Week 5 Blog Poll

1. Florida (2) 82
2. Virginia Tech 81
3. Alabama (1) 80
4. LSU 78
Texas 78
6. Iowa (1) 75
7. Texas Christian 74
8. Cincinnati 63
9. Boise State 61
10. Oregon 55
11. Georgia 54
12. Houston 49
USC 49
14. Michigan 41
15. South Carolina 35
16. Oklahoma 32
Penn State 32
18. Auburn 29
19. Kansas 27
20. Miami 25
21. BYU 23
22. Arizona 22
23. South Florida 21
24. UCLA 18
25. West Virginia 15
tOSU 15

Others Receiving votes: Minnesota 14, North Carolina 13, Oklahoma State 12, Missouri 12, Georgia Tech 06, Connecticut 05, Ole Miss 04, Utah 04, Cal 03

Basketball Pre-Season

I know it's early. But I thought I'd jump at the chance with football having an idle week to look at what's coming. In the next couple of weeks all the big publications will be coming out with the pre-season basketball picks. I just looked online, Andy Katz has the Mountaineers at #9 competing with Villanova (#4) for Big East supremacy.

I have to admit, I'm a little giddy with excitement about the upcoming season. If we can get consistent play from the point (on and off the court) I think we can compete with anyone. I know Joe was re-instated, anyone know the status of Bryant? Devin Ebanks is already starting to see the pub. I hope he and Da'Sean can keep their heads about them as the spotlight gets brighter. I haven't seen many Ebanks interviews but his body language on court has always been very cool and level headed. Butler seems more of a candidate show his emotions and have ups and downs.

Looking forward to season, should be a lot of fun to watch.

War Eagle snatches victory from Mountaineers!!!

Lot's to be said about this game. WVU played very well at times. Auburn was very opportunistic and executed when it mattered. My hope is that this game becomes a learning experience for our quarterback. All is not lost with this loss. We got to see the best of the WVU and the least desirable. I said in my analysis of the game earlier this week that if WVU executes WVU wins. I stand by that statement. When we executed we dominated. When we had miscues they were costly. We need this team to come home, practice hard, eliminate miscues and prepare for a very entertaining season to come. Buffs are next on list so lets go get them.

DaGeek

Week 3 Blog Poll

1. Florida (4) 100 (2-0)
2. Texas 91 (2-0)
USC 91 (2-0)
4. Bama 86 (2-0)
5 PSU 83 (2-0)
6. Ole Miss 78 (2-0)
7. LSU 75 (2-0)
8. BYU 74 (2-0)
9. Cal 72 (2-0)
10. tOSU 58 (1-1)
11. TCU 52 (2-0)
12. Ga Tech 51 (2-0)
Cinci 51 (2-0)
14. Boise ST49 (2-0)
15. Utah 48 (2-0)
16. VPI 46 (1-1)
17. OU 45 (1-1)
18. WVU 34 (2-0)
19. Nebraska 28 (2-0)
20. Houston 27 (2-0)
21. Miami 25 (2-0)
22. UNC 21 (2-0)
23. OkySt 18 (1-1)
24. Oregon St15 (2-0)
25. Kansas 11 (2-0)

Others receiving points in poll:
Missouri 10, sPitt 10, UGA 07, Michigan 04, USAFA 03, USF 03, Baylor 02, Auburn 01
New Comers: Nebraska, Houston, Oregon St., Kansas
Falling out of Poll:
FSU, USF, sPitt

Well it is back down South for the Mountaineers!!! Some football against SEC... Auburn here we come.

This game to me is pretty simple. We execute our offense we win. Auburn is built for Defense and for speed at skill on offense. They have a solid offensive line. I however believe that our offense can outscore theirs. The question comes down to execution. I don't think we can continue to get the penalties that we have accumulated over the last two weeks. I don't think that we can go backwards much at all in this game. However, I think we have a special quarterback and some stellar players at the skill positions. This leads me to believe that "SEC speed" is nothing to get too worked up about.

What this weekend is for the Mountaineers is the same that it is for most of the Big East, an opportunity to shine in the spotlight. In recent history, Mountaineer nation has been blessed with some entertaining and successful displays of football versus the SEC. Let us hope that that run continues in Alabama on Saturday night (7:45 kickoff). We are given only so many chances to shine out of conference and on the big stage. Mr. Brown and the men need to take this chance and vault us back into the national spotlight. A WVU win would mean that we have legitimize ourselves yet again and it would make those pollsters begrudgingly take notice of us.

I predict success. The "Queen Car­i­oca " from the SignalCaller.com calls for a 26 24 WVU win. I say that the final score of Saturdays game will be Eers 38 Tigers 24.

DaGeek

East Carolina

Just a thought on E. Carolina. After watching us strugle against their offense the past couple of years and even watching our offense with White and Slaton struggle, I was thinking what do we have to do differently strategically against this team?

I think the answer on the defensive side lies with getting to Pinkney. He was able to dink and dunk pass up and down the field last year. He's mobile and buys time with his feet. He doesn't throw long accurately, but he's good for 10 yds. So it seems to me with have to contain him first. Then we have to put pressure on with varying blitz packages. ECUs quick little scat backs are more likely to swing out to the flats than to stay in on protection so timing is everything. JT Thomas should be lining up all over the place and blitzing as often as he drops back into coverage.

Offense is a much different story. Rich Rod would continue to bang his head against the wall until something finally broke. It was usually Slaton or White on a long run. ECU seemed to be able to contain. (along with Pitt, but I digress). The smaller quicker defenses, including ECU and South Florida need to be attacked vertically. Run the ball down hill. I think we've already got a glimpse of this in week 1 lining up with a fullback. What a concept?! It worked on a couple of short yardage situations against Liberty but this isn't Liberty. This week should be a sign of things to come against Colorado, Auburn and Syracuse in the coming weeks. Say what you want about Auburn and Syracuse but defense wasn't their former coaches weaknesses!

Word is we have a number of big name recruits coming this weekend (Rivals Radio). This is an important game for this year and probably for a few to come.

Week 2 Blog Poll

1. Florida 100(4) (1-0)

2. OkySt 86 (1-0)

3. Bama 81 (1-0)

4. Texas 80 (1-0)

5. PSU 78 (1-0)

USC 78 (1-0)

7. LSU 73 (1-0)

8. tOSU 62 (1-0)

BYU 62 (1-0)

10. Ole Miss59 (1-0)

11. Boise ST55 (1-0)

l2. Utah 52 (1-0)

13. Cal 49 (1-0)

14. Cinci 47 (1-0)

15. WVU 37 (1-0)

16. VPI 36 (0-1)

TCU 36 (1-0)

18. OU 34 (0-1)

19. Ga Tech29 (1-0)

20. UNC 26 (1-0)

21. Miami 25 (1-0)

22. sPitt 27 (1-0)

23. USF 19 (1-0)

UGA 19 (0-1)

25. Flor St.08 (0-1)

Receiving Points: Oregon St 06,USAFA05, Mich State04,Nebraska04,ND03

WVU douses the Flames 33 20.

Above Immage from WVSports.com.
While the mood at Puskar Stadium seemed a bit underwhelmed, the Mountaineers took care of the most important task of the day, winning. Liberty with its superstar athlete also named Brown came in with a solid well coached game plan and gave the Mountaineer Defense a challenge. Of course some of that challenge could be left at the foot of the kickoff teem. As they gave the Flames an average starting spot of the 33 yard line. But nevertheless the Eers were able to score more points and really had a pretty impressive offensive day. We got to see Ryan Clark carry the ball for five yards on 3 carries, but those were "short yardage yards" that we simply didn't pick up last season and they did account for one TD. We got to See Noel Devine rush for a TD and 112 yards on 17 carries. And we got to get reintroduced to our newest Star Jarret Brown. He accounted for 243 passing yards with 19 completions on 26 attempts, and 69 rushing yards with a Touchdown. All day long he made good decisions with one particularly good decision when he read cover 0 by the flame defense. He simply scampered straight up the middle for not just a big gainer but a score. Yes sports fans he can run too. He also spread the ball around to Joche Sanders (8-95), Alric Arnet (1-22), Tuler Urben (2-49), Wes Lyons (2-31)(Lyonns strained a hamstring but appears to be held out simply as a precaution for rest of game.), Noel Devine (3-9), Bradley Starks (2-34) and newcomer Tavon Austin (1-3). All in all a very nice performance from the 5th year Senior.
Image from Charleston Gazette.

The resounding negative of the game as mentioned above was kick off coverage. They were in mid-season form, unfortunately I am referring to last years mid season. This needs to be corrected asap as the Mountaineers can ill afford to give teams that kind of field position.

All and all though the Eers got this job done. Now on to East Carolina.

DaGeek

Bitancurt Ties record in win over Liberty.

(Above Image from WVSports.com) One of the places of concern all spring and fall camp was what are we going to do about field goals. Who was going to replace Pat McAfee? The answer came yesterday as Mountaineer Nation had its official introduction to Tyler Bitancurt. Bitancurt tied a Milan Puskar Stadium record with field goals of 38, 35, 45 and 36 yards. The last time a Mountaineer kicker made four field goals in a game was McAfee against Rutgers in 2006. That is right not only did he come in and do his job, he didn't miss a kick and tied one of the most decorated kickers to ever don the Jersey. Not a bad debut for the Red Shirt Frosh.

DaGeek

Mountaineers making NFL Rosters:

PAT WHITE is a Dolphin
RYAN MUNDY is a Pittsburgh Steeler.
DARIUS REYNAUD is a Minnesota Viking
ELLIS LANKSTER is a Buffalo Bill
MARC BULGER remains a Ram
STEVE SLATEN remains a Texan
OWEN SCHMITT remains a Seahawk
PAT MCAFEE is a Colt
Congrats to those making a roster. Good luck to those that were waived.

Morty Ivy was waived from the Carolina Panthers

As more information becomes available I shall update this list.

Week 1 Blog Rankings

1. Florida 125 (5)

2. Texas 113

3. Virginia Tech 98

4. Ole Miss 92
tie Penn State 92
tie Oklahoma 92

7. Okla. State 90

8. tOSU 83
tie LSU 83

10. Bama 81

11. USC 71

12. Utah 69

13. Cal 66

14. Boise St. 61

15. Oregon 53

16. FSU 48

17. UGA 46

18. BYU 37

19. TCU 35

20. WVU 31

21. Ga. Tech 22
tie USF 22

23. sPitt 21

24 UNC 20

25. Iowa 13

Others Receiving Points: Rutgers 10, Cincy 10, ND 10, Oregon St. 8, Miami 6, Kansas 5, Air Force 3, Mich St. 3, Illinois 2, Texas Tech 2, Nebraska 2

Points are tallied on a 25 pt descending order basis. A first place vote yields 25 pts. a 25th place vote yields 1 pt. 5/6 of the writers have participated in poll to date and that is what is published.

"The Signal Caller" Jed Drenning's new website...

Jed Drenning former Kennedy Award Winner, and current sideline announcer for Mountaineer Sports Network has embarked upon a new and exciting project know as "THE SIGNAL CALLER." His football pedigree is self explanatory just look at the image, which answers the question "the signal who?" When asked what is this page all about, he responded, "This site is for the football enthusiast, who reads the entire newspaper not just the Sports Section."

This site is stocked full of all kinds of content: From breaking down the Big East 1> Questions around the Big East as 2009 gets underway, to giving the most comprehensive breakdown to coaching the spread offense (It should be noted that he was one of the innovators of this concept as he was the "Signal Caller" for Rich Rodriguez at Glenville State College) 2> Coaching the Spread, to giving the avid listener to Sports Radio Talk Show the cheat sheet that is used by the "experts," 3> Radio Cheat Sheet , and my personal favorite 4>The Armchair Q-Bot which Jed has created to give a QB rating system from the QB's perspective.

This site also gives the reader links to sites around the Internet, these sites are invaluable in getting the "rest of the story." I am quite certain that this site will be entertaining, informative, and a great way to supplement the knowledge of the football enthusiast. You can reach his site from the many links above and the link to the same on the right side of this blog.

Congrats to Jed on today's launch. I highly recommend that you the football enthusiast peruse this page, but I warn you you will be reading and clicking there for some time to come.

DaGeek

West Virginia gears up for opener against Liberty. And DaGeek is ready for some football!

Well football fans the wait is almost over. Put up and/or shut up time is upon us. Tonight is the first Coach Stew show. It begins at 7:06 and concludes at 9:00. Cheep food is being promoted on the radio to draw a crowd to the Waterfront Hotel. The question on everyone's mind? What are we going to see from this football team this year? I am guessing ole Stew is going to give us some insight into that tonight, and we might have a little better handle on that after kickoff at noon this weekend.

What I expect to see from this team on Saturday is a 3 to 4 score win, and plenty of snaps from the second team. For most of the fall we have heard these concerns: O-Line, Kicking Game, Special Teams in general, Secondary, and transition from Pat White to J. Brown. We have been told repeatedly in the media that the strong suits for this team are: Defense, receiving corp, and Noel Devine. But what we really don't know is: How do those parts add up to for the up-coming fall? Finally we are going to get a taste of that answer.

I am hopeful that these Seniors are looking to the task at hand. My guess is that Liberty is not coming into to Morgantown to lose. I am hopeful that the Offensive Line has been reading all the press clippings and are motivated enough, and prepared well enough, to erase every word. I am hopeful that this team is going to begin a very special run beginning this Saturday. I have opined earlier in this blog and I forecasted a Big East championship caliber run. I believe that WVU's 5th year senior, QB, Jerrett Brown is ready to lead this offense and I know for certain that Reed Williams is ready to lead this defense. I simply ask that those who shall be in attendance, please come with your game faces on. Please, give this team the kind of support that a championship team deserves. Finally, please wear that gold and let's bring on the Mountaineers!!!

DaGeek

To follow tomorrow:

The release of Jed Drenning's Web Site, "The Signal Caller"
WVLAWGEEK's weekly football poll.
Starting lineups and injury notes for the weekend if any.