Fiesta Bowl Report 12/26
December 26, 2007 09:23 PM | General
December 26, 2007
PHOENIX – Interim coach Bill Stewart has yet to have a victory beside his name as West Virginia’s football coach, but he’s already winning the press conferences. Stewart hit another home run Wednesday afternoon at the Fiesta Bowl’s initial press meeting at Sky Harbor International Airport.
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| Bill Stewart talks to the media Wednesday afternoon at Sky Harbor International Airport.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“To all of the ‘West by Gawd Virginians’ it’s a special time because we just like to play ball. We would play 12 months a year if the NCAA would let us,” Stewart said. “There’s not much to do back home at this time of year and certainly to come out here to Phoenix with this nice weather and all of this wonderful hospitality against such a great, great opponent that we’re about to play is going to be very special for our people.”
Stewart has been the great unifying force in a trying month for Mountaineer football. His soothing words have reassured a Mountaineer Nation first jolted by the upset loss to Pitt to end the regular season and then the abrupt departure of Rich Rodriguez two weeks later.
“Adversity is a state of mind,” Stewart said. “I’ve been doing this for 33 years and we have probably the finest chemistry I’ve ever seen from a football team. I’ve been blessed to coach at the service academies and you think about bonding, the brotherhood and the togetherness, and I can assure you that at the state flagship school at West Virginia University our players have bonded unlike any I have ever seen.”
Stewart said the healing process began shortly after Rodriguez informed the team that he was taking the Michigan job.
“Twenty minutes after Coach Rodriguez’s meeting that Sunday we had to step up and take some action,” Stewart said. “So we went to the practice field and went to work.
“The young men put their blinders on, they went to work, we talked about it ever so briefly and then the leadership of our football team took over,” Stewart said. “Our football team has a game to play. That process is over. That door has been closed and everyone has bonded together throughout the state.
“I know our guys will play hard. We’ve had tremendous practices,” Stewart said. “The guys went home last Friday and we began the Sunday before that. It was fun. We went right to work. They’ve given us great effort. It was spirited. It was crisp and we banged around a little bit and I thought we had some very good practices.”
Last week, Stewart also had Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen relate his experiences coaching in bowl games to the team.
“Coach Nehlen, as honest as he is, told our players that he thought his team was distracted 20 years ago when they came out here. He cautioned them. He said, ‘Guys don’t let distractions eat at you the rest of your life.’ Our guys have been in some arenas so I know our guys will not be bothered by that.”
Stewart understands the tall task his team faces in Big 12 champion Oklahoma next Wednesday night.
“They have had a tremendous year and we are very, very respectful of them,” Stewart said. “This is the seventh of Bob Stoops’ nine teams to have won 11 games. That’s really good. That’s unheard of in today’s college game.
“Their players are tremendous. Their offense, defense and special teams have no flaws. This is a very fine, fine football team we’re about to face. They had 111 plays of 20 yards or more,” Stewart said. “They had a school-record 35 plays of 40 yards-plus. To me, I just shake my head.”
Stewart sees much the same from the Sooner defense.
“On their defensive side, everything you see here is just the tops of the chart,” he said. “One thing that jumped out at me was their third-down thunder. This is remarkable. Their opponents have converted 65 of 198 third downs for an average of only 32.8 percent. In the fourth quarter, their foes are 6 of 41 on third downs. That’s 14 percent. I’ve never heard of that.
“I talked to one of my former coaches Coach Dick Crum who was also the head coach of Bobby Stoops at Kent State and he said, ‘Stew you’ve just got to try and keep it close until the fourth quarter and see what happens.’”
West Virginia begins on-site bowl preparation Thursday afternoon at Scottsdale Community College.
