WVU coaches, players share the blame
As my post-game analysis, I respectfully submit my column in today’s DA, written after wrapping up this blog and after that disaster of a football game. Apparently nothing can go right lately, so that link cuts off the last few paragraphs of the column, so I’ll present it here so the thing actually makes sense.
While everyone will look to one person or one reason to point a clear finger at for these early struggles, it just isn’t that simple.
Part of the problem is the new coaching staff.
Part of it is the loss of last year’s key players.
And another part falls on this year’s players and an inability to execute the fundamentals at critical times.
As former coach Rich Rodriguez often reminded us, the children’s movie “The Lion King” teaches us that what’s in the past no longer matters.
That’s one lesson this year’s team would be well-served to learn if it hopes to find its stride quickly enough to even be competitive in a weak Big East Conference.
Comments (0) : Sep 19th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Auburn, Big East, Bill Stewart, Colorado, Marshall, Rich Rodriguez, Syracuse, WVU
LIVE BLOG: WVU-Colorado
11:56 p.m. – Aric Goodman boots the game-winning field goal to complete a stunner. This one has to be even more difficult to swallow than the East Carolina loss. 17-14, Buffaloes, in overtime.
It will be interesting to hear what the team has to say again this week in post-game.
Comments (1) : Sep 18th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Aric Goodman, Bill Stewart, Bradley Starks, Buffalo Bills, Cody Crawford, Cody Hawkins, Colorado, Dorrell Jalloh, East Carolina, Eastern Washington, J.T. Thomas, Jeff Mullen, Jock Sanders, Josh Smith, Kevin Everett, Mark Rodgers, Noel Devine, Pat McAfee, Pat White, Patrick Devenny, Reed Williams, Rodney Stewart, Tito Gonzales, Villanova, WVU
Dan Hawkins is an interesting dude
Okay, forgive me for lying about the “stronger than ever” part of that last post about the weekend off. I’ve been consumed largely by schoolwork, the occasional article for the DA, Halo 3 the occasional moment of recreation, and I’ve neglected the blog. I’m sorry.
I’ll do my level best to make up for it today, on a WVU game day. Look for another post previewing the game with my prediction later, and then, I’ll be live blogging the game (while also trying to write a column for tomorrow’s DA). All the while, I should be studying for a massive test I have tomorrow and finishing a project for another class, but I make sacrifices on game days.
For our first post of the day, I present to you a picture of perhaps the most interesting coach I’ve ever read about in any sport. Of course, almost everyone knows Dan Hawkins for his ubiquitous rant. But the Colorado coach is apparently more complex than just one tirade over players’ parents.
Check out this exceptional feature story on Hawkins from 5280, a local Denver-area magazine. Kudos to Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail for finding this. I would provide a run-down of the highlights of the story, but there are just too many interesting bits to even try to pin down the best ones. Read the story and come up with your own conclusions, then post some comments on the story here.
Comments (1) : Sep 18th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Colorado, Dan Hawkins, WVU
A weekend off
I’d love to be live blogging tomorrow’s college football action, but alas, I will be away from computers and the internet and other new-fangled technology until Sunday. I’ll be in Canaan Valley with the DA staff for our yearly retreat.
Enjoy the games, and we’ll be back stronger than ever next week.
Comments (2) : Sep 12th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under The Blog :
My reaction to East Carolina (six days later)
I’ve held off on analyzing the West Virginia loss to East Carolina for almost a week — first because I was in that phase of not wanting to talk about the game at all, and later, because I knew I had a Friday column coming up in the DA and I figured that would be a good place to share my thoughts. Let’s just say my perspective on the game runs counter to the more positive approach of some of my colleagues.
I promise, though, that this will be my last reference to the ECU debacle. Henceforth, we’re going to look forward to the rest of the season.
I would have to say Bill Stewart and his players wish they were playing Colorado tomorrow instead of having to wait through another five days of hearing questions or comments on last week’s game. Alas, that is not the case — and truly, the team knows the extra preparation time to focus on making West Virginia better is pivotal.
Comments (1) : Sep 12th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Bill Stewart, Colorado, East Carolina, The DA, WVU
Forget ECU — remember when we beat Oklahoma?
And I’m not talking about the Fiesta Bowl. I’m talking about the game that was 26 years ago tomorrow. It’s certainly a much happier memory than what happened on September 11 seven years ago.
This retrospective on West Virginia’s 41-27 victory in 1982 over the Sooners in Norman is part of the weekly series I’ve been doing on significant events, people, places, etc. in WVU’s football history.
Check it out at this link.
Comments (0) : Sep 10th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Oklahoma, Patrick Southern, The DA, WVU
My Top 25: Week Three
Seeing as I had West Virginia lower in my rankings than any other DA sports writer before the ECU loss, I guess it’s only fitting that I drop them out of my rankings entirely. Honestly, even before the ECU game, in my mind I knew I should have been ranking the Mountaineers around the 17-18 range.
You’ll note I have East Carolina lower in my poll than most, largely because I think that while the Pirates have looked impressive, they have done so against two highly overrated teams in Virginia Tech and WVU.
Disagree with me on something here? Leave a comment.
1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. LSU
5. Ohio State
6. Missouri
7. Florida
8. Texas
9. Wisconsin
10. Auburn
11. Kansas
12. Arizona State
13. Texas Tech
14. Penn State
15. Oregon
16. Alabama
17. East Carolina
18. South Florida
19. Wake Forest
20. California
21. Fresno State
22. Clemson
23. UCLA
24. Illinois
25. Utah
Comments (2) : Sep 9th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football : Tagged under Patrick Southern, The DA, Top 25, WVU
Someone out there likes me…
This blog has sort of been a running joke for some at the DA. I don’t know whether I should be offended or pleased, but opinion editor Dave Ryan saw fit to make an “ad” for the blog that is never going to run anywhere. Except here. Call it our first exclusive.
I’m posting this just to justify his two minutes of hard work. You think we could get some readers from it?
P.S. Don’t blame me for today’s headline claiming a WVU loss to the “Greenville Pirates”. I had nothing to do with it. I swear.
Comments (0) : Sep 8th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under The Blog : Tagged under Dave Ryan, Patrick Southern, The DA
Brady, Beanie and Broadcasters — oh my!
After the action of the first two weekends of college football and the first Sunday of the NFL season, I’m surprised we haven’t heard an update from ESPN’s talking heads that goes something like this:
We interrupt our report on the status of Beanie Wells’ foot to bring you this report on Tom Brady’s knee: it hurts him. A lot.
Stay tuned for more, including an update from Sao Paolantonio, Ed Werder, Rachel Nichols and Wendi Nix — all of whom are stationed outside the offices of Boston knee surgeons to give you a breakdown of what Brady will go through under the knife.
To be sure, Brady’s injury is huge news. Any time the (arguably) best franchise in the NFL loses (arguably) the best quarterback in the league for the season in a year it was (arguably) the front-runner for yet another Lombardi Trophy, it deserves its share of coverage.
However, it’s been nothing short of ridiculous to see “KneeGate” get more coverage than the entire slate of Sunday games in the league. The only way this injury could get more air time is if it somehow came to light that Jeff Gillooly himself had something to do with it. Oh wait, there’s already a hilarious song about just that possibility:
Comments (0) : Sep 8th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football, NFL : Tagged under Brett Favre, Buffalo Bills, Chris "Beanie" Wells, East Carolina, Eric Mangini, Frank Solich, Jeff Gillooly, Matt Cassel, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Ohio State, Ohio University, Seattle Seahawks, Tom Brady, USC, WVU
LIVE BLOG: WVU-East Carolina
7:25 p.m. – Mercifully, it has ended. 24-3 in favor of the Pirates.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to hear what Stewart and the players have to say to explain this one away. West Virginia didn’t even look like it belonged on the same field as East Carolina today.
I’ll have post-game commentary tomorrow as we try to make sense of this fiasco and put a brave face towards the rest of the season, which admittedly has a different feel to it entirely now.
Comments (1) : Sep 6th, 2008 by Patrick Southern
Filed under College Football, The Blog : Tagged under East Carolina, Rich Rodriguez, WVU
Loading ...