MORGANTOWN — They’ve played an awful lot of football in the Big East so far to decide so little.
Perhaps it’s fair to say they’ve eliminated the pretenders, but there remain three unbeaten teams in the conference — No. 6 Cincinnati, No. 16/17 Pitt and No. 20 West Virginia — and they have to go through their own little round robin tournament to decide who gets the BCS bid.
The deck certainly is not stacked in favor of the Mountaineers, for not only do they have to play at Cincinnati, but they must play the two most dangerous teams not in contention in the conference — South Florida this week and Rutgers to close the season — on the road.
And while South Florida has gone into its annual mid-to-late-season swoon, certainly in part because its do-everything quarterback Matt Grothe was reduced to a do-nothing quarterback by a season-ending knee injury, the Bulls remain a dangerous opponent.
“Two years ago we went there and laid an egg,” WVU Coach Bill Stewart, referring to a 21-13 loss in 2007. “We’re going into a pit, a tough environment, a sellout. I don’t know if there is a must win game, but every coach thinks every game is a must win.”
Things are no easier for Pitt, which is enjoying a bye this week after playing eight consecutive weeks coming out of camp.
“With a bye, every coach says it’s perfect timing, but this is our first one all year,” Coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We have eight to 10 players banged up and hurt but playing. This will give them a chance to rest.”
The Panthers come off the bye with a game at Syracuse, which will be tricky to get ready for because following that Pitt plays at home against Notre Dame, then at West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl and closes the season out with what could be a classic showdown at Heinz Field with Cincinnati.
And then there’s the Bearcats, who just keep rolling along. Even losing quarterback Tony Pike couldn’t slow them down, but their coach, Brian Kelly, understands that even with a high national ranking and with talk of them finding a way to get to the national championship game they have accomplished nothing yet.
He has that home game with WVU and the road game at Pitt left, along with a conference road game at Syracuse, a conference home game against UConn and a non-conference home game against Illinois of the Big Ten.
“I think we’re in a better situation than most teams,” Kelly said. “We’re going to play at least two top 20 teams down the stretch (Pitt and Cincinnati). It’s early in the race. It’s anybody’s game. We need to focus week to week.”
That they could survive and pound Louisville with Pike out and his backup Zach Collaros having a huge day, passing for 253 yards and three touchdowns, shows just how deep the Bearcats are.
Kelly maintains he doesn’t change things when one quarterback comes in for another.
“It’s different chapters of the same play book,” he said. “We have a deep volume of plays and schemes. We have things that highlight the skills of the quarterback. It goes back to my Division II playbook, where it was about the player, not the plays.”
And if nothing has been decided in the race to the BCS, little has been decided as to players of the year in the conference as Pike, WVU’s Noel Devine and Pitt’s freshman Dion Lewis have emerged as the conference’s top offensive players.
THIS ‘N THAT: ESPN couldn’t find a spot better than ESPNU for the WVU-Connecticut game but it did find a helmet sticker for you, West Virginia’s fans, for the way you honored UConn and its slain cornerback Jasper Howard on Saturday … Mountaineers swept two of the three Big East Player of the Week honors with running back Noel Devine earning the offensive award for his 178-yard rushing performance with the game-winning touchdown and kick returner Tavon Austin the special teams award for his 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the UConn game … WVU’s game with Louisville will be the Big East TV Game of the Week this week with a noon start.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Nothing settled for teams in Big East race
- Bob Herzel
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Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
That it is a crucial game in a season that seems to have nothing but, today’s 9 p.m. visit to the Coliseum by a streaking Notre Dame team comes with a historical footnote in the history of West Virginia University basketball.
Kevin Jones enters the game having scored 20 or more points in nine consecutive games. -
WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
A source within the Mountaineer athletic department said on Tuesday that the matter was nearing a conclusion and also told the Times West Virginian that West Virginia would be reinstating a golf team to compete in the Big 12. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU, Irish strikingly similar
Consider, if you will, that it is Nov. 25 past, that the West Virginia University basketball team is running a routine drill four games into its season, getting ready for the Akron game when Kevin Jones goes down in a heap on the floor, his ACL torn, his season over.
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WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
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HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.
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WVU finds a way, wins in overtime
Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.
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Mountaineers face critical test today at Providence
The schedule tells you it’s another game in the marathon run that is the Big East season, a trip to Providence to play a team with only two conference victories, but somehow everyone connected with the West Virginia University program knows today’s noon meeting with the Friars is much more than that.
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HERTZEL COLUMN: Jones on the brink of WVU history
On the one hand there is yesterday’s Warren Baker, who entered the WVU Athletic Hall of Fame in the latest class for the work he did from 1973 to 1976, and on the other hand there is today’s star Kevin Jones, who has emerged from the shadows of the likes of Joe Alexander and Da’Sean Butler this year to carve his own niche in Mountaineer basketball history.
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WVU backs out of Florida State game
West Virginia University has canceled its Sept. 8 football game at Florida State.
Once again, as they have done with virtually everything since announcing they planned to move from the Big East to the Big 12, they did it behind closed doors, without any announcement or statement. -
WVU women upset Louisville
It is foolhardy to put it up there with the Baylors and Notre Dames of the women’s world just yet, but really if you look closely and see potential, much of which came out Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers upset No. 12/14 Louisville, 66-50, you realize that this team is closer to greatness than it is to mediocrity.
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Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
