Campus Connection: Weekend Notebook
September 12, 2014 08:53 AM | General
 |
| Luck |
Three years ago right around this time, West Virginia was playing in the Big East Conference while Maryland, of course, was a long-time member of the Atlantic Coast Conference – one of the founding members of the league, in fact.
Well today, the Mountaineers are in Year 3 in the Big 12 Conference and Maryland is beginning its first season in the Big Ten Conference. I have to admit when I was doing research on the Terps earlier this week the first place I went to on the ESPN.com college football page was to the ACC tab before realizing my error.
If you recall, it was also right around this time when West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck received the call that Pitt and Syracuse were leaving the Big East to join the ACC.
“We were maybe about Frederick when I got the phone call, so we were about an hour away from the stadium when I found out that Pitt and Syracuse were leaving the Big East,” Luck recalled the other day. “I’m thinking, what a day this is going to be.”
When Luck arrived at the stadium he went directly to Big East commissioner John Marinatto’s suite to get more details. Marinatto was dealing with that news when he also learned that Big East founder Dave Gavitt had died that morning.
The symbolism was truly eerie.
Luck was reminded of those events the other day while serving on a Knight Commission panel in Washington, D.C. with former Maryland standout basketball and ESPN commentator Len Elmore.
The group discussed a variety of topics concerning collegiate athletics, including finances and how college programs should look at ways to curb the cost of doing business.
Luck’s position was that college programs should take a closer look at potential revenue possibilities from sports that don’t typically generate a lot of money such as baseball, hockey and soccer.
“There is a niche there and we’ve got to figure it out and we may need help to figure it out,” said Luck.
Elmore told Luck that if Maryland was able to better monetize some of its most successful Olympic sports that may have been enough to keep them in the ACC.
Schools attempting to stabilize their financial situations have certainly changed the landscape of college sports over the last 36 months or so, that’s for sure.
“Three years ago, who would have ever thought Maryland would leave the ACC,” said Luck.
Not me.
***
Last week, the announcement was made that FOX will be televising in prime time next Saturday’s Oklahoma game at Milan Puskar Stadium. It will be the 24th network television appearance for the Mountaineers since they joined the Big 12 Conference.
|
It will also be West Virginia’s seventh appearance on FOX.
Here is the breakdown of network TV appearances for Mountaineer football since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012:
FOX - 7
Fox Sports 1 – 5
ABC – 3
FX – 3
ESPN – 2
ESPNU – 2
Fox Sports – 2
Interestingly enough, the two highest-rated games involving West Virginia were its road game at Texas Tech on ABC (3.96 rating) and the Mountaineers’ Pinstripe Bowl loss to Syracuse on ESPN (3.90 rating).
Compare that to 30 years ago when there were fewer channels and fewer games on TV. Those games were typically drawing 6s, 7s and 8s.
For instance, West Virginia’s 1983 game against Syracuse that aired on ABC regional received three times the number of viewers than a typical game gets today. Of course, West Virginia’s highest-rated game was the 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl game against Notre Dame when the NBC telecast drew a 17 rating.
There were two other times Mountaineer games earned at least a 10 rating – the 1982 Gator Bowl on ABC (13.3) and the 1981 regular season finale at Syracuse on ABC (13.3).
***
.jpg) |
| Gibson |
Jed Drenning had lots of good stuff on the defense’s first shutout since the 2010 season opener so I won’t go through all of that again, but what Tony Gibson's defense did last Saturday against Towson reminded of an important lesson I learned many years ago while covering college baseball.
West Virginia pitcher Jason Hively had just tossed the school’s first no-hitter in several years and afterward I was sitting up in baseball coach Dale Ramsburg’s office reviewing some of the great pitching performances that he had witnessed during his coaching career.
As I began going through the list of no-hitters, I purposely skipped over Joe Filandino’s five-inning no-hitter against Duquesne to ask the late coach about a no-hitter Jim Mavroleon had thrown against Virginia Tech in the early 1970s.
“What about Joe Filandino’s no-hitter against Duquesne? Aren’t you going to ask me about that?” he asked.
“It’s Duquesne, plus, it was only five innings,” I answered.
Ramsburg looked at me like I had three eyeballs and responded, “It doesn’t matter who you play or how long you play. A no-hitter is a no-hitter.”
Watching West Virginia’s performance against Towson last Saturday reminded me of Ramsburg’s words … it doesn’t matter who West Virginia was playing, a shutout is still a shutout.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen certainly took notice.
“It’s tough (getting shutouts in today’s game),” said Holgorsen. “It’s especially tough when you play all of your backups for as many snaps as we played all of our backups. The second team and third team guys got in there and still played hard.
“It’s tough, regardless of who the opponent is, and it’s especially tough when you play as many people as we did defensively. I’m glad it happened.”
***
The WVU Sport Management graduate program is working closely with the new minor league baseball franchise coming to Morgantown next summer to come up with a name for the team.
One suggestion that I heard that has a ring to it is the Monongalia Miners.
You can make your suggestion at the website http://morgantownprobaseball.com/nametheteam.html. The first 500 fans offering suggestions will receive a complimentary ticket to a game other than opening day or the final game of the season.
***
I am told D.J. Gregory, a staple on the PGA Tour, is a good friend of WVU golf coach Sean Covich and will be Sean’s guest for the Oklahoma game next weekend. Here is a cool Youtube video of D.J.’s interesting story that was featured on E:60
***
Through the first two games it is obvious that we are looking at a completely different football team than the one we watched last year from the personnel on the field to the way Dana Holgorsen is calling plays this year.
Holgorsen touched on that earlier this week.
“The way I called plays last year, the way we game planned last year … we’re not doing the same things,” he said. “We’re a different team and we’re able to do different things.”
A lot of that is a manifestation of having a coaching staff that has been intact for more than a year now and a more veteran football team.
“You can look at the tape over the last two weeks and see that it’s a little bit different than what it’s been in the past,” noted Holgorsen. “It comes down to obviously playing with great effort, being confident as coaches, being confident as players, playing with great effort, coaching with great effort and putting the product out there everybody is proud of.
“I have a ton of confidence in our guys right now and when you have a ton of confidence in your guys, you’re going to do things differently.”
Besides vastly improved play from his quarterback, another key area that Holgorsen mentioned was the play of his offensive line. It has simply been much better through the first two games than it was at any point last season.
“Up front we played well the last two games and that just needs to be the stand with how we play,” Holgorsen said.
***
 |
| Trickett |
I have a feeling Clint Trickett will play a big role in the outcome of Saturday’s game against Maryland. In last year’s game in Baltimore, West Virginia went with the inexperienced Ford Childress under center and Maryland defensive coordinator Brian Stewart was able to take advantage of it.
Childress threw a pair of interceptions, including a pick six, and finished the afternoon with just 62 yards passing - easily the worst passing effort involving any Dana Holgorsen-coached team.
Trickett is a student of the game and he will be prepared for whatever Stewart comes up with on Saturday.
“They still like to do a lot of things on defense to try and confuse you, a lot of pressures and blitzes, which is typical,” said Trickett. “A lot of teams do that. That is their mentality and philosophy. We have a lot of good things to go up against it. It’s not like it’s an unbeatable defense. There is good things we can do and they do a lot of things well, too.”
***
Former West Virginia and Maryland quarterback Scott McBrien will be one of the color analysts describing Saturday’s action for the Big Ten Network.
Of course, McBrien enjoyed considerable success against West Virginia, leading the Terps to three straight victories over his former team in 2002, 2003 and the 2004 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida.
In three career games against West Virginia McBrien completed 43-of-73 passes for 763 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for two additional scores.
Now I know why the late Bill Stewart was wearing such a big frown when McBrien informed him that he was transferring to Maryland during preseason camp back in 2002.
***
And finally, I keep hearing lots of positive things coming out of the Basketball Practice Facility so far this fall. I get the feeling the Mountaineers might be sneaky good this year.
Have a great weekend!
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Andrew Powdrell | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Pat Kirkland | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 15
Thursday, April 16
