Coach Rod Report
September 27, 2004 01:07 PM | General
September 27, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez believes his No. 6-rated football team has to turn up the intensity this week if it hopes to beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg this weekend.
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| Quarterback Rasheed Marshall threw two touchdown passes last Saturday against James Madison and shows eight TD tosses for the season.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Rodriguez admitted Monday morning that his team took a ho-hum approach to the I-AA James Madison Dukes in a 45-10 victory last Saturday.
“We’re happy to get the win over JMU but we were not happy with the way we played,” he said. “I thought we were unemotional and not enthusiastic and just going through the motions. We were fearful of that coming off a win (Maryland) the week before but as much as we reminded them they still didn’t come out play their best.
“At the same time there were some positives and things that we can take out of it," he added. “Everything that we did poorly we can correct and it was still a win. Now our challenge is tremendous because now we go down to Blacksburg which is one of the toughest places to play in the country to play an outstanding football team with a tremendous amount of talent. (Virginia Tech) has a lot of veteran players and a lot of young players that can play so it’s going to be a great challenge for us and hopefully we’ll be ready.”
West Virginia’s trip to Virginia Tech could be its last in the foreseeable future. The two long-time opponents have a contract for two more games with the Hokies returning the trip to Morgantown in 2005. After that there are no more games scheduled.
“I know there is a lot of talk about (resuming the series) but I don’t think it is as simple as saying, ‘Yes, it should continue right away,’” Rodriguez said. “I think there are a lot of issues that have to be resolved and I personally feel that it has been a great rivalry but at the same time at this stage West Virginia needs to make sure it takes care of West Virginia.
“What I mean by that is we’ve got them on the schedule for the next two years but beyond that we’ve got to make sure it fits right and that our home schedule is taken care of in that we make sure we have at least six or seven home games every year,” he continued. “And we’re pretty well booked until 2009 or what have you. I know things may change and if the NCAA passes the rule for a 12th regular season game we have a few irons in the fire for the last several years that we’re looking at first before we commit to anything with Virginia Tech or any other school.”
Rodriguez admits his back-to-back victories over rated Virginia Tech teams in 2002 and 2003 rank among the best since he’s been at WVU.
“No question they are among the biggest wins since I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s hard to clump one more than the other and certainly we’ve had some other big wins including one this year (Maryland).”
But Rodriguez admits the victory in Blacksburg in 2002 was a really important one for his young football program.
“The one down there I think was a big step for our program because we were in a tough environment and at that point we hadn’t really beaten any ranked teams or teams that were as talented as Tech,” he said.
“That one was a huge one for us and I think it gave us a lot of confidence that maybe we could win a close game against a very good team.”
In some ways the roles are completely reversed this year. Last year Virginia Tech came into Morgantown ranked third in the country with an undefeated record while West Virginia was playing to salvage a bowl berth and a winning season. The same circumstances apply this Saturday with West Virginia heading into Blacksburg with a 4-0 record and a No. 6 national rating, while Virginia Tech is 2-2 with tough games looming against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Virginia and Miami.
“I don’t know if there are any parallels with them being ranked last year and us being ranked this year,” said Rodriguez. “The best football game we played last year was against Tech at home. It was a perfect night for us and we executed in all three phases. Those kinds of games don’t come along very often so I don’t think you can put a lot into that game because I know we’re going to get their best shot and hopefully we’ll be ready.”
The one benefit of playing Virginia Tech this weekend is that Rodriguez won’t have to invent ways to get his team pumped up to play.
“Regardless of who you’re playing after one unemotional performance I would think you would get back up,” he said. “The fact that it’s Tech down there and our guys know how good they are and with as much respect as we have for them … we’ll get it cranked up or we’ll get embarrassed … one of those two things.
“But I think our guys will be ready and excited and it will be a great challenge,” he added.
Briefly:
“In reality I should tell the guys not to worry about what other people think and just worry about what we think,” he added. “It was a very good lesson for our young men that you better be ready to play every Saturday.”
“He’s been a great leader for us,” said Rodriguez. “He’s not always had great games all the time but in our biggest games is when he seems to play his best football. He’s been very consistent this year and he’s got a lot of respect on the team. He can run and he can throw and he manages the offense very well. He’s an even better person and he’s a perfect example of what our young players can look up to as far as being a pure college student-athlete.”
Marshall has completed 62.7 percent of his passes this year (47 of 75) for 684 yards and eight touchdowns.
When pressed, Rodriguez says the turning point in Marshall’s career probably came in 2002 against No. 1-rated Miami in Morgantown. “We were a little bit young and I thought he played tremendous against the best defense in the country. It was a defense that wound up having like seven or eight first-rounders. On the field he showed that he belonged in that game and I think that game probably gave us a lot of confidence in him and it probably elevated his play a little bit.”
