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

WVU v. Kansas State: Look up in the sky!

December 8, 2011 by Mike Casazza

WICHITA, Kan. — Welcome to the live game blog, everyone. You are looking live at one of the culprits behind WVU’s travel troubles yesterday.

A plane was supposed to travel from Minneapolis to Clarksburg yesterday and pick up the Mountaineers and take them here. That plan was compromised by a low ceiling and visibility issues and the plane was nearly re-routed to Pittsburgh, which meant WVU was also headed to Pittsburgh to meet the plane.

Both plane and team were spared and the conditions improved enough to send the charter to Clarksburg. On the way, the plane hit a bird and that collision sent the entire operation through a lengthy process of paperwork and protocol before the plane could leave again. That kept WVU from landing until just before 2 a.m. CST.

It’s 7:51 pm here and my work here is done. Brand new arena has awful WiFi. Enjoy!

This ought to be fun

by Mike Casazza

WVU was supposed to be in Wichita early enough yesterday to do some stuff on the ground there and eat a meal at about 10 p.m. The Mountaineers didn’t land in Wichita until a little before 3 a.m. There’s never good timing for flight trouble — See: Tournament, NCAA 2009 — and this is just awful timing. WVU plays at 9 p.m. ET  tonight on ESPN2 and then plays host to Miami at 7 p.m. Saturday. It’s early on, but the Mountaineers really can’t go 0-2 and hope to make enough of the non-conference schedule and RPI to put to use toward the NCAA Tournament.

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Programming update

December 7, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Sorry for slacking and making this a slow week here, but it hasn’t been a slow week for me everywhere. I’ll explain things soon and it will all make sense, but thanks for hanging in and for keeping things humming in the comments.

I mean, I was going to post that Tavon Austin made the CBSSports.com All-American team as neither the punt or kickoff return man, but as the quizzical all-purpose return man, but you beat me to it.

We’ll be back to normal soon and I’ll be killing it from the Orange Bowl, but I’ll be a ghost tomorrow — and there’s a good explanation for that, too. Catch me on press row for the live game blog, but help me, too. I’ll be on deadline so I’ll need you once again to do the heavy lifting.

Call the airline, cancel the flight!

by Mike Casazza

Clairvoyant dolphin Sundance picks WVU over Clemson … or maybe it just has a thing for the Luck family.

Um, the Belk Bowl is kind of better than the Sugar Bowl

by Mike Casazza

Here’s your annual list of swag the bowls give student-athletes this season. The games are allowed to reward the players with up to $550 in prizes and you can see some games do all they can to get as close to the cap as possible — I’m looking at you Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

“OK, we’ve got the PlayStation 3, the Oakley Eyepatch 2, and Oakley backpack duffel … what’s that come to, Mark?”
“My math says $545.50, sir.”
“OK, throw in a mini-helmet. And we’re done.”

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Bailey to Alston: You raise me up

December 6, 2011 by Mike Casazza

I’m aware the catch Stedman Bailey makes here is just ridiculous. I know Tyler Bitancurt’s field goal won the game. I just happen to think the first is perhaps forgotten and the second never happens if Shawne Alston doesn’t keep his head on and save the day in between.

“I was just trying to do something smart,” Alston said. “I knew we didn’t have any timeouts left.”

In retrospect …

December 5, 2011 by Mike Casazza

… twas quite a finish Thursday night. Take a walk with the players as they retrace their steps in the final 10:10 in Tampa.

Your Orange Bowl broadcast teams

by Mike Casazza

ESPN: Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski and Lisa Salters.
ESPN Radio: Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore and Quint Kessenich.

Dabo expects points, doesn’t seem to like defense

by Mike Casazza

The Orange Bowl is now set and we’ll get to know the matchup and the actors over time, but the early indication is to expect what you might expect when two potent offenses and two enabling defenses share the field.

“Offense is I think what people want to see, but the only way to win a game is defensively to stop people,” Holgorsen said.

They teams also are similarly troubled on defense. Clemson is No. 62 in scoring defense (26.15 points per game) and allowed 30 or more points six times. WVU is No. 63 in scoring defense (26.25) and allowed 30 or more points five times.

“You never know what to expect when you have a month off,” Swinney said. “Often times the defense is a little bit further ahead early in the game. But I’d be surprised if there’s not some points scored in this one. I don’t think it’s going to be a 6-3 ball game like maybe some other games. This should be an exciting game for the fans.”

Texts From USF Game Day

December 2, 2011 by Mike Casazza

No chats for two weeks. No F Double for two weeks. Weekday games [reek] and travel doesn’t help. But don’t be mad. I come with TFGD and the best, clearest and most obvious reason why we do this.

I mean, that was a blast, right? That game last night had more swings than the Dunlap twins after dad slugs his sixth cup of coffee and pushes the tandem stroller to the neighborhood playground. The texts show it, too. Love and hate, fury and sadness, despair and elation. Aaaah, good stuff, all of you.

I enjoyed going through them all because, on my level, I could relate. For me, it was impossible to write for two reasons:

1) Wholly unpredictable
2) Very entertaining

Those are the best games. It wasn’t artistic, not at all, but it was entertaining, especially late. I couldn’t keep my eyes on it because I was writing … and yet I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. That was drama. That was fun. That was your time capsule game for this season for WVU, though with some updates for the end of this regular season.

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