Countdown to Kickoff
October 22, 2008 03:25 PM | General
October 22, 2008
TONY'S GAME CHART
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia plays host to Auburn in a Thursday night game at Milan Puskar Stadium that will be televised nationally on ESPN (Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May and Erin Andrews). The two teams have been idle since last playing 12 days ago.
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| Mobile, Ala., resident Jerry Grace parked his RV outside the WVU Coliseum early Wednesday morning ahead of West Virginia's game against Auburn Thursday night.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
This is the first meeting between West Virginia and Auburn in football and is the Mountaineers’ 19th-ever game against the Southeastern Conference. WVU owns a four-game winning streak against SEC schools dating back to the 2000 Music City Bowl victory over Mississippi.
Auburn, meanwhile, is 5-2-1 against Big East schools but is making its first non-conference road appearance since 2003. This is also the latest in the year Auburn has played a non-conference road game since 1979.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm. MSN’s pre-game coverage is set for 7 pm with the Mountaineers Today.
Here is Thursday’s Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Noel Devine has had TEN career runs of 29 yards or longer during his brief two-year career at WVU. Devine has had 171 career carries.
9 – Auburn quarterbacks have thrown NINE interceptions in seven games so far this year; West Virginia quarterbacks have thrown two interceptions in six games.
8 – West Virginia’s defense has allowed only EIGHT 100-yard rushers in its last 44 games dating back to the 2005 season.
7 – Quarterback Pat White is presently ranked SEVENTH among active players in career all-purpose yards per play with an average of 7.02.
6 – SIX West Virginia players have made 20 or more career starts led by senior offensive tackle Ryan Stanchek’s 40 career starts.
5 – Auburn has lost only FIVE of its last 23 games away from home since 2004 and owns the nation’s third-best road record during that span of time.
4 – West Virginia has FOUR players on its roster from the state of Alabama: Pat and Coley White (Daphne), Ellis Lankster (Whistler) and Trippe Hale (Mobile).
3 – Auburn has lost two straight games to Vanderbilt and Arkansas. The Tigers last dropped THREE in a row since the 2001 season.
2 – West Virginia’s Pat White ranks SECOND among all quarterbacks in NCAA history with 3,934 career rushing yards.
1 – Tonight’s game against West Virginia is Auburn’s FIRST appearance this far north this late in the season since playing at Villanova in 1941.
Enjoy Thursday night’s game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete post-game coverage.
