Football Notebook
October 19, 2004 09:39 AM | General
October 19, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – According to West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, Monday is actually Wednesday and Tuesday is really Thursday. Even though Rodriguez’ logic may seem confusing there is a method to his madness.
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| Rasheed Marshall became just the 11th West Virginia quarterback since 1950 to run for more than 100 yards in a game last Wednesday against Connecticut.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Because West Virginia is playing Syracuse this Thursday night, his team’s usual preparations have had to be altered to accommodate a midweek game.
“We’ve got this down to a routine now,” Rodriguez said during his Monday morning conference call.
That means his team’s Monday afternoon practice was actually Wednesday’s practice based on a normal Saturday game, meaning the team’s last full contact work before tapering off for Thursday’s game. Tuesday’s work becomes a lighter Thursday practice and Wednesday’s practice is a Friday walk-through.
Making Rodriguez’ preparation even more interesting is the fact that his team played last Wednesday night at Connecticut while Syracuse had three extra days to rest having last played Florida State on a Saturday night.
“It’s a unique schedule,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve played some midweek games but never midweek to midweek. Everybody’s time clocks are a little different practicing on Saturday and Sunday.”
Because West Virginia has played weekday games in the past, Rodriguez admits his coaching staff has made the necessary adjustments.
“Having done it before has helped us. Normally you have 10 days going to a weekend to midweek and our players have had to adjust to it,” Rodriguez said. “I think that is the way it’s going to be … not just in this league but leagues throughout the country so you better be prepared to play some midweek games.”
More than anything, Rodriguez says Thursday night’s game on ESPN is an opportunity to showcase his program to a captive national audience. “It’s a great chance for our school and our program to get some exposure,” he said.
Briefly:
“They’ve got a lot of good players and they have a coaching staff that we respect tremendously and hopefully it will be a nice environment here in Morgantown.”
A quick translation: Rodriguez is hoping for a large, loud and boisterous crowd Thursday night.
“A lot of the games on the schedule were set before I got here or we got stuck when a couple of teams left the league and we had to scramble to get our home games,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve tried to schedule and have played some pretty tough non-conference games. Our schedule is not as tough as Syracuse because they play three (BCS non-conference opponents).
“I think (playing a tough non-conference schedule) helps you get battle tested and it helps you get prepared for the Big East Conference,” he added. “You hope you don’t lose too much confidence if you don’t do well in those games. The young team is more resilient about coming back after a loss as opposed to a veteran team thinking this is my last shot.”
“I don’t know if he’s at 100 percent and we won’t be able to tell until we go to a live situation but he’s done everything in practice and the green jersey is off,” Rodriguez said. “He looked pretty good the last couple of days and he’s back in the mix.”
More so than being rusty, Rodriguez is concerned about Harris’ conditioning. “He’s really been off the last couple of weeks.”
“Obviously he’s got ability or we wouldn’t have signed him,” said Rodriguez of Williams. “We thought he learned our system and learned our offense as quickly as any true freshman at any position that we’ve ever had. When you tell him to do something it seems like he remembers it and remembers it for a long time.”
“We’re trying to make it a competitive situation every week in practice,” Rodriguez said. “The guys that are doing the best and get an opportunity in a game and do well earn their spot. Case in point is Palmer and Noechel. They are two walk-ons who played in starting roles for us last week and we’ll keep doing that every week. But we’re not giving up on anybody, either.”
