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

NYcap

Ah, you remember those, right? Two years ago WVU departed the team buses that took them to Raymond James Stadium for as big a regular-season game as it’d played in a long time wearing Yankees caps.

It remains one of those most inexplicable and indefensible things I’ve ever witnessed from a team I’ve covered. It also backfired and made an otherwise humble group of players look like something they’d tried not to be for quite some time.

It was pretty much the moment the Mountaineers decided to act liked they belonged, only they forgot to act like they’d been there before. Six turnovers, no offense and the recipient of a big-time bully treatment was their response.

For all this time, we simply thought it was the product of The Product’s insinuation his Mountaineers packed road stadiums like baseball’s Yankees. In some weird, warped and wacky way, it did make a speck of sense.

Turns out that wasn’t the design. At all.

The meaning, quarterback Jarrett Brown said, was found in the “N.Y.”

“It stood for ‘Not yet,’ ” the fifth-year senior from West Palm Beach, Fla., said. “We were ranked high and they were saying it was the biggest game they were going to play and they wanted to set their mark with that game.

“We were like, ‘Not yet.’ Whoops.”

Title? “Nine”

WVU is indeed ranked for just the third time ever in the preseason poll and is indeed a top-10 team.

9. West Virginia (23-12)
Points: 501. Final 2008-09 ranking: not ranked.
Outlook: Bob Huggins continues to recruit well, and the Mountaineers could be poised to take a big jump in the Big East. Forwards Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks and Wellington Smith provide strength up front. Truck Bryant and Joe Mazzulla
lend experience to the backcourt. Opens: Nov. 15 vs. Loyola (Md.).

Stew makes your dreams come true

This really hasn’t gotten enough attention, especially relative to the post below, but Bill Stewart is a semifinalist for the Bryant College Coach of the Year Award.  And, hey, if you had any concern about WVU’s ability to market candidates for awards, discard those now. Bill Stewart is a semifinalist, which seemed to surprise no one as much as it did Bill Stewart.

“They must be talking about some other Stewart coaching out west,” he said.

How abour a brief Stewart resume: two bowl wins, highest winning percentage in school history, best start in school history. Pretty good start for the lad.

Right about 3:11 Saturday afternoon, when UConn was all mixed up and didn’t know what to do to stop Noel Devine from winning that game, it became absolutely obvious No. 7 needed to be included in the Heisman Trophy discussion.

Is he leading the race? No. Will he win? Far too soon to say. Will he remain involved? His consistency this season suggests he will. His value to the offense insists he must.

Devine’s five career runs of at least 70 yards are the most in the country. No one else has at least 900 yards, 10 touchdowns and an average of 6.0 yards per carry this season. He’s No. 16 nationally in all-purpose yards (152.86) and tied for 11th in scoring (9.43 points per game).

The 5-foot-7, 175 pound junior from North Fort Myers, Fla., leads the Big East in that category and would be higher nationally if not for the convenient emergence of fullback Ryan Clarke as the team’s goal-line back.

“If there’s a better player in the country than No. 7,” Stewart said, “I have not seen him.”

A better player may indeed exist, but there might not be one more valuable to a team’s success. What Devine is doing for the 20th-ranked Mountaineers (6-1, 2-0 Big East) is one thing. When he’s done it is something very different.

This wasn’t a plea to generate some attention for Devine. It was to stay ahead of the wave because you knew it was coming. And it has. So what to do now?

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A serious, though not-so-simple question

Full disclosure: This started in jest. It was a silly question that soon gained substance. This isn’t about tossing pies in the direction of WVU.

There are times you watch the Mountaineers and wonder if this is a team above its level, below it, at it or merely fluctuating like a bobber just off the shores of an open lake.

You can’t argue with the record and the ranking. You can’t. The Mountaineers are good, but they continue to run through a haunted house while being chased by paranormal problems. They’re sprinting through the dark and looking over their shoulder and sooner or later you figure they’re going to run into a wall and fall hard. For the time being, this is one of the 20 best teams in the country and can only get better … provided it stays upright.

What you can manipulate is how the Mountaineers arrived here.

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With apologies to Rafiki, how about a taste of the past for lunch?

It’s the 1952 Industrial Bowl, presumably similar to the Friends of Coal Bowl in that it was played in the midst of the season between rivals. WVU defeated Washington & Lee, 31-13, that October 18th in the second-to-last game of a competitive, albeit one-sided rivalry.

The three-team race

I honestly do keep up on the Big East and perhaps this was so obvious I simply missed it. There are three teams unbeaten in Big East play — Pitt (4-0, Cincinnati (3-0) and WVU (2-0) — and they’re the only teams without two conference losses. Already. (Note: This did not just occur to me, but this is the first opportunity I had to write/post this … seriously. Cub and Boy scout honor.)

So, yeah, it’s out there for three teams to win with two possible and unlikely exceptions:

1) UConn gets hotter than vindaloo and runs the table while Pitt loses at least once since the Panthers already beat the Huskies. I liked UConn’spresence and persistence Saturday. Never did I get the feeling the Huskies could win that game. For real. Many of us sat there and said, “Do you think UConn can win this?” The unanimous response was to the negative.

2) USF forgets the fact it’s USF and surges toward the finish. The Bulls have to beat WVU Friday, but look good from there. They already played — and lost to — Cincinnati and Pitt, so they’ll need some help, but they have the “best” outside shot since the hard stuff is done if they win Friday.

Regardless (!), I don’t see either happening, meaning it’s between Pitt, Cincinnati and the Mountaineers, who all play one another the rest of the way, one at home and one on the road. The Bearcats would seem to have the edge — provided they get through their quarterback issues — if for no other reason than they continue to hold the top spot in the blog’s rankings.

1. Cincinnati (7-0, 3-0 Big East, LW No. 1): I don’t want to say The U.C.’s system is conducive to quarterback greatness, but Schotzie 3 is getting the start Saturday. Oh, and you need not wonder about life after Pike for the Bearcats. Up next: 10/31 at Syracuse (noon, ESPNU)

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ESPN first highlighted WVU’s reaction to and recognition of UConn’s plight. The Mountaineers fans were then lauded for staying classy Saturday.

Texts from UConn Game Day

Compact week for West Virginia. Lengthy edition of the Texts from Game Day. I’m not sure what our record was before this week, but whatever it was we hammered it. Sixty-five texts made the cut from the 117 I received. I have no idea if that’s impressive, but I find if you throw numbers out there, people are generally impressed. Six days without an arrest!

See?

Anyhow, fun little game Saturday that again seemed to be in line with the Mountaineers this season — just enough flaws and flurries to drive one crazy. At the end of that day, though, WVU was 6-1, 2-0 in the Big East and clearly in possession of one of the best players in the country. And that’s bad becasue…?

These texts really tied the room together. My edits are in [brackets].

(11:54 AM): There are currently more people on the field than in the student section.

(11:59 AM): Alumnus behind me singing his version of the alma mater: “money, send us your money …”

(12:08 PM): Pretty impressive moment of silence.

(12:11 PM): Um, i dont think tavon feels bad about that

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J.B. to start

That’s the word circulating the press box. In warmups, though, J.B. and Eu were taking simultaneous snaps and making throws to separate first-team receivers. UConn looked on, presumably confused. Ever the gamesman, Billy!

Speaking of games, I looked back and we shattered the record for comments this week. And by “shattered,” I mean eclipsed the previous total by more than 50. Let’s make it a double and shatter the record for texts in Texts From Game Day.

P.S.
I have no idea what that record is.