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First of all, YEEEEEAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second, now what? Even after today, I still doubt Syracuse does much better than 7-5... Right now looks to me as if it will once again come down to WV and Pitt at the end of the season... but today opened things up for certain. Pittsburgh's win this week over Rutgers appears to be far more important than it looked heading into this weekend.

Brian Roastbeef wrote:First of all, YEEEEEAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second, now what? Even after today, I still doubt Syracuse does much better than 7-5... Right now looks to me as if it will once again come down to WV and Pitt at the end of the season... but today opened things up for certain. Pittsburgh's win this week over Rutgers appears to be far more important than it looked heading into this weekend.

Syracuse does have to win 7 in order to qualify for bowl eligibility, since they played Maine and Colgate and only one win counts towards the bowl games. I wonder if there is an exception this year, that if 6-6 teams that beat two FCS schools can qualify for a bowl game. The reason being there are so many bowl slots and probably won't wind up with enough teams this year under the current rules.

I think it is a 4 horse race between WVU, Pitt, Syracuse, and Cincy. And in that UofL and USF will make waves. UConn will finish in the bottom, that is all I know. WVU had there chance to all but make it there conference but played poorly. The offense has been off for 3 games. They do not run the ball in the middle at all. Since they changed the offense they always run in there a few times a drive. I know Devine is banged up but something else is going on, I don't know if there is a problem with the center, but I suspect something there. Geno appears to have started his Sophomore slump, and I am hoping his is short.

But the coaching really ate at me today. Not going on it 4th and 1 on their 42????? I think they have not made it on 4th and 1 or 2 only once in the last 10 games or so. Even 3 points there would have been big. And the players didn't like the call, and slumped off the field. Somethings are amiss in Morgantown right now. Butt I am really glad to see Syracuse improving notably, as well. And even Pitt may be finding their stride. I could have waited a season or 2 for Pitt to figure anything out!

It always seemed like West Virginia's offense tanked since Uncle Stew took over. I've just noticed, over the last three seasons, a lot of games where West Virginia only managed to score anywhere between the mid-teens and the low 20's. The defense probably has been more consistent, but offensively they lack a lot of juice it seems.

Eric wrote:It always seemed like West Virginia's offense tanked since Uncle Stew took over. I've just noticed, over the last three seasons, a lot of games where West Virginia only managed to score anywhere between the mid-teens and the low 20's. The defense probably has been more consistent, but offensively they lack a lot of juice it seems.

He admits he is conservative on offense. And I can live with that...if you play balanced and don't make many mistakes. I'll take a more conservative offense and score 27 or 31 and not hand the ball over. Going hog wild and scoring 42 ain't so great if you have 3 TO's. But I want to see the control part.

Some of the suffering were do to changing the offense. Right now I am seeing things they aren't doing that are in their play book, that is really frustrating to me.

WoVeU wrote:Some of the suffering were do to changing the offense. Right now I am seeing things they aren't doing that are in their play book, that is really frustrating to me.

Really evident in the 2nd half of that LSU game...

I just don't get it. But it looks like once they limit the scope...LSU, Marshall, the Cuse all took the same path...blitz, blitz, blitz! (Which that is my game anyway...I kind of hate it when it is used against my team!) But I have to be honest the Cuse did it the smartest, a real good mix in type and style...and most importantly when!

BTW, both offenses stunk it up most of the day.

Both offenses were indeed pretty crappy, though during the game I summed up Syracuse's end of that to the fact that they were playing over their heads to begin with.

As for the blitzes, it appeared as if you were finally starting to get them read, and started playing around it on that last chance drive... but as usual that sort of movement has a tendency to revert to the same old inside the 30 or so.

U of L has looked far better than I thought this year; and, considering the talent level they are mildly overachieving at mid-season. Injuries have not been a big problem and if they remain healthy through the second half of the season things are looking up.

Right now Cincy and Pitt control their fate, but the two have a combined .500 winning %.

Vileborg wrote:Right now Cincy and Pitt control their fate, but the two have a combined .500 winning %.

Rutgers and UConn will probably get picked on and finish in the conference cellar, but I think the winner of this thing could be 4-3. But I would guess that the champ finishes with a 5-2 conference mark. Even with that, the champ of the conference could be 8-4 and unranked by the time the BCS bowl game rolls around.

I watch West Virginia a bit and I and it is the offensive line and lack of a verticle game that is hurting them. Teams are pressing and sacking Geno. Everyone pushes up to cover shorter routes and the QB doesn't have much time to look for a longer route to open up.

WVU's offense, when it was great, was fueled by a spread with a running QB, a good RB, and a top notch FB with a much better O line blocking at the second level. Stew had imported the Wake Forest O coordinator and was trying to institute a more conventional passing game. West Virginia's offense is not as potent as it was with Steve Slaton and Pat White running the ball and Rick Trickett developing the O line.

Steed Lobotzke is still at Wake Forest as offensive coordinator. But speaking of Lobotzke, I think his offensive playcalling is the mark of a good coach! I think he single-handedly was responsible for their success in 2006.

WVU imported Jeff Mullen from Wake Forest..he is the Eers OC and QB assistant. At Wake he was the QB assistant.

billybud wrote:WVU imported Jeff Mullen from Wake Forest..he is the Eers OC and QB assistant. At Wake he was the QB assistant.

Oh, okay. I think West Virginia needs some new offensive blood in that system. You're dead-on about the lack of a vertical game. They run a lot of horizontal type plays and for some reason it's not clicking the way it was under Rodriguez. I don't think it's the skill set either because Rodriguez recruited the types of athletes to play like that.