By Dave Morrison
MORGANTOWN — The Southeastern Conference is considered the best college football conference in the nation.
The success of the conference is unquestionable. With national champion Florida leading the way, the conference is based on speed more than any other attribute.
And West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, whose team will face Auburn Saturday night, knows it.
“When you go down and play in that league, it’s speed, it’s fast, they really run,” Stewart said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “Their skill (position players) run. Their linebackers run. Their defensive linemen run. Think back to the ’80s, like when coach (Bobby) Bowden went down to Florida State, they looked like big, long, lanky linebackers playing defensive line. So they substitute size for speed. That’s what we’ve done here in our 3-3 stack (defense). We substitute size for speed.”
But West Virginia has a five-game win streak against the SEC, including a win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and a 34-17 win over Auburn last season.
How can that be?
Because Stewart, like Rich Rodriguez before him, took a page from the SEC and molded it into his own philosophy.
Actually, the switch started at West Virginia after the Mountaineers lost to Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl.
“We couldn’t see,” Stewart said. “We got in there and we got locked up, we were pad under pad. Remember all the trick (plays)? We couldn’t find them.”
So the Mountaineers changed their philosophy.
Out with the big, burly types. In with leaner, taller athletes.
“I like tall guys that can run,” Stewart said. “You look at our young offensive linemen. Last week for instance, Nick Kindler (6-foot-6, 272 pounds), the scout (team player) of the week. He’s tall. Pat Eger (6-6, 275). They’re tall. I like tall guys. If you’re tall and rangy with speed, I know our strength coach can get you bigger.”
Speed. That is why Auburn, under new coach Gene Chizik and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, is ranked No. 2 in the nation in rushing (345.5 yards per game) and fourth overall in total offense (572.5).
But don’t think for a moment it is style over substance.
“This is going to be a slugfest,” Stewart said. “When you go into the SEC, you better have everything working good for you.”
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WVU enters Saturday’s 7:45 p.m. kickoff (ESPN2) as one of the top passing teams in the nation, a far cry from the past when the Mountaineers’ spread offense was piling up the rush yardage, much like Auburn today.
Quarterback Jarrett Brown is eighth nationally, averaging 359.5 yards in total offense per game, and he is 11th overall in passing efficiency (180.12).
Brown had 407 yards of total offense last week against ECU (334 passing and 73 rushing), becoming just the fourth player in school history to have a 400-yard offensive game (Pat White, Mike Sherwood and Marc Bulger were the others).
Slot Jock Sanders is off to a quick start, ranked fourth nationally in receptions per game (8.5).
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Stewart said injured defensive tackle Scooter Berry and linebacker Reed Williams are “day-to-day.”
Berry left last Saturday’s game with a shoulder sprain and Williams has been bothered by an ankle sprain.
“In the pool yesterday, which we were off but you’re allowed to do treatments, he did a really nice workout, I’m told,” Stewart said. “And (the training staff) was pleased with that. They were pleased with the progress.”
As for Williams, “his day-to-day is brighter,” Stewart said. “I was just in the weight room and talking with him and that looks brighter.”
The hope is that Berry can play, even if on a limited basis.
“We hope Scooter will play,” Stewart said. “I don’t know that he will. Like I said, it’s day-to-day. You don’t want to get him hurt. This is only game three. If he can play, we’ll have him out there. If he’s close, we’ll get him in there a little bit. Then we’ll rotate the other guys.”
Stewart said linebackers Ovid Goulbourne (6-foot-1, 229, senior) and Najee Goode (6-1, 234, sophomore) could get in that rotation, which includes Josh Taylor (6-1, 272, sophomore) and Jorge Wright (6-2, 268, redshirt sophomore).
“We can play some linebackers down,” Stewart said, mentioning Goulbourne, who had two sacks in Saturday’s 35-20 win over East Carolina, and Goode. “It’s not about size. This game is about leverage, this game’s about playing under your pads. And this game is about being intense and striking people. And that’s what we do with those linebackers.”
WVU is 22-17-2 all time versus SEC schools.
E-mail Dave Morrison at demorrison@register-herald.com
