September 4, 2011; Morgantown,WV, USA: Marshall Thundering Herd running back Travon Van (right) is stopped for no gain while carrying the ball against West Virginia Mountaineers defensive end Will Clarke (left) during the second quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

This Saturday’s Friends of Coal Bowl marks the last scheduled meeting between West Virginia and Marshall in football for the foreseeable future. Should the heavily favored Mountaineers beat the Thundering Herd; it will be the 12th straight victory for WVU in the series. The series has only been played 12 times total.

Talk about a rivalry.

There is no widely accepted definition of a sports rivalry. While there are as many definitions of sports rivalry as there are teams in the NCAA basketball tournament, there are a few key components that can be used to define these rivalries.

1.) History: West Virginia and Marshall first played in 1911. Since then, the schools have only played 11 times in the 100 years after the initial match-up.We’ll call this a check.

2.) Geography: WVU and Marshall are the only two FBS football programs in the state of West Virginia. They are only a 3:30 hours drive apart making it relatively easy for the schools to meet. Check.

3.) Animosity: Anyone who has ever lived in the state of West Virginia, or who is a member of either fan base, will tell you that these two groups of fans just do not like each other. Having grown up in the Huntington area, I can tell you that Marshall is as much a part of life in that town as the oxygen in the air. People in Huntington build their lives around Marshall athletics.

The same can be said of Mountaineers fans. It seems that everybody in Morgantown is in some way related to or affiliated with the athletic department. Instead of reading their children fairy tales at bedtime, they tell their children stories of the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, the 2005 Louisville game, and of the 1988 Penn State game.

When you have fans as passionate and personally invested in their teams, any talk of their team being inferior to the state’s “other team” is tantamount to refusing Tudor’s Biscuit World (which is phenomenal). Solid animosity, double check.

4.) Competitiveness: This is the criteria that this “rivalry” lacks. Marshall has never beaten West Virginia on the gridiron. More over, the Thundering Herd has only twice lost by single digits: 1911 WVU 17 – MU 15, 2010 WVU 24 – MU 21 in OT.

West Virginia and Marshall discontinued their series after the 1923 season, presumably due to competitive issues. In the first four games of the series, WVU outscored MU by a total of 210 – 21.

The two schools would not play each other for the next 54 years, primarily due to the fact that Marshall was playing at the Division 1-AA level (now FCS) and WVU was playing at the Division 1-A level (now FBS). Yes, teams now conventionally play FCS teams in “rent-a-victim” games. Playing lower level competition was not as acceptable in the pre-BCS era.

Marshall spent the 1990s dominating the Division 1-AA level of competition before moving up to 1-A ball in 1997. Once Marshall decided to play on WVU’s level, the Mountaineers welcomed them to Morgantown for their first taste of big time football. The game was very close, with WVU coming from behind late to win 42-31. Clearly, Marshall was on the rise and WVU was in decline. Was that a factor in why the two teams did not play for the next 8 seasons? Possibly.

Whatever the reasons may be for the two schools not playing one another after the thrilling 1997 game, the two programs would need legislative intervention to renew their series. Former Governor Joe Manchin got the two schools to agree to the present Friends of Coal Bowl series starting with the 2006 season.

Sept 10, 2010; Huntington, WV, USA; Marshall Thundering Herd kicker Tyler Warner (37) reacts to a missed kick as West Virginia Mountaineers players celebrate at Joan C Edwards Stadium. West Virginia defeated Marshall 24-21 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE

Marshall has shown flashes of competitiveness in this recent series. The Herd held leads into halftime in the 2007, 2009, and 2010 games. The Herd had WVU on the ropes in front of their home crowd in the 2010 game, before suffering a monumental collapse.

Last year’s game, although shortened by rain, was true to the series history: WVU was the better team by three scores. This year’s game promises to be no closer, but hopefully less rainy.

All time, West Virginia has beaten Marshall 11 straight times by a combined score of 451 – 129. Competitiveness NOT check.

If Marshall really wants for this series to become a rivalry, they’ll have to at least win one game. Surrendering leads late in games does not make a rivalry. It takes beating a team for 60 minutes (not 53 minutes like in 2010). This year may be their one and only chance to beat the Mountaineers; at least until another West Virginia governor decides to force these teams to get together again.

If Marshall can beat the Mountaineers, at least once, this series has all the other makings of a true rivalry.

The first half of play consisted of back and forth runs and ended with Truck Bryant sinking a three to tie it at 30. West Virginia was able to pull away with a 10 point run in the second half to take the lead and not look back.

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The West Virginia Men’s basketball team (13-5, 4-2 BE) is set take on the Marshall Thundering Herd (13-4, 4-0 C-USA) Wednesday night in the 40th installment of the Capital Classic. The Mountaineers lead the series 28-11 and will look for revenge from the 75-71 loss they suffered last year. The Thundering Herd will be looking to win back to back games for the first time in series history.

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Seriously, beer jokes aside…

The Bob Huggins Tailgate will take place January 17th at The Moose Lodge in Charleston, West Virginia, and will benefit the Remember The Miners Scholars Program and the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund. The event begins at 7 PM.

The tailgate will feature WVU Head Men’s Basketball coach Bob Huggins and a concert performance by West Virginia’s own Taylor Made.

West Virginia will take on Marshall next Wednesday night in the Charleston Civic Center, but fans will have the opportunity to spend the evening before the game with Head Coach Bob Huggins at a charity tailgate.

The Bob Huggins Tailgate presented by Little General, will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 inside the Charleston Moose Lodge and is open to anyone wanting to attend. Gates will open to the public at 6:30 p.m.

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Turns out, he just loves wearing white as it is. After the break is today’s surprise. Hat tip to Colin Dunlap (twitter: @colin_dunlap) for linking this picture.

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We all know that Mountaineer Nation loves their Mountaineers. They will do anything to support WVU. That was proven again today when fans have addressed ESPN, and the lack of knowledge during the broadcast yesterday against Marshall. So, I went to my friends on twitter to get some of their thoughts. Here’s what we came up with.

ADs via WVMetroNews

As I woke up this morning, I feel good about the Mountaineers victory yesterday over Marshall. The game had to be difficult for the players, fans, administration on both sides, and ESPN. Players hadn’t ate since 11am earlier in the day, and that’s what it’s about, the players. It seems one side had the players best interesting last night. More after the break.

The Deuce put together the stats, and I’m going to rant about yesterday’s monsoon.

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When we last left our favorite “scribe in a cheap suit”, he was slobbering Rakeem Cato more than Monica Lewinsky did to Bill Clinton.

Today? Oh, he’s butthurt over WVU and Marshall canceling the Coal Bowl over “student athlete concerns.” But, he doesn’t see it that way. After the jump are all the festivities.

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When we last left Debbie Downer, he was trying to downplay new coach Dana Holgorsen, saying that his offense is COMMONPLACE in C-USA and that Marshall should have no problem stopping it.

This week? Well, he’s saying “Cato ain’t skurred” of WVU fans. We’ll see about that. Time to tear Landon’s latest piece of sh*t fiction apart!

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