By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
September 26, 2006
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Rich Rodriguez |
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Don’t think for a minute that West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is worried about his high-powered rushing attack that gained only 153 yards against 1-3 East Carolina last Saturday. Most of the problems (if you can call it that) WVU had on the ground last weekend are correctable, according to the sixth-year coach.
“We only gained 153 yards but that’s not totally bad,” he said. “We did have 22 first downs and we completed a few passes. There were a lot of execution issues that really stopped us at times in certain parts of the game but you’ve got to give East Carolina credit as well.”
Even without the benefit of film study, it was evident to anyone who watched the game that East Carolina played extremely hard from start to finish. The Pirates also had a good game plan for the Mountaineers – a plan Rodriguez is certain other teams will examine more closely in the coming weeks.
“Everybody watches the film and if somebody has a good plan they will adopt it but sometimes I think schemes are way overrated,” he said. “It’s more about players making plays on both sides of the football.
“I’m not overly concerned because people have been playing us for years and they know what system we’re going to run,” he said.
The coach was particularly impressed with ECU’s ability to shed blockers and make tackles in the open field.
“They did a nice job fundamentally of getting off blocks, they did a great job of tackling and we didn’t help,” he said. “You combine that with some good players, a good scheme, them tackling well and us not playing particularly well and it winds up being not as good as we’d like to do.”
Briefly:
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Patrick White |
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Quarterback Pat White’s 216-yard passing performance against East Carolina was the first time in 16 career games he has eclipsed the 200-yard mark. It was also just the 10th time under Rodriguez that a WVU passer has topped 200 for a game. Here are the 10 200-yard performances:
286, Brad Lewis vs. Kent State (2001)
279, Brad Lewis vs. Maryland (2001)
271, Rasheed Marshall vs. Syracuse (2003)
225, Rasheed Marshall vs. Central Florida (2004)
224, Rasheed Marshall vs. Boston College (2004)
219, Rasheed Marshall vs. Wisconsin (2002)
216, Patrick White vs. East Carolina (2006)
216, Rasheed Marshall vs. Pitt (2003)
215, Rasheed Marshall vs. Virginia (2002)
200, Rasheed Marshall vs. Miami (2003)
Rodriguez has yet to have a 300-yard passer at West Virginia.
Did you realize that five of Patrick White’s eight career interceptions have come against East Carolina?
Presently, White is the most accurate passer in WVU history, his 61.8 completion percentage .2 percentage points better than Marc Bulger’s 61.6 career completion percentage from 1996-99.
White has completed 102 of 165 pass attempts for 1,303 yards and 13 touchdowns. White, Bulger and Jake Kelchner (1992-93) are the only three Mountaineer quarterbacks with career completion percentages higher than 60 percent.
Although better known nationally as an offensive guru, Rich Rodriguez often talks about having a total program at WVU, placing high emphasis on all three phases of play.
Here is a statistic that illustrates that emphasis: heading into this year Rodriguez’s teams have scored at least one defensive and one special teams touchdown each season he’s been here. The special teams streak has already been extended this year when Darius Reynaud returned a Maryland kickoff 96 yards for a score. The Mountaineers have scored nine special teams touchdowns in five-plus seasons under Rodriguez in addition to 10 defensive TDs.
Special Teams/Defensive Touchdowns Under Rodriguez
2006
Reynaud 96 kickoff return vs. Maryland
2005
Addae 40 INT return vs. Pitt
Smith 1 punt return vs. Rutgers
Lewis 77 punt return vs. East Carolina
Wicks 31 INT return vs. Syracuse
2004
Lorello 21 INT return vs. Connecticut
Wicks 34 INT return vs. Virginia Tech
Lehnortt 21 fumble return vs. James Madison
Jones 76 punt return vs. East Carolina
2003
Frazier 64 punt return vs. Temple
Jones 47 fumble return vs. Temple
Jones 49 INT return vs. Boston College
Jones 87 kickoff return vs. Boston College
Hunter 0 punt return vs. Central Florida
2002
Harrison 0 punt return vs. East Carolina
Estrada 43 INT return vs. Rutgers
2001
Terry 100 kickoff return vs. Maryland
Hackett 10 fumble return vs. Rutgers
Hackett 50 INT return vs. Rutgers
West Virginia is now two victories shy of the school record of 13 consecutive wins posted by Coach Art Lewis’ 1952 and 1953 teams. The winning streak began with a 31-13 triumph over Washington & Lee on Oct. 18, 1952, and ended on Nov. 14, 1953, when the Mountaineers were upset 20-14 at South Carolina.
Don Nehlen’s 1992-93 teams had its 12-game winning streak snapped in the 1994 USF&G Sugar Bowl against Florida.
The Mountaineers have spent 15 straight weeks in the Top 25 dating back to last year. The school record is 34 consecutive weeks in the polls from preseason 1988 to Sept. 3, 1990.
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Darius Reynaud |
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Being that former WVU All-American receiver Danny Buggs remains involved with the Mountaineer football program through his duties with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I wonder if Buggs has impressed upon Reynaud the value of being a multi-purpose player?
During his remarkable career in the early 1970s, Dangerous Dan scored touchdowns by way of punt return, pass and the flanker reverse. Like Buggs, Reynaud has scored TDs three different ways.
“(Darius) been outstanding with the ball,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “He’s made some nice catches and some nice runs and he’s helping us on kickoff returns, too.
“He’s a competitive guy and he certainly gives us another weapon which we need out in the slot.”
There will be no live television for the West Virginia-Mississippi State game on Saturday, Oct. 7. The contest will kickoff at 1:30 pm CT (2:30 ET).
The last time West Virginia ventured into the Deep South to play a regular season football game against a Southeastern Conference opponent was on Sept. 24, 1977 when the Mountaineers dropped a 28-13 decision at Kentucky.
West Virginia lost 29-10 at South Carolina on Nov. 22, 1990, but that was when the Gamecocks were still football independents.
The marquee game in the Big East Conference this week is No. 23 Rutgers traveling to South Florida for a Friday night clash. The contest will be televised nationally by ESPN2. Last year, South Florida knocked off Rutgers, 45-31 in a shootout in Piscataway.
Rutgers comes into the game 4-0 and nationally ranked for the first time since 1976.
Other Big East action features 1-3 Cincinnati taking on 0-4 Miami (Ohio), 2-1 Connecticut playing host to 3-1 Navy, 3-1 Pitt playing host to 2-2 Toledo and 2-2 Syracuse playing host to 1-3 Wyoming. The Big East is presently 22-7 versus non-conference opposition including a 9-7 mark against other charter BCS conferences.
Can you guess who the Big East active leader in career 100-yard rushing games is? The answer is at the bottom.
According to Sports Information Director Shelly Poe, senior linebacker Jay Henry will be West Virginia’s representative on the national player’s top 25 football poll that begins next week.
With roughly 1,000 tickets remaining for the South Florida and Rutgers games, West Virginia is on pace to sell out its entire football season for what is believed to be the first time in school history. Even during the Major Harris years in 1988 and 1989 the Mountaineers were not able to accomplish that.
Making this year’s ticket sales even more remarkable is the fact that not a single team on WVU’s home slate was ranked during the preseason, although Rutgers this week (in Morgantown on Dec. 2) cracked the Top 25 for the first time this year.
Way to go Mountaineer football fans!
Rutgers cracking the Top 25 this week gives the Big East three nationally ranked teams for the first time since 2004 when Pitt, West Virginia and Boston College finished the regular season in the ratings. The Big East ( West Virginia ranked No. 4 and Louisville at No. 8) is one of three conferences (Big Ten and SEC) with a pair of Top 10 teams.
For what it’s worth, West Virginia’s defense through four games this year is allowing 11.8 points, 98.2 rushing yards, and 289.2 yards per game. Teams have scored just two TDs in nine red-zone tries.
Those look like very solid defensive numbers to me.
Northern Arizona's Larry Aschebrook has joined the Mountaineer Athletic Club staff as a Senior Director of Athletic Development, replacing John Nitardy who took a similar position at Penn State.
Former West Virginia University players Tyrone Sally and D’or Fischer were selected by the Colorado 14ers in last week’s NBDL expansion draft. Fischer was taken in the sixth round and Sally was picked in the seventh. Both played for Roanoke last year.
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Marlon LeBlanc |
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How about this for irony: when men’s soccer coach Marlon LeBlanc came to West Virginia before the start of this season his long-term goal was to model the WVU program after the one he left at Penn State. The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 5 in the preseason after coming off an NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” appearance in 2005.
On Wednesday when pupil meets teacher, the pupil will actually have the higher ranked team. West Virginia is presently rated No. 9 in the country in the most recent NSCAA rankings while Penn State is unranked at 3-5-2.
However, the Lions have won two straight Big Ten matches and wil have played eight ranked teams after the West Virginia match Wednesday night.
Answer: Terry Caulley (Connecticut) with 12
Have a great week!
