Countdown to Kickoff
September 10, 2010 01:27 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia takes on Marshall tonight in the Friends of Coal Bowl at Joan C. Edwards Stadium (38,019) in Huntington, W.Va., in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN (Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore).
Tonight’s game is the 10th meeting between these two schools and it is the fifth consecutive year West Virginia and Marshall have played since the resumption of the series.
MSN’s radio coverage (Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace, Jed Drenning and Hoppy Kercheval) begins with the pregame show at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia. The broadcast can also be heard nationally on Sirius channel 122 and XM 143 for the Best of Sirius subscribers. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Here is tonight’s Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Tonight’s game will be the TENTH meeting in a series that dates all the way back to 1911. The two schools have played regularly since 2006.
9 – West Virginia has had NINE 200-yard passing performances since Jeff Mullen took over the offensive play calling duties in 2008, including Geno Smith’s 216-yard passing performance during last weekend’s 31-0 win over Coastal Carolina. West Virginia has only had a total of 27 200-yard passing games since 2001.
8 – Running back Noel Devine has had EIGHT runs of 65 yards or longer, including seven covering seven yards or longer. Devine had a 39-yard run during last Saturday’s win over Coastal – the 12th time he has had a run of that distance or longer.
7 – SEVEN true freshman players saw action for West Virginia in last Saturday’s season opener against Coastal Carolina: Barry Brunetti, Ishmael Banks, Ivan McCartney, Travis Bell, Trey Johnson, Mike Dorsey and Doug Rigg.
6 – West Virginia had SIX red zone opportunities against Coastal Carolina last weekend and was successful on five of them. The only failed attempt was Tavon Austin’s second-quarter fumble that rolled out of the end zone.
5 – Marshall has FIVE members on its coaching staff with WVU ties, including head coach Doc Holliday, offensive coordinator Bill Legg and running backs coach JaJuan Seider.
4 – Third-year head coach Bill Stewart has FOUR road wins since taking over the Mountaineer program in 2008. Stewart is 0-3 in non-conference road games since 2008, losing at East Carolina, Colorado and Auburn.
3 – West Virginia had a 52.9 percent success rate on THIRD down against Coastal Carolina last Saturday. The Mountaineers were a perfect 4-for-4 on third down against the Chanticleers in the third quarter.
2 – West Virginia is averaging 6.9 yards per play on SECOND down so far this year.
1 – Entering tonight’s game, West Virginia has 30 players that have started at least ONE game for the Mountaineers during their careers. Senior defensive tackle Scooter Berry has the most career starts with 29.
Enjoy tonight’s game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete post-game coverage on MSNsportsNET.com.
