Matt Freeman (MF): If you like sports and you’re from West Virginia, you almost have to be a fan of WVU. I myself actually attended WVU, so that turned me into the fanatical sort that went to the trouble to create a website dedicated to the team. But one thing outsiders to WVU athletics may not realize is that the Mountaineers are really the State Team.

 

To a state with no professional sports teams, having a successful program that actually represents US is more important than one may realize. West Virginians are fans of sports just like everyone else. The dominant NFL following in West Virginia is Steelers/Redskins. With baseball it’s mostly Pirates and Reds. But those teams don’t belong to us. They belong to Pittsburgh, D.C., and Cincinnati. The Mountaineers are the one national sports entity that is definitively West Virginia.

 

Coming from a place where the state itself is used as a punchline in too many ignorant stereotypical jokes, it’s important to have something that represents us as a state (and represents us well) on the national stage. The Mountaineers are about more than just a college football team to us: it’s a matter of pride in your home.

 

 

 

(MF): Every fan of every team is going to tell you their gameday atmosphere is unlike anything else in college football. The same is the case with the Mountaineers. On gamedays, Morgantown becomes the most populous city in the state of West Virginia. The drinking is legendary, as you will see from WVU’s ranking in the top 10 of party schools for any list you can find, every single year.

(WVU also holds the distinction for being the only school I’ve ever heard of where the students rushed Mountaineer Field and tore down the goalposts… after an away game. Students headed towards a darkened Mountaineer Field en masse, stormed the gates, got to field level, and brought down the goalposts after beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg in 2002. So you can imagine what it’s like when the home team is actually THERE.)

 

Perhaps unique to WVU is the affinity for igniting furniture after a major victory. (Our very website name, We Must Ignite This Couch is based on such a tradition.) But there’s a common misconception that couches are burned after every victory. Honestly, to the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been a football-related rash of couch-burnings since 2003, when WVU upset #3-ranked Virginia Tech at home.

 

Here’s the criteria for couch-burning, all of which must be met: 1) Major victory over a top-ranked opponent, 2) Upset Victory over hated rival.

 

As the Mountaineers have been highly-ranked in recent years, there really haven’t been that many upset victories, and hence many fewer opportunities to set bonfires in the streets.

 

 

 

(MF): This is a touchy subject around WVU. WVU’s head coach, Bill Stewart, is the captain of the All Good Guy Team, and is legitimately one of the nicest, most honest people ever to coach in the NCAA. But there are a number of detractors around the state that believe he was handed the keys to a Lexus last year following Rich Rodriguez’s departure, and drove it directly into a ditch, losing games to ECU, Colorado, Cincinnati, and Pitt (not exactly a murderer’s row). While I understand that he’s changing schemes and creating a different culture, I can say that the consensus among fans is that there’s some serious improvements to be made.

 

The coaching staff that he assembled is actually one of the most accomplished staffs in the nation, and the recruiting classes he’s hauled in to date have been two of the strongest classes in program history, including a highly-touted QB prospect from your neck of the woods in Gino Smith of Miramar HS. (Who turned down offers from all four major programs in Florida.)

 

Scheme-wise, offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen faced some criticism last year for short dink-and-dunk passing even in the face of 3rd and longs, but his effort to bring an aerial attack to a town known for consistently ranking in the top 5 in rushing nationally was bound to meet criticism. He’ll have another shot this year with a QB that is arguably a better passer than his predecessor Pat White (who was obviously other-worldly as a threat to run). Defensively, WVU runs a 3-3-5 stack with defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel at the helm, and is coming off of a solid year, ranking 11th in the nation in scoring defense.

 

 

 

(MF): Ever hear of a 6’8’’ slot receiver? Well, we’re giving that a shot this year. WR West Lyons has been a tantalizing talent for a few years now, but hasn’t really put everything together until this spring, where he was voted most improved offensive player. He’s tall, athletic’, and as you can tell from this youtube clip, he has some physicality. If he develops into the goal-line weapon he should have been all along (he’s going to be a foot taller than most people covering him), opponents could be very frustrated defensively.

 

 

 

 

 

(MF): School- Two points, somewhat related. Point one is that for the first time in AGES in Morgantown, the defense is expected to be the rock, while the offensive unit is going to need to gel to be successful. Most observers view WVU as a sort of Texas Tech- East when it comes to throwing up points, but the defense is going to be the key to this year’s success.

Point two is that senior QB Jarrett Brown is going to do a more-than-adequate job replacing Pat White, who might not have been as suited for the current offensive coordinator’s scheme as Brown is. Brown has a rocket arm and has waited 3 years for the opportunity to step into the starter’s role, and is doing so in a revamped pass-first, run-second offensive attack. He could have a monster year.

 

Conference- I don’t think word has gotten out nationally how good Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly is. He won two Division II national championships at Grand Valley State University (winning D-II Coach of the Year both times), improved Central Michigan to MAC champion status, then immediately turned freaking Cincinnati into a powerhouse, winning Big East Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008 and winning the conference in 2008. Sure, they lost to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, but that’s a team on the rise.

 

 

 

(MF): As presently constructed, the Big East has no need for a conference title game because all of the teams in the conference play each other head-to-head during the regular season. And apparently we’re picking the right representatives, as the Big East champion has gone 3-1 in its last 4 BCS games against champions from the Big 12, SEC, and ACC.

 

 

 

(MF): While I think the BCS is better than the pre-BCS system, I’m of a different persuasion than you. I’m one of those that thinks the national championship is the only goal, probably because that’s the one accomplishment WVU has never achieved. (The Mountaineers are the winningest program to have never won a national championship.) Conference titles, BCS bowls, WVU’s done all that. Winning a title would be the last feather in the cap.

 

 

 

(MF): I’ve vociferously clamored for a playoff system for as long as I can remember, despite the fact that but for a colossal chokejob at home against a 3-8 Pitt team two years ago, the Mountaineers would’ve played for the National Championship under the current rules despite having 1 loss. Subjective OPINION should not be a deciding factor in any organized sport, period. Especially when the voters have demonstrated time and again just how remarkably wrong that opinion can be. (See the Sugar Bowl last year and the Fiesta Bowl the year before.)

 

Here’s a list of the sports that use subjective voting to determine championship contenders: gymnastics, diving, figure skating, synchronized swimming, college football. Which doesn’t fit?

 

From a league perspective, I would imagine that Big East fans are in favor of a playoff system, but less so than in other conferences like the SEC, who has a conference commissioner that whines and cries for a playoff system if an SEC team runs the risk of being left out of the championship, but disappears from the room when the time actually comes to change the system after an SEC team wins the championship. Many critics claim that the Big East shouldn’t even have an automatic BCS bid (despite the fact that the Big East has a better BCS record than the Big 12, Big 10, or the ACC), so obviously we’re not as opposed to the BCS as some fans.

 

 

 

(MF): Obviously they HAVE to be some part of the process, as an NCAA Tournament 64-team style field is logistically impossible. But there’s no reason a committee like the NCAA Tournament committee shouldn’t be able to sit down and pick out the 8 best teams and have them settle it on the field like every other major organized sport. Sure, the 9th team would complain about being left out, but I can handle a 9th ranked team complaining about not being given a shot at the championship much more than the 3rd ranked team, which is the status quo. So my answer is polls as they currently exist-no. Selection committee as a feeder for a playoff- yes.

 

 

 

(MF): This is a really tricky issue, as obviously the past few years have taught us to throw our expectations out of the window when it comes to non-BCS conferences in BCS Bowls. (Obviously Hawaii is an exception after getting curbstomped by UGA.) The problem that the Mountain West, for example, faces- criticism for strength of schedule- is not terribly unfamiliar to WVU fans. WVU constantly catches heat for the strength of their schedule or lack thereof, but it’s not for lack of trying that WVU’s out-of-conference schedule isn’t always that strong. Top teams just don’t want to schedule home-and-homes knowing that they have to come to Morgantown, a traditionally inhospitable place for opposing teams. There’s high risk, low reward. This has changed in recent years with future games on the horizon with LSU, Florida State, Michigan State, and the like, but the MWC is having similar problems right now because the big boys don’t want to run the risk of being embarrassed like Oklahoma and Alabama have been, thus destroying their seasons.

 

To date, though, the best teams in those conferences have shown they’re capable of competing at the top level with the BCS schools. But if there’s a 12-1 SEC team and an undefeated MWC team vying for a trip to the title game, every reasonable person is going to give it to the SEC team. That’s just how it is. It’s a tough situation that I think would be taken care of with a playoff system.