Football: Coach Stewart Teleconference
November 29, 2009 02:53 PM | General
November 29, 2009
Opening statement
We met this morning, and the film has been looked at and corrections have been made. Things are brighter this morning in terms of injuries. The Pitt football game was a hard-fought, emotional win. We are very excited about the win and lucky we didn’t get anyone hurt because it was a hard-hitting game. The way those young men were hitting each other, there were not many injuries for both teams.
It was a great win. We are undefeated at home for the first time since 1993; I’m proud of the senior class for that. What a great legacy they left for this last home season. This lets our season ticket holders know that we play extra-special at home, and that’s pretty good.
The injuries are in our favor at this point. I hope we don’t get anyone beat up this week, though we are going to continue to put the pads on and get ready for Rutgers.
I was pleased with the crowd and the Mountaineer faithful. They rose to the occasion and had the enthusiasm that pumped our players up. It was a great day.
We were off yesterday and our guys came in for treatments. To a man, and week in and week out, each Mountaineer came in here diligently and faithfully and did what they are supposed to do. It shows you what great discipline and morale we have on this football team.
We are 8-3 and we need to finish strong. That has been our motto all season. After the tough USF loss, we went with the motto ‘Remember November.’ We knew it was a four game season. We’ve been blessed to win two. We lost to the No. 5-ranked team (Cincinnati) at their place by three points. Then, we had an emotional win over a top 10 opponent (Pitt) this week in the Backyard Brawl.
We have a tough chore this weekend. Rutgers is back. There were hitting on all cylinders this past weekend. We could barely get through Louisville at home this season, and they just absolutely dismantled them. This is a good Rutgers team, and we’re really going to have to play very disciplined, sound and hard.
(on defensive play against Pitt)
Our defense was flying around and emotional. They were assignment-free. They played with such reckless abandon, but they also played smart football.
This is the second game in a row when we’ve had our entire starting 11 back. Against Cincinnati and Pitt, West Virginia finally had its starting 11 defenders on the field.
(on play of Wes Lyons in his final home game)
We watched that this morning. That big catch he made got me excited. He has really come on, and to have the performance he had against his hometown university was special for him. He played physical blocking as well.
(on play of Robert Sands)
From what I have seen, and according to coaches Dunlap and Casteel, he is getting it. He is absorbing more and more and getting everything quicker. I told the guys to get the jugs out – I want him to start getting the interceptions, just not knocking them down. He is playing like a veteran, and he’s just a young sophomore, which is really good.
(on road-game performances in 2009)
I thought about that and I take it back to the 2008 Connecticut game. They had 11 wins at home, and no one had beaten them until we did. We put this approach to go up there and set our alarms. That’s when I started the 6 a.m. workouts because it was a noon game.
Same scenario – Rutgers has not lost to many at home. This is going to be a tough opponent.
We had a three-point loss at Cincinnati, and we didn’t do well toward the end at Auburn. Those were tough losses against two very good teams.
The one game that sticks in my mind, and the one game that I won’t be able to forget for a very long time, are quarters two, three and four at USF. If we do that Saturday, we’re dead.
I’m just going to tell the team the truth – it’s round seven of the BIG EAST battles. The signs are up already and it’s on their practice schedules. I’m telling them to just finish the fight. It’s a seven-round fight in BIG EAST football. I want to be 5-2 and be second in the league. We have won the BIG EAST title before at 5-2, so this is big.
(on Rutgers’ current play)
Good football teams always get better in November; that’s what I always stress to our team. What Rutgers did to USF and Louisville can happen to us. They dismantled two teams. One we got shellacked by, and the other we barely beat at home.
Rutgers is better and on a roll, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they are gunning for the Mountaineers. This is going to be a gut-check.
I think their quarterback (Tom Savage) and their running back (Joe Martinek) are hitting on all cylinders. I think their defense is doing well too. When I watched that USF video and saw them do to (USF quarterback) B.J. Daniels what no one else has been able to do, I thought ‘Wow! These gentlemen know how to play.’ When they crank it up, they are really good.
That’s what is so exciting about the BIG EAST. We just keep beating each other up. They are a much-improved, much-better football team than they were at the first of the year. Their quarterback is a young lad, but he is keeping them in each and every game.
(on Rutgers’ Wildcat package)
(Mohamed Sanu) is a big boy. Here’s the deal – I watched Notre Dame run the Wildcat for a little last night, and I thought we better be ready for that. That’s what the Wildcat can do. If you load up the box against the Wildcat, you are going to be in trouble because you might see the reverse pass.
The Wildcat is a very simple formation that puts the ball in an athlete’s hands. That’s what it is meant for. Everybody zone blocks and lets the guy out-sweep them or cut up.
(Sanu) is a big man. He’s fast and tough. He’s an H-back kind of guy. He isn’t a tight end, but he’s not a flanker. He reminds me of Pitt’s No. 2 (Dorin Dickerson). He is that kind of athlete and much like our Will Johnson.
(on next week’s Pitt-Cincinnati game)
I’m going to leave it up to you guys – if I say something in one direction, there will be people wanting my scalp.
I see two really good teams. One is a little bit more talented than the other, and one is a bit more physical than the other. I will let you decipher what that means. That is going to be a good football game.
I think the West Virginia-Cincinnati and West Virginia-Pitt games were exciting for the league and for America. They showcased BIG EAST football. I think for someone that wants to watch good football this week, get on ESPN and watch West Virginia-Rutgers and Pitt-Cincinnati. You will see some good football.
I think it (Pitt-Cincinnati) is going to be a great game. When you have (Cincinnati quarterback)Tony Pike hitting on all of those cylinders that he is hitting on, they are really good.
Then, you look at Pitt, running the football and playing defense – it’s going to be a heck of a football game.
(on bowl scenarios and keeping the team’s attention on Rutgers)
I’m going to tell the team it’s round seven of the BIG EAST. I can’t stop what people put out there. As soon as we got off the field on Friday night, I started hearing things about the Gator Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
It’s the same thing I said last season – let us get through game 12 before we worry about game 13. It would be so much easier on keeping these young men focused. I’m going to have to rely on our seniors to keep this bunch focused. We are playing Rutgers before we play in any bowl.
