Countdown to Kickoff
September 04, 2004 01:59 PM | General
September 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Finally, football season is here! West Virginia opens the 2004 campaign against East Carolina in a 6 pm game on Saturday, Sept. 4, at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000) in Morgantown. There will be no live television for the game.
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| A view from one of the newly constructed north end stadium suites
(Rick Suyao photo) |
As of late Friday afternoon, only a small number of single-seat locations still remain for the game. Fans wishing to purchase a ticket can do so at the stadium ticket office two hours prior to kickoff at the north end of the stadium.
Fans not able to attend the game can follow LiveStats via MSNsportsNET.com or by subscribing to MSN’s game broadcast through Yahoo! Sports.
Here is Saturday’s Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – West Virginia is ranked TENTH in the Associated Press preseason top 25. It is the first time the Mountaineers have ever started the season ranked in the preseason top 10.
9 – The average age of East Carolina’s NINE on-field was just 37 last season. Three of Thompson’s assistants were 28 years or younger, making ECU one of the youngest coaching staffs in the country.
8 – In three preseason scrimmages, sophomore quarterback James Pinkney fired EIGHT touchdown passes. Pinkney made three starts last year and finished the season completing 43 of 87 passes for 422 yards.
7 – East Carolina converted 25 of 32 red zone trips in 2003. Eighteen scores resulted in touchdowns and SEVEN were via field goals.
6 – East Carolina is expected to have SIX new offensive starters for Saturday’s game against West Virginia. They are LT Eric Grahamn, LG Hagen Mason, C Hunter Wood, RG Gary Freeman, RT Chris Sellers and TE Shawn Levesque.
5 – East Carolina has lost FIVE in a row heading into Saturday’s season opener against the Mountaineers.
4 – West Virginia quarterback Rasheed Marshall fired a career-best FOUR touchdown passes in last year’s 48-7 victory at East Carolina.
3 – West Virginia has averaged 42.3 points per game over the last THREE meetings against East Carolina in 2000, 2002 and 2003.
2 – East Carolina has defeated West Virginia TWICE in 15 all-time meetings. ECU topped WVU 23-20 in Greenville in 1995 and downed the Mountaineers 30-23 in Charlotte in 1999.
1 – West Virginia will have 28 players that have had at least ONE game of starting experience to begin the season. Tops on the starter list are offensive guard Jeff Berk (29), quarterback Rasheed Marshall (25) and offensive tackle Tim Brown (24).
Enjoy the game and be sure to visit us afterward for complete post-game coverage.
