A Beautiful Time to be a WV and Football Fan!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Never has any time (outside of a winning Super Bowl Performance by Jeff Hostetler) held such promise for West Virginia Football fans.

Take last nights 15-14 outing, for example. Joey Gallowya scored (he's from WV), Adrian Murell scored a TD (from WVU) and Wes Ours caught a 2 point conversion (From WVU, graduated in the last Nehlen class).

Jerry Porter is emerging as a receiving threat in Oakland and gets a lot of press. Amos Zereoue is named the starter unseating Bettis. Lots of NFL people are watching QB Marc Bulger closely in St. Louis. John Thornton got a major contract and is the feature DT in Marvin Lewis's new defense.

C Mike Compton has a Super Bowl ring. TE Anthony Becht is listed in the top three blocking TE's in several publications I've seen as well as being a receiving threat in the red zone.

Mike Logan is starting for the Steelers, Barrett Green is starting for the Lions, Aaron Beasley is starting for the Jets, while K Mike Vanderjagt and P Todd Sauerbrun are each at the top of the game.

And that's just WVU.

Add in Chad Pennington, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich, Joey Galloway....

It's a great time to be a West Virginia native and a football fan.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Dola -

Here's something interesting. WVU, fresh off a #2 Big East spot with a 9-3 regular season is playing its most difficult schedule ever:

Article About Schedule (http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?story=5053&cat=exclusives)

-Anxiety

[henry296]

A WVU grad, got the winning two point conversion last night and then was cut today.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by henry296
A WVU grad, got the winning two point conversion last night and then was cut today.

Noticed he was no longer on the roster. He'll probably end up somewhere. Teams are always intrigued by a FB candidate that can run well and catch. I remember when he was the only FB on the Titans roster for a while.

-Anxiety

[aquavit]

I need to get my student ticket to the Wisconsin game next week. Thanks for the reminder. :)

[Easy Mac]

not to mention the poor ass sniper shootings going on over there. You'd think with all the squirrel hunting, the guy would be more accurate.

[mckerney]

Originally posted by Anxiety
TE Anthony Becht is listed in the top three blocking TE's in several publications I've seen as well as being a receiving threat in the red zone

Just out of curiousity, who were the first two?

[Swaggs]

Joey Galloway is from Ohio State.

Still, I can't wait for the season to start. August 30, at home, vs Wisconsin. Should be a big indicator of the kind of season we will have. I will be there. :)

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by Swaggs
Joey Galloway is from Ohio State.

Right, but he's from WV. I couldn't think of any other non-Marshall, non-WVU natives with big names currently playing at the time.

-Anxiety

[Hammer755]

Joey Galloway is not from West Virginia. He went to high school in Bellaire, Ohio, which is about 20 miles north of where I grew up. It is right across the river from Wheeling, WV, but he is from Ohio.

Edit - I just did a little more checking, and Galloway was also born in Bellaire (coincidentally in the very same hospital where I was born) and lived there until going to Ohio State.

[SteelerFan448]

Well I hope WVU can do well this year, but not well enough to beat out my Panthers. Pitt and WVU are going to have to step up and be the big dogs in the Big East and now is that time to take the next step.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by Hammer755
Joey Galloway is not from West Virginia. He went to high school in Bellaire, Ohio, which is about 20 miles north of where I grew up. It is right across the river from Wheeling, WV, but he is from Ohio.

Edit - I just did a little more checking, and Galloway was also born in Bellaire (coincidentally in the very same hospital where I was born) and lived there until going to Ohio State.

Really? I thought he was a native to the NP. Hmpf, shows what I know.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by SteelerFan448
Well I hope WVU can do well this year, but not well enough to beat out my Panthers. Pitt and WVU are going to have to step up and be the big dogs in the Big East and now is that time to take the next step.

I'd be pleased as punch to see Pitt/WVU dueling for the Big East title and BCS Bowls for years to come.

The Pitt/WVU rivalry is intense, but fairly respectful as far as rivalries go.

And since we are losing our V-Tech rivalry (WVU and VT have played every year since 1971, and every year in most of the fifties and sixties as well), and we lost our Penn State rivalry (a loss that still hurts the university and was never replaced), we need our Pitt rivalry to grow inbto mammoth proportions. Imagine a WVU and Pitt year in and year out with records of 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 battling for supremacy over the Big East.

Sounds nice.


-Anxiety

[Honolulu_Blue]

Well, let's hope the WVU continues to pan-out, especially for the Lions. They have James "Dirty" Davis (a rookie LB) and tonight will be a big night for undrafted rookie running back Avon Cobourne. He's been hurt for most of the pre-season but should see some action tonight versus Cleveland. Could be a make-it or break-it game for the young guy. You also have 3rd year LB Barrett Green being counted on to play huge and 2nd year DT Antwan Lake. Go (Lions') Mountaineers!

[Hammer755]

Originally posted by Anxiety
I'd be pleased as punch to see Pitt/WVU dueling for the Big East title and BCS Bowls for years to come.

Imagine a WVU and Pitt year in and year out with records of 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 battling for supremacy over the Big East.

My guess is that by the time this happens, the Big East will be long removed from the BCS.

[SteelerFan448]

Originally posted by Hammer755
My guess is that by the time this happens, the Big East will be long removed from the BCS.

I disagree. The Big East is locked into the BCS until it expires and I don't know about WVU, but Pitt brought in an outstanding recruiting class last year and is on the verge of having a fantastic one next year, including one of the top running backs in SW PA and the #2 rated quarterback in the country.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Well, a mixed-bag for the Moutaineers who now wear the vaunted Honolulu Blue and Silver...

Bad:
James "Dirty" Davis, who has been impressive so far in pre-season is out for an indefinite period with a rib injury. Could be a while. A few weeks until he's back. That's too bad.

Good:
Undrafted rookie FA, Avon Cobourne, lit it up. He looked excellent in his first real action for the Lions. Granted it was against the Browns' subs, but he had a number of solid runs and caught a couple of passes out of the backfield. He showed good vision and quickness. Definitely improved his chances of sticking with the team.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Hammer755
My guess is that by the time this happens, the Big East will be long removed from the BCS.

For what its worth now, the BCS is saying that the Big East will still be a BCS conference when they renew the contract.

I would love to see the Big East add Marshall and Louisville. Fans from other MAC teams are whinning about Marshall and how they would be happy to see them leave the MAC.

I think Rich Rodriguez is can get WVU back to where they were in the Major Harris days, this guy coaches the offensive side of the ball as well as anyone in the country.

Getting Syracuse back to being Syracuse will play a big role in how legit the Big East is after Miami and Virginia Tech leave.

[Bee]

WVU really doesn't want Marshall in the Big East. I'd guess they will do everything they can to avoid that happening (although I would love to see it myself).

[MikeVic]

Originally posted by mckerney
Just out of curiousity, who were the first two?

I would THINK one would have to be Mark Bruener... not sure about the other guy.

[Abe Sargent]

The problem with Marshall is their stadium. It's not really BCS worthy. That's why the Mountaineers don't want to play the Herd every year or sign home-and-home agreements. They just want Marshall to come to WVU.

I was there when Marshall came up with Pennington and Moss after they became Div 1-A a few years ago. It was one of the top five games in terms of turnout, fan excitement, and the like in my six years of being there.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Originally posted by MikeVic
I would THINK one would have to be Mark Bruener... not sure about the other guy.


Carswell from Denver. And yeah, Bruener. Also Kyle Brady for Jax and some other guy rounded out the top 5.

-Anxiety

[mckerney]

How does Kleinsasser not even make the top 5? :eek: That guys a fucking monster.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Anxiety
The problem with Marshall is their stadium. It's not really BCS worthy. That's why the Mountaineers don't want to play the Herd every year or sign home-and-home agreements. They just want Marshall to come to WVU.

I was there when Marshall came up with Pennington and Moss after they became Div 1-A a few years ago. It was one of the top five games in terms of turnout, fan excitement, and the like in my six years of being there.

-Anxiety

I was at that game also, one of the most exciting games I've watched. I when remember Marshall getting the lead, a hush came over the stadium, I've never seen Mountaineer Field get that quiet. If Pennington hadn't been coming off his redshirt season, Marshall wins that game. He hadn't played since the 1-AA title game 2 years prior, so he was without a doubt rusty to start the game.

I never did understand why Marshall went for such a small stadium when they built this one. I do think they could add 10-15k to get it up to Big East standards.

This is mostly just wishful thinking though, it'll never happen, but I can dream.

[aquavit]

I don't think that the BCS is going to just give up on the north east TV market.

If WVU can win the Wisconsin game that will be huge. I got to say though that the VT game is the one I can't wait for. Everyone is going to be up for that one no matter what our record is.