April 21-28 Blog
April 22, 2008 11:35 AM | General
We’re changing things up a little bit. For the past four years Campus Connection has kind of been like a weekly blog full of tidbits, notes, commentary, quasi-opinion and weak stabs at humor that have sometimes hit the mark and at other times completely missed. Well, to keep up with the Jones', we’ve decided to turn Campus Connection into a daily blog. If we miss a day then you know we’re struggling.
Hope you enjoy it ...
Stew's Review
Posted By John Antonik: April 24, 2008 (2:35 pm)
Developing depth at some key positions will be something first-year coach Bill Stewart contemplates between now and the start of fall practice. Following last Saturday’s Gold-Blue Spring Game Stewart mentioned a couple of areas of concern.
“We want to get some depth this fall – depth at tailback,” he said. “We have some signees that were here today. We had one guy here on an official visit and we have one guy out in California that runs a 10.5 in the 100 meters.
“We need depth at defensive line, too,” Stewart said. “Our secondary is pretty good but they just haven’t played. They’ll make mistakes. It will be like it was in 2006 when we got some balls completed on us – it’s going to happen. But they make some big hits and we need depth on the defensive line, depth at running back and depth in the secondary.”
Stewart said it is important to recruit other positions as well.
“You cannot recruit enough college quarterbacks or fullbacks either,” Stewart said. “I steal that from Don Nehlen. Quarterbacks can play anywhere. (Former quarterback) Brandon Hogan is special and that guy can play.”
Stewart said tactically his team has to continue to attack all parts of the football field.
“We will make them defend the field and the flanks,” he said. “We have to do more than just throw the bubble screen. Every coach in America can see that – they can film that because we will get the ball in the hole. Over the backers and in front of the safeties – we will hit that area to make our offense more explosive.”
Some of the motion and movement offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen has brought with him from Wake Forest will make a difference, too.
“I really believe that we mastered some motion and movement and I’m very proud and pleased about that,” Stewart said. “I know that they bought into the plan that we must spread the field and that we have to work in the holes that we’re trying to work in.”
Big East Race
Posted By John Antonik: April 22, 2008 (11:36 am)
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Some are calling the Big East football race wide open this year. One columnist rated the eight Big East football coaches and had West Virginia’s Bill Stewart eighth on his list.
Another columnist is predicting a Pitt resurgence in ‘08, basing that on the Panthers’ stunning 13-9 upset victory over the Mountaineers in Morgantown and a strong returning Panther defense.
South Florida made a big jump in 2007 by knocking off West Virginia at home and making it to the Sun Bowl where it subsequently got whacked over the head by Oregon, 56-21. However, no program in the country has made more rapid progress than the Bulls and no program in the Big East has had more recent success stopping West Virginia than USF.
Connecticut won a share of the Big East title despite giving up 66 points to fellow co-champion West Virginia in Morgantown, and then losing 24-10 to Wake Forest in the Charlotte Bowl. UConn was making just its second-ever bowl appearance since its jump to D-I status.
Cincinnati and Rutgers both won their bowl games last year against lesser opponents but remain on an upward track. Rutgers has back-to-back bowl victories for the first time in school history while Cincinnati, under second-year coach Brian Kelly, finished 2007 nationally ranked after beating Southern Miss in the PapaJohn’s.com Bowl.
Coach Steve Kragthorpe had to deal with the mess Bobby Petrino left him at Louisville and he should field a much stronger team based on his past success coaching at Tulsa and the quality personnel remaining in the Cardinal program.
Syracuse, one of the traditional Eastern powers, is looking to get back to that form in year four of Greg Robinson’s tenure.
All seven have their strengths and all seven could give West Virginia a run for its money in 2008. Yet with the exception of Louisville, what the remaining six don’t have is West Virginia’s big-game experience.
The Mountaineers have won two out of the last three BCS bowl games while also managing to sandwich a Gator Bowl victory over Georgia Tech in 2007.
Only Louisville’s victory over Wake Forest in the 2007 Orange Bowl 24-10 is on par with what West Virginia has accomplished for the Big East since 2005.
Syracuse last played in a BCS bowl in 1999 and last won one in 1993 when the oldest Orange players were just starting kindergarten. As for Pitt, it last played in a BCS bowl game in 2005 and last won one in 1982 when Ronald Reagan was president.
That’s 26 years and counting if my math is accurate.
South Florida, Cincinnati, Rutgers and Connecticut have never played in a major bowl game - let alone prepare for one.
Perhaps someone other than West Virginia will rise to the top of the Big East Conference next December. If that happens all but one will be operating in uncharted waters.
