Weekly Preview: Post Apocalyptic Version

September 29, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers cheerleader celebrates a touchdown in the second half in the game against the Baylor Bears at Milan Puskar Stadium. West Virginia defeated Baylor 70-63. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

Dear BFA’s,

Well Shit, anyone else feel like jumping after that game?   I definitely was drinking the Kool-Aid last week.  Instead of being quite refreshed, the Kool-Aid ending up being the punch that they offer at one of those cult events.  Next thing you know, I wake up drunk and disoriented out in the dusty plains of North Texas wondering what the heck happened.  It will be the reader’s discretion as to whether they take these past lines in a metaphoric sense or in reality.  The only redeeming facet to a lambasting such as the horseless Red Raiders laid upon us, was that the shock was felt and passed before we reached halftime.  Doesn’t help the embarrassment factor, but what can you do but laugh it off, or I guess drink your sorrows away.

I have always been a strong proponent of learning from your mistakes.  Therefore, I propose a solution to fix this calamity caused by the southwestern winds.  My fix consists of a new practice environment enhanced to prepare our team for the conditions that we will perpetually faced against.  As we saw this past weekend, we were tremendously effected by the wind, therefore I suggest modifying the area around the stadium to have massive windmills and fans to recreate the wind that blows across the plains.  Why run from the fact that this effected us?  We are going to have to face similar conditions periodically   I think it should look something like this.  The wind mills would have to be re-engineered to actually blow air at the stadium during specified practice segments.  The beauty is that while they are not blowing on the field, they could be used for green power to run the hospital and the football facilities (as I type this, I am hunkering down in a bunker to avoid the hate attacks from the Friends of Coal)!  If you have ever lived by the stadium, you would also be quite aware of the tactics used for scaring off birds from crapping all over our fine facility.  Instead of implementing loud sounds of birds of prey to scare these birds, I am sure the windmills will take care of the issue.  The final addition I would make is to amp up the noise environment, by adding this guy in one end zone and this guy in another.  Lets just face it, they rung our bell and we have to live with that.  Unfortunately, it will take time to implement my plans to positively effect the team, so we will have to move forward as is.

Looking forward, we better hope that we just faced the Trap Game Blues and suffered our lone Syracuse-esque loss of the year, because it doesn’t get any easier here on out.  We are facing off against the Professor of Futurama and his rag tag gang from Kansas State this weekend, which should have been a top five matchup until we screwed it up.  Snyder and crew did their job and are now #4 in the country.  We cannot afford anytime to figure things out or lick our wounds.  The good thing is that I honestly feel that K-State is a better matchup for the Eers as a running based team.  The Wildcats are 11 in the country in rushing, but a measly 111th in passing, which is certainly a sight for sore eyes given our inadequacies defending the pass . . . or could that just be even more embarrassing when we falter?  On the other side, they are 32nd in total defense and 76th in passing defense, which should hopefully allow for us to ramp our high flying trapeze act once again.  I am skittish to make a prediction in the wake of last weekend, but will feel pretty damn good if we walk into the stadium Saturday night to the energy we had for the LSU game last year.  It was a major letting down suffering the first loss prior to this game, but no reason we shouldn’t be amped for the #4 team in the country to visit.

Around The Nation

I said I would do a portion on the top games of the year remaining, but shoot, Feldman did a good job for me.  He even ranked our game as the #4 most important game to the national title race.  Thanks Bruce.

I mentioned that the race for the Big XII would have to do largely with how well the top four did against the middle tier teams.  Well, as we failed our test, K-State managed to knock of Iowa State to take the lead in the conference.  They also have a leg up with a win over Oklahoma.  OU may have effectively knocked Texas out of the running by destroying them in Dallas . . . geez at least we didn’t get throttled by our arch rival in front of a stadium that was comprised by 50% of our own fans.  Looking out in the future, here are the remaining major games in the conference to keep an eye on:  Texas Tech vs TCU this weekend, TT vs Kansas St next weekend, Kstate vs TCU and WVU at Ok ST in two weekends, OU vs WVU Nov. 17th, and OU vs TCU and Texas as Kstate on December 1.  There are certainly other upsets that could occur, but these are the big games that stand out to me.

There are not a ton of great games out there this weekend, so you should remain focused on pregaming for the Mountaineers game.  If you must take a respite, tune in for South Carolina invading the Swamp at 3:30.  If Cocky pulls off the win, it will the perfect example of how a the SEC gauntlet plays out each year; SC beats Georgia, Florida beats LSU, LSU beats SC, SC beats Florida . . . unfortunately that leave team Finebaum on top.  It is amazing to think that the nations consensus #1 in Bama has yet to play a tough opponent with Arkansas and Michigan drastically disappointing.  Don’t fret though, after this week’s trip to Knoxville, they get Miss St, go to LSU, and then play the high flying Manziel boys of College Station.  Its not shocking that LSU will be the biggest challenge, but can they snap the Tigers 22 game home winning streak?  If not, they will meet UGA/SC/Florida in the championship game.  Lets also hold out that the Mormons will beat the Catholics this weekend (BYU v ND).  I am getting tired of not having trash to speak of on Ohio State and Notre Dame.  sickening.

Random

Ok, there are some folks fired about the trash talk leading into this game coming from Manhattan.  Honestly, lets get over it.  Its just some trash talk and frankly its all on message boards.  Take a look at our message boards sometime, there is an incredible amount of trash that is written on these forums.  In the internet world, they call this Trolling.  Welcome to 2006.

I was pretty excited that Vegas still showed the faith by opening us as 3 point favorites this weekend, but my hopes have drastically sank after readingEA sports simulation picks.  Folks, these guys have a ridiculous record and yes, picked us to lose last weekend . . . and are again this weekend.  DOH!

Tremendous line from Stewart Mandel on the ACC – “This does seem like a particularly bad year for the ACC with Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech down, Miami rebuilding, North Carolina on probation and former contender Boston College just truly dreadful. But to suggest the league is having a downturn would suggest it was ever “up” to begin with. The ACC is in much the same place it’s been for most of the BCS era, fighting with the Big East to avoid the No. 6 label”.  To think the ACC didn’t want us.

In SI’s midseason rewards, we have 4 players in the top two teams, shockingly all on offense.

Love,

Al