: Episode 2 (Update w/ transcript)

by Mike Casazza

We chat again at 11 a.m. Watch me try to discuss an opponent even though I know nothing — and have been given nothing to know — about them. The fun has already started. Don’t be late.

(If you were late, here’s the replay).