Football Notebook
September 02, 2007 10:57 AM | General
September 2, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It may not be the Big House, but boisterous Milan Puskar Stadium can provide a pretty good home field advantage, too. West Virginia University senior safety Ryan Mundy realized that yesterday afternoon playing his first game in Morgantown. Mundy spent four years playing at 107,000-seat Michigan Stadium and he believes that atmosphere in Morgantown is very similar.
 |
||
| Steve Slaton and Patrick White accounted for seven of West Virginia's nine touchdowns scored Saturday against Western Michigan.
AP photo |
“It’s pretty much the same because the fans down here are passionate,” Mundy said. “They get loud when they need to and they are quiet when they need to. They were really into the game.
“Michigan holds like 107,000 and down here it’s probably about 60,000 but if you’ve got good fans that is what it really comes down to.”
Mundy is excited about the opportunity of playing more games at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“It was crazy. It was everything that I expected it to be – the atmosphere, the team – everything was almost perfect,” he said. “It was a great experience for me and I’m definitely looking forward to a couple of more games here.”
MICHIGAN SHOCKER
The first question posed to Ryan Mundy after Saturday’s game was his thoughts on No. 5 Michigan being upset by I-AA Appalachian State.
“I got updates on it before the game and then on the loudspeaker I heard it then,” he said. “I’m a little shocked. I talked to a couple of guys (Friday) night and they said (Appalachian State) was a good team. In the same breath I was focused on what we had to do.”
“Coaches will tell you that anything can happen,” Rich Rodriguez said. “If Michigan can get beat by a I-AA at home it goes to show you that you’ve got to be ready to play every week.”
GREAT SKILL
Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit was impressed with West Virginia’s offensive skill players – particularly Heisman Trophy candidates Patrick White and Steve Slaton who had a hand in seven of the Mountaineers’ nine touchdowns scored on Saturday.
“You’ve got to deal with those two and the problem is there is so much open space if you don’t get into the right spot,” Cubit said. “You start running out of people and that’s what they do to you – they play fast, it’s a hurry up, and we’re not used to that.”
Several times Cubit thought his defense had White and Slaton bottled up for short gains only to see them break free for long runs.
“They’re great players,” he said. “I thought we had White for a sack and then all of the sudden he slips one guy and goes and gets a first down.”
Rich Rodriguez believes White may turn out to be the best to ever play at West Virginia.
“Everybody wants to have that special player,” Rodriguez said. “A guy that will not only make plays when they’re there but more than anything, he will make plays when they’re not there. He missed a couple of touchdown throws and he’ll be the first to tell you. But there were a couple of times when there were guys sitting unblocked in the hole and Pat got out of it. He continues to prove that he’s one of the best football players I think this school has ever had.”
DEVINE’S DEBUT
With West Virginia comfortably ahead, Rich Rodriguez was afforded the opportunity of playing several true freshmen including YouTube legend Noel Devine. About two-thirds of the fans remained in the stadium to give Devine a standing ovation when he jogged out onto the field in the fourth quarter and Devine delivered, turning his first screen pass into a 19-yard gain. Devine finished West Virginia’s final drive with an eight-yard touchdown run and had 63 total yards for the game.
“I did what I could for them,” Devine said, “and they did what they could for me. They stuck around and cheered for me. My first game I scored a touchdown so it’s a good start.”
The touching fan support also was recognized by Rodriguez after the game.
“I thought that was really nice,” he said. “What was nice was the fans stayed to the end, sang Country Roads, and watched the young guys. That was really neat and it meant a lot to those young guys. Our fans were terrific today – they really were.”
MILKING THE CLOCK
Western Michigan held a distinct advantage in offensive plays in the first half and Rich Rodriguez believes more teams are going to try and work the clock and keep the football away from his offense.
“That’s why those third-down stops (on defense) are so critical for you,” he said.
Western Michigan finished the game 8 of 19 on third-down conversions but Rodriguez would like to see that number a little lower.
COVER ZERO
Western Michigan chose to put everyone up on the line of scrimmage to stop Patrick White and Steve Slaton and that allowed White to exploit a very solid Bronco secondary with early touchdown passes to Dorrell Jalloh and Steve Slaton.
“They were committing everybody to the box and we were a little stubborn at times and we should have thrown more passes,” Rodriguez said. “One thing about it is if you do break through the first level versus cover zero it’s going to be a big play.”
NEW MSN POSTGAME SHOW
The Mountaineer Sports Network has introduced a new post-game Internet-only highlights show that will follow each home football game. CSTV All-Access subscribers have the opportunity of getting post-game analysis from Tony Caridi and Dwight Wallace, game highlights, and locker room reaction.
Click HERE for a free preview.
RECORD BOOK UPDATE
| They
Said It
"Are they as good as advertised? Yeah, they're that. They're that ... They're getting all this publicity. It's for real."
- Western Michigan safety C.J. Wilson on Patrick White and Steve Slaton |
|
Steve Slaton scored four more touchdowns Saturday against Western Michigan (three rushing and one receiving) and now shows 41 career touchdowns to lead all active players in the country. Slaton is now four rushing touchdowns shy of tying Amos Zereoue for third on the school’s all-time list and needs seven to break the record held by Ira Errett Rodgers and Amos Zereoue.
Slaton had his 16th career 100-yard rushing game and is now 19 yards shy of becoming just the third runner in school history to rush for more than 3,000 yards for his career.
Slaton’s 58-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the second-longest TD run of his career. He had a 65-yarder last year against Cincinnati.
Quarterback Patrick White moved past Dan Kendra into seventh place in career total offense with 4,943 yards. His 23 career touchdown passes is now three shy of cracking the WVU all-time Top 10 occupied by Jeff Hostetler and Allen McCune with 26. White is already the school and Big East Conference career rushing leader for quarterbacks with 2,268 career rushing yards.
That figure places him eighth among all WVU career rushers.
