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Campus Connection: 25 Seasons and Counting
September 04, 2015 09:20 PM | Football
It dawned on me the other day that this will be my 25th football season working at West Virginia University.
The first one seemed like it was just yesterday.
The year was 1991 and the opener that season featured an earlier-than-usual Backyard Brawl, played on Saturday, August 31, in Morgantown.
It was the prime time debut of Big East football (the junior varsity game took place earlier that day when Rutgers beat Boston College, 20-13, in Piscataway). Big East football was formed in 1989 in response to Penn State’s decision to join the Big Ten Conference, and the league began playing a limited schedule of games in 1991.
It wasn’t until 1993 when member schools were able to clear off their schedules to begin a full round-robin slate.
West Virginia’s first Big East game in 1991 was a disaster, Pitt running away with a 34-3 victory in front of more than 68,000 bewildered WVU fans at Mountaineer Field.
What I remember most about that game was West Virginia’s plan to spring a surprise on the Panthers by going to a no-huddle, shotgun attack that was going to showcase the running and passing of quarterback Darren Studstill.
Throughout preseason camp during the periods when the Mountaineers planned to work on the no-huddle, shotgun, members of the media were escorted out of the stadium to maintain secrecy (keep in mind, this was in the days before even cellular phones were popular!).
When the team was done with that portion of practice, media members were permitted to return to their seats in the stadium to continue watching practice.
I can’t recall if any of them actually did.
Well, West Virginia never got to unleash its lethal surprise against Pitt because Studstill suffered a sprained shoulder early in the game and the coaches went into survival mode when the uncooperative Panthers went on a 17-point, third-quarter scoring binge.
Grafton’s Alex Van Pelt, who led Pitt to a 31-31 tie in the 1989 game that everyone around here still considers a loss, was a Mountaineer nemesis once again that night by throwing a pair of touchdown passes in the blowout victory.
Three weeks later at Maryland, West Virginia bounced back with an impressive 37-7 triumph over the Terps that had everyone (media members included) thinking about bowl games once again – everyone, that is, except for West Virginia coach Don Nehlen.
WBOY sports reporter Dean Obenauer jumped the line to get out the first question to the coach after he was done talking to his team, "So coach, does this win mean your team is going to get back to a bowl game this year?" he asked. Keep in mind, the Maryland game was still nine days shy of October. By then, old Dean was getting quite a reputation for his Fox News-style questioning, once asking baseball commissioner Fay Vincent during a National League Playoff series game in Pittsburgh if he thought the performances that night would have a big impact on the MVP vote.
Vincent was able to flick that one away quickly, “Ahem, the voting for the MVP award is already completed,” he said.
But Nehlen wasn’t quite as diplomatic.
After hearing Dean’s question about returning to a bowl game, the coach immediately ended his postgame press conference without saying a single word about the Maryland game. A whole flock of reporters was none too pleased about having to send in their game stories without any quotes from the winning coach!
By the way, West Virginia’s postseason plans were taken care of the following week when the Mountaineers got a heavy dose of reality while playing in a heavy downpour against Virginia Tech in Morgantown.
If you recall, West Virginia was poised to score the go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute to play, WVU having the ball first and goal at the five. However, on fourth down, backup quarterback Chris Gray fumbled the football and the Hokies were able to pounce on it to preserve a hard-fought 20-14 victory.
There is one other game I recall in fairly clear detail that season.
It was a trip to Penn State to watch the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions put on a show in front of 96,000 wine-sipping, hors-d'oeuvre-champing yuppies, as Jack Fleming used to call Penn State’s Johnny-come-lately fans.
Twenty-five years later, I can still hear that Lion roaring.
It was played on the public address system that night every time Penn State scored a touchdown, which happened quite frequently in the second half when Nehlen took out most of his starters so he could have enough healthy players left to finish the season.
There was a lot of moaning and groaning on the long bus trip back to Morgantown after that one, that’s for sure.
West Virginia finished the season with a 6-5 record, but there were some pretty good players on that ‘91 team. There was center Mike Compton, a consensus All-American who won a couple of Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots.
There was running back Adrian Murrell, an outstanding college runner who later became a 1,000-yard rusher in the NFL. Jovon Durante is pretty fast, but he's not James Jett fast - the aptly named Jett the team's home run threat that season. Jett is the fastest player I've ever seen on a football field, and despite being a track guy, he went on to have a long and productive career in the pros, as did former University High walk-on Rich Braham.
Charleston offensive tackle John Ray is still the biggest football player I’ve ever laid eyes on. His listed height was 6-feet-10 inches (probably accurate) and his listed weight was 320 pounds (probably a little generous), and Big John was as likable as he was big. I always thought his pro career would have lasted much longer than the cup of coffee he had with the Indianapolis Colts.
That team also had a major league baseball player (Darrell Whitmore) and a pair of kickers who became two of the most successful specialists in the game.
Todd Sauerbrun came to WVU as a place kicker before developing into one of the most prolific punters in college football history, while punter Mike Vanderjagt turned into one of the most accurate place kickers in pro football history.
Naturally, in 1991, Vanderjagt was punting and Sauerbrun was serving as the Mountaineers’ backup field goal kicker.
And, a lot of the young players on that squad ended up forming the nucleus for West Virginia’s 1993 team that won an outright Big East title and played Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The trip to New Orleans for that game was certainly a memorable one - that is up until game time.
Indeed, the years have gone by quickly, but such is the case when you’re having so much fun.
I don’t think I’ve got 25 more of these in me, but I am certainly looking forward to Saturday’s season opener against Georgia Southern. It looks like Dana Holgorsen has assembled a pretty formidable football team, particularly on defense, and I’m anxious to see how all three phases perform.
This year’s home opener is also taking place at night, just like that first one for me 24 years ago, but under much different circumstances … I hope!
Enjoy your weekend!
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