Raising the Bar
August 04, 2006 10:09 AM | General
August 4, 2006
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Coach Rodriguez's daily press conferences at MSN's new MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The target on West Virginia’s back just got a whole lot bigger. The Mountaineers will enter the season ranked in the Top 10 for just the second time in school history. The USA Today Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll was released Friday morning and West Virginia is ranked seventh – the school’s highest-ever preseason rating.
“How are you going to deal with high expectations? How are you going to keep your team from getting their heads too big?” asked West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “Those are legitimate questions but they are not a big concern to me. We think we know our guys.”
The nation is getting a pretty good working knowledge of Rich Rodriguez’s rising Mountaineer program after his team upset Georgia 38-35 in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl in Atlanta.
West Virginia returns a large portion of its players from last year's team including quarterback Patrick White and running back Steve Slaton, who ran for a Sugar Bowl record 204 yards against the Bulldogs. WVU has 48 total lettermen coming back.
“We’re taking the approach that it is a team game and although we’ve got guys that are getting individual attention they are part of something bigger than themselves,’ Rodriguez said.
The last time expectations were this high in Morgantown in 2004, West Virginia didn’t quite measure up. Heading into the year ranked 10th, the Mountaineers dropped their final three games of the season against Boston College, Pitt and Florida State to fall completely out of the rankings.
“We had high expectations a couple of years ago and played poorly at the end,” Rodriguez said. “But I don’t think these are the type of guys who worry about high expectations.
“I think our guys are mature enough to handle this,” he added.
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According to Rodriguez, his biggest task this year will be to deflect some of the pressure his still fairly young team might feel.
“I have to do a good job of making sure our guys don’t feel any extra pressure to a certain standard that is outside our program,” he said.
No. 1 Ohio State got 28 first-place votes to beat out Texas for top billing in the Coaches Poll. Notre Dame and USC tied for third with 1,348 poll points, followed by Oklahoma at No. 5 and Auburn at No. 6.
Polling was conducted before it was learned that Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar and starting offensive guard J.D. Quinn have been ruled ineligible for reportedly taking large amounts of money for a small amount of work at a Norman, Okla., automobile dealership.
Florida, LSU and Florida State follow West Virginia to round out the Top 10.
Big East rival Louisville is ranked 13th. The Cardinals are the only preseason-ranked team on West Virginia’s schedule this year.
West Virginia opens fall camp on Saturday, August 5.
