By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
April 20, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University’s recent announcement that it will have a two-game football series with Mississippi State beginning in 2006 means the Mountaineers will be playing an SEC opponent during the regular season for the first time since 1979.
That’s when West Virginia downed Kentucky 10-6 in a homecoming contest at old Mountaineer Field. West Virginia played Kentucky four times during a six-year period in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1979.
West Virginia will travel to Starkville to play Mississippi State in 2006 and the Bulldogs will return the trip to Morgantown in 2007.
West Virginia faced SEC teams in bowl games in 1981 (Florida), 1983 (Kentucky), 1993 (Florida), 1994 (South Carolina) and 2000 (Ole Miss). WVU has played a total of 37 games against Southeastern Conference schools and has a winning 18-17-2 record against them. WVU’s most frequently played SEC opponent is Kentucky, which owns an 11-8-1 all-time record against West Virginia.
Coach Rich Rodriguez likes the idea of playing Mississippi State because one of West Virginia’s recruiting territories is the state of Mississippi. There are currently three Mississippi natives on this year’s roster and two more are among this year’s recruiting class.
Asked after Saturday’s spring game if there were any surprises along West Virginia’s defensive line veteran assistant Bill Kirelawich listed several, “I thought Jason Hardee was a nice surprise. I thought he came along pretty well in the spring. (Ben) Lynch is probably better now at nose then he was at the end of last season and I think Craig Wilson came along. I thought Warren Young and Andrae Wright did pretty well as far as surprises go. Wright is going to be a good football player; I don’t know if it’s going to be next year or down the road but he’s going to be good at some point.”
Fans will notice a difference this year at Mountaineer Field when they hear the stadium’s new sound system … a big difference.
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Chris Henry caught 13 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown last Saturday in the Gold-Blue spring game. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
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Chris Henry proved once again during Saturday’s spring game why he is considered one of the nation’s top 50 college players by ESPN.com. Henry caught 13 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown for the Gold team.
Coach Rod wants to see Henry have that same type of production when the bright lights aren’t on, “He had an okay spring but our expectations for Chris are higher than other people’s are,” he said. “He’s got a tremendous amount of talent, he’s a good young man and he’s a really good competitor and this kind of environment is where he really flourishes. What Chris is got to understand is we want that every time in practice, whether it’s raining or cold or snowy or whatever the situation is. He is still learning. This is his first spring practice and I think he made some steps.”
Having backup quarterback Charles Hales take reps at wide receiver will force opposing defensive coordinators to also have to prepare for the possibility of trick plays next season. Rodriguez said after the spring game that he has approached Dwayne Thompson about playing some receiver, too.
Those disappointed in watching a 20-all tie in the spring game can take solace in the fact that Boston College had 13 turnovers in its annual spring game (nine fumbles and four interceptions) last Saturday. Compounding matters is the fact that BC coach Tom O’Brien is not sure who his starting quarterback is going to be. He will pick between Quinton Porter and Paul Peterson. O’Brien says whomever doesn’t start will be redshirted for the following season when Boston College makes its ACC debut.
Word out of the Mountaineer Ticket Office is that it had a pretty good first week of football season ticket sales. Fans can order season tickets by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging onto the ticket office’s web site WVUGAME.com. The web site is only excepting new season ticket orders.
I heard a funny story the other day and I’ll try to relay it to you as best as I can. Last week Don Nehlen was asked to introduce former Mountaineer player Jim Merritts as a member of the Altoona Sports Hall of Fame. On hand to introduce another Altoona area athlete was former Pitt football coach Foge Fazio. During his introduction speech Fazio made some funny remarks about West Virginia.
When it was Nehlen’s turn to get up and speak, he congratulated Fazio for his fine speech and then reminded the audience that when Fazio was coach, Pitt’s admission standards for football players consisted of a professor holding up one hand closed and one hand open and giving the player three chances to figure out which hand the rock was in.
Once again, Nehlen got the upper hand against a Pitt guy.
A recent proposal by the ACC to do away with media guides is no longer being considered. The ACC pulled its proposal after many schools objected. The reason for the measure in the first place was because of the growing arms race among some schools to produce bigger and better media guides. Last year the Texas football guide was a 576-page hard-bound monstrosity.
The 5/8 rule also looks like it is going to go by the wayside in men’s basketball. The NCAA will probably rescind the measure on April 29 and that has a direct impact on the West Virginia University men’s basketball program. Mountaineer coach John Beilein has three scholarship slots available but is currently permitted to use only one based on the 5/8 setup that limits a school to signing only five players in one year and eight over a two-year period.
What a tough night Monday was for us Morgantown TV viewers. I refuse to watch either hockey or professional basketball, so I spent some quality time with my cat checking out the Pet Psychic on the Animal Channel.
By the way, I noticed a big difference in her this morning. A connection must have taken place.
Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley is one of 18 persons on a task force designed to tighten current recruiting policies. An area they paid a great deal of attention to were the private jets, luxurious hotel rooms, upscale vehicles and exorbitant dinners used to lure recruits.
Foley, whose football program has been known to utilize some of those tactics, said recently that recruiting extravagance could be prohibited as soon as next year. “We just need to get back to the basics,” he was quoted recently in the Florida Sun-Sentinel. “We need to start making sure everybody is focused on the important aspects of an athlete’s decision. It’s not about how they got here, what they ate and where they slept. We need to get away from this other stuff.”
I recently listened to a bowl executive talk about the need to reconnect with the student-athlete and then 20 minutes later say there is no way his bowl would ever consider taking a school like Tulane, one of the primary proponents for a fifth BCS bowl game. “We’re in business to make money,” he reasoned.
I guess he was referring to only some student-athletes.
How about this one: the NIT is suing the NCAA because it says that the NCAA is violating antitrust laws by requiring teams to participate in its tournament if they are invited. According to the Indianapolis Star, the NCAA tournament made $270 million in 2001. The NIT made less than $4 million. The NCAA recently signed a $6.2 billion, 11-year contract with CBS to televise the tournament.
With the amount of money involved it’s surprising that there are not more lawsuits like this one.
Two annual West Virginia basketball opponents have hired new coaches. Last week St. John’s settled on Kansas assistant Norm Roberts and Tuesday Georgetown hired John Thompson III to replace Craig Esherick, who was fired shortly after the end of this season. Thompson III comes from Princeton where he led the Tigers to the NCAA tournament this year.
Chris Enochs, now pitching for the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs of the Houston Astros organization, has an 0.82 earned run average in four relief appearances. Enochs was signed by the Astros as a minor league free agent after spending seven years in the pitching-rich Oakland A’s organization.
Former Mountaineer third baseman Scott Seabol is off to a torrid start for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, batting .378 with two home runs and five RBI in his first 11 games. Memphis is affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.
And pitcher David Maust is back at Double-A Harrisburg where he has yet to give up an earned run in two relief appearances. Harrisburg is a Montreal Expos affiliate.
Florida State may have been instrumental in helping Miami get into the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports, but the two schools don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye. Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin recently accused Miami coach Jim Morris of stealing signs with the help of a television broadcast. Martin is now taking his claim to the ACC and it could later be addressed by the NCAA baseball committee. Incidentally, Florida State lost the game to Miami.
Former Mountaineer Avon Cobourne is the leading rusher in NFL Europe with 195 yards on 46 carries through three games. Cobourne is playing for the Cologne Centurions.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Marc Bulger’s top competitor for the starting quarterback job in St. Louis, Kurt Warner, expects to be released after June 1 for salary cap reasons. Based on the reception Bulger, a Pro Bowl MVP, got at Rams home games this year 40-something-year-old backup Chris Chandler will undoubtedly received a huge surge in popularity if Warner is cut. Does Chandler’s wife do radio call-in shows?
Have a great week!
The views and opinions expressed here don’t necessarily reflect those of West Virginia University or the Mountaineer Sports Network.
