OT: WVU

[ZooCougar]

Anyone else notice that they lost to Kansas? Wow.

 

[sportsart]

Anyone else notice that they lost to Kansas? Wow.

I more than noticed. My college football season is taking joy when WVU, SU, Pitt and RU lose. Fortunately it happened all on the same day this past weekend.

I actually am enjoying Duke's FB revival. I started taking notice last year and when they beat Miami, and who doesn't love when the U gets beat, I decided to root for them the rest of the way.

It gives me hope, in case we are in for a long depressing stretch, that someday we'll come up for air.

 

[John]

I more than noticed. My college football season is taking joy when WVU, SU, Pitt and RU lose. Fortunately it happened all on the same day this past weekend.

I actually am enjoying Duke's FB revival. I started taking notice last year and when they beat Miami, and who doesn't love when the U gets beat, I decided to root for them the rest of the way.

It gives me hope, in case we are in for a long depressing stretch, that someday we'll come up for air.

I don't visit on thier boards - do they miss the old Big East or are the fans happy in the Big 12?

 

[sportsart]

I don't visit on thier boards - do they miss the old Big East or are the fans happy in the Big 12?

I never ever visit any other teams boards. It's bad enough when they come visit here. But my guess is they'll say they would rather be where they are because...."the sun comes up tomorrow...."

 

[noeynox]

I noticed. They too won't go bowling. They're learning that life as a small fish in a big pond isn't as great as being the big fish in the big east. Their head coach has a huge buyout as well. May be a while for them to compete for conference championships

 

[BoatShow]

They are sliding hard and fast. Funny thing is if they stuck around they and the league may be better off. Their bank account is probably happy though.

 

[ZooCougar]

I noticed. They too won't go bowling. They're learning that life as a small fish in a big pond isn't as great as being the big fish in the big east. Their head coach has a huge buyout as well. May be a while for them to compete for conference championships

Given how far away they are from the rest of the conf, they are barely in the pond.

 

[2Infinity]

Anyone notice who is tied with WVU in the B12? It's our old... BE-Yes, BE-No... "friend" TCU, with an identical 2-6, 4-7 record. Hard to imagine that they were playing in the Rose Bowl in 2011. I guess swimming in a big pond isn't all that it's cracked up to be...the Mountaineers can barely swim and the Horned Frogs are acting more like the Horned Toads.

 

[noeynox]

Anyone notice who is tied with WVU in the B12? It's our old... BE-Yes, BE-No... "friend" TCU, with an identical 2-6, 4-7 record. Hard to imagine that they were playing in the Rose Bowl in 2011. I guess swimming in a big pond isn't all that it's cracked up to be...the Mountaineers can barely swim and the Horned Frogs are acting more like the Horned Toads.

I'd rather be sitting at 0-9, in that conference than...aw shat never mind. Were drowning in a fish bowl.

 

[huskymedic]

Dana Holgorsen: 'We shouldn't have to practice on our game field'
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...e-shouldnt-have-to-practice-on-our-game-field

 

[FDNY99]

Dana Holgorsen: 'We shouldn't have to practice on our game field'
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...e-shouldnt-have-to-practice-on-our-game-field

Medic this is one area we won't have to worry about for a long time. Out of all our former conference mates NONE of them come close facilities wise to what UCONN has.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

I noticed. They too won't go bowling. They're learning that life as a small fish in a big pond isn't as great as being the big fish in the big east. Their head coach has a huge buyout as well. May be a while for them to compete for conference championships

West Virginia for years was a good, solid, but unspectacular program (save for the Major Harris season). Once they were in the Big East - a particularly after Miami and VT left - they became a national force. They were the quintessential big fish in a somewhat smaller pond. They were fixtures at the major bowls, they had Heisman candidates, they had high rankings. And . . . . . they threw it all away chasing greener ($$$$) pastures and now . . . . . they are certainly an unspectacular program once again. Terrific job. Serves y'all right.

 

[B1GEast]

I don't visit on thier boards - do they miss the old Big East or are the fans happy in the Big 12?

their fans dont seem to be happy that they are on an island and have no regional rivalry, but they are happy to be in a better conference.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

TCU’s quick fall is somewhat surprising; but, some fall was inevitable as their rise was meteoric. Still, they are located in a prime TV and recruiting market for football, so they should be OK assuming that the XII does not implode leaving TCU on an island like UConn.
As for WVU, no surprise there as they are literally stuck on an island that is a so-so TV and recruiting market some 900 miles away from their nearest conference mate. The move to the XII may have let them survive for the short-term; but, it may kill them in the long-term. My one hope with WVU is that in desperation they challenge the XII GOR exploding it and thus sending conference realignment into chaos, which is what UConn needs right now.

 

[J187Money]

Once they lost to us, WVU has gone straight downhill...

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Ghost of Bill Stewart.

 

[ZooCougar]

their fans dont seem to be happy that they are on an island and have no regional rivalry, but they are happy to be in a better conference.

Give it another five years and they will be even more miserable. Best thing that could happen for them would be to have the Big 12 add a more eastern presence. But that would just hamstring the Big 12 programs that exist in Tornado country.

 

[bc puckett]

TCU’s quick fall is somewhat surprising; but, some fall was inevitable as their rise was meteoric. Still, they are located in a prime TV and recruiting market for football, so they should be OK assuming that the XII does not implode leaving TCU on an island like UConn.

TCU's fall can be directly related to not having a QB. Pachall got out of rehab and broke his arm in his second game back. He came back a couple of weeks ago but has been largely ineffective although not helped by a very underwhelming receiving corps. Trevone Boykin may be a tremendous athlete and possibly the best receiver on the team but is the worst QB in the country and turns the ball over like it's his job.

Also their offensive line is truly awful and they are last in the conference and #107 (before last week's game) in the country in rushing. Throw in the fact that DE Devonte Fields, their top DL and preseason all-conference pick has missed almost the entire season between suspension an injury and that they take the most undisciplined penalties of any team I can remember and it adds up to 4-8.

 

[upstater]

WVU feasted on what I call wacky bowl season.

They destroyed Oklahoma, Clemson and I forget who else (maybe Georgia).

And, I'd say they did it because the opposing team was largely disinterested. Teams go to Florida and New orleans and they hang out for a couple weeks and get bored. Then they play like dump. This is also what happened with Florida and Louisville last year.

UConn, unfortunately, took on a team that had lost its 4 previous bowl games, including losses to non-BCS conference opponents. Stoops was close to being tossed.

South Carolina was also a team totally disinterested in playing UConn in a bowl game several years ago. I know the score of that game did not at all reflect the total and absolute domination by UConn. It wasn't pretty. Score could have been 40-3.

 

[ZooCougar]

WVU feasted on what I call wacky bowl season.

They destroyed Oklahoma, Clemson and I forget who else (maybe Georgia).

And, I'd say they did it because the opposing team was largely disinterested. Teams go to Florida and New orleans and they hang out for a couple weeks and get bored. Then they play like dump. This is also what happened with Florida and Louisville last year.

UConn, unfortunately, took on a team that had lost its 4 previous bowl games, including losses to non-BCS conference opponents. Stoops was close to being tossed.

South Carolina was also a team totally disinterested in playing UConn in a bowl game several years ago. I know the score of that game did not at all reflect the total and absolute domination by UConn. It wasn't pretty. Score could have been 40-3.

Georgia caught caught totally by surprise, they couldn't do anything about Slaton and White. They fought back but WVU hung on.

 

[freescooter]

West Virginia was a pretty good program, I liken them to Virginia Tech in some ways. Occassionally they put together above average for them teams that could make some noise at the national level but generally speaking they were never quite at that level. On top of that they made a huge mistake in replacing Rich Rodriguez with Bill Stewart based on momentary good feeling,then replaced Stewart with a mediocre Dana Holgorson. Add the move to the Redefined Dozen, no nearby opponents every road game a major trek and what seemed like a brilliant move could well turn out to be a long term disaster.

 

[ZooCougar]

West Virginia was a pretty good program, I liken them to Virginia Tech in some ways. Occassionally they put together above average for them teams that could make some noise at the national level but generally speaking they were never quite at that level. On top of that they made a huge mistake in replacing Rich Rodriguez with Bill Stewart based on momentary good feeling,then replaced Stewart with a mediocre Dana Holgorson. Add the move to the Redefined Dozen, no nearby opponents every road game a major trek and what seemed like a brilliant move could well turn out to be a long term disaster.

They should have moved heaven and earth to keep RichRod. His style flat out kicked butt for them. Holgorsen is a good coach for what he does, but I am not sure that it is what WVU needs. Right now they look like a watered down Big 12 team with a defense that is bad even by Big 12 standards.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Medic this is one area we won't have to worry about for a long time. Out of all our former conference mates NONE of them come close facilities wise to what UCONN has.[/q

Medic this is one area we won't have to worry about for a long time. Out of all our former conference mates NONE of them come close facilities wise to what UCONN has.

I don't understand what Holgorsen means by this as WVU has a state of the art indoor facility.

 

[huskymedic]

LIUCHuskly - He wants outdoor artificial turf practice fields in addition to their grass practice fields.

 

[2Infinity]

TCU’s quick fall is somewhat surprising; but, some fall was inevitable as their rise was meteoric. Still, they are located in a prime TV and recruiting market for football, so they should be OK assuming that the XII does not implode leaving TCU on an island like UConn.

I think there was a certain attraction to TCU, almost rebel-like, when they were independent. With their success for quite a few years, all while playing in the shadow of the big boys, they became a strong attraction to many quality recruits. However, it appears that things may be changing. TCU now seems like any other B12 program. The rebel quality has disappeared as they've become conformists. It will be difficult for TCU to differentiate themselves going forward I believe.

Edit: Not independent (thanks Zoo Cougar), but rather seemingly always looking for something different. In fact, TCU was either a part of, or announced its intention to join, five different conferences from 1996-2013.