Some small tidbits direct from http://msnsportsnet.com/
- An Outside the Lines crew has been following Da’Sean Butler since he injured his knee in the Final Four against Duke. Now, Butler’s feature will finally air on ESPN2 this Sunday at 9 a.m. so be sure to set your DVRs.
Also, read this from NBA.com: A knee injury hobbles Da’Sean Butler, but does not end his NBA dream … http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/scott_howard_cooper/06/11/dasean.butler.feature/?ls=iref:nbahpt1
- Devin Ebanks worked out for the Indiana Pacers earlier this week. Ebanks also has workouts scheduled with Atlanta, Milwaukee, Orlando and Memphis. All of those teams have late picks in the first round with the exception of Milwaukee, which picks 15th.
AP sports writer Cliff Brunt caught up with Ebanks earlier this week … http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2010-06-15-3782139494_x.htm
- The Big East is refuting an Orlando TV station report stating invitations to Central Florida and Memphis are imminent … http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/06/17/big-east-dismisses-ucf-memphis-expansion-report/
- ESPN Blogger Brian Bennett is picking his top 25 players in the Big East this year … http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/tag/_/name/top-25-players-2010
So far, Bennett has unveiled three WVU players – Chris Neild at No. 17, J.T. Thomas at No. 15, and today, Jock Sanders at No. 13. I will say this, I know it is tough picking a top 25 for anything, but if there are 16 better players in the Big East than Chris Neild I would love to see them. In fact, if there are 10 better players in this conference than Neild then the Big East is in for one heck of a year.
- The word from some of the players over at the Puskar Center is that freshman quarterback Jeremy Johnson has been the real deal during 7-of-7s. One veteran defensive player even brought up the name Pat White when asked to give a comparison.
Hmm.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Worst time of the year....
I hate the offseason. I don't follow the NBA, I HATE watching baseball...If it weren't for the Arena league and NCAA Football on XBOX 360 I think Id hang myself.
Yes, I realize that its been nearly 2 years since Ive posted anything here and that all 3 readers I had at that time have forgotten about me, but Im looking forward to starting this project back up and being as active as I can this season.
A lot has happened since my last post. Pat white finished his career in high style against North Carolina in the Car Care bowl, having the best passing game of his entire career and becoming the only QB in NCAA history to start and win 4 bowl games during his college career. Now hes moved on to the NFL and is trying to prove he deserves to be one of the Dolphins 3 QBs this season.
Last season we saw Jarrett Brown take over the reins at QB1 after waiting ever so patiently behind #5. The season had its highs and lows but, for the most part, was a success. Barring an injury to Jarrett, WVU probably goes on to win the aptly named Bowden Bowl and complete a 10 win season.
However things didn't work out that way and we must move on. One good thing that did come out the rollercoaster season is some very valuable game experience for sophomore quarterback Geno Smith(who I think is the next big thing at WVU, along with Tavon Austin). Most of his action came in games when Brown was injured, most notably Marshall when he went 15/21 for 147 yards and 1 TD, including this beauty to Alric Arnett.
Coming into the spring months Geno Smith once again injured his foot and was kept out of the majority of spring practice. He did get some valuable reps in the 7-on-7 drills where it's said that he really shined. The spring game was just too soon for him to go into live-game action, however, so Coley White stepped into his role and played QB1 for both sides. Although we all wanted to see what Geno could do, Coley showed that big brother isnt the only one in the family with some razzle-dazzle. Though he had some tough sledding with the 2's, he went off with the Blue team completing 16 of 25 passed for 162 yards and 3 touchdowns. He impressed so much that coach Stew was second guessing his idea to move Coley exclusively to receiver. I think we all remember when Adam Bednarik went down and some kid named White, who no one had ever heard of, got his number called and the rest is history. All it takes is an opportunity.
Spring wasn't all rainbows and sunshine though. Rumors began to swirl that celebrated recruits Deon Long and, most notably, Logan Heastie were unhappy and would be leaving WVU. Everyone downplayed the stories and it was very hush hush but eventually it was revealed to be true. Bill Stewart didn't have much to say on the subject. He merely indicated that the pair didn't have the work ethic expected of them and that the staff was only concerned with the players who want to be here and that's that.
Fast forward past spring and into the dreaded offseason....nothing exciting is going on except...oh wait...conference expansion! Though it is interesting to think of how things could shape up and play out all the little scenarios and think about who could be playing who for what conference championship, Im pretty bored with the expansion chatter. For those of you that are tired of hearing it, good news came today in the form of a Longhorn. Texas declined an invitation to join the Pac-10 and has stated that the university will stay in the Big 12. Not long after Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M all pledged to stay with big brother, UT.
This is good news because the Pac-10 will not become the super-conference they had hoped and the Big 10 wont feel the need to compete(steal teams from the Big East) to stay afloat. Now that the Big Ten has 12 teams (Nebraska was a good add...this program will come back to national prominence)and the ability to have a conference championship - a.k.a make more money - I look for all the expansion hoopla to calm down a bit. The Pac 10 will probably try to find one more team to even themselves up and also have the ability to put on a championship game but I think the storm has settled for now.
Though rumor is the Big Ten is still eying the Big East...mostly Rutgers....aye aye aye.
Yes, I realize that its been nearly 2 years since Ive posted anything here and that all 3 readers I had at that time have forgotten about me, but Im looking forward to starting this project back up and being as active as I can this season.
A lot has happened since my last post. Pat white finished his career in high style against North Carolina in the Car Care bowl, having the best passing game of his entire career and becoming the only QB in NCAA history to start and win 4 bowl games during his college career. Now hes moved on to the NFL and is trying to prove he deserves to be one of the Dolphins 3 QBs this season.
Last season we saw Jarrett Brown take over the reins at QB1 after waiting ever so patiently behind #5. The season had its highs and lows but, for the most part, was a success. Barring an injury to Jarrett, WVU probably goes on to win the aptly named Bowden Bowl and complete a 10 win season.
However things didn't work out that way and we must move on. One good thing that did come out the rollercoaster season is some very valuable game experience for sophomore quarterback Geno Smith(who I think is the next big thing at WVU, along with Tavon Austin). Most of his action came in games when Brown was injured, most notably Marshall when he went 15/21 for 147 yards and 1 TD, including this beauty to Alric Arnett.
Coming into the spring months Geno Smith once again injured his foot and was kept out of the majority of spring practice. He did get some valuable reps in the 7-on-7 drills where it's said that he really shined. The spring game was just too soon for him to go into live-game action, however, so Coley White stepped into his role and played QB1 for both sides. Although we all wanted to see what Geno could do, Coley showed that big brother isnt the only one in the family with some razzle-dazzle. Though he had some tough sledding with the 2's, he went off with the Blue team completing 16 of 25 passed for 162 yards and 3 touchdowns. He impressed so much that coach Stew was second guessing his idea to move Coley exclusively to receiver. I think we all remember when Adam Bednarik went down and some kid named White, who no one had ever heard of, got his number called and the rest is history. All it takes is an opportunity.
Spring wasn't all rainbows and sunshine though. Rumors began to swirl that celebrated recruits Deon Long and, most notably, Logan Heastie were unhappy and would be leaving WVU. Everyone downplayed the stories and it was very hush hush but eventually it was revealed to be true. Bill Stewart didn't have much to say on the subject. He merely indicated that the pair didn't have the work ethic expected of them and that the staff was only concerned with the players who want to be here and that's that.
Fast forward past spring and into the dreaded offseason....nothing exciting is going on except...oh wait...conference expansion! Though it is interesting to think of how things could shape up and play out all the little scenarios and think about who could be playing who for what conference championship, Im pretty bored with the expansion chatter. For those of you that are tired of hearing it, good news came today in the form of a Longhorn. Texas declined an invitation to join the Pac-10 and has stated that the university will stay in the Big 12. Not long after Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M all pledged to stay with big brother, UT.
This is good news because the Pac-10 will not become the super-conference they had hoped and the Big 10 wont feel the need to compete(steal teams from the Big East) to stay afloat. Now that the Big Ten has 12 teams (Nebraska was a good add...this program will come back to national prominence)and the ability to have a conference championship - a.k.a make more money - I look for all the expansion hoopla to calm down a bit. The Pac 10 will probably try to find one more team to even themselves up and also have the ability to put on a championship game but I think the storm has settled for now.
Though rumor is the Big Ten is still eying the Big East...mostly Rutgers....aye aye aye.
Friday, October 10, 2008
To sum it all up...
What can I say? I'm negligent (Im actually just really busy and have restricted Internet access)...but lets be honest...in the past couple of weeks I haven't had too many good things to write about. The Mountaineers drop an overtime heart breaker to the Colorado Buffs on national TV on a Thursday night. The Old Gold and Blue gave up 166 rushing yards to freshman Rodney Stewart. (Hes 1 of only seven rushers the Mountaineers have allowed to reach 100 yards in their last 43 games.) In return, Pat White and Noel Devine combined to rush 45 times for 271 yards...but unfortunately only 2 of those 45 went for TDs and the Mountaineers would not get another score as Patrick was held to only 43 yards through the air and Pat McAfee missed a FG in overtime...
Thundering Herd to the rescue! With the season in doubt, irate fans calling for the coaches head and a team struggling to find an identity, (and hopefully some wins)the Mountaineers were desperate to find themselves holding the advantage on the scoreboard at the end of the day.
Marshall arrived in Morgantown with an 0-7 record all-time against the Mountaineers and they would leave 0-8. The Mountaineers looked much improved in this game on both sides of the ball. In a game that was slow and somewhat boring and seemed as though neither team was doing much of anything, one team did. Pat White & Co. slowly and steadily racked up 493 yards of total offense with 319 of that coming on the ground. Patrick was very efficient, passing 17/21 for 130 yards and 2 TDs while Devine kept the Herd scrambling around, making poor attempts to tackle him while he tallied up 125 yards and 1 TD (his first of the year) on a mere 14 carries.
Defense was the story here, though, as, on the other side of the ball, Reed Williams had another good games leading the team with 11 tackles, 2 of those for loss. The defense as a whole forced 3 turnovers and the Marshall to a mere 158 yards of total offense. All-in-all it was a solid performance from the mountaineers as they defeated Marshall 27-3.
- As Rutgers was headed to town, opinions varied about how the game would turn out. Some said it should be a blowout because Rutgers wasnt playing very well and had beaten only one opponent this season: Morgan State. Others thought the game would be much closer.
The game was much closer and the Scarlet Knights wouldnt go down without a fight, losing only by a touchdown, 24-17. Without Reed Williams (who will redshirt this year in an attempt to get healthy and play next year)WVU gave up 270 yards to the Knights, 198 of that coming through the air. The Mountaineers outperformed them slightly though, tallying 333 yards - 158 passing and 175 rushing. They built a 14 point lead and sealed a 7 point victory when Scooter Berry batted down a Mike Teel pass on 4th and 5 to take the ball away with 1:34 left in the game and the Mountaineers would run out the clock.
Things are looking up as the defense is hitting its stride and making up for the underachieving offense. If they continue to get better each week a Big East championship is still possible for WVU.
Next up: Syracuse
Thundering Herd to the rescue! With the season in doubt, irate fans calling for the coaches head and a team struggling to find an identity, (and hopefully some wins)the Mountaineers were desperate to find themselves holding the advantage on the scoreboard at the end of the day.Marshall arrived in Morgantown with an 0-7 record all-time against the Mountaineers and they would leave 0-8. The Mountaineers looked much improved in this game on both sides of the ball. In a game that was slow and somewhat boring and seemed as though neither team was doing much of anything, one team did. Pat White & Co. slowly and steadily racked up 493 yards of total offense with 319 of that coming on the ground. Patrick was very efficient, passing 17/21 for 130 yards and 2 TDs while Devine kept the Herd scrambling around, making poor attempts to tackle him while he tallied up 125 yards and 1 TD (his first of the year) on a mere 14 carries.
Defense was the story here, though, as, on the other side of the ball, Reed Williams had another good games leading the team with 11 tackles, 2 of those for loss. The defense as a whole forced 3 turnovers and the Marshall to a mere 158 yards of total offense. All-in-all it was a solid performance from the mountaineers as they defeated Marshall 27-3.- As Rutgers was headed to town, opinions varied about how the game would turn out. Some said it should be a blowout because Rutgers wasnt playing very well and had beaten only one opponent this season: Morgan State. Others thought the game would be much closer.
The game was much closer and the Scarlet Knights wouldnt go down without a fight, losing only by a touchdown, 24-17. Without Reed Williams (who will redshirt this year in an attempt to get healthy and play next year)WVU gave up 270 yards to the Knights, 198 of that coming through the air. The Mountaineers outperformed them slightly though, tallying 333 yards - 158 passing and 175 rushing. They built a 14 point lead and sealed a 7 point victory when Scooter Berry batted down a Mike Teel pass on 4th and 5 to take the ball away with 1:34 left in the game and the Mountaineers would run out the clock.
Things are looking up as the defense is hitting its stride and making up for the underachieving offense. If they continue to get better each week a Big East championship is still possible for WVU.
Next up: Syracuse
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Everything old is new again.
"After a week of getting back to basics, West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said this week the Mountaineers are going to get back to what has made it so successful the last three seasons: running the football.
Sophomore Noel Devine has had just 30 total touches in West Virginia's first two games against Villanova and East Carolina."
I think that is what everyone in Mountaineer country has wanted to hear. I'm not opposed to throwing the football, but I think the coaches need to let the ratio work itself out and throw the ball only when opportunistic or necessary. For West Virgina, the pass attack will be most effective on play-action plays after our ground game is established. Noel Devine is way too talented to get less than 10 carries a half and if given the opportunity he will shred defenses just as Super Steve did in '05 and '06 and just like Pat has done his whole career. Just give it time, it always works. 4 yards, 2 yards, 6, 1, -2...BAM! 60 yards for a touchdown faster than you can blink.
With a running game so dangerous, defenses have no choice but to load the box on first down and thats when you hit the play action and go over the top for 30 yards or more, then when they soften up, run it down their throats again. Its quite simple.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hate To Say I Told You So....
...But I warned people not to underestimate ECU. Many people I talked to were saying. "Yea, but Virginia Tech isn't the VT of old. They have QB issues and this and that and blah blah.".... yea well...surprise.
The Pirates are better than you thought and they're out to prove it. Patrick Pinkney has played more like Peyton Manning these first two weeks of the 2008 season. While his numbers aren't huge, its his decision making that's been outstanding. Pinkney went 22 of 28 (78%) for 236 yards and 1 touchdown against the Mountaineers. He posted similar numbers against the Hokies completing 19 of 23 passes (82.6%!) for 211 yards 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions. With decision making like that is it any wonder that our inexperienced DBs got shredded by #15? Our D-Line and LBs could do nothing to put pressure on Pinkney and he was as calm in the pocket as he would be in practice.
The Pirates are better than you thought and they're out to prove it. Patrick Pinkney has played more like Peyton Manning these first two weeks of the 2008 season. While his numbers aren't huge, its his decision making that's been outstanding. Pinkney went 22 of 28 (78%) for 236 yards and 1 touchdown against the Mountaineers. He posted similar numbers against the Hokies completing 19 of 23 passes (82.6%!) for 211 yards 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions. With decision making like that is it any wonder that our inexperienced DBs got shredded by #15? Our D-Line and LBs could do nothing to put pressure on Pinkney and he was as calm in the pocket as he would be in practice.
The look on Eain Smith's face tells
the story of what happened in Greenville.
I presented a question to fellow mountaineer fan and online community contributor, DougityDog. (You can find his youtube page here. ) I asked, "Dougity, was ECU that good today or were we just that bad?". He simply replied, "We are that bad. ECU is good."
I don't know if we are that bad...but we were for at least one saturday. No one could block. Our "Best Offensive line in the nation" got pushed around like the UHS JV vs. The Pittsburgh Steelers. Okay maybe not...but still pretty bad. Pat White got sacked 3 TIMES with minimal pressure. That was also due to the fact that he couldn't find anyone open down field, and if he did they dropped passes. Patrick was phenomenal against cupcake opponent Villanova, against which he completed 25/33 passes (75.8%) for 208 yards, 5 TDs and 1 interception off a deflected ball that should have been caught. There were at least 4 other dropped balls that day. Excellent day for Patrick.
Not this day though. This day he looked more like he was playing for Syracuse. Poor Pat completed 11 of 18 passes for a mere 72 yards and if it hadn't have been for a penalty that called it back, there was an interception in there too. It wasn't very often that #5 threw the ball down field. Most of the passes seemed to be 10 yards or shorter, and when they were beyond that, they were dropped. Ridiculous.
He also carried the ball 20 times for 97 yards, which isn't bad, but it could have been a lot better if half those weren't desperation runs where he didn't want to throw down field and would take off with every little gap he thought he saw, only to be caught after only a few short yards, if any at all.
We also didn't try very hard to establish the running game which I though working decently when we did run it. Noel had a couple of nice runs, but even on those he had to do most of the work, breaking tackles behind the line because the play wasn't executed very well as far as the blocking scheme. In my opinion, we should have taken the ball first, established the run to open the play action pass and set the tone on the opening drive. Instead we elected to play defense first, got steamrolled, panicked and with a little help from the officials (I'm not even going to get into that) found ourselves in a hole 17-0.
Actually I will get into the officiating...it was pretty fair as far as the amount of penalties...ECU got called for a bunch of holding calls...we got a personal foul and whatnot...but how about dumb calls concerning the spot of the ball? Everyone in that stadium could see, whether they want to admit it or not, that Pinkney got nowhere near where they spotted that ball. JT Thomas came flying over the top, nailed him right in the shoulder and stopped him dead. He should have been at least a yard short....and then theres the "fumble". The thing that bothered me most about this call was not the call itself. It was questionable. Admit it. The thing that bothered me most was that no one bothered to review the damn play! Why the hell not!? Ridiculous..I love Bill but his QB is telling every member of the staff that it wasn't a fumble and no one believed him enough to make the call to challenge the play.
Cant put all the blame on the coaches for that one, though. I credit Pat for making the extra effort to get the first down, but come on! You cant put the ball out there in the open like that, Pat. Seniors cant do that crap. If you re gonna make the extra effort, tuck that ball to your chest and dive. If you come up short, its only by inches and you can probably convert.
I don't know. Ive lost my train of thought. Overall, our performance was terrible. Noel is the only one I didn't see make a huge mistake. Pat wasn't at his best. WRs dropped passes and didn't block well. O-Line was awful. Jock fumbled. The defense as a whole got run all over by C-USA RBs. The D-Line got shoved around as much as their offensive counterpart. Linebackers seemed to be non-existent as the ECU 'backs constantly made their way to the secondary who didn't defend the pass any better, possibly worse than the 2006 secondary that got shredded by offenses and analysts on a weekly basis. Did I mention that no one could tackle on any level? Christ.
I don't know whats left to say. We've got a bye week that will allow us extra time to prepare for Colorado. Hows that game going to play out? I don't know. I could go over all the things they could fix, but Ill just say this; If play opposite of the way the played against ECU, they'll be great. If they don't improve greatly in that game, we're in for a long thursday night...
Settling In
So this is my new layout and the one Ill be using for a while. No guarentee it wont change..No matter. Ill be adding little tidbits here and there...photos, schedules, links...all things mountaineer related. Hopefully I can attract some readers and a few of you will stick around.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Kickoff
Well...I randomly decided to start a blog dedicated to analysis and discussion of WVU football and basketball. As of now Ill be on my way out to work soon. Ill probably be working on layout and whatnot tonight..hopefully in a day or two I can have this thing up and running and looking professional.
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