Football Notebook
October 22, 2007 09:18 AM | General
October 22, 2007
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| Rich Rodriguez |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With the non-conference portion of the 2007 schedule now in the rear view mirror, on Sunday afternoon West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez discussed how his team can now focus solely on the main goal of winning the BIG EAST Conference. The five-game journey to win back the league title starts this Saturday at No. 25 Rutgers.
“We’ve got a lot of things to get better at this week and it will be a big challenge going up to Rutgers. Our primary goal every year is to win the BIG EAST championship and all of our games left are BIG EAST games,” Rodriguez said. “It will be especially tough to start this five-game stretch going on the road. Rutgers is playing good football right now and our guys have a lot of respect for their program.”
The game, which will kick off at Noon and will be televised by ABC, features two of the nation’s best running backs in West Virginia’s Steve Slaton and Rutgers’ Ray Rice. Rice has amassed 999 yards through seven games this season. While the two running backs will no doubt be the story line going in, Rodriguez believes too much is often made of these types of matchups.
“It’s not Ray Rice against Steve Slaton because neither one of them plays defense. They are in different systems and they are going against other guys, not just themselves,” Rodriguez said. “They are both great players. Ray Rice is one of the best in the country and Steve is one of the best as well. It should be a lot of fun for the fans to watch.”
Rodriguez noted that Rice’s greatest strength is his toughness and durability. That durability was tested last Thursday night when Rice toted the ball an astounding 39 times for 181 yards in an upset of No. 2 South Florida.
“He’s a guy that has carried it a lot of times. He is a strong guy. He may not be the tallest guy in the world but he runs low to the ground,” Rodriguez said. “He is kind of built to take that many carries and he’s a very tough individual. I’d be surprised if they don’t give it to him a bunch of times against us.”
Fans will be in abundance at Rutgers Stadium on Saturday. There was a time, not too long ago, when the atmosphere in Piscataway was as calm and quiet as a Sunday afternoon in church. That is not the case anymore. A school record 44,267 fans watched the Scarlet Knights upset South Florida last Thursday night. As many as 45,000 fans could pack into Rutgers Stadium on Saturday.
“They have added some seats and their games are all sold out now. It will be a big challenge. They make a lot of noise up there and our job will be to try to keep their fans out of the game,” Rodriguez said. “The crowd was into it even a few years back. They are getting passionate about their program and they are getting a lot of support from the community. It is going to make for a big atmosphere.”
While Rice might be Rutgers’ biggest weapon on offense, Rodriguez reminds people that he is certainly not the only guy that can hurt you. The seventh-year coach notes that Mike Teel is in command of the offense at quarterback and Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt are special players at the wide receiver position.
“They have a lot of explosive players. Obviously Rice is one but you can look at the wide receivers and they have some of the most explosive in the BIG EAST Conference,” Rodriguez said. “Teel is a veteran guy that has won a lot of games. He’s very accurate and he does a great job of running their offense. Their wideouts are very scary.”
Teel and those wideouts will try to attack a much-improved Mountaineer pass defense. West Virginia is currently fifth in the country against the pass. Rodriguez notes that it wasn’t any drastic change that transformed the pass defense from 109th in the country a year ago to where it is today.
“It’s a combination of things. Obviously the guys have a year of experience under their belts. They are confident in what they are doing and the defensive staff has changed things up a little bit to give them some help coverage wise,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve also gotten a little bit more pressure on the passer.”
Rodriguez mentioned that he and Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano are now the two veterans of BIG EAST head coaches. The Grant Town, W.Va., native says that many of the challenges the league faced a few years back made his relationship with Schiano and the other coaches stronger.
“It’s pretty neat. Greg and I kind of laughed about it last year, talking about how we are kind of the old guard in the BIG EAST Conference. There was all this talk of the demise of the league not long after we got there and fortunately for the both of us our programs have continued to grow and to have some success,” Rodriguez said. “Longevity in this profession is something coaches can take pride in. Greg and I have gotten to know each other very well and I think he has done a tremendous job.”
Briefly
“He could have played in the second half but he was sore. He didn’t take a shot or anything for the pain and I think the pain was bothering him a little bit so with the lead we chose to keep him out,” Rodriguez said. “Last week he was very limited in practice and I think he will be able to do just about everything in tonight’s practice (Sunday) and through the week.”
