September 3 Notebook
September 03, 2004 01:22 PM | General
September 3, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – I must say I had to chuckle last week when I read in a Mickey Furfari column that Don Nehlen believes this year’s football team has a great chance to do undefeated.
The former WVU coaching great made a similar statement on Metro News’ Pigstock tour in Charleston a few weeks ago.
“Our schedule is just unbelievable. Plus, our out-of-league schedule is so weak that we can build morale. You can win by 50 points and play a bunch of kids,” Nehlen told Furfari.
I find Nehlen’s statement amusing not because I don’t think it is out of the realm of possibility, but rather by who is saying it.
Can you just imagine, say Frank Cignetti, talking to Shorty Hardman in 1981 and telling him that West Virginia is completely loaded and shouldn’t lose a game?
Pitt isn’t as good as they were when we played them in 1976, Cignetti says, and Penn State is starting a new kid quarterback named Blackledge so they’ve got issues. Syracuse is rebuilding without Art Monk, Maryland is going through a transition period under Jerry Claiborne, BC has some midget at quarterback named Flutie, and Colorado State is just a glorified junior college program.
I can almost see Nehlen sitting down to lunch at his desk, opening up the Charleston Gazette to read Hardman’s column, and choking down his baloney sandwich.
If anyone would have even breathed the word ‘undefeated’ around Nehlen in either 1988 or 1993 he would have blown a gasket, like he did when he found out about Major Harris’ rap song concerning the team’s undefeated 1988 season and Fiesta Bowl matchup against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame.
“You know what Lou Holtz is playing to his team every day at practice?” Nehlen asked one of the song’s producers.
“THAT STINKING RAP TAPE YOU MADE WITH MY QUARTERBACK!”
There is a famous old saying that is appropriate for everyone concerned: Keep your eye on the ball.
Rich Rodriguez, the man responsible for making sure his 18, 19, 20 and 21-year-old football players understand that concept spent the opening portion of his Tuesday afternoon news conference addressing the topic of his team going undefeated. He finished by saying he would have nothing else to say about it and doesn’t want his players talking about it either.
“I don’t take anyone for granted and I would hope our players don’t take anyone for granted,” he said. “We’ve been here three years and we’ve had three kids drafted, all in the late rounds. That ain’t a whole lot. If you ask me when our program has arrived, it’s when we have seniors backed up by juniors, backed up by sophomores and you’re getting five or six kids drafted every year. That’s when you know you’ve got things on settled ground.”
However, Rodriguez believes his program is moving closer toward that objective.
“We’ve got 82 guys on scholarship because we’ve had a couple that have left the program,” he said. “Fifty five of those are freshmen and sophomores. Sixty seven percent of our team is still freshmen and sophomores … two-thirds. We’re going to get there but we’re not there right yet.
“I think we’ve established some things with our program,” he added. “We’ve been able to have some success in the Big East the last two years and our number one goal is to defend the Big East championship and win more non-conference games than we have the last couple of years.”
News and Notes:
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| Rodriguez |
Other random topics Rodriguez touched on during his half-hour long press conference Tuesday:
“We’re a little more comfortable there this year,” he added.
“I think you get more nervous as a coach than as a player,” he continued. “Once the game starts it’s out of your hands because players have to make plays. I sleep better when I know we’ve prepared well and I know we have.
“I watch film late on Friday nights just to kind of go over some calls and some thoughts,” Rodriguez said. “If it’s an evening game we’ll have a couple hours to watch on Saturday. I like to watch film by myself a little bit and it is almost as if I’m a fan watching it saying, ‘Okay this is there, that’s there.’”
Other items:
By my count that makes 23 former WVU players still on NFL rosters, including Brian King and Grant Wiley (both released but have since been placed on injured reserve – Wiley with Minnesota and King with Carolina).
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| Zereoue |
“You don't know how long [Paterno] is gonna be there. He keeps on signing [long-term] contracts, but sooner or later, he'll have to retire. So I think that definitely discourages players from going there, and other teams use that against them. Now Penn State can say they don't have coaching uncertainty, but most of the country doesn't agree with that,” Hartings said.
Remarkably since 1998, Penn State, Indiana and Minnesota are the only three teams without a six-win season in Big Ten play.
I, for one, hope old Joe can hang around another 10 years or so and see if he can last until he’s 87. What 18-year-old wouldn’t want to play for an 80-year-old coach?
The Lions were 3-9 last year.
Why couldn’t that have happened between 1959-83?
Top 5 West Virginia home openers
Enjoy the game and have a great weekend!
