Meeting Marshall

Morgantown, W.V. must be miffed with the malfunctioning Mountaineer football squad. The mayhem began 20 days ago when Mullen’s offense scored three puny points against the upstart, eager to electrify, BCS hopeful East Carolina. After opening the season with a convincing coup over Villanova, Bill Stewart’s WVU Mountaineers don’t appear the same shootout team.
The Villanova victory included a career high five touchdown passes by Patrick White. The 48-21 win made a believer out of Big East fans assuming a West Virginia undertaking of the conference. Before the trophy is tendered to them, let’s recap the results from the following two trouncings.
The ECU loss was heartbreaking enough, but an overtime overwhelming occurred when the Colorado Buffaloes convened in Boulder for the first time against WVU. Mountaineer kicker, Pat McAffe, missed a 23 yarder in OT. Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of that loss was the fact Noel Devine rushed for over 100 yards and the Mountaineer defense remained rock-hard.
Marshall’s Thundering Herd arrive tomorrow in Morgantown. They are coming in with a two game winning streak. Their only loss was a week two drubbing by the Big 10’s overbearing Badgers of Wisconsin.
I was high on this year’s Mountaineers despite the dent created by Steve Slaton and Owen Schmidt departing for the NFL. When Rich Rodriguez retreated to the Big House, I believed in Bill Stewart’s blend of offensive experience and special teams brilliance. White has new weapons in redshirt junior wide receiver, Alric Arnett and sophomore, Jock Sanders. Both made their presence felt against Villanova and need to maximize more against Marshall. Noel Devine was a second string tailback to the talented Slaton last season. On a backfield ranked fifth nationally coming into the season, I really want to see Noel become the big back for White. Jeff Mullen is an inventive coordinator and Devine would be prolific as a pass-blocker. This tactic could retool the offense and accentuate White’s capabilities behind center. I predict WVU pounces early and often against their inner-state adversary tomorrow. But beware the Marshall running game, led by Darious Marshall. WVU’s defense will have a hart time containing the sophomore.

Taking a look at the rest of the schedule, WVU likely ends with an 8-4 record at best. I think they will win against Marshall, Rutgers and Syracuse at home. On the road against Auburn will be rough and a probable loss. Away against UConn should prove another win despite the Huskies being undefeated thus far. Returning to West Virginia, the Big East opponents, Cincinnati and Louisville, I predict wins. And away at Pitt is a fun game and one of the game’s best rivalries. However, the Panthers are underachievers this year and the Mountaineers should win that contest. Finally the toughest road test will be the final game against the undefeated USF. That will likely be a road loss, the fourth of the year for WVU. Once this team gets rolling the next few weeks, they will reestablish that confidence they had previously.

Parting points: I think the wrong OSU beat USC. It wasn’t supposed to be the Beavers..the BUCKEYES!