Bowl Notebook
December 28, 2006 11:21 AM | General
December 28, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez has been pretty pleased with the effort his team has put forth in practices in Jacksonville so far leading up to Monday’s game against Georgia Tech in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl.
 |
||
| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez has been happy with his team's focus and effort so far in Jacksonville, Fla.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Yesterday was the Mountaineers’ last full-contact practice with the team now tapering off and concentrating more on their game plan for the Yellow Jackets.
“(Wednesday) was probably one of the best bowl practices that we’ve had of my five bowls here,” Rodriguez said. “The intensity was good. It wasn’t a long practice but I thought the guys were pretty focused, pretty physical and as such we took the pads off today. We’re still going to run around full speed but we’re not going to hit the rest of the week.”
Rodriguez said Thursday morning that his team is adhering to the same practice plan they used last year when they defeated Georgia 38-35 in the Sugar Bowl.
“We took the pads off a day earlier and tried to get everybody healthy,” Rodriguez said. “Our guys have learned how to practice with intensity without pads. At this point you hope our guys know how to tackle.
“It will be a lot of mental work more than anything else right now,” he said.
Briefly:
“Pat was starter and then he got banged up throughout the year. What you lose with Craig is a little bit of depth,” Rodriguez said. “Pat in more recent games had taken more reps anyway.”
 |
||
| Owen Schmitt |
“I can remember last year at Maryland he had a little extra motivation in that game and how excited he was jumping up and down in the locker room like a five-year-old that just had Christmas,” Rodriguez said. “I think he was so excited that not only had we won but he actually got to play and contribute.
“I think the first time or two he scored a touchdown he didn’t know how to react and I got on the team for not going over and celebrating with him,” Rodriguez said. “They kind of embarrassed him and he was looking for someone to chest bump or hug.”
“They’ve done a good job against just about everybody,” said Rodriguez. “For us I’m a lot more confident if Steve is healthy. It’s got to be a matter of getting a right hat on a right hat. They blitz from so many different angles and if the right guys come free they are going to create a lot of negative yardage plays.
“Assignment wise we’ve got to be as good as we’ve been all season because of their blitz packages,” Rodriguez said.
“The next couple of days are critical for us. We’ve been sharp so far but it’s going to come at us at a different speed than it does on the scout team and our guys have got to be prepared for that,” he said.
“This team has worked hard year round. Most of the teams we’ve had but the last couple of years we have not had to scream and yell and prod them to work harder in practice,” Rodriguez said. “I think they understand what we want to get out of practice and they come to work and that’s a great thing to see.”
“He was a guy that we were really counting on big and he’s played pretty well all year but he’s just not had as many opportunities because we’ve run the ball so well,” Rodriguez said. “I think he’s one of the better receivers in the Big East Conference. He doesn’t have the numbers of some others because he hasn’t had as many chances but when he’s been called upon he’s been pretty valuable.
“I’m excited for him because he gets a chance to play in a great bowl game in his last college game and then he’s going to get a chance in the Senior Bowl and hopefully get a chance to play at the next level,” Rodriguez said.
Tech also owns the nation’s second-best winning percentage in bowl games among schools with at least 20 bowl appearances. The Yellow Jackets are 22-12 (.647), trailing Penn State’s 24-12-2 record for a .658 winning percentage.
Two of Georgia Tech’s 22 bowl victories have come against West Virginia in the 1954 Sugar and the 1997 Carquest Bowls.
West Virginia is making its sixth Gator Bowl appearance while Georgia Tech is making its seventh. Tech is 3-3 in Gator Bowls having defeated Pitt in 1956, Texas Tech in 1965 and Notre Dame in 1999. The Mountaineers are winless in five previous Gator Bowl tries including a 30-18 loss to Florida State in 2005.
