"If this law works, I'm in favor of it. If it doesn't, I'm against it!"
"Generally speaking, politicians are average people, untrained for the job they are doing."
"This is a critical election. The choices couldn't be clearer."
1. Speed and hard tackling wins. Period.
2. The Big East (may it rest in peace) is a much better conference that folks think.
3. Players who get in the game because of injuries are often better than the "starters" they replace. Remember Steve Slaton and Pat White coming into the Maryland game?
4. Team chemistry is more important than newspaper stories in terms of what's really going on.
5. WVU could well win a national championship in the next three years.
Look for Joe Manchin to be among the rising stars for this moderate group.
No need to even watch the game now!
West Virginia will end up ranked 19 or 20.
So, what does all this poor performance mean? Not much. After all this is sports not math class. Good teams lose, bad teams win and no one can predict the outcome of any game with certainty. The players are doing their best, and the coaches are doing their best. The talent level on the player side and the motivation on the coaching side just isn't there right now. But, hey, the cardiac kids won again!
Go eers.
Suppose you work up tomorrow and all of your credit cards were cancelled. No Visa, no Exxon card, no Macy's card. Furthermore, you receive notice that your home equity line is also cancelled. Now the problem becomes that you want to go shopping, travel and buy things but all you have to spend is the $75 cash in your wallet and the $500 you have in your checking account. Your next pay day is two weeks off. You have bills coming due which you probably won't be able to pay.
The same thing happens to a bank or a firm such as Lehman Brothers when its credit "dries up." Just like for an individual, if no one will loan to you, your ability to sustain yourself economically vanishes.
What I mean by catching lightning in a bottle is winning out our two remaining games, getting the needed tie breaker losses from other teams, play an SEC opponent in the Orange Bowl and win big. Now that would be so nice and would put WVU back on the list of legit big time football programs in the country.
The key is no mistakes (fumbles, shanked kicks, blown coverages, missed tackles, dumb penalties) and big plays at the right time. What Coach H needs to do is tweak his game plan to include more blitzes and always roll Geno out of the pocket.
Will this happen? Absolutely.
First of all, the offense is very good. In every game the offense has put enough points on the board to win. The problem is the defense and the special teams.
What to do about the defense? Blitz, blitz and blitz again. The defense just doesn't have the talent to play traditional smash mouth defense. The blitz is the way to go for two reasons. First, if it works, it hypes up the emotion beyond belief which is part of what is needed. Secondly, if it doesn't then at least the offense is back on the field with an opportunity to score. High risk? Yes. But what have we got to lose?
Now the kicking game and special teams. To find a kicker go talk to the soccer coach. You need a leg. Go get one. Special teams? Play your best players from offense and defense. To heck with worrying about injuries. What have you got to lose.
Lastly, Dana H. be more of a leader and less of a "hey, we got beat" low key interview. You need to repeatedly point out what we do well (score quickly with awesome pass and catch and decent running) and tell folks you are going to fix the defense and special teams and tell them how. Forget about this "we need more effort" stuff.
If you don't do this it looks like the Papajohn's Bowl. Oh my.
I still don't think we will ever play a game in the Big 12. Personally, I think joining the ACC would be the best fit.
Incidently, Holgorsen was not outcoached at Syracuse. The players were out of sync. A good coach takes the blame which is what Dana did at least partially.
Good things await the 'eers.
