Can you pick a winner from this weeks Big East Slate?

Da Geek decided to pick some games of interest for WVU:  These kind of prognostications rarely go well long term but Da Geek can streak.  So here goes:

1. WVU builds on its UConn Win and begins its dominance over Syracuse a week early.  WVU should be up by 40 by kick off. :)  LEVITY people.  Thruth is that this game looms with pressure as it means WVU must maintain focus and rythim in this off week.  Coach Holgorsen has me confident he is doing just that.  Go Eers!!! BTW Basketball is right around the Corner.  Hugg's is cautiously optimistic.  But I digress back to Da Geeks for-sight to be tested:
2. Cincinnati at Louisville  Game begins at Noon on the Big East Network.  The Cats stomp the Cards  39 11.
3. sPitt hosts Utah also a 12:00 game (this may be a factor as it is really a 10:00 game for the UTES.  The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.  The Panther team that was just distroyed by Rutgers is going to bounce back this week and get a close but ugly Graham lead lead over the UTES. sPitt33 UTAH 23.
4. Rutgers is hosting the Midshipmen of the Navy this week.  The Game will kick off at 2:00 and is going to be televised on ESPN3.  This game for that matter any game playing against that triple option attack is a nightmare for offensive coordinators to game-time for .  Rutgers better hope that its uncanny ability to turn the other team over continues because Navy is pretty stingy with the ball and giving other teams chances to get any type of offense going.  I see a tight and entertaining game.  I predict a very close win for Rutgers in an agonizingly low scoring affair 22 19 Knights.  
5.  After a beat-down being handed to both of these teams in their most recent tilts, who is ready to respond?  I believe that USF has more juice at the skill position, better scheme, and a Coach who is getting better at navigating the Big East.  U Conn is simply a team with out an identity.  They have two good to better offensive and defensive fronts but against the spread looks that USF will undoubtedly give them, I simply don't see this game even being close. USF 44 UConn12.  Turnovers would be the only caveat to my prediction and that will only serve to dampen the ultimate score not the result.  The Bulls bounce back big. 
6. Finally, the conference realignment waiting game wins yet another week in a landslide.  Looking like speculation, conjecture, outright lies and consternation will be dominate the College football landscape for foreseeable future.   Alas, this blog and many other folks paying attention shall continue to do so.

Well there you have it the predictions (no) lines included in these games.  Check your local bookies for such things.

Da Geek

The waiting game...

The Big East is at in impasse, seemingly unable to make any moves to bolster its future. It's hindered by two forces: outside conferences that pilfer Big East schools at will, and internal politics which allow schools in the most tenuous situations to protect their own interests at the expense of the remaining six football programs (the chief culprits in this category are Notre Dame, Villanova and South Florida).


It's almost certain that if WVU, UConn, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincy or South Florida were offered a berth in any other BCS conference, none of those schools would choose to remain in the Big East. So while those six schools, if they remain in tact, could make a credible nucleus for a BCS-worthy Big East, none of them individually can afford to risk a long-term commitment. This is the classic prisoner's dilemma; if everyone sticks together, all will benefit, but the first one to defect will assure its own safety at the expense of its former associates. In this situation, there is scant likelihood that the current league members will agree to an increased buyout.


And while there is no increased buyout to secure the existing conference nucleus, it will be difficult to recruit new members. Schools such as Boise State and the service academies may hesitate to shackle themselves to a sinking ship. And the schools which are more willing (meaning desperate) suitors, such as UCF and Temple, have had to contend with the self-serving parochial political obstructionism of South Florida and Villanova respectively. Not to mention Notre Dame, who appears to be irritated by the disintegration of the conference which has long accommodated its non-football sports, and whose bowl berths it has leached off of shamelessly. But not so irritated to motivate it to do anything to prevent the cookie from crumbling.


So, what of the Big East now? I think it is untenable for the Big East to proactively secure its own future at this point on its own terms. All we can do now is play the waiting game and see which, if any, of the remaining six are added by the other five BCS conferences. It could be any time between next week and next decade before we know the final shape of things.

Da Geek's Mid Season BIG EAST POWER RANKINGS Bowl Projections

1. WVU falls at the top of this list both as a homer pick and because they have done more to establish themselves as the clear front-runner in this conference than anybody else.  Simply put they hold the keys to the BCS Bowl car and I see them driving it all the way to Miami, New Orleans, or Tempe.
2. The second place team in these power rankings is going to have to go to Cincinnati for me.  This team is really the only other offensive juggernaut in the conference.  And low and behold they have started to find a stride on the defensive side of the ball.  They could be a contender in the end.  The game being played at Paul Brown against the Mountaineers will let the league know who is pretending or contending. Cincinnati Bowl hopes are married to that of the Notre Dame the Coaching irony alone makes it a bit of a compelling story.  For you see the Champs Sports Bowl may take the Irish one time out of the 4 years that it has this contract.  I am certain that if Notre Dame is kept out of the BCS then it is Orlando for them.  This places Cincinnati likely in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte. 
3. The surprise entry in the top three would have to be the opportunistic Rutgers Scarlet Knights.  They have proven to be quite willing to take the ball away from the other team. A few miscues, and a lack of offense against UNC is the only thing separating RU and an undefeated season.  It should be noted that yours truly called the win over that new ACC team from Oakland.  Suffice to say, Rutgers has a shot at being undefeated when the Mountaineers come to town.  Will they be ready to end the streak?  Only time will tell.  But for now they have moved into the number three spot in this poll and likely will be getting the nod to play in the Pin Stripe Bowl at seasons end.
4. The next team on this list is the USF Bulls.  While, they took a beat down to sPitt in the burgh, I don't think that it was necessarily indicative of all bad thins to come.  They simply had a horrible game.  They are obviously missing some NFL talent on defense and this has hurt them. But in the end they have the speed and I dare say the Coaching to make a run toward the top end of this Conference.  As it stands now they are relegated to the fourth spot.  Just ahead I hasten to add the team that smoked them two weeks ago.  As for Bowl Game hopes.  I see this team making a return trip to the Beef O'Bradies Bowl at years end.
5. sPitt oh sPitt what pleasure I took in watching you fall wearing your ACC life jackets all the way down.  Yup my yinzer friends you took a beat-down in Jersey.  I kept waiting to see if your quarterback would survive not only the Scarlet Knights but your own 4 person fan base.  Alas, your team is not as bad as that game reflected. much like the Bulls you simply didn't come prepared to play and much to Coach Graham's credit he said just that.  You have a task in entertaining UTAH this weekend and that could prove to be a very entertaining game.  I actually, see your squad getting back to winning ways.  I would suggest to you that you keep your ACC chants a little more muffled until you actually accomplish something but you may take that for what it is worth.  As for Bowling at the end of the Season this could get interesting.  The BVAA Compass bowl is available but I am not entirely sure that this game comes to sPitt it might be that your team fills an at large bid somewhere else as I see the other ACC team getting a look there.
6. So that brings us to our second defector in these power rankings.  The Orange who like WVU are on a week off will be preparing to play the Mountaineers in a rematch of last years letdown in Motown.  The glaring difference is the fact that the Mountaineers offense is seeing the top side of 40 at a much greater rate than the Orange are holding teams to under 23.  Advantage EERS!  As for why they reside in this poll at number 6 it is because they have played moderately well thus far with a gutsy win over Wake and about 3 quarters of good ball against USC.  Where they lost me was giving up the scoring they did against Tulane.  The upside for the Cuse this week is they shall not give up any more ground.  As for Bowling at the end of the Season they need to win some that they should and can ill-afford to give up the games they shouldn't.  They will likely need some help. But if at seasons end they have six wins. I think that they are going to go to the ACC's other bowl the BVAA Compass. 
7. Wow oh wow what a complete drop of the ball I made when I said that Louisville would be a legit player in the Big East this year.  They are proving to be a bigger player in packing their bags for the Big 12 right now more-so than making any impact on the Conference championship.  While I stand by my position that Strong is the right man for this job.  They simply don't have the Jimmys and Joes to get it done this season.  I tip my hat to staff writer Greg for making thi.s point when I made my preseason power rankings.  Finally, there will be no bowling for Louisville this year.  
8. Finally, U Conn gets on the list.  Unfortunately for them it is the end of this list.  They have a shot to do some damage at the bottom of the conference as they are stout on the line but they sorely miss their NFL running back talent and Paul's offense is more than just a work in progress it is simply in need of a whole lot of work.  I am pretty sure that this seasons focus for U Conn is making overtures to the ACC to join their comrades in arms sPitt and Syracuse.  But just look out ole UConn, BC doesn't like you very much. As for Bowling no soup for you!!!

• Some notes for the blog:  First this blog will now do its own poll starting next Sunday.  Much like the Harris and BCS Polls we feel that more needed to be shaken out before we could place a relative value on the teams.  So look forward to our Poll next Monday.
• I am hopeful that each of you will come on here and debate and converse on these posts.  I would caution you though that mean spirited attacks will get your comments tossed.  (Last statement was directed at our infrequent troll)  
• First off thanks go out to all who have voted in the polls that are being placed at the top of this page.  I think any positive pub is great positive pub.  The fact that both Dustin Garrison and Geno Smith were back to back Capital One Impact players of the week speaks volumes of our ability to support our players on a national level.
• Finally, I want to thank all of the 15 listed West Virginia Sources for WVU information listed to the left of the blog.  Each of them bring a little different piece of this Mountaineer story together and I for one want you to read them all.  

GO EERS!!!

Da Geek

Welcome to Premier Players

Welcome to Premier Players

Bob Huggins Preseason News Conference

Bob Huggins Preseason News Conference

Kevin Jones Preseason Interview

Kevin Jones Preseason Interview

College Football | Coach of the Year | Presented by Liberty Mutual

College Football | Coach of the Year | Presented by Liberty Mutual

The mid season off week what to do with that? This is not time off.

• Self evaluate: It seems that the first part of this process is for the coaches to go back and do a serious screening of the tendencies of our team. To determine what is working, what isn't working, and from a personnel standpoint making tweaks to those plays to make them work. Finally, the self scout is used to determine what they can do to disguise the plan from our opponents. He indicated that this is an ongoing process but that the extra time can be helpful. Coach has been pleased with the overall progress throughout the year and thus, desires to keep that progress going.

• Coach Holgerson indicated in his interview yesterday that Geno is a work in progress with plenty of room to grow. His biggest and most common criticism of his signal caller is that Geno wants to do to much. He really is trying to dial that back to have Geno play with in the system and simply take what is there.

• Coach was very pleased with the marked improvement of the special teams. He thinks he has found a punter. He was also quite pleased with what he saw from the defense. This he believes is going to have to continue to perform at a high level to finish the job of winning the Big East Championship. He sees Syracuse as having a similarly stout line as compared to UConn. But alas the Syracuse scout comes later.

• The primary focus for the next two days is getting rhythm related workouts for his players. He feels that off weeks can slow down a teams momentum and progress so his practice regimines will be such to confound that problem. He says that the regimen will be 2 very brisk hitting practices with weight room workouts.

• Another benefit to the "off week" is that fact that he and his staff will get to go do some serious recruiting. With all that is going on with conference expansion it is important for the Coaches to get into those homes and reassure those prospects of the WVU brand. I look for WVU to be getting some more verbal commitments following these visits. BTW the visitors we got from the UConn game all had positive things to say about WVU. In fact the 4 Mimamar kids really liked what they saw. It didn't hurt that their former Patriot classmates Geno, Stedman, Ian, and Ivan, all had really good games.

• Once the Coaches get back from their expedited recruiting tours it will be back to preparing for the Orange. The work week will be moved one day forward as the game will be played on Friday Night on ESPN. Thus Sunday is Monday etc. Coach Holgorsen's radio show will be aired on Wednesday.

Not really a part of the Coaching and athlete arena but this "off week" is proving to be a hot one for President Clements and AD Luck. There are plenty of going on(s) regarding just where WVU is going to be. So they too are going to be very busy. All and all this "off week" is anything but an off week. There are plenty of goings on to keep our staff and students busy. The second half of this season approaches and the one goal is still within our grasps. Let us win that BIG EAST championship and Win that BCS Bowl. It all starts on next Friday where we drub the Orange!!!

Da Geek

Big East Leadership = Oxymoron?

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto has lead the Big East to where we are today, chaos.  What is the status of this conference?  I can tell you that stable isn't a word that can be used for this description. Stewart Mandell of SI  has stated in his latest article that the AQ status for the Big East is in very big trouble.  He compares the Big East membership debacle to reality TV.  He says that it has gone from funny to sad.  I would argue from the perspective of Mountaineers everywhere that this has been far from funny to us for a very long time.
 
With the action taken by the presidents yesterday giving authority to the Commissioner to aggressively pursue membership into the football side of the Big East Conference,one would think that positive things could happen (it should be noted that the much desired increased buy-out did not happen).  However, what is the sales pitch to these schools?  Air Force, Navy, Army, Boise State, Houston, SMU, ECU, UCF, Memphis, Temple, Tulane and Lord forbid Nova all are in need of AQ status so I would guess that would be selling point number one.   That AQ status can remain if at least 6 of the remaining Big East members are all going to stay on board this ship. Problem for the Big East is that Rutgers, UConn, Cincinnati, Louisville and West Virginia have their respective sights elsewhere.  So selling point number 1 is almost out the door before it can even creak open. 


To navigate this Ocean is even more challenging when the TV partners are out to get you. It is pretty clear that master puppeteer ESPN is not going to do much to help the old Big East become the New and improved Big East.  NBC Fox and CBS may be willing to throw some money toward the Big East but that likely wont be the premium dollars necessary to sustain the conference. 


I fear that this Big East leader and his predecessor have repeatedly dropped the ball and now is in a desperate situation to stitch this conference back together.  WVU's leadership have not given even token support of the most recent decisions and I don't think that this is going to change barring a major coups.   I just hope that what ever happens WVU's AQ status doesn't come to an end.


Da Geek     

Sorry once again for my absence from this blog. I have been relegated to the hospital.

Conference issues:  Lot's has happened and not much has happened on the conference realignment front.   What we know is that WVU is still a member of the Big East.  TCU Pitt and Syracuse have all decided to leave.  What we don't know is how long WVU is going to be a member of the Big East.  Could they be members of the SEC, Big 12, ACC or the new and (um-improved Big East)?  The Big East Presidents agreed to expand the conference to 12 teams on the football side.  It appears that Air Force is on board as a football only participant.  Boise State and Navy are also looking to be football only members.  ECU, CFU, Memphis, Temple and Nova are in the mix to be full Big East members.  The problem for the Big East is that Louisville, Cincinnati, and West Virginia is not so sure they want to be members.  We shall see.  This conference realignment stuff is exhausting and in my current state of health I need to take some kind of respite from it.


Hey guess what we are 5 and 1: With all of the other distractions you may have missed out on the fact that the Mountaineers are now 13th in the AP and 16th in the Coaches Polls.  We are nationally relevant again thanks in part to the leadership of Head Coach Dana Holgorsen  and his staff.  Wow what a job is being done with that offensive line.  We have a quarterback and some receivers that are doing fairly well too.   West Virginia ranks No. 4 in the nation in passing, and Geno Smith has passed for 2,159 yards. West Virginia is the only team in the country with two receivers ranked in the top 23 in total receiving yards (Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin). Both are on pace for 1,000 yard seasons. That and the fact that Geno averages completions to 9 different receivers a game.  We have finally found a starting running back in Dustin Garrisson.  The defense is also ranked in the top 20 in terms of scoring being lead by fantastic coaching as well.  This season is shaping up to be very very special.


We have some players and Coaches up for fan choice awards please vote:  Please vote in the O'Brien poll above for Geno.  Also it should be noted that Geno is up for Capital One award this week.  Dustin Garrison won it last week so please go to this site and vote for Geno there as well.
Stedman Bailey this weeks Big East Offensive Player of the week is also up for an award please vote for him at Face Books poll.   And finally Coach Holgorsen is up for Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. Again I ask that you do your part and vote for Coach Holgs.


Finally you may have noticed that I have added a number 15 to our list of WV related sites EERSPORTS.com is the 247 recruiting and information site.  I have been on there reading it for some time and I would recommend the site for your perusal.  


Remember Eer fans we are in this thing together.  Let us enjoy this fine football season.  Will be writing to you again soon.


Da Geek