By Mickey Furfari
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University still has football players who have made plays and will continue to make plays, but they just are not doing that on a consistent basis.
That was among many points of emphasis made Tuesday afternoon by coach Bill Stewart at his weekly press conference in Puskar Center.
While pleased with veteran Pat McAfee’s punting and place-kicking, he said that “we have to catch up with the rest of the game offensively and defensively.”
He predicted, “Our guys are going to get better and better every week.”
Stewart noted that there’s still competitiveness on the squad and that blocking and tackling will highlight rough practice sessions this week in preparations for next week’s non-conference clash with the University of Colorado at Bolder.
The Mountaineers are 1-1 after last Saturday’s 24-3 shellacking at now-14th-ranked East Carolina following the opening 48-21 win over Villanova. The Buffaloes are 2-0 after defeating Colorado State, 38-17, and Eastern Washington, 31-24.
Stewart thinks the biggest need for the team right now is for the offense to do a better job advancing the ball on first downs and for the defense to do a better job of holding the opponent on first downs.
“Just take care of first down, then play the second and have a play for third down,” he said. “I think you learn from what you did not do very well. Take what you did really well and continue to build on it.”
In emphasizing that to his players, Stewart also urges that there never be any finger-pointing.
West Virginia dropped from No. 8 to No. 24 in one poll and No. 25 in another. With back-to-back wins over Top 25 teams, East Carolina cracked the rankings for the first time in nine years at No. 14 and No. 20.
“We’ve got 10 more games to improve the rankings,” Stewart reasoned. “Right now we’re going to work on blocking and tackling, then see how much better we get. Maybe next Thursday night (Sept. 18) we will play more like Mountaineer football that you’re used to seeing.”
Stewart thinks Colorado is rolling on both sides of the ball and will poise “a heck of a challenge” for WVU unless it plays somewhat better in this second road contest of 2008. He noted that the Buffaloes have a defense composed of juniors and seniors and a young but productive offense.
The Mountaineer mentor rates Josh Smith as one of the nation’s best kick-returners with jet-like speed. Sophomore Cody Hawkins is the son of head coach Dan Hawkins.
“He is a tremendous talent, has good awareness and has affirm grasp of the offense,” he said.
Stewart, who spent four years coaching at Air Force Academy, does not think the elevation in Bolder will affect the Mountaineers at all. They will fly to Colorado after practicing here next Tuesday night.
WVU emerged from the ECU game with just some bumps and bruises.
“I think we came out with more bruised spirit than bruised body parts,” he commented.
