Posted Sunday, August 24, 2008 (9:15 pm)
I have never been much for predictions and I’m not about to hazard a guess on how many wins West Virginia will have this year, but I will make a few preseason proclamations …
Despite a renewed emphasis on the passing game, West Virginia will once again rush for more yards than it passes for in 2008.
Quarterback Pat White’s throwing is much improved and the Mountaineers will be able to exploit defenses that dare White to throw, but the running game is still WVU’s bread and butter. Don’t look for many 300-yard passing games this year (White has thrown for 200 yards just three times in 37 career games).
On the other hand, 300 yards on the ground will again be the team’s barometer for success.
Will Johnson, Alric Arnett, Jock Sanders, Bradley Starks, Tito Gonzales and Dorrell Jalloh will get the job done in the passing game. Sanders is primed for a big year at slot receiver and will eventually make Mountaineer fans feel more comfortable with Darius Reynaud’s decision to leave school a year early.
Johnson is a legitimate threat working the middle of the football field and has the size to matchup favorably against safeties and the speed to out-run linebackers. Arnett has done an outstanding job catching the ball during fall camp and looks like he may be able to give the Mountaineers a vertical threat they haven’t had since Brandon Myles in 2006. Gonzales and Jalloh are steady veterans who understand the system and can make plays when asked to. Gonzales has been on the receiving end of two big TD catches in the last two bowl game victories and who can forget Jalloh’s game-deciding two-point conversion catches in overtime wins against Louisville in 2005 and Rutgers in 2006?
If quarterbacks Pat White and Jarrett Brown can remain healthy, enabling Bradley Starks to play receiver, West Virginia will add perhaps its biggest playmaker to the passing game in the athletic Starks. Some believe Starks has the ability to play wide receiver at the next level.
Teams facing West Virginia early in the year will have to spend extra time preparing for Jeff Mullen’s offense. Not only will they have to watch cut-ups of what the Mountaineers have done the last three years with quarterback Pat White, but they will also have to watch Wake Forest cut-ups to get a feel for what Mullen will do in certain situations.
West Virginia will field a faster defense in 2008. The linebacker corps is one of the fastest Defensive Coordinator Jeff Casteel has had at West Virginia with three really good ones in starters Reed Williams, Mortty Ivy and J.T. Thomas. The secondary is inexperienced but athletic with good speed at all three safety spots, and two of the three starting defensive linemen (Scooter Berry and Chris Neild) came to West Virginia as offensive players.
There isn’t a player that can't run among West Virginia’s top 11 on the defensive side of the ball. Teams will have a tough time trying to out-run West Virginia’s defense in 2008.
If West Virginia gives up passing yardage this year like it did in 2006 everyone will once again blame the 3-3 stack defensive scheme. Why is that not the case when 4-3 and 3-4 defenses allow a lot of yards?
Pat McAfee is going to have a big year with his leg. Not since Todd Sauerbrun has West Virginia had a weapon like McAfee kicking the football. McAfee will help the defense by changing field position and he makes West Virginia a threat to score whenever the Mountaineers reach the 30.
Some are labeling West Virginia’s Sept. 18 date at Colorado as a key early-season road test for the Mountaineers. In my mind, an equally difficult task will be playing East Carolina at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Sept. 6. It will be WVU’s first road game at a place where East Carolina usually plays well against the Mountaineers. The game will be sold out, plus, East Carolina will already have one tough game under its belt having opened the season against No. 17 Virginia Tech in Charlotte.
West Virginia under Bill Stewart will continue to exhibit the crisp, disciplined approach that was a hallmark of Rich Rodriguez’s program. Stewart doesn’t bark like Rodriguez, but his bite is every bit as lethal.
The Mountaineers will return at least two kickoffs for touchdowns this year. West Virginia had only three kickoff returns for touchdowns during Rich Rodriguez’s seven seasons in Morgantown (Shawn Terry in 2001, Pacman Jones in 2003 and Darius Reynaud in 2006).
Head Coach and special teams coordinator Bill Stewart has chosen to go back to the same kick return formation last used in 2000 that enabled Shawn Terry to bring back three kicks for scores and average more than 28.6 yards per return that season.
West Virginia will play more reckless and aggressive in the secondary this year, especially when the younger players become more comfortable with the defense.
Connecticut WILL NOT finish sixth in the Big East this year.
The Big East, a wide-open offensive league the last few years, will become more defensive oriented this season. Cincinnati (depending upon whether or not Ben Mauk is granted a waiver following his third appeal to the NCAA) is most likely going to have to rely on a veteran defense until quarterback Dustin Grutza becomes comfortable running Brian Kelly’s offense. Rutgers will have difficulty finding a replacement for record-setting running back Ray Rice - likewise in Louisville with quarterback Brian Brohm, although Hunter Cantwell has been groomed for the job.
Connecticut has questions at wide receiver and doubts continue to linger at Syracuse with the Orange’s ability to run the football. USF and Pitt both prefer to play conservatively on offense and rely on tough, physical defenses. That could be a prescription for some tight, defensive struggles in conference play this fall.
