56-7 WVU
WOW. I know it's a 1AA team, but I was very impressed. We are light years ahead of where we were last year. We had 560 yd's of total offense. We blocked a punt too. The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the coverage on punt returns (or lack thereof). What hurt us the most on offense last year was the lack of a deep threat. We actually threw a bunch of deep balls and connected tonight. Rasheed Marshall looked great. He had some nice throws and ran better than most RB's do. One play he was hurdling over a defender and threw the ball while in mid-air, and connected with the TE for a TD from 20 yd's out. Attendence was 54,455, which is pretty good considering last years record and who we were playing. The defense was also very quick. I think I'll like the new 3-3 stack formation. Rodriguez started a new tradition tonight too. After each home win the team will stay on the field and sing country roads. It was great, the whole stadium joined in. Over 50,000 people singing country roads in unison is classic.
Mo Howard blocks a punt
34-17 Wisconsin
Tough loss. We played well for most of the game, but the butt-kickin was so severe in the 2nd quarter that we couldn't pull out the win. We looked like a high school team during the 2nd quarter. We made some adjustments and performed well in the 2nd half. Completely shut down Wisconsin and outscored them 14-0, but it was too little, too late. The biggest problems were the lack of a pass rush and the secondary playing too loose. Wisconsin had a full 20 seconds to throw on some plays and recievers were wide open in the 2nd quarter. Rasheed overthrew some balls that would have been TD's, but I think that's just inexperience. He did show some flashes of future greatness. This loss isn't the end of the world. We were picked to lose. I'm sticking with my predictions. If we beat Cincinnati next week, we'll go to a bowl, if we lose to Cincinnati (God forbid), we'll have a losing season.
Jahmile Addae gets some serious air on this punt block attempt
35-32 WVU
What a nailbiter. I took a road trip to this game, and it was one of the best games I've seen in years. The 1st qtr was a shootout. We pulled away in the 2nd qtr. and the score was 28-17 at halftime. The defense of both teams stepped up in the 2nd half. We only scored 1 TD in the 3rd qtr, making it 35-17. Cincinnati had an amazing comeback against TCU last week, and they almost pulled one off against us. UC started lighting us up in the 4th qtr. They closed the gap to 35-32, and with 1 second on the clock, missed a 49 yd field goal. The fieldgoal was close, too. It had the distance, but bounced off the side of the goal post. The stadium was at least 1/3 WVU fans, and it just erupted as soon as everyone heard that "boink". All the Mountaineer fans started the "Let's Gooooo...Mountaineers" chant while exiting the stadium. It sure is fun rubbing the win in the home team's face (especially after the Huggins fiasco). This win is big considering where this program is at. It was not only Coach Rod's first road win, but also his first quality win. The spread was also 5 points in Cinci's favor. All in all, a great trip and a down to the wire game.
James Davis gets a sack
37-17 WVU
Who says you can't run out of the spread offense? This game should silence all those critics who say we're a "finesse" team. Finesse teams don't pile up 536 rushing yards. You read that right, not 536 offensive yards, rushing yards. Avon Cobourne had 260 yds, not only setting a Mountaineer Field record but also breaking the rushing record set by Amos Zereoue. Quincy Wilson, Cobourne's backup, had 198 yds on 14 carries. That's over a 14 yd average. The 536 rushing yards also set a Big East record, breaking the 500 against Pitt in '93 set by VT. The defense and special teams looked much improved today. If we keep getting better every game, like we're doing now, there's no telling how many games we can win. After 4 games, Avon is officially #1 in rushing in the nation. Go look at the NCAA's site if you don't believe me. As a team, we also lead the nation in rushing offense, and are #2 in total offense. Ironically, MU is #1 in passing and total offense. It's amazing that the top 2 offensive teams in the country are both in WV. I guess that's to be expected when 1 team has the best QB in the country, and the other has the best RB in the country. We're starting to get some respect. We're actually favored over Maryland next week, and Avon was Collegefootball.com's player of the week. Watch out WVU opponents, we are not the 3-8 squad from last year.
Avon breaks off a long TD run
48-17 Maryland
Pathetic. All I can say. Every aspect of the game was bad. The play calling was absolutely terrible. ECU was a step forward, this was 2 steps back.
Tory Johnson scores on one of the few positives on the day
40-0 WVU
Rutgers is terrible. We've outscored them 120-7 in the past two games. Still, this is exactly what we needed to get some confidence back. I'm still concerned about Rasheed's accuracy. He's been off for 3 games straight. The play calling seemed much improved. Basically we aren't as good as we looked against ECU, but not as bad as we looked against Maryland.
Tim Love closes in for a safety
34-7 WVU
Great win. Syracuse was totally dominated in every aspect of the game. I don't care that their record sucks. They still have all the recruiting tools and talent that they usually have, they just haven't been playing well. This team did go 10-3 and finish 2nd in the Big East last year. The officiating was quite possibly the worst I have ever seen. Can anyone explain to me how you get called for roughing the kicker when you BLOCK THE PUNT? There were so many calls that pissed everyone off so much that the student section started throwing plastic bottles onto the field. Our defense has really stepped up the past 2 games. I'm not so worried about Rasheed's passing ability anymore. He showed that he could get it done through the air. Both our offense and defense are ranked in the top 15 now. Granted we haven't done it against any top teams, but we haven't just been beating the teams in the games we've won, we've been totally dominating them. One more win and we'll be bowl eligible. This has been a complete turnaround from the debacle that was last year.
Rasheed Marshall flips into the endzone on this Sportscenter highlight
40-23 Miami
There's no such thing as a moral victory, but if there was, this would certainly qualify. The game was a lot closer than the final score indicates. We were tied with Miami until the 4th quarter, and it wasn't of of reach until the final 5 minutes. I've never seen Mountaineer Field so alive. Miami scored quickly on a big play early in the game, but we responded with an 80-yd drive and a touchdown. The student section was insane. Everyone was like "we just tied Miami? Holy crap!!!" Every time Miami would get up on us, we would answer with a long drive and a score. We were only down 10-17 at the half. The 2nd quarter started with a Miami fumble on their 14. Rasheed ran it in for the score to tie the game at 17-17. We traded scores again in the 3rd quarter. Ken Dorsey showed why he is a good QB in the 4th. He looked average for most of the game, but he got hot when he needed to. Miami just wore us down by the 4th. They're talent level was just too much to hold out against for the whole game. Our guys made Miami earn that win, though. After seeing this game, I'm confident we can run on anyone in the country. They knew we were going to run nearly every down, but we still got 370 rushing yards on the #1 team in the country. If our defense plays as well as they did for most of the Miami game, we're going to be tough, because I really don't see how anyone is going to stop our running game. Our RB's are the real "Untouchables". The rest of our games will be decided by our passing D.
Quincy Wilson poses for the camera on this short TD run.
46-20 WVU
This game wasn't televised so I could only listen on the radio, but we sounded impressive. The score was 33-0 in the 3rd quarter before we put it on cruise control. The defense completely dominated. Temple only had 16 total yards in the entire first half. A lot of people were worried about this game because Temple completely shut down VT's so called "untouchables" the week before. They failed miserably trying to stop the Q&A. It seemed like they focused on Avon so much that they forgot about Rasheed. Rasheed had as many TD's and yd's as Avon did. The passing game also showed signs of life today. It was nice to get revenge for the temple loss last year. With this win we're bowl eligible, and if we keep up this level of play, our chances our good in the rest of our games.
Grant Wiley is tackled on an interception return
24-14 WVU
Huge win. Absolutely huge. BC is a very good team. They did beat top 5 Notre Dame the week before. This game was not near as close as the score indicates. BC scored their last TD with only 30 seconds left in the game. They were dominated on both sides of the ball. We also blocked 2 field goals. Ours guys put some huge hits on BC. On the 3rd play of the game, FB Moe Fofana flattened a BC defender. The guy had to leave the game with a concussion. Angel Estrada put a monster hit on BC's RB, which was one of ESPN's "top hits of the day". The BC player had to get stitches on his chin. This is RRod's biggest win to date. It's also our first win over a team with a winning record in 2 years. Everyone rushed the field after the game and sang "country roads" at midfield with all the players. All the students hoisted Avon into the air. It was classic.
Phil Braxton dives for a TD
21-18 WVU
If last week's win was huge, then this one was program defining. Not many teams can go into Lane stadium at night, on TV, and win. The defending SEC champs, LSU, couldn't. We did. The best backfield in the Big East finally played at Lane stadium. The Q&A-207 yds. The "untouchables"-less than 100 combined. We stuffed the so called untouchables. The defense came of age during this game. The 4th qtr. goal line stand was one of the most impressive defensive series I've ever seen. 2nd & inches, run Lee Suggs up the middle. Stuffed. 3rd & inches, run Bryan Randall up the middle. Stuffed. 4th & inches, run Lee Suggs up the middle. Tackled for a loss. WVU gets the ball. Then Brian King made the game saving interception with 12 seconds to go. We're now ranked #21 and have the biggest Backyard Brawl in years coming up. Us & Pitt, both 8-3 overall, 5-1 in the Big East, and ranked in the top 25. This game is for the Gator bowl, and it's going to be a war. Beat Pitt!
Avon dives for WVU's first TD
24-17 WVU
I'll get a review up, I've been busy.
The WVU defense swarms Pitt QB Rod Rutherford for a loss
