Sun Still Shining
November 08, 2006 02:28 PM | General
November 8, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - As I headed to bed last Thursday night following West Virginia’s 44-34 loss to Louisville, I did so with the irrational feelings of despair that a Mountaineer fan usually deals with in the immediate moments after a big loss. As I settled into sleep, I grappled with the reality that 2006 would not be the season in which I witnessed West Virginia’s first-ever national championship.
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| Dan Mozes says several younger West Virignia players are dealing with a loss for the first time in their college careers.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
A few hours later when I regained consciousness, I noticed an interesting thing. That light peaking in through the windows of my sister’s suburban Louisville home was indeed the sun.
The world as I knew it had not ended.
The sun rising marked a change in my attitude. My irrational thoughts were replaced with constructive ones. I realized in that moment that the 2006 Mountaineer season was far from over and that aside from the aforementioned national title, all of the other preseason goals for the program were still attainable.
It appears that the same hopeful reality has taken hold inside the Puskar Center, where Mountaineer players and coaches have their sights set squarely on the next opponent: the Cincinnati Bearcats.
“We had a long talk on Saturday about what is in the past and what we need to learn from,” head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “We tried to make some corrections and now everything is on to Cincinnati. You can’t do much about changing the past, you just try to correct it and we have moved on.”
As Rodriguez took his final look back on the Louisville game Monday evening, he pointed out that the most disappointing thing for him was the fact that the Mountaineers did not put their best foot forward in losing to the Cardinals.
“You always wish as a coach that if you are going to get beat, get beat playing you’re ‘A’ game. Against Louisville, we obviously did not play our ‘A’ game in any phase. We are usually good at taking care of the ball, we normally have consistent special teams and we normally don’t make too many mental mistakes defensively,” Rodriguez said.
Senior center Dan Mozes addressed the importance of having a short memory and staying focused on the goals that are still well within reach.
“We went through what we did wrong, and now we are focused on Cincinnati. I think everything is still out there for us. It’s all a possibility except for the national championship. We have a lot of goals out there and we have to keep our heads up and stay focused,” Mozes said.
Mozes mentioned that winning has become a habit. Losing is something that the players have not had to deal with in over a calendar year.
“The young guys, it seems like they were getting so accustomed to winning that they did not know what losing felt like. That loss opened their eyes. It even opened the veteran’s eyes. Now they know what the losing feels like. They don’t want to be a part of that again,” Mozes said.
Any time you lose a game there is concern that a team’s confidence will take a hit for a period of time. Junior fullback Owen Schmitt doesn’t think that will be a problem on the offensive side of the ball.
“In all reality if you look at the game we put up 500-some yards against Louisville. We really lost the game in the turnover battle. I don’t think we played a bad game offensively except for the turnovers. It’s not like we haven’t lost before in our career so we know how to handle it,” Schmitt said.
Quarterback Patrick White, who accounted for 347 yards of total offense in the loss to the Cardinals, seemed as confident as ever Monday night, refusing to talk about the Louisville game and instead discussing how his offense should not be stopped regardless of the tactics employed by an opposing defense.
“Louisville is over. The only focus is Cincinnati. I’m not going to talk about or answer any questions about Louisville. We just have to play better, play Mountaineer football. If we execute our offense, all 11 guys playing as one, nobody should be able to stop us,” White said.
Just five years removed from a 3-8 season, it appears a large number of Mountaineer fans have begun to take winning for granted.
Who would have ever thought that a 10- or 11-win regular season would be viewed as a disappointment in any fan’s mind? Schmitt overheard a few people talking in those tones after the game.
“I heard a couple people say that they weren’t going to go to the bowl game now because it won’t be the national championship,” Schmitt said. “That is kind of ridiculous if you ask me. Only two teams can go to the championship. Those are just bandwagon people … so whatever.”
Apparently those fans had their blinders closed when the sun came up Friday morning.
