Weezie's Thoughts

First of all, let me congratulate the Mountaineers on what I believe is their greatest performance. Though they have dominated teams before and won big games, I can't recall them ever dominating a top tier program in this big of a game.

I understand everyone's thoughts on the decision to hire Coach Stewart. I've been impatiently awaiting for them to name someone the coach as timing was getting to be a little worrisome, but I wouldn't be so cynical regarding the administrations process of hiring Stewart. Though it does seem like an emotional response, it wouldn't have been prudent to officially hire him prior to the game if they truly had been considering him all along. After listening to Coach Stew's press conferencet, he will be a welcome breath of fresh air from coaches that do nothing but double speak to the press. I think he would have spoken to the press all night long if they had let him.

Certainly head coaches receive too much blame for a loss and too much credit for a win. Coach Magee was instrumental in the play of the offense last night and enough credit can't be given to Coach Casteel on the job the defense did. After reading the article posted by Geek a while back on Coach Magee becoming a name that would soon be associated with programs searching for a new head coach, it leaves me to wonder, why wasn't he considered for the WVU position? Did he jump ship and sign on with Dick Rod too quickly? When Coach Stoops was asked if WVU had shown anything new offensively that they hadn't seen, his response was not really, maybe a couple slight wrinkles. We all saw the "slight wrinkles" in WVU's offensive game plan the other night and it has been something that most of us have been waiting for for quite some time. That is the true spread offense. One that stretches you all over the field vertically and horizontally. Nobody was ever asking Dick Rod to change his philosophy, but to just use all of the options that a veteran team can utilize in it. Pat White is by far the best player in the country, and it is actually a shame that he only got to showcase his greatness running the ball this year.

On another note, Coach Stoops was terrible in this game. It's often a cliche that officials could call holding on every play, but they really could have against OU. I think that some of the terrible holding penalties that weren't called was because the officials were truly getting tired of calling them and didn't want to be criticized for calling a holding penalty on every play. And most of the pressure that was being applied was not on blitzes but 3 and 4 man rushing schemes. If OU had figured out a way to block a 4 man rush without holding, their passing game would have likely kept the game much more competitive. And as I watched Pat White scramble for several first downs, I kept wondering what kind of idiot continues to blitz Pat White. That ranks up there with Steve Logan going for two at the end of regulation in '96 when we had missed several chip shot field goals.

As for other matters, there were a couple of interesting things during the bowl game. I usually don't enjoy watching the broadcasts on Fox as the announcers don't do any college football all year long and the coverage is usually awkward. However, whoever was doing the play-by-play this year was quite entertaining. The comments made when Berry and Dingle were sitting on the bench had me rolling in laughter. However, he also stated toward the very end of the game that you might be able to smell the couches in Morgantown. For those that don't know tradition, they may think that West Virginian's have smelly furniture. And finally, did anyone notice the Pride of West Virginia's choice for their song at halftime? An old American folk song sung by countless artists (made famous by the Animals): House of the Rising Sun. If your not familiar, it's a song about life gone wrong in New Orleans.