‘Is this not the greatest?’

COLUMN

By Bob Hertzel

MORGANTOWN — To understand what transpired Saturday in Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, one must take a time machine back to Friday night, be a fly on the wall at the Lakeview Resort where the West Virginia University football team is housed before games.

It is somewhere around 7:30, and the position meetings are breaking up. The players may be enlightened about the ins and outs of Connecticut team that they are to slice, dice and purify by a 66-21 on Saturday, but they are in the dark about the way their fortunes are about to turn.

Arkansas and No. 1-ranked LSU are battling into overtime and if Arkansas can hold on, it will clear a path for the Mountaineers into the BCS championship game if they can take care of business the next two weeks.

The players begin buzzing in the hallways, heading for the bars to watch the televisions as the patrons cheer on the Razorbacks.

Then suddenly, it’s over. LSU has managed somehow to lose twice in one season as the nation’s No. 1 team, each time in triple overtime. Pandemonium breaks loose.

Vaughn Rivers has watched the end of the game in the sports bar with a couple of other seniors, coach Rich Rodriguez and assistant Tony Gibson.

“It was an early Christmas present,” he said.

“I heard cheering in the hallways,” linebacker Mortty Ivy recalled. “I thought, ‘Man, I guess LSU lost.’”

It is difficult to sum up all that went on at that moment, but Eric Wicks managed to capture the exuberance when he offered a report on what he observed.

“Someone was streaking in the hallways,” the senior safety said, protecting the identity of the streaker.

Hopefully it wasn’t one of the offensive linemen.

That set the stage for what would become one of the most memorable games in WVU history. On the line was West Virginia’s fourth Big East title in the last five years, to say nothing of setting the stage to move within one victory of reaching the championship game in New Orleans.

Rest assured, as much as we all love Morgantown’s High Street, the Mountaineers would be willing to trade it for a week on Bourbon Street.

Before the game Rodriguez gathered his troops around him. He knew that they knew what was at stake, which was just about everything every one of them has dreamed about since he first threw his shoulder pads on backward and had his ears pinched trying to remove his first helmet.

“How fun is this?” he said, referring to playing for the biggest stakes college football has to offer. “Is this not the greatest?”

Why, after preaching and preaching all year to take one game at a time, one play at a time, would Rodriguez deviate now?

“I didn’t want them to get up tight, so why not tell them how much fun it would be?” he explained.

Everything was set, except for one minor problem. Rodriguez had himself a quarterback with a queasy stomach.

Patrick White doesn’t know what brought it on, but what he does know is that he was nauseous. What he didn’t know was that he would throw up as many as a dozen times by his count, usually when he was being tackled, which could explain why the UConn defense seemed to want no part of tackling him.

Actually, the truth is that White would put on a performance that ranks with the greatest ever on this field. He rushed 16 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns, playing only three quarters.

Make no doubt he has thrust himself into the Heisman conversation, rushing for 644 yards over the last four games as the Mountaineers have rushed toward the BCS.

It’s gotten to the point that his teammates are doing the publicity for him.

In the first half it was Vaughn Rivers, the defensive back, who broke out the Heisman pose as he stood by White on the sideline.

“He’s too modest to do it himself,” Rivers said.

In the second half, it was defensive back Ryan Mundy doing likewise. White’s response to that was typical of the man.

“He pointed toward his ring finger and said, ‘I want a ring.’” Mundy said.

Mundy knows something about Heisman Trophy winners. He played at Michigan against Troy Smith, a quarterback who won the Heisman last year.

And how does White compare to him?

“Both make plays. Pat has this special ability to make people miss. Troy had that early in his career but last year passed more. I’ll say this: I can definitely see Pat White winning the Heisman. He makes so many big plays.”

Big plays?

Did someone mention big plays? WVU has gone through a difficult first half, leading UConn just 24-14. Little is going as the Mountaineers would like it.

It is early in the third quarter, third and 14, White rolls to his right. Two defenders stand before him.

Things look bad until White does his best Major Harris imitation, cutting back to his left. The two defenders are left in his dust. So is everyone else. Like Harris against Penn State, White has made nothing into something.

He runs for a 24-yard touchdown.

Heisman?

“I’m biased, but I think Pat White is the best player in the country,” said Rodriguez. “I’m sure the other coaches think their guy is the best.”

The difference is that Urban Meyer’s guy at Florida and Houston Nutt’s guy at Arkansas aren’t on the verge of playing in the BCS championship game.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.