Scouting the opponent: West Virginia
We’ll try to make this a regular Monday feature on the blog, a quick primer of the Flames’ opponent for the week so you can get a better idea of what to expect from the opposition.
WEST VIRGINIA
LOCATION: Morgantown, W. Va.
ENROLLMENT: 28,113
FOUNDED: 1867
NICKNAME: Mountaineers
COLORS: Blue and Gold
CONFERENCE: Big East
STADIUM: Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000; FieldTurf)
HEAD COACH: Bill Stewart (Fairmont State, ‘75)
RECORD: 10-4, one year at WVU; 18-29, four years overall
2008 RECORD: 9-4 (5-2 Big East/t2nd)
POSTSEASON: Beat North Carolina 31-30 in Meineke Car Care Bowl
OFFENSIVE FORMATION: Spread option
DEFENSIVE FORMATION: 3-3-5 Stack
LETTERMAN RETURNING/LOST: 34/25
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST: 18/13
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 7/8
2009 SCHEDULE
September
5 ..... LIBERTY…................Noon
12…..EAST CAROLINA…....TBA
19…..at Auburn…................7:45 p.m.
October
1…....COLORADO…............7:30 p.m.
10…..at Syracuse….............TBA
17…..MARSHALL….............3:30 p.m.
24…..CONNECTICUT…........TBA
30…..at South Florida…........TBA
November
7…....LOUISVILLE….............TBA
13…..at Cincinnati…..............TBA
27…..PITTSBURGH…............TBA
December
5…....at Rutgers….................TBA
2008 RESULTS
August
30…..VILLANOVA….............W, 48-21
September
6…....at East Carolina…........L, 24-3
18…..at Colorado…...............L, 17-14 (OT)
27…..MARSHALL…..............W, 27-3
October
4…....RUTGERS…................W, 24-17
11…..SYRACUSE…..............W, 17-6
23…..AUBURN…...................W, 34-17
November
1…....at Connecticut….............W, 35-13
8…....CINCINNATI…................L, 26-23 (OT)
22…..at Louisville…................W, 35-21
28…..at Pittsburgh…...............L, 19-15
December
6…....SOUTH FLORIDA…........W, 13-7
27…..vs. North Carolina-x…......W, 31-30
x-Meineke Car Care Bowl, Charlotte, N.C.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
RB NOEL DEVINE
Photo credit: Mary Schwalm/AP
Devine, a dynamic, speedy backfield threat, rushed for 1,289 yards and four touchdowns last season, and he caught 35 passes for 187 yards. With quarterback Pat White gone, Devine is the biggest playmaking threat on offense, and he can beat teams in a number of ways. Certainly, he’ll be looking to make a big statement in WVU’s opener.
LB REED WILLIAMS
Photo credit: Rich Schultz/AP
Liberty coach Danny Rocco on Williams: “He is blue-collar, hard-working, very aggressive and really loves to swarm to the football.“ That’s a pretty fair scouting report on the WVU linebacking corps in general. Reed is a 6-1, 228-pound inside linebacker, a homegrown talent from Moorefield, W. Va. All three starting linebackers return for a West Virginia team that was pretty good defensively. Only two teams scored more than 24 points on WVU—Cincinnati (26) and North Carolina (30). Williams played in two games last season, finishing with 17 tackles and two sacks, before taking a medical redshirt because his shoulder wasn’t fully recovered from offseason surgery.
WVU MEDIA COVERAGE
Worth the click: Good read on Liberty assistant Ernie McCook, who was at Shepherd in West Virginia before heading to Lynchburg.
Worth the click: Nice read on Liberty coach Danny Rocco, a Pittsburgh native.
Worth the click: A read on Liberty’s Asa Chapman.
Also, you can follow WVU coach Bill Stewart on Twitter. While you’re at it, you might as well follow this blog on Twitter as well.
Coverage plans for this week include:
* A print edition feature on Flames linebacker Ian Childress, which will run Thursday.
* Small stories every day in the print edition leading up to the game, plus updated blog posts with news and notes each day.
* A conversation with Mike Casazza, the WVU beat writer for the Charleston Daily Mail. I hope to make this a weekly feature so our readers can get insight from the opposing team’s beat writers, who are much more well versed in their teams than I am.
Posted by Chris Lang at 09:25 AM. Filed under: main •
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