Practice Facility Update
May 13, 2010 03:29 PM | General
(3:31 p.m.)
With the recent passing of former WVU offensive coordinator Mike Jacobs, I got to thinking about the best offenses in school history. Specifically, which one was the best?
Jacobs ran coach Don Nehlen’s offense from 1987-95, helping produce a pair of undefeated regular seasons in 1988 and 1993. West Virginia’s 1988 offense finished second in the country in scoring (42.9 ppg.), fifth in total offense (482.7 yards per game) and sixth in rushing offense (293.5 yards per game).
In 1993, the Mountaineers were ninth in rushing (244 yards per game), 10th in scoring (36.5 ppg.) and 13th in total offense (463.9 yards per game).
Here were some of West Virginia’s other powerhouse offenses:
2007 – 456.2 yards per game
2006 – 461.4 yards per game
2004 – 418.9 yards per game
2002 – 418.5 yards per game
1972 – 411.9 yards per game
1970 – 425.2 yards per game
1955 – 384.5 yards per game
1953 – 377.6 yards per game
Four of Rich Rodriguez’s seven years at WVU featured offenses that averaged more than 400 yards per game. The best of the seven was probably the 2006 unit that finished fifth in the country in total offense (461.4 yards per game), third in scoring offense (38.9 points per game) and second in rushing offense (303 yards per game).
Bobby Bowden enjoyed offensive juggernauts during his early years at WVU when he had the quarterback play to support his high-tech passing attack. With Mike Sherwood under center in 1970 the Mountaineers averaged 425.2 yards per game to rank eighth in the country. And two years later in 1972 with Bernie Galiffa at quarterback, West Virginia finished eighth in total offense (411.9 yards per game), fourth in scoring offense (36.5 points per game) and sixth in passing offense (227.8 yards per game).
Three times from 1952-55 under Art Lewis, West Virginia finished among the nation’s top 10 offenses, including ranking second in the country in total offense in 1955 with an average of 384.5 yards per game. That season the Mountaineers also finished sixth in rushing yards per game (263.9).
But in all three cases those offenses were predominantly one-dimensional – Rodriguez’s and Lewis’ offenses more heavily skewed toward the run while Bowden’s offense slanted toward the pass. Shut down one facet of WVU’s attack such as Georgia Tech did against the Mountaineers in the 1954 Sugar Bowl, or Penn State did all those years against Bowden’s teams, or Pitt and South Florida did against WVU in 2007, and you could stop West Virginia.
Not so in 1988. What made that offense so unstoppable was the incredible balance that team had. Focus on quarterback Major Harris and watch A.B. Brown and Undra Johnson run up and down the field on you.
Take away Harris, the running backs and the option game and watch Reggie Rembert, Calvin Phillips and Grantis Bell beat you over top. The only way to slow down West Virginia in 1988 was to knock Harris out of the game, which is in essence what Notre Dame did in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national championship.
Defensive coordinator Steve Dunlap played for Bowden, worked alongside Jacobs and defended Rodriguez’s West Virginia teams, and he marvels at what Jacobs was able to accomplish in ’88.
“We had so many weapons that year,” Dunlap recalled recently. “We had a fullback (Craig Taylor) who could run with it, we had tailbacks, we had a tight end (Keith Winn) that could catch, we had two good receivers and then we had Major Harris. It was never just a one-man show, even though Major was such a great player. We were just totally balanced that year and it was impossible to defend us.”
It’s pretty hard to argue with that.
This and That ...
WVU Sports Communications photo
West Virginia went 8-5 in 13 regular season games against Duquesne at the Civic Arena in the mid-1980s before the Dukes opened the A.J. Palumbo Center, and was 1-0 against Pitt (the two teams played an ESPN game at the Civic Arena in 1998).
The Mountaineers were 5-5 in Eastern Eight tournament games at the facility, including a pair of unlikely runs to the tournament finals in 1978 and 1980. Both times West Virginia was eliminated in the tournament championship game by Rollie Massamino’s Villanova Wildcats.
However, my favorite Civic Arena story took place away from the floor back in the press room when Mickey Furfari and Jack Fleming once got into a heated argument over something Furfari had written about Fleming in a sports column.
Fleming told Furfari that all he wrote in his column was a gossip, to which Mickey replied, “If that’s the case, Jack, then you would be my No. 1 subject!”
For years afterward, the two Morgantown High classmates would get many laughs recalling that story.
The Mountaineers have the most returning offensive/defensive starters of any team in the Big East (18), and the most since WVU returned 19 starters to begin the 2007 campaign. But West Virginia will be breaking in a brand new quarterback, likely sophomore Geno Smith, and that apparently is raising some questions.
Since 2005, West Virginia has been preseason ranked three times – 2008 (8th), 2007 (3rd) and 2006 (6th) – all years when quarterback Pat White was a returning starter.
In 2005 when the Mountaineers had 15 returning starters, the Mountaineers went from preseason unranked to fifth in the country by the end of the season.
CBS’s Dennis Dodd has West Virginia in his post-spring Top 25 at No. 23 and Lindy’s Magazine has the Mountaineers 19th, but it looks like others are taking a wait-and-see approach with Mr. Smith and the Mountaineers this fall.
Here is West Virginia’s offensive/defensive returning starters since 2005:
2010: 18
2009: 16
2008: 14
2007: 19
2006: 15
2005: 15
Also, here is a list of the Big East offensive/defensive starters returning for 2010:
Cincinnati: 14
Connecticut: 16
Louisville: 15
Pitt: 11
Rutgers: 12
South Florida: 13
Syracuse: 10
West Virginia: 18
 |
||
| Geno Smith |
Jarrett Brown vs. Rutgers (2006) Victory
14-29, 244 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 17 rushes for 73 yards and 1 TD, 317 total yards
Pat White vs. Connecticut (2005) Victory
7-16, 106 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 12 rushes for 70 yards and 2 TDs, 276 total yards
Rasheed Marshall vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga (2002) Victory
14-22, 163 yards, 3 TD, 12 rushes for 42 yards, 205 total yards
Brad Lewis vs. Navy (1999) Loss
17-31, 177 yards, 2 TDs, INT, 153 total yards
Marc Bulger vs. Marshall (1997) Victory
11-22, 114 yards, TD, 111 total yards
Keep in mind, all five saw previous action before making their first career starts.
Well, I did a Google search this morning of Delany’s name and 1.2 million results came up. Think about it, all the guy has really done is deny the Big Ten has identified schools for expansion and reiterated that the league will stick to its present expansion timetable.
Talk about generating publicity for your conference!
Here is how Delany stacks up to the rest of his BCS commissioner contemporaries on Google:
Jim Delany, Big Ten Conference: 1.2 million results
Larry Scott, Pac Ten Conference: 1 million results
Dan Beebe, Big 12 Conference: 412,000 results
John Swofford, Atlantic Coast Conference: 63,500 results
Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference: 47,500 results
John Marinatto, Big East Conference: 24,500 results
West Virginia still has a lot of work to do to qualify for the eight-team Big East tournament, likely needing to win five out of its six remaining conference games against Georgetown and Villanova to get into contention for a berth.
Four teams – Connecticut, Louisville, Pitt and St. John’s – have already locked up spots in the tournament. South Florida is almost in with 13 conference victories, while Rutgers and Cincinnati are still in good shape with 11 and nine wins respectively.
The final tournament spot is likely down to a four-way fight between Notre Dame (eight wins), Villanova (seven wins), West Virginia and Seton Hall (six wins).
Here is this weekend’s Big East schedule:
Connecticut at South Florida
Notre Dame at Villanova
Rutgers at Seton Hall
St. John’s at Louisville
Pitt at Cincinnati
West Virginia at Georgetown
Speaking of attendance, West Virginia experienced the fifth-largest increase in average men’s basketball attendance in 2010, going from an average of 10,552 fans per game in 2009 to 12,375 per game this season.
Also, West Virginia ranked 27th in average attendance for its 15 home dates at the WVU Coliseum and was 10th in overall attendance for home, road and neutral games drawing 531,732 total spectators. The rest of the Top 10 consisted of Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, North Carolina, Michigan State, Tennessee, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State.
Have a great weekend!
