Nov 24, 2012; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson Tigers fan Kin Anderson prepares a BBQ prior to the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

It’s Saturday afternoon in January and somehow I am sitting on the porch watching sports.  I do love the snow, but this is welcome respite from cold rain.  As the day is completely random and out of the blue, so are my thoughts.  Below are a few random musings that happen to be on my brain today and I feel honored to share them with you.

Basketball

I am all in favor for of Huggins current starting lineup of Hinds, Gary Browne, Dom, Henderson, and Noreen.  I am particularly happy with the big guys.  If the rest of the team doesn’t buy into the system, then sit them until they figure it out.  Players have to play the game the way the coach directs you, so I applaud Huggs for doing what most coaches won’t, and sitting star player.  It’s an overstatement to say that Rutledge is an offensive liability, but what are we losing?  Murray is our leading scorer, I know,  but he is very inconsistent from week to week and even within the game.  Kilicli is shooting .384, which frankly is awful from the range that he shoots.  What I love about Dom is that you know he is going to hustle and give his all every minute he is in there.  When players play with heart, I can deal with their shortcomings.  Hopefully by playing guys like Dom and Noreen for extended minutes, we will light a fire under the other guys, because we certainly could use them, but until then, I will enjoy watching the guys who appear to actually want to be on the court.

Has anyone else noticed how bad the announcing is on the “Big 12 Network” games?  I’m not trying to toot the horn of Warren Baker, Dan Potash and the Root Sports cast, but they at least have a clue of what they are talking about while covering WVU.  I don’t care that the Big 12 guys don’t know a lot about our team, but good lord there are awful statements with glaring inaccuracies that leave even a casual fan scratching his head protruding from some these announcers.  For example, Jabarie Hinds was said to be the compass of our team today.  Really?  I’d pick a good handful of players over him for that honor, or really dishonor considering that we don’t have any consistent players.  It seems some of these guys employ the philosophy of when in doubt, make it up.

Beer

It’s truly a beautiful day in West Virginia when you can sit outside on January 12 to watch a sporting event.  If you are a fan of tailgating, barbequing, and porch sitting like I am, you took advantage of this great day and watched the basketball game outdoors with some beers.   I am typically a simple man when it comes to beer.  Bud Light is fine and if you toss me a Busch, I’ll drink it.  However, I do occasionally like a brew with more character and with that in mind, I am thankful that a couple of West Virginia’s breweries have began branching out.  I can now get a Bridge Brews about anywhere in Charleston, and while leaving Morgantown last night, I was able to a growler of Mountain State beer.   I have long enjoyed their beer while in Davis, and am glad that it has expanded out of that part of the state.  To celebrate this, I began the game against Kansas State with a Miners Daughter Oatmeal Stout.

Hey, I said this would be my random musings right?

Football

The WVU coaching carousel has been spinning wildly the past few days with two hirings and an additional departure.  In so far, we have Tony Gibson and Brian Mitchell, out we have Jake Spavital who has taken a job at Texas A&M.  We will miss Spavital as he is highly regarded as an upcoming young coach, but it’s tough to blame him for moving on to a major program while picking up co-coordinator duties.  As for the coaching prowess Gibson and Mitchell coming in as replacements for Dunlap and Roberts, well mama told me if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.  Much of the Mountaineer fanbase is up in arms as Gibson, who was heavily rumored to be shredding staff paperwork and calling recruits instantaneously after Rich Rod decided to pack up and head to Ann Arbor (with Gibby in tow), is now being welcomed back.  To top that off, he spent his entire previous tenure in Morgantown constantly being attacked as our weakest link in the coaching staff.  There were poor fundamentals and numerous highlight reels for opposing wide receivers under his tenure.  In retrospect, we had David Lockwood who came in and significantly improved the secondary only to revert back a few years later to the same coach that caused so much vitriol.  Mitchell, well he did just get fired from ECU.  Granted he has a long tenure in the Big XII as a decent corners coach, but certainly underwhelming.

The positive side of the hires is that we have drastically upgraded in recruiting prowess which is an extremely important aspect considering our obvious talent differential that was exposed this year.  To all of his detriment, Gibby was always one of our best recruiters.  Mitchell is considered to be decent.  Add onto that that Mike Casazza is saying that Lonnie Galloway is coming back into the fold, one of Stew’s better recruiters, we could have a very solid recruiting staff.  All in all I would rate the coaching hires as C+, with a chance to be a solid B.  Ideally you can have a coach who can educate players on the game as well as attract them to the school.  Most of the guys we have brought in only have the second feature.

Well that is all that my middling mind is thinking of today.  Enjoy the fine weather while it lasts my friends.

November 17, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receivers Tavon Austin (1) and Stedman Bailey (3) gesture as they await a kick-off from the Oklahoma Sooners during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Oklahoma Sooners won 50-49. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

#10.  WVU Baseball Gets New Digs

If you are a West Virginia University alumnus, take a moment to allow yourself into this reverie; it is summer session in Morgantown and while you are working and/or taking classes, life is as easy as it gets.  You work just enough to have spare cash to blow downtown on a Tuesday night bar crawl.  Wake up calls consist of, “Hey, it’s a day ending in ‘Y’, come over and barbecue on the porch”.  Its noon, so why not? There is never any traffic, no waiting in lines, and never a concern about what to do. Summers in Morgantown as a student were the most simplistic times of my life and there is not a whole heck of a lot I would’ve changed to those days, but one common topic that came up in my circle while passing countless hours aimlessly basking in the sun while finishing off a case of Beer 30 Light, was “man, how great would it be to have a minor league team in Morgantown?”

Admittedly, I have been a life time baseball fan.  Enough so, that I went to WVU and enrolled in Sport Management and worked my first two summers in baseball.  The dream of working in the sport passed, but the passion for sitting back and watching the game did not subside.   We spent hours discussing how profitable and enjoyable it would be to have a low level A team, or collegiate summer team playing in the afternoons.  The team could easily be supported by the local community along with crafted specials aimed at attracting the colleges bums like us.  Alas, the dreams of my yesteryear may finally come to fruition.

During this spring’s legislative session, talk arose of a special TIF plan to support the building of new ball park in Morgantown.  While the infant proposal did not make it through the session, due to lack of details, it planted a seed that took sprout in the summer, finally gaining approval in early fall.  A TIF, to all of those who like me thought that the term was a near cousin of a .JPEG, is a tax deferment incentive program, where local sales tax in a certain determined area can be set aside to fund a project deemed beneficial to the community at large, in this case the University Town Center.  The benefit to this type of payment is that local taxpayer does not face increased rates to fund the project, rather the municipality simply forgoes a certain amount of revenue for the sake of the project.

New WVU Baseball Stadium Clears a Major Hurdle

Why did this project take form?  Well, I would love to say that a fellow Field of Dreams enthusiast woke up one morning and decided to take the Bull Durham by the horns, but reality is that Hawley Field, the current home of Mountaineer Baseball, is a disgraceful stadium in comparison to our Big XII brethren.  Frankly, many Division Three colleges and large high schools have far better accommodations.  Whether this came as requirement passed down from the league as an entrance condition or it is purely part of the grand vision of Oliver Luck, the point is that Morgantown and WVU Baseball will finally be blessed with a product it deserves.  It is not yet inked that a summer league will accompany the Mountaineers in possession of the stadium, but seems likely that it will occur.

Early rumors are that architects will borrow ideas from the Washington Wild Things park in Washington, Pa.  Let me tell you, if you have never attended a Wild Things game, the park has a great atmosphere.  Enough seating to handle a decent crowd, lawn seats on the third baseline if you prefer to stretch out, a great selection of beers and food with a grill down left field line, all accompanied with a decent scoreboard.  With proposed sightlines overlooking the Mon, the Coliseum, and downtown Morgantown, it makes my sporting heart flutter.  I hope the incorporate a local flavor by adding a local restaurant into the mix, such as Keglers at The Park or a second Mountain State Brewery.  I am already planning out my trip plans for the first day/night doubleheader.  Perhaps a Friday night game in Morgantown followed by an afternoon at Pittsburgh’s PNC park.  No better way to spend a weekend in my book.

This stadium will not be the town’s greatest sporting attraction and it may take time before it becomes a popular destination.  The stadium won’t make our nearby ACC rivals or Big XII opponents blush by making their stadiums pale in comparison.  Morgantown does not need a spectacle that baseball teams of the south possess, at least not yet.  There is little to no baseball culture currently in our Mountaineer Nation, but as they say in the aforementioned Kevin Costner classic Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”

January 4, 2012; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (12) hoists his MVP trophy after his team defeated the Clemson Tigers 70 to 33 in the 2012 Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

“Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Soon the bowls will start,

And the thing that will make them gay, is the parlay that you play;

Right within, your heart.”

-Lyrics by Johnny Mathis (after a pint of bourbon and the SEC Championship Game)

Tis’ the season to be Jolly, and to obsess over meaningless bowl games, of course.  Don’t tell the guys over at Bleacher Report that bowl games are meaningless, because they went ahead and projected each bowl via playing NCAA ’13.  As much as everyone always complains about having too many bowl games, let’s be honest, come this Saturday, we will all be watching Rich’s Wildcats teeing it up against the Wolfpack in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.  Heck, if the weather holds out, I may fire up the barbecue and head out to the porch!

Personally, I have never quite understood the constant bemoaning of too many bowl games.  Seriously, what else are you going to do, watch figure skating?  The more bowl games the better!  The exciting part of bowl games is that you never know what is going to happen.  Sure, there are a few terrible matchups, but every year there is that team that clearly doesn’t want to be there and some lowly underdog upsets a double digit favorite (here’s looking at you Northern Illinois).  After that, how do you factor in the team that’s excited to make its first bowl game, the two to five week layoff teams face, seniors geared up for their last game, seniors that could care less about anything except for the draft, interim coaches, despondent teams that lost their head coach, or teams that would love to stick it to their head coaches?  It may be meaningless drama, but it’s still drama and in that spirit, the staff here at HailWV is more than excited to fire up our bowl pickoff.

First and foremost, the one thing you need to know about our staff pickoff is that this is not a friendly competition.  We all want to beat each other badly, err, I mean the rest of the staff wants to beat me badly, but know in their hearts that their efforts will be futile.  Alas, if they somehow win a segment in the pickoff, the winner will get to write the follow up post and talk some smack against me and the rest of the staff.

As referenced above, we will be splitting the bowl season up into segments, three segments to be precise.  The winner of the first segment will receive four points, the second place writer will get three, then two, and one point for the last place finisher.  The second round will be worth double points and the final round will be worth triple points.  Each section will have a tiebreaker, based on the point total of the segment’s last game.  The total points leader at the end will be declared the world famous, HailWV 2012 Pickoff Winner.   He will likely then need to hire a bodyguard just to keep all of the female suitors at bay.

To preview segment one; the bossman goes straight chalk with Brandon only mixing it up with the Toledo Mud Hens.  Oops, I mean Rockets.  Obviously these folks don’t know the basic rules of betting, not that I’ve ever bet, ahem, but taking straight favorites will be the demise of these Ill witted chaps.  My superior intellect tells me that the MAC is going to show up huge in the bowl season, riding on the coattails of fabulously underrated regular season.  Recent coaching departures at Western Kentucky (plus late season falters), San Jose State, and Cincy confirm my picks against these squads.  The Dukies haven’t been in a bowl game since the New Deal, so expect Cutcliffe to have these guys ready to rumble.

Here is segment One:

Segment Two:

Segment Three:

Follow along to see how we do, previews for the next segments, and listen to the staff talk all sorts of Christmas trash talk to each other.  Even better yet, post below to tell us why we are idiots and who you would pick in each game.

Oct 27, 2012; Lawrence, KS, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown (left) talks to Kansas Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis (right) before the game at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Dear BFA’s,

I never thought it would take until Iowa State to become bowl eligible, but here we are.  I thought this might be the week we put it all together and play a complete game, but this week we decided our error of the day would be costly penalties and giving up big huge third downs.  Ok, the last part is pretty common.  Kind of crazy that Oklahoma couldn’t touch Tavon, yet Iowa State fared much better isn’t it?  I predict that this week’s unforeseen downfall will come courtesy of a distraction.  That’s right, you heard it here first, holgo’s passe of strippers on the sideline will lead to huge drops on deep routes.

Alas, we get the worst team in the league this week, and that is by a landslide.  Seriously though, if we stay focused we should crush these fools.  In 8 conference games (8 losses), they have lost by just over 21 points on average.  The interesting thing is that in 4 of those, they have lost by an average of 7.75 points, which is skewed up by one 14 point loss, and the other 4 they have lost by 35.  What does that mean?  Overlook them and they will hang around.  Come out prepared, and have a little bit of fun at their expense.  Might as well get it in this week, because it is gonna be ugly when we head out to Phog Allen in the winter.

We have plenty at stake still as we are trying to avoid being placed in the Pinstripe bowl and get a legitimate holiday in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.  More importantly though, we are going up against a team that is led by a man that is well known to be one of the biggest dicks in college football.  Many of the tenured readers here, know my distaste for Ole Charlie, or my love of ripping on him, as he is ripping open a bag of Doritos on the sideline.  Kansas just seems to have a thing for incredibly overweight assholes running their program.  Even Holgo ganged up on Weis this week, in hilarious fashion.  

“We’re going to be at a major schematic disadvantage going against their coaches,” Holgorsen said during Monday’s Big 12 conference call. “They’ve got coaches with tremendous pedigrees who have coached everybody in the world and coached for decades and decades. We’re going to have to regroup real quick.”

Anyone familiar with the infamous Weis quote, where he proclaimed he would have a “decided schematic advantage” over other schools, was just rolling on this diss.  Its nothing new for Dana to be a bit of an ass in press conferences, but this first time I’m aware of him channeling his inner Steve Spurrier and calling out another coach.  Heck, he didn’t even go for the easy kill on his hated foe Todd Graham, so I wonder whats up with Weis?  Not that I’m complaining; I was ecstatic when I heard this beautiful  trash talk.  My guess is that Dana holds himself as an offense innovator, while Weis is a failed college coach who walks around with a stick in his ass, sometimes mistaken as his cane, calling himself an offensive genius, which insults Dana.  Whatever it is, I hope it continues, great stuff.

Around The Nation

I truly do hate the Irish, but I have to give it up to them.  They went undefeated and no matter what you say, they do deserve to be in the position they are in.  Damn Pitt for not sealing the deal when they can.  Damn those Big Ten teams for being awful this year and the refs robbing Stanford.  But ya know what?  They always say to win a championship that you have to be lucky.  Notre Dame was, but also beat a lot of decent teams, more than Alabama and Georgia.  They beat 9 bowl eligible teams, Bama had 6, and Georgia 5.  I don’t like it, but have give it up to them.

If this were 2014 and we were staring down the barrel of a playoff, we would be looking at a Notre Dame, UGA, Florida, and Bama playoff.  If you thought this would open us up from SEC dominance, think again.  I have long stated that being a conference champion is very overrated when determining who should play in a title game and Florida exemplifies my argument.  Closing out the year by beating a top ten FSU team on the road, if you were to look at a blind resume of the Gators versus their conference foes who made the conference title game, Florida unquestionably has the superior resume.  The only thing that you can hold against them is low scoring, close wins against lessor teams like Louisiana Lafayette, Bowling Green, and Mizzou.  I’d urge you to read Stew Mandel’s synopsis of this, as it looks like we may see more scenarios of this with super conferences and unbalanced schedules.

If you didn’t, you are in luck.  The silly season is in full effect, and there are too many firings for me to list here, so here is a graph.  Tom O’brien was a bit of a shock, but couldn’t have happened to a bigger dick.  I would say the most drama this week though, came from Arkansas’ recruitment of Les Miles.  I am not sure that anyone really thought it would happen, and it did end up in Les just getting a pay bump, but that would be a crazy inter-conference downgrade.  Perhaps Miles just wanted to upgrade in office eye candy?  Across the SEC pond, its hard to know what to make of the constant Tennessee Gruden rumors, which makes this the best analysis I have seen.  Also in the You Got to be Friggin Kidding Me book, there are rumors that Mangino may be taking the Colorado job.  Seriously?  On top of the fact that he had a most justifiable firing, do we really think he won’t pass out during his first spring practice in the thin air???  Outgoing coach Jon Embree said that they couldn’t even afford water bottles for coaches or chairs for offensive lineman; how are they going to afford air tanks?

I hope you were able to absorb as much of the last great football weekend of the year this past weekend, because outside of the SEC championship game, there are a few okay games, and then nothing much else.  We wont have a solid slate of games again until we hit New Years Day.

Conference Realignment

God almighty has it cooked up again.  We now have Maryland, Rutgers, Louisville, Tulane, ECU, Middle Tennessee  and Florida Atlantic all moving to new digs.  There are rumors that the Big East will now be picking up University High in Morgantown.  Can we officially follow the Al Gore path and rename conference realignment to global conference shift??

The only pertinent question is how will this impact the Big XII.  The Big Ten is expected to reap mountains of cash in this deal upping its per team conference split to a reportedly $40 million plus figure.  If that is factual, you can bet your ass that the PAC 12 and SEC won’t sit by watching.  I thought we would stop short, but it is looking more realistic that we could migrate to 16 team power conferences.  So, how does this effect the Big XII?  I don’t think that it will unless someone can lure Oklahoma or Texas (that would create pandemonium).  First of all you need to look at the motivations of schools.  There are a few main components involved in a school moving on from their existing conference; money, disdain, and competitive edge.  All of the schools abandoning the Big East and ironically joining the Big East are all doing so to move up the food chain of competition in hopes that they survive in a competitive world.  Many of those same schools along with the ones leaving (rumored or already gone) the ACC are doing so to move up in Money (Maryland is broke).  Finally, schools like Nebraska, Colorado, and Tamu all grew tired of big brother Texas, the weak Big XII North, and the fact that there was uneven revenue sharing in the Big XII.  While the influence of Texas is undeterred, the old North and lack of even revenue sharing model are items of the past.  The schools left over seemingly have no gripes with the Big XII and are happy to be in a solid conference.  Lets be honest, WVU and TCU are ecstatic to be in the conference.  The other Texas schools do not share the angst that AM had, in that they knew they were the lessor schools, and are just happy to beat Texas every once and awhile, while eating at their table the rest of the time.  Oklahoma State is not leaving the side of their rival nor do they need money as they have one of the largest benefactors in college football.  The Kansas schools?  I just don’t see anyone really wanting those markets, not to mention that outside of KU bball and Kstate football (when Snyder is around), their athletic programs are very weak.  Kansas likely has no worries because they are very capable of being a powerful basketball independent if worst case scenarios arise. So . . . . all I am saying is that there does not appear to be a motivation for Big XII teams to leave.  I could see the Pac 12 being interested in a few of those teams, but I don’t think that they could guarantee the money that would make everything worthwhile.  It has been heavily rumored already, but if you like my chain of logic, the teams that would have motivation to move on, would be the football schools in the ACC.  I’d look for the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 to poach the likes of FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech.  Those schools would bring enough prowess or market share to be able to bring an additional partner without lowering the cash pot for the other members (think UVA to the Big Ten, a Carolina school to SEC).  Long story short, I think we will settle out just fine in the long run, unless someone makes a dream offer to one of the two big boys, which with the Longhorn Network, may be very difficult to find a good match.

Random

Not a lot of random stuff this week as the internet is busting at the seems with realignment and the coaching carousel spinning out of control.

If Wisconsin beats Nebraska in the Big 10 title game, Wisky will have the worst winning percentage for a Rose Bowl team since 1928.  I can get behind that!  Go Badgers.

Speaking of the Big Ten, here is some early Christmas cheer for Buckeye fans:

Oh, you silly Russians.  You remind me of Kazakhstan.

This is an excellent read on the mindset behind the future selection committee that we will be subjected to.  Amazing that they pick two teams that won’t even play for their conference title.  It will no doubt, be an extremely tough job, but I think that these guys have the right foundation.  I hope Ollie is our representative!  This type of writing is why I spend more time at SI than ESPN.

Hope you all have enjoyed the season,

Love Al

Dear BFA’s,

The head scratching and binge drinking continues.

I will say that I felt the defense has improved and the offense seemed to show more spark than the last three games.  Not to say that the defense is anywhere near what we could call “good” right now, but a few stops (5 punts!!!) and an interception versus the number four offense in the country is certainly an improvement over what we had been seeing.  Aside from a few instances, we didn’t have drives that in entirety featured wide open receivers without a defender in the same time zone.  On the offensive side, it was surprisingly Geno that seemed to hold us back at times.  The biggest issue we have on offense is a lack of consistent running game, but I have come to expect that as a weakness.  Geno’s mistakes though, are a bit harder to swallow.  I don’t mean to call the guy out as he has done so much for us in four years; it is simply shocking when he misses wide open receivers multiple times (I have about 3 to 4 images in my head on very easy throws).

None of what I said above really has anything to do with why we lost.  A degree in football rocket science is not needed to understand that you cannot make the mistakes on special teams that we made and win a game.  Those types of mistakes are the ones that if make against a 1-AA team, you will lose.  No way you can get by with those against a formidable team.  I guess the conundrum is, why are they occurring?  Bad luck?  Poor coaching, stupid players, lack of focus?  Beer Sales?  I am seeing a lot of comments that seem to settle around lack of focus and lack of commitment.  I certainly am not in the locker room or around practice, so for me to pontificate would be a bit out of order, but as the old adage goes, where there is smoke there is fire.  We now have three departed players in Pat Miller, Travares Copeland, and Pat Miller.  Is this indicative of a coaching staff that is not reaching their kids, or simply a delayed, but natural occurrence that happens when a new coach takes over (remember it was just a tad bit awkward how Dana entered his pseudo-first year last year)?  Unfortunately, this is not really a question that is typically answered in short order, but is found in following seasons.  The staff either weeds out the kids who can’t buy in or are exposed as poor coaches.  Sometimes, it is somewhere in middle.  All I know is that it doesn’t look great for the rest of the year.

All you can hope is that local guys like Ryan Nehlen and Connor Arlia can step up and make big plays like they did on Saturday, fighting for the team they love, and spotting Austin/Bailey.  Gotta love watching the WV guys who are just happy to contribute being out there.  By the way, lost in all of this is that Bailey had another monster game last week.  The best we can hope for is all the stars regain their stride and are well supplemented by “character” guys who prove that the departing crew equals addition by subtraction.

So, Gold Rush and Oklahoma.  I dunno what to predict, other than I’ll be standing around a deep frying turkey by mid morning on Saturday and enjoying a few fine selections from this list.

Around The Nation

Didn’t believe me when I said that more of these undefeated teams would lose?  Yea I know, wasn’t that tough of a prediction, but give me a break, my betting card for the year has looked like Edward Norton’s script in Rounders.  I have no particular affinity for Texas AM, but love the fact that the SEC newcomer, who runs one of them daggumit spread offenses that will never work in the SEC, was the team that knocked off the invincible Alabama.  It was shocking watching Johnny Manziel run up the points to get such a huge first quarter lead, but anyone could have guessed that Saban and crew would come back.  The fact that Bama had the ball at the end win with a chance to win, and AM still held on to win is very impressive.  Its a fun week to tune into the Finebaum show; I hope you have enjoyed.

Now what?  Oregon has two big tests left in back to back weeks with Stanford and Oregon State.  Both are solid teams and capable of winning.  The Ducks will then get the winner of this week’s game between the Los Angeles schools in the Pac 12 title game.  Snyder’s Squad goes to Baylor this weekend, then is off, and wraps up against Texas, avoiding the need to compete in a title game.  Notre Dame also avoids the title game issue, gets another cream puff in Wake Forest, before playing USC in two weeks.  Funny how USC can now play spoiler to two different national title contenders.  Oregon easily has the toughest schedule left, but they just seem like they are on auto-pilot right now.  Something about how there always seems to be a crazy Big XII upset at the end of the year has me leery of K State every week, and I still think USC will beat Notre Dame, so I am predicting Oregon vs K-State or the last standing SEC team.

While it is not assured yet, it is amazing to think that we may actually be looking at a non-SEC championship, after six years of SEC dominance and last year’s all SEC title game.  Rest assured the south will be pissed, playing tons of David Allen Coe, and citing numerous passages of how the South will rise again.  It doesn’t matter though; in a year that there are numerous undefeated programs from major conferences, you have to win out, no matter how tough your schedule is.

Speaking of USC, this is incredible work by UCLA students.

Random

First, let me re-post this line from last week, including the link that I forgot to include.  Its a good one: I respect this man. If you are going to go down for stealing, it might as well be for stealing beer.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Now if he had stolen the orange camo Keystone cans, the cameras would have probably never seen him.

If you thought that the BCS was confusing, the new playoff/contract/access bowl system is going to be wild.  I am waiting for the year in which the winner of the “Group of Five” is a 6-6 team.  The problem with all of these arrangements is that the conferences are out to protect themselves and not football as a product.  There should be no guarantees  any time you have an absolute, you open the door for a snafu.

This link pretty much sums up the personality of every other caller on the Paul Finebaum show.  This is why we listen.

MUST SEE:  This is a phenomenal recap of a couple of Alabama fans watching the loss.

Good Luck Sooner Hunting,

Love Al

Time to fire up the muskets my fellow Mountaineers.  The weather has turned and its time to go hunting.  TCU is up next, our Big XII freshman brethren.  The Horned Frogs have had a rough year as their player’s rap sheet looks like the police blotter in Huntington on a Friday night.  The team was playing decent early in the year despite a litany list of players being ineligible due to drug charges, then their QB had to go all Honey Badger and get caught again.  Didn’t Chris Henry create a tutorial video on how to get away with this stuff?? RIP.  Anyway, after a triple OT loss to Texas Tech, they got whooped up on by Oklahoma State last week.  It would seem as though to me that this is a perfect team to get back on a winning streak with after the bye week.  I wouldn’t predict a convincing win, but any type of W would be nice.  Hopefully someone leads the Frogs down into Sunny Side Friday night so that they can get high as balls before playing us.

Hopefully Holgo and crew give me something more to write about this week.

Penn State

I hope you all watched the “white out” in State College this weekend and noticed the Gold Rush in the endzone.  Yep, there were four “lost” idiots sitting in the stands decked in Mountaineer gear.  We obviously got quite a few confused looks and many people asked, what the hell are you doing here, but I would say 3:2 were pretty cool to us.  The others?  They had excellent trolling comments very similar to Mr. Pro Sports Heckler Guy from the ageless Bud Light Real Men of Genius series.  The great comments included “Go Home” and “You Suck”.  I was so greatly offended at the audacity of the comments, I simply had to drown my sorrows in another beer and crack another Sandusky joke.  The biggest disappointment of the weekend was that the Buckeyes stayed undefeated.  The biggest joy was a toss between running rough shod all over the competition in corn hole and making endless Sandusky comments.  The best moments involved Sandusky comments and corn holing all in one.  Finally we did a good deed in educating a gaggle of foreign exchange students from the Far East in how to play beer pong.  They had the cups setup right, but were using trail mix instead of beer pong balls.  No joke.  We helped the chaps out while also showing them how to win.

Around The Nation

It was about time that I made one prediction correctly this year.  Last week I said that I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the unbeaten teams lost last weekend and sure enough, 5 of 11 did.  That with finally cashing in my parlay that I executed from week one, two weeks ago, I think I should quit while I am some what ahead.  Two of the three SEC teams went down as Bama crushed Miss St and Florida finally fell.  Oregon States surprising run finally ended, Rutgers lost to a MAC team (bear in mind that Va Tech is 0 for its last 2 against the Big East and the BE is 0 for its last two versus the MAC), and Ohio lost out on its potential BCS bid by losing to Miami of Ohio.  This leaves us with Bama, Kansas State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Louisville who survived a scare against Cincy in overtime.  ND has a few relatively easy games before facing USC.  Oregon still has USC, Standford, and Pac 12 championship.  K State really doesn’t have an “easy” game left, Ohio State doesn’t matter, and Bama has LSU this weekend.

The Biggest upset of the weekend though, likely came from Rich Rod in his upset over USC.  Obviously Lane Kiffin’s team is not what they were cracked up to be.  They are not bad either, but I’d suspect their lack of depth from recruiting sanctions are starting to show its ugly head.  Rich now has a shot at winning the Pac 12 South, which when he was made aware of this, he retorted with one of the classic quotes of the year, ”It’s like Dumb and Dumber – you’re telling me there’s a chance,”.  It does seem as though this dick has mellowed over the years.

Looking forward to this weekend, after the WVU game ends, find yourself a seat a sports bar.  At 7:00 Oregon travels to USC on Fox, at 8:00 Bama heads to Death Valley to take on LSU and Oklahoma State travels to Manhattan to play Kansas State.  Can we lose one more undefeated team?  Who will it be?

Random

The Maryland Terrapins are now down to their fourth quarterback on the year, a converted freshman linebacker.  This should be fun to watch.

Excellent and humorous article on sport journalism.  This is a big pet peeve of mine as well.

The 2012 Big Ten debacle continues as the league has only representative in the BCS poll this week after Wisconsin and Michigan both fell out.  What appears to be a weekly merry go around, has propelled Nebraska back into the poll.  I suppose they now appear to be the favorites to win the league, but your guess is as good as mine.  My only hope is that they continue to lose and there is no representative in the polls

I hate Notre Dame.  I mean I really hate them, but this is really funny.

Good Luck tailgaiting in the cold this weekend my friends.

Love,

Al

October 20, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen looks on from the sidelines against the Kansas State Wildcats during the second quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Dear  BFAs,

I really don’t have much to say about the Mountaineer’s this week.  Wish I had a witty comment or two, but honestly, what do you say without being incredibly negative?  I never truly thought we were a national contender, but was sold on a top ten team, yet we are staring at a substantial meltdown.  Go back and read my first email and I certainly warned (so didn’t everyone else) that we could have major problems, but shoot, we look like a bad 1-AA team on defense right now.   I’ll stop here, cause I really don’t know what else to say, however here is a good article to read for those of you jumping off cliffs.

Somewhere in Mountaineer field, I feel like there are two asian grounds keepers having this conversation right now.

Sometimes when I get down like this, I just have to turn to my good man, Bill Brasky for a good laugh.  If the Mountaineer season does go down in flames and die, I foresee the funeral looking something like this, but with WVU hoodies, haha.  How can these classics not bring a smile to your face??

So, as the forever optimist, lets examine who we can be thankful that we are not and give thanks that we don’t suck THAT much:

-  We are not Auburn.  Gene Chizik is two years removed from a national championship and is 1-6.  With an inevitable blowout loss to Alabama, Gene better watch out that Takeo Spikes doesn’t break him and feed him to War Eagle.  It would be awesome if they hired Harvey Updike.

-  We are not Kansas or Charlie Weis.  What a god awful marriage that is anyway.  Charlie has to hop around the field with a crutch and his defense gives up more yards per game than Charlie has been able to hobble in his entire life.  Kansas is also 1-6.

-  We are not Arkansas or John L. Smith.  Remember folks, this team was ranked higher than us in both polls to start the year and are now 3-4, their original coach was busted for banging out his employee and breaking his neck, then they replaced him with ole John L., who going through a bloody bankruptcy proceeding in which he is some $40 million in debt.  Joe Deforest, you should be looking up to this man.

-  We are not Virginia Tech who is 4-4, seems to be on a back slide as a program, and has lost to UNC, Pitt, and Cincy.  They will finish the year 0-2 versus the Big East.

-  We are not Mizzou who the SEC picked over us, debated how they were better than us on blogosphere, and so darn excited about joining the SEC.  Now they are 0-4 in league play and appear destined to join Kentucky as perennial doormats in the East division.

-  At least we are not one of the moderators to the presidential debates.  Talk about getting your a** beat.

- At least we are not Wyoming, who has a coach that was fined $50k last week for shouting expletives at Troy Calhoun, coach of Air Force.  Watch this.

Phew.  I feel better after that . . . and no, I don’t feel cheap because I make myself feel better on other’s misfortunes.

Around the Nation

Another week, another win for ND and Ohio State, further adding to my football misery.  Seriously, these guys gotta lose.  Thankfully both have tough opponents this week.  Personally, I will be headed to the Scandal Bowl of the Buckeyes and Sanduskys.  If you want to spot me in the crowd, I’ll be that guy wearing gold in the middle of a white out.  I have actually been to this game once before, back when Tamba Hali wrecked Troy Smith, and the Lions upset Sweater Vest . . . here’s hoping for history to repeat itself.

Quick round up on the remaining undefeated teams:  Kansas State (TT this weekend), Louisville (Cincy), Rutgers (Kent State), Notre Dame (OU), Bama vs Mississippi St, Florida (UGA), Ohio State (PSU), Ohio (Miami of Ohio), Oregon (Colorado), Oregon State (Washington).  I wouldn’t be surprised if half of these teams, if not a third lost this weekend, but I would love to see the two Oregon teams survive until the Civil War game at the end of the season.  Stuff like that is what college is all about . . . war.

Looking forward, you must start with Friday.  Friday night Big East games have largely been a punch line for the past few years, but cincy and Louisville should actually be an entertaining game.  After that, one must turn and praise Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson to gaze upon their SEC minions.  Alabama gets its first legit competition in a long time in facing an undefeated Mississippi St.  I am vary intrigued to see if team cowbell can keep up with Bama or will they be exposed.  In the 3:30 spot, the SEC East gives you Florida’s last major hurdle until they face of against Jimbo, as they travel to Athens.  UGA will be looking to rectify its blowout loss to Cocky.

In the Big XII, the two teams that have fostered our demise face off at 3:30.  Lets hope this turns into a 6-4 game for the comedic value.  More importantly, Notre Dame faces off against Oklahoma in Norman.  Oklahoma has revived itself from its early struggles and if they don’t pull off the win this weekend, we may be looking at the worse possible scenario of 2012 actually occurring  Notre Dame playing for the NCG.  Outside all of those games, it appears to be a rather quiet weekend.

Random

I will be posting the NCAA EA Sports predictions until they begin to falter.  Going 4-1 last week, and again predicting an Eer loss, these predictions have been hilariously correct.

Props to the Dukies for being bowl eligible.  As much as we hate them in hoops, how can you not feel for the little guy?  Rutgers has beaten WVU more recently than Duke has been to a bowl.  How great would it be to play Rutgers right now for a guaranteed win?

Anyone else hopeful to see a dominant offense like Oregon’s play the SEC Champ in the championship game this year?  I mean, I fully respect the league and their defenses, and feel that Bama is the best team, but with all these games being won with under 200 yards of offense, seriously??  Tough to criticize considering where WVU is right now, but you cannot tell me that Florida and LSU are complete teams.

What has this season really missed?  The Honey Badger.  He was incredibly fun to watch . . . getting busted for drugs, again

This is Awesome.  Awesome.

That’s all I got for you this week.  Everyone, stay strong and I’ll see ya back in Morgantown next week.

Al

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

Dear BFA’s,

The biggest revelation from making the trip to Austin, is that regardless of the pain of crisscrossing the east coast to get there, was that road trip was a hell of a lot more fun than a Big East trip. Sixth street easily trumps Louisville’s 4th street (Id compare to a mix of 4th street and Bourbon).  Scouring the city for its finest brisket ended with a more savory satisfaction than stopping in for Skyline Chili (my bowels reaction was about the same).  The atmosphere of the record setting 101,851 Memorial Stadium crowd was far more electric than being in Piscataway (didn’t see anyone chopping wood).  The tailgating scene was more luxurious than parking at the Skytop in Syracuse and while the travel sucked, it was a lot easier than heading to Storrs (did not see Paul Pasqualoni, that part sucked).  We all have enjoyed the extra media attention of late, but the real treasure is that we finally have exciting games to watch again and while we travel, we are headed to venues and college towns that in their own way rank in the same echelon as what we fondly view Morgantown.  The mountaineer faithful stormed Austin to the point that about every hour of the weekend, some Texan remarked, “you West Virginians are every where”.

I have already published a full recap of the tailgating and bar scene, through the eyes of your faithful leader (that’s me!), over at HailWV.com, so follow this link if you want to read more, but I will give you quick excerpt:  ”In the “dirty Sixth” area as the locals call it, there are about 5 blocks of door to door bars. I quickly knew that I was in for a good time while I was gathering bar suggestions from a local at our first bar, The Library. During our conversation, a mute lady in a motorized chair pulled up and began pointing at the liquor shelf. Unable to pinpoint her vice of choice, the bartender offered a pad of paper, but this mute would have none of that. Frustrated, she kept pointing, and out of intrigue, I assisted in identifying her bourbon . . . I don’t have to tell you she wanted it straight, not tarnished with some mixer dag gummit (she didn’t say that ‘cause she’s mute, but was thinking it)! I knew then we were in for a treat. Sports bars, dive bars, arcade bars, billiards (I watched the World Series of Fooseball at one), piano bars, music halls . . .”

As for the actual game, are y’all having to take heart medicine watching these Big XII games?  I felt like my hair was going to resemble Ern Mcracken’safter the Reno final, during the fourth quarter.  If someone told you that Geno would fumble the ball inside our own 20 twice, we would have a field goal blocked, have two sure touchdown misses (Jd Woods dropped TD and when the turf monster got Buie), and Geno was held to 268 yards, how many of you would think that we would’ve won? How about getting crushed?  There are various conclusions you can draw from that, but I prefer to focus on the fact that we played far from our best game, in a major road environment, where the other team forced us into running the ball and we still came out victorious. That is what I was talking about last week when I listed off the big games that Geno n crew have pulled us through. Sometimes you just have to have a group of leaders that just find a way to win games like this.

I am not surprised that Texas was able to get to Geno a few times. It’s not an indictment on the line, it’s just a matter that Texas has a couple guys that will likely be playing on Sunday’s on their defensive line. It was a bit surprising not to see Geno maneuver the pocket more gingerly than he did though as it is usually a strength of his.  Buie has gotten plenty of deserved press for his breakout day, but how about some love for Tavon as well. That 4th down touchdown in the first quarter and his kick returns were major contributions.  While the defense surely has a long ways to go, it was exciting to see that they kept a power rushing team to 168 yards and came up with a handful of stops when we needed them to. David ash helped with not catching the one snap, but you could see from the time he broke the huddle that he was rattled. The biggest remorse I have is that we couldn’t execute when we were up 21-7, after the Goodwin fumble.  We started the drive with the mixed up handoff then the failed flea flicker. A touchdown could have put a nail in it early.

Trap Game?

Looking forward to Texas Tech, we stare directly at the quintessential trap game, even if Holgo doesn’t know what that means.  Well Holgs, Definition:  Coming off a major road win, that was pulled off in emotional fashion, we are put up against an inferior but dangerous team that requires a return trip to Texas, with a top five showdown looming the week after.  When the schedule came out, this was hardly a marquee matchup that people were drawn to and lacks the story lines of other games, but to me it instantly popped up as a watch out game. Vegas is thinking the same thing placing us as merely a 4.5 point favorite.  The Red Raiders, who have bounced around the others receiving votes section of the polls all year, feature a decent defense, and one the top passers in the country in Seth Doege.  While chatting  it up with a few Texas folks watching the Tech game this weekend (desperately hoping to see a Sooner loss), they passed along the advice that you need want to play in Lubbock at night; “strange things happen out there at night. It’s a weird place.”. Kind of sounds like Morgantown, no?  Thankfully the television gods decided we should play at 3:30.

Clearly this is a game we should win, but Mountaineer fans need no reminder of our annual slip ups against lessor foes (ahem, Syracuse).  Games against Texas Tech, Iowa State, TCU, Baylor, and Oklahoma State will ultimately decide who wins this conference.  It is clear at this point that the WVU, Texas, OU, and K State foursome are the main contenders, but any of us can loose to any of those aforementioned squads.  As of now, the contenders are 3-0 versus the middle pack. Keep an eye on these match ups as we progress through the year.  Texas and Oklahoma line up at the Red River Shootout this weekend, which could serve as a de facto knockout punch for the loser. WVU and the Wildcats each look to survive upset bids prior to facing each other in a potential top 5 showdown in Motown next weekend (cats have Iowa State).

Around the Nation

My weekly vitriol towards the Big 10 received another boost this weekend. With Ohio State banned from the Coaches poll (who crushed previously ranked Nebraska), there are no ranked teams from this pitiful alliance of fooseball teams.  Jim Delaney’s power conference joins the ACC this year in their annual October realization, that they should just give in and look forward to basketball season.  It is pretty humorous that the one year OSU cannot claim anything, they appear to be the far and away favorites.  I would think Nebraska would’ve at least made it competitive . . . . I am hoping for an Indiana vs Minnesota championship game.  I would attend and be That Guy with the huge spinning head of Jim Delaney.  Can y’all tell I enjoy this?

Speaking of the ACC, did Jimbo spend too much time at hometown Little Vegas this week instead of prepping for the Fighting Tom O’briens??  Once again, for the 80th year in a row, we are revoking the FSU IS BACK campaigns.  Honestly though, they haven’t been to a national championship in 12 years or a BCS in 7.  I was sophomore in High School when they were last in the big one, therefore to me, when they lose the perennial Virginia Tech type choke job, that is when I feel like the FSU I know and love is truly back.

The huge Armageddon games east of Texas this week happened over in the SEC with the Spurrier Sqaud pummeling Georiga, placing Mark Richt back on the hot seat for the 31st time, and Florida pushed around LSU.  Now, due to being at the real matchup in Austin, I didn’t get to see these games, so from what I hear, Florida looks like the real deal.  I didn’t give them an ounce of credit at the beginning of the year, but I guess now I do as they are undefeated and beat LSU, but looking at that score, I cannot help but think of putrid offenses.  There is a damn good chance that the Gamecocks good lose in Death Valley this weekend and then turn around and beat up on Florida, or better yet, Florida could go ahead and lose to Vandy, a statement unimaginable a few years back, but surely possible.  Then, with a one point victory over TT, we are number 3 in the country!

I think I am going to hold off on listing the top games remaining on the schedule that could shape the national title race for another week or two, as we should see the tide shift a bit over the next couple games.  I plan to do the same for the Big XII.

Random

I know people will ask how we were received as opponents, so I’ll go ahead and address.   I didn’t run into a single person that wasn’t polite or congratulatory in defeat while down there. They were almost too polite.  They are different though from the Southern hospitality that we received in places like Auburn, where they would offer you food and beer though. These fans wouldn’t go that far, but there was good football conversations to be had with any UT fan you ran into. Surprisingly,   I didn’t see any idiots from our fan base either …. Although I couldn’t resist throwing the upside down hookem horns occasionally. After all Where would college football be without a bit I good natured smack talk?

Heard a lot of Texas fans anxious to come to Morgantown next year.  I think they will be surprised at the stark differences in tailgating. True to their wine and chess mantra, many of the tailgates exhibited an elegance that you don’t see at home. We saw some areas with massive tents and impressive entertainment systems, others with a spread that looked catered, but then you saw their trailer that ha a 12 foot range and dual 5 foot high smokers. Gotta say that was all pretty impressive, but not sure whee you would fit all of that in the blue lot.  Finally, to be completely honest with you, it wasn’t in the slightest bit what I would call rowdy.  Not once did I walk by a tailgate and think, how these guys are pounding some beers.  Even on our best behavior I am sure we will send some Texan men home with complaints to their wives about they need to ditch the pasta salad in exchange for a beer bong.

How about Charlie Weis not practicing his seniors?  I don’t care how bad they are, that is a dick move.  This further entrenches him as one of the worst coaches in America in my book. After the Mangino incident and failed Turner Gil experience, Kansas should just stick to basketball.

In re-watching the Texas game on Tivo, I would like to remind everyone that Erin Andrews is still hot.

Since 2003, the Mountaineers are 80-3 when scoring 30+ points . . . I tend to find these type of statistics a bit overstated, but considering we likely won’t score less than thirty this year, I hope it stays strong.  Speaking of stats, a couple updates for you:  WVU is 21st in Tackles for loss, 22nd in turnover margin, 113 in opponents third downs, Stedman and Tavon are #2 and #3 in national receiving  yards per game (behind Terrance Williams of Baylor), and Geno is #1 in passer rating.  The Big XII has six of the top seven rated passers in the country (AJ McCarron is the other), but lost Casey Pachall due to a DWI.  Of the remaining four, after you remove Casey and Geno, we have already faced David Ash and Nick Florence and have JW Walsh and Collen Klein to go.  Others of note are Landry Jones at 55 and Seth Doege at 25.

Here is a good article on the Mountaineer’s win over Texas and a contrast of The Pirate and The Holgo.

Can we get a shout out for Pat Miller and Josh Francis this week?  Say what you want, but Pat had a couple huge plays end the end of last week’s game.  Josh has been having a solid season so far and is currently tied for 15th in the country in Tackles for Loss.  He seemed to be all over the field Saturday night.

Have to be somewhat concerned about this prediction.  The NCAA video game simulations have been 17-3 over the past month and almost perfectly predicted the Georgia dismantling at the hands of Spurrier.  Better start praying folks.

Don’t forget, just because the Eers are on the road, doesn’t mean you can’t tailgate.  Enjoy the good weather this weekend.

Love,

Al

One of the lesser stories of our transition the Big XII, is the enhanced experience of traveling to exciting venues; when we can afford the cost of flights or time off from work to zig zag the country that is. This past week’s trip to Austin, our first road trip opportunity in the Big XII, was circled in huge red crayons by any fan who had ambitions to making a road trip or two, and the Texan environment did not disappoint.

Any Mountaineer reading this blog primarily wants to know two things, 1) how was the tailgating 2) how was Sixth Street?

First off let me tell you this; I have tailgated all across the Big East, been to a few Big 10 schools, at SEC venues, for the annual Army/Navy, for Ivy league bouts, and even the for legendary Green Bay Packers. The one thing that I have learned through the years is that every place is different. There is always a dichotomy of whether the locals are into drinking or more into food and entertainment. The scene drastically varies based on the traditions and the physical environment that you tailgate in. For example, our beloved Blue Lot is one massive party, but a lot of this is the byproduct of packing thousands of fans in small parking lot wedged between a hospital and a football stadium. Urban schools are often constrained by fenced in lots, being bussed in from out laying areas, and parking garages.

Texas is no exception to the rule and hence has an environment of its own. Texas has a ton of space to spread out. Many of their tailgates had massive tents with impressive entertainment displays that would make any man drool. One gets the sense that there is a keeping up with the Jones’s mentality around their tailgating. If your neighbor gets a 50 inch, you get three 48’s and a sound system. The neighbor will inevitably respond with building a stage and hiring a band. For those of us not constructing these monstrosities, just hope you are invited. On the food/beer dichotomy, while these people were definitely tossing back some beers, I don’t remember seeing a single stumbling drunk. Food wise . . . we are talking about 20 foot flat bed trailers, where the back 15 feet serve as an open range, and the front end has 5 foot tall dual smokers. There was some serious barbequing going on. Finally, the fans were all very polite and we had little to no heckling. However; they are not Deep South nice. Don’t expect the southern hospitality that you will find at a place like Auburn, where they stop short of inviting you to sleep with their daughters; just a good civil, football intelligent conversation with a good luck at the end. One suggestion if you are staying on Sixth and tailgating by the stadium; they have little bike propelled rickshaws where you can pay some poor sap to cart you and your cooler of beer, beats the hell out of carrying a cooler for 10 blocks.

Now, if you are a heavy drinking Mountaineer fan that is disappointed in their lack of zeal when it comes to pounding Natty Lights, well Sixth Street is your spot. I tried to look up some good bars to map out my excursions, but gave up as I continually found conflicting reviews. It was a waste of time. In the “dirty Sixth” area as the locals call it, there are about 5 blocks of door to door bars. I quickly knew that I was in for a good time while I was gathering bar suggestions from a local at our first bar, The Library. During our conversation, a mute lady in a motorized chair pulled up and began pointing at the liquor shelf. Unable to pinpoint her vice of choice, the bartender offered a pad of paper, but this mute would have none of that. Frustrated, she kept pointing, and out of intrigue, I assisted in identifying her bourbon . . . I don’t have to tell you she wanted it straight, not tarnished with some mixer dag gummit (she didn’t say that ‘cause she’s mute, but was thinking it)! I knew then we were in for a treat. Sports bars, dive bars, arcade bars, billiards (I watched the World Series of Fooseball at one), piano bars, music halls . . . you name, they got it. Its similar to 4th street Live in Louisville where they shut down the street for small sections, but much closer to Bourbon Street in comparing the style of bars, without the smell of a trash-puke soup and it lacks the famous Nawlins deviance. Another nice touch is that it doesn’t have anyone from Louisville. Long story short, anyone can find a bar to their liking in a short distance, and trust me, anyone does. At about midnight, the percentage of football aficionados began to dwindle and the hipsters started picking up. I consider myself rather liberal and can only describe a lot of people I saw as just weird. Bear in mind that Austin prides itself and even markets itself as “Weird Austin”. There was a “classy” part of Sixth where there are more stylistic lounges or wine bars . . . I’ll stop there as I am pretty sure that none of our fan base went that direction.

If you have more time than just Friday night and Saturday postgame, I’d suggest venturing out further. I would’ve liked to hit a few the bars right next to campus, but couldn’t drag myself from Sixth. We did stay for a nightcap if you will, on Sunday and hit up South Congress. Congress runs perpendicular with Sixth, but the south section is on the other side of the mighty Colorado. Probably about a mile from Sixth is a section of shops, roadside eateries, and small bars that define “Weird Austin”. I am not too fond of shopping, but it was fun popping in the shops to see a unique scenery. After we had enough of that (20 minutes or so), we found a recommended bar from our friend at The Library, Doc’s. It was a cool sports bar located in what looked like what may have formerly been an auto shop. More good beer and NFL football, but I got the sense at that point that the locals grew tired of seeing those damn Mountaineer fans.

All in all, it was a great trip and I look forward to traversing the rest of the conference venues over the next few years.