Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which just stuffed a pair of galoshes in its carry-on. I love a parade and hate when it rains. Having written a dozen stories on the topic now, I’m pretty well convinced tomorrow night, under the ideal conditions, would be a pretty neat college football game.
You have the ESPN2 stage and the big crowd, which WVU doesn’t see a lot of, but there’s so much more. Casteel v. Malzahn seems chessy to me and Jeff Mullen coached against Auburn’s D.C., Ted Roof, many years in the ACC. There’s something genuinely intriguing about the Mountaineers against a SEC team and about the Mountaineers doing what they now do. Add Auburn and what it does and you’ve got a fun little game, yes?
Trivia question: When was the last them WVU was a regular-season underdog? The loss at Louisville in 2006.
Honest/trivia question: When was the last time WVU played a football game known as the passing team? Serious. You might say the last game of the Nehlen Era, but Ole Miss was pretty good through the air that year. Maybe a year earlier against Navy? I don’t know. Just throwing it out there.
It’s an interesting dynamic, to be sure, especially when you see just how well Auburn, obsessed last year with installing a spread offense, is running it. Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to think those ground stats are a little overrated — opposition, game situation, Wildcat — whereas WVU’s gotten its scores, leads and wins through the air. There may be a difference in there, though I’m not sure. That’s why we gather tomorrow night. And in the oddest twist, rain, so long as it’s not a monsoon, tends to favor a passing offense because the quarterback and receiver know where they’re going whereas the defenders do not.
And don’t look now, but if the underdogs come out on top, there’s a very real chance they’re 7-0 when they travel to South Florida on Halloween weekend. So tune in and, please, text your quips and observations from game day. We call it Texts from Game Day.
Onto the Feedback and then Auburn, where I’lll be interested to see if it is, indeed, the Loveliest Village on the Plains. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, be diligent.
thacker said:
[…] one was that goofy sweaty-hands fumble by Brown
How vulnerable is Brown’s style of running? How soon will an opposing defense key on such a vulnerability?
3rd image … http://charlestondailymail.com/Sports/WVUFootball/200909130392
Excellent point, valid concern. He’s got big hands though. Just saying.
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