By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN —
The paint had barely dried on West Virginia’s opening 31-0 victory over an outclassed Coastal Carolina team when the order went out to nearest Sherwin Williams store for as much green paint as it could send over to Puskar Stadium.
This is Marshall week and with the game in Huntington, might as well get this stirred up group of Mountaineers prepared to see some green.
As rivalries go, this Friends of Coal Bowl is something of a weak one. There have been no upsets in it ever, stretching all the way back to 1911 when Marshall got as close as it would come to beating WVU, falling 17-15.
By 1915 West Virginia had grown to the point that it would rout Marshall, 92-0, putting the series on hold until 1923, not that much had changed in those eight years, considering that WVU won that game, 81-0.
That WVU is 9-0 in the series tells you that it has been terribly one-sided, the Mountaineers even able to win when the series was renewed — sort of — in 1997 when Marshall had both Randy Moss, a sure NFL Hall of Fame receiver, and quarterback Chad Pennington, who still is flinging in the NFL.
But there has been a series that has had its share of chicanery, too, beginning back in that 92-6 game.
Amazingly, this is an important game in Marshall lore, for if they didn’t beat WVU, they outwitted them.
Marshall came into the game 0-5 and had been outscored 127-6. Mountaineer Coach Sol Metzger was so sure that his team would shut out Marshall that he vowed he’d “eat my hat if Marshall scores.”
On cue, WVU jumped to a three-touchdown lead but Marshall recovered a fumble and hit a few passes to move the ball to the Mountaineer 15. Marshall brought an athletic back named Dayton Carter into the game.
The Herd quarterback Brad Workman, faded to pass under great pressure, but somehow Marshall tackle “Blondie” Taylor and Carter streaked into the end zone. Nicknamed “Runt”, Carter was hoisted onto the back tackle’s shoulders and Workman threw a high pass in their direction.
Carter, now at least a head and a half higher than any WVU defender as he stood on the shoulders, grabbed the ball and fell into the end zone for a score.
Metzger exploded in anger, argued long and hard but there was no rule in place to outlaw the play, which came to be known as “The Tower Play.”
If this did get Marshall on the board, it served only to elevate Metzger’s blood pressure and he did not let up until it was 92-6.
The fates were not kind to Marshall over the years, the tragic plane wreck that killed 75 people annihilating the program to the point that it had to be completely rebuilt.
WVU, meanwhile, had grown into the bully on the block that was West Virginia and saw no reason to play Marshall but agreed to renew the series in 1997, only to have Marshall back out of the agreement after that one game with Randy Moss and Pennington.
It gook Gov. Joe Manchin until 2006 to cajole both sides into another agreement, one which
now is kind of in limbo. It ends in three years unless and new deal can be worked out.
“Right now there’s three more games left and I’m sure it will be discussed by people above me,” said WVU Coach Bill Stewart when asked if he thought the “The Friends of Coal Bowl” series should continue or was a divisive factor within the state. “We will fulfill what the contract calls for but it will be handled by other people before it’s passed down the line to me.”
What Stewart has to do is ready his team for probably the most intriguing matchup since bad blood was spilled when Marshall caught what appeared to be a scout for Coach Rich Rodriguez, driving his wife’s car, at one of its practices.
The setting in this game matches Stewart against Doc Holliday, who was his assistant for a couple of years and who was long a Don Nehlen assistant. Holliday tried to get the job when Rodriguez left but Stewart was selected over him.
A year ago he bolted to Marshall, and already there seems to be some bad blood flowing as there were whispers that Marshall had planned to turn WVU for a minor violation they self reported this spring, then would up having a Mountaineer recruit who had enrolled but had not been cleared academically transfer to Marshall.
Holliday, of course, would have more knowledge of Stewart’s system than anyone else, considering his background, but he scoffs at the idea that it will matter.
“If I have to make any plays Friday night we’re probably in trouble,” Holliday told the Charleston Gazette.
And Stewart indicated he didn’t have to change much because Holliday would be on the other sideline.
“We change our signs every year,” he said, “and we huddle now and use wrist bands. I see it as a waste of time to try for someone else to steal signals. All I want to do is play ball.”
In the end, that’s what it is going to come down to, playing between the lines in a Friday night game that doesn’t figure to be as competitive as some of the high school games across the state it will be detracting from.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
