Countdown to Kickoff
December 04, 2009 03:37 PM | General
December 4, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia faces Rutgers Saturday afternoon in a noon game at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN (Dave Pasch and Chris Spielman) and also streamed live on the Internet on ESPN360.com.
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| Robert Sands poses for the camera after Friday's walk through at Rutgers Stadium.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Mountaineers arrived in time for a Friday afternoon workout at Rutgers Stadium. Saturday’s game will be the 37th meeting between these two schools with West Virginia holding a 30-4-2 all-time advantage.
MSN (Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace, Jed Drenning and Hoppy Kercheval) radio coverage begins with The Mountaineers Today at 11 a.m. Satellite radio listeners can access the MSN broadcast on Sirius channel 91 and XM channel 103.
Here is Saturday’s Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Rutgers has only turned the football over TEN times in 11 games this year – seven interceptions and three fumbles. Rutgers is No. 1 in the country this week in turnover margin.
9 – The Mountaineers have NINE players that have started at least 20 career games: Selvish Capers (30), Scooter Berry (27), Chris Neild (25), Reed Williams (24), Alric Arnett (24), J.T. Thomas (24), Jock Sanders (22), Brandon Hogan (22) and Noel Devine (21).
8 – West Virginia has now won at least EIGHT games in a season 33 times, including 17 times since 1980.
7 –Rutgers’ kickoff return team is ranked SEVENTH in the Big East averaging 22.6 yards per return. Devin McCourty has returned one kickoff for a 98-yard touchdown to begin the Connecticut game. It was the Scarlet Knights’ first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2005.
6 – Running back Noel Devine had his SIXTH 100-yard rushing game of the year against Pitt last Friday. Devine has 14 career 100-yard games including a career-best 220 yards earlier this year against Colorado.
5 – West Virginia quarterbacks have had FIVE passing games of more than 200 yards this year. The last time the Mountaineers threw for more than 200 yards was at South Florida on Oct. 30.
4 – Twice this year kicker Tyler Bitancurt has kicked FOUR field goals in a game for the Mountaineers against Liberty in the season opener and again last Friday against Pitt. Bitancurt is 12 of 13 in field goal attempts this year with a long of 45 yards.
3 – Quarterback Jarrett Brown has just THREE touchdown passes of 46 yards or longer and none since the Colorado game.
2 – West Virginia has had TWICE as many rushing touchdowns as it has had passing touchdowns this year – 24 rushing TDs to 12 passing TDs.
1 – The Mountaineers have won only ONCE on the road this year at Syracuse. West Virginia’s losses were at Auburn, at South Florida and at Cincinnati.
Enjoy the game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete post-game coverage.
