MORGANTOWN — The day still sticks in Bill Stewart’s mind, try as he might to erase the memory.
His team had gone on the road to Tampa, Fla., to play the South Florida Bulls and, to be quite honest, the Mountaineers stunk the place up.
At that time a couple of catch phrases were born as Stewart tried to gather his team together and start the season anew.
The first was “Remember November.”
“After the tough USF loss, we went with the motto ‘Remember November’,” Stewart said. “We knew it was a four-game season from there on. We’ve been blessed to win two. We lost to the No. 5-ranked team in the nation (Cincinnati) at their place by three points. Then we had an emotional win over a Top 10 opponent (Pitt) this week in the Backyard Brawl.”
Indeed, it was a November to remember, the valiant effort at Cincinnati, playing a team that believes it is good enough to be national champion to a standstill and then slapping Pitt around and winning on a last-second field goal by Tyler Bitancurt.
The second catch phrase that has grown out of this season is “Finish the fight.”
Indeed, all season Stewart has referred to the Big East season as a seven-round fight, each game a round.
Now there is only one round left, the final round.
“It’s round seven of the Big East battles,” Stewart said. “The signs are up already and it’s on their practice schedules. I tell them to just finish the fight. I want to be 5-2 and be second in the league. We have won the Big East title before at 5-1, so this big.”
To go to 5-2 in the conference and keep alive a chance to win 10 games, including the bowl game, he must beat Rutgers and Stewart understands that will not be an easy chore on the road.
He believes it certainly isn’t made any easier as the talk began almost as soon as Bitancurt’s field goal cleared the crossbar about a potential Gator Bowl bid and it’s talk he doesn’t want to hear.
“I can’t stop what people put out there,” Stewart said. “As soon as we got off the field on Friday night, I started hearing things about the Gator Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
“It’s the same thing I said last season — let us get through Game 12 before we worry about Game 13,” he continued. “It would be so much easier on keeping these young men focused. I’m going to have to rely on the seniors to keep this bunch focused. We are playing Rutgers before we play in any bowl.”
And Stewart respects the Scarlet Knights, even though they’ve had an up and down season that included a stunning loss at Syracuse but that also included dominating victories over Louisville and the same South Florida team that beat WVU.
“Rutgers is back,” Stewart said. “They were hitting on all cylinders this past weekend. We could barely get through Louisville, and they just absolutely dismantled them.”
The Scarlet Knights were a team in transition, fitting in a freshman quarterback, rebuilding.
“Good football teams always get better in November; that’s what I always stress to our team. What Rutgers did to USF and Louisville can happen to us. They dismantled two teams. One we got shellacked by and the other we barely beat at home.
“Rutgers is better and on a roll, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they are gunning for the Mountaineers. This is going to be a gut check.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Stewart putting focus on Rutgers
- Bob Herzel
-
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Nothing guaranteed with recruits
Signing day has come and gone, and here is something to think about.
Scout, one of the most popular online rating services, has raised West Virginia University’s crop of football recruits to No. 25 in the nation and No. 1 in the Big East. -
Who really pays WVU’s medical bills?
A couple of weeks back, West Virginia University released a post-season list of injuries to its football team, and it was a lengthy list of some injuries that required surgery and rehabilitation.
-
Louisville next test for WVU women
The last time out, the West Virginia University women’s basketball team played its usual game.
It was at South Florida, facing a pretty good team. It built the big lead it normally builds, then struggled to hold on at the end, turning the ball over and missing free throws, but somehow managed. -
Smith won’t coach WVU, to stay with Jets
A couple of days ago, coach Dana Holgorsen, knowing he was going to be changing the defensive schemes West Virginia University runs, was wondering if he would have enough quality defensive linemen.
A day after recruiting letters were returned and his first recruiting class was on hand, that worry was alleviated.
But immediately a new worry cropped up. - More Bob Herzel Headlines
-
HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
