No absurdly long wait this week.
This stats wrap comes barely 24 hours after Maryland's 31-17 loss at West Virginia wrapped up.
Read on ...
TOUCHES (RUNS + CATCHES)
| Player | WVU |
Season |
| Da'Rel Scott |
7 | 28 |
| Davin Meggett |
9 |
25 |
| D.J. Adams |
DNP |
12 |
| Torrey Smith |
3 |
7 |
| Adrian Cannon |
3 |
5 |
| Ronnie Tyler |
1 |
4 |
| Mike Salvatico |
DNP |
3 |
| Matt Furstenburg |
--- |
3 |
| Gary Douglas |
DNP |
2 |
| Kerry Boykins |
1 |
1 |
| LaQuan Williams |
1 |
1 |
| Quintin McCree |
1 |
2 |
Cross-checking yesterday's picks against the ensuing reality ...
1. Noel Devine will break one.
CORRECT. The prediction was Devine would have a run of 40 or more yards and he did on the game's fourth play. But otherwise, he had 26 carries for 81 yards, which was a more than respectable showing for Maryland's defensive front.
2. There will be a special teams touchdown.
INCORRECT. But West Virginia's Jock Sanders nearly made it an accurate projection when he brought a punt back to the Maryland 8 early in the third quarter.
3. Maryland will not have a 100-yard rusher.
CORRECT. Maryland didn't run for 100 yards. Heck, it didn't run for positive yardage (-10 for the day).
4. We'll know a lot more about Maryland's cornerbacks at day's end.
CORRECT. We do, and it's not all good. Geno Smith carved up the Terrapins in the first half, and while some of that came as a result of short passes that turned into long gains, some of it showed disorganization among the defensive backs. There's a lot of improvement to be made, but it is still early in the season.
5. West Virginia wins --- but not by much.
SEMI-CORRECT. This is worth a half-point, because Maryland did make it a 28-17 game (and nearly got it to 28-21 late in the third quarter when Torrey Smith dropped a likely touchdown pass). Of course, the Terps also fell behind 28-0, so it's not like it was a tight game all day. But the Mountaineers did win, and the final margin wasn't a blowout. That warrants a little credit.
West Virginia: 3.5-for-5
Season: 8.5-for-15
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. --- So, how bad have things gone for Maryland.
Well, Tavon Austin had six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Noel Devine ripped off a 50-yard run early in the first quarter.
Geno Smith completed his first 10 passes, with three touchdowns slipped in, and has 226 yards passing at the break
West Virginia was 7-for-9 on third down.
Oh, and Danny O'Brien about got decapitated on his only play of the game.
Maryland has 63 yards total offense, including just two yards on nine carries. Jamarr Robinson is 8-for-13 for 61 yards, but also presided over three delay of game calls on the first drive.
In short, virtually nothing is going right for Maryland, which is fortunate to trail 21-0.
Which makes this weekly feature sort of silly.
Nonetheless ...
THREE STARS AT THE BREAK
1. Travis Baltz. The senior has five punts for a 43.8-yard average, and has put three of his attempts inside the 20. West Virginia has only three punt return yards. As the season nears the quarter-pole, he's probably the team MVP
2. Darin Drakeford. The sophomore blew up Smith and forced a fumble in Maryland territory, thereby accounting for the one play from the half that could turn up in a Maryland highlight film later in the season.
3. Alex Wujciak. The linebacker has 10 tackles and forced a fumble, but his moments in space with the likes of Austin have not gone particularly well. Nonetheless, he is around the ball, as usual.
With two hours until kickoff, here's five game day predictions to take you up until things get started ...
1. Noel Devine will break one. Even on its best days, Maryland's defense is going to gamble and lose once or twice against a talented offense. West Virginia possesses one of those. Devine will have at least one 40-yard run today.
2. There will be a special teams touchdown. Let's try this one again. Torrey Smith, Tony Logan, Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin are all set to return kicks or punts. Someone is going to reach the end zone, or come really close.
3. Maryland will not have a 100-yard rusher. Davin Meggett got to 100 yards against Navy. He probably would have surpassed that total if he played in the second half against Morgan State. But Maryland will struggle to establish its rushing game anywhere nearly as well as it did in the first two games.
4. We'll know a lot more about Maryland's cornerbacks at day's end. With Austin and Sanders on the edge, there will be plenty of tests for Cameron Chism, Trenton Hughes and Dexter McDougle --- far more than the first two weeks. If they struggle, the Maryland defense will struggle. If they fare well, the Terps could be well-positioned to pull off an upset.
5. West Virginia wins --- but not by much. The Terps are still an unknown quantity despite their 2-0 record, while West Virginia has some questions after last week's Houdini act at Marshall. The Mountaineers probably have a bit of a talent advantage, but here's guessing Jamarr Robinson has a bit of a bounceback and keeps Maryland in it for much of the day. West Virginia will pull out a victory, but the Terps will acquit themselves well.
A great item from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Colin Dunlap today on a, shall we say, eternal West Virginia supporter.
So much so, in fact, her viewing is being held at 4 p.m. on Saturday to avoid a conflict with the Mountaineers' noon kickoff against Maryland on Saturday.
Here's a sincere hope that the Mountaineers and Terrapins don't wind up playing a four-overtime marathon.
There were endless rivalry-related questions for Ralph Friedgen heading into Maryland's game at No. 21 West Virginia, which is sort of funny since 14 of the last 15 games between the teams were decided by at least 10 points.
The lone exception? The 2004 game, a 19-16 overtime victory for the Mountaineers.
Regardless of victory margin, Friedgen said (as he often does) that he supports the continuation of the series. The schools announced yesterday they will meet every year through 2017, a four-year extension on the current deal.
"I did advocate for it," Friedgen said. "I think it's a game that's good for both states. I think there's a lot of interest in it. I think our fans like it. It's always going to bring a great crowd. They come down and support their team very well."
Friedgen won his first four games against West Virginia, including the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day 2004. The Mountaineers have since won the last four meetings.
The series took a two-year hiatus in 2008 and 2009, interrupting what was a continuous series since 1980. Friedgen anticipates fan excitement on both sides will be significant --- though he'd like a better outcome than what he's recently experienced.
"I know the year we played in the Gator Bowl, there was some concern from the Gator Bowl people about playing twice in one year because they were worried about whether people would come see the game again," Friedgen said. "I told them we could probably this game about four times a week and you'd sell it out. I think it's good. I think it's a good game and the last couple years, they've gotten the best of us. We had the best of them early [in my tenure]. It's an ebb-and-flow thing and I'm hoping we can get back in the win column. It's going to be very difficult against a very good team."
If there was one odd part of the extension of the Maryland-West Virginia football series, it was seeing Maryland get consecutive home games in 2013 (part of an old deal) and 2014 and before back-to-back games in Morgantown in 2015 and 2016.
Turns out there's a logical reason for that: West Virginia requested it be set up that way.
"They needed it for scheduling flexibility," Maryland interim athletic director and chief financial officer Randy Eaton said. "They're like me. They're trying to get X number of home games every year. In the grand scheme, it still evens out. It's just they wanted to go at home two years in a row. We agreed because that helps me out as well."
Obviously, these deals don't happen overnight, so it isn't surprising West Virginia approached Maryland about extending the deal even before former athletic director Debbie Yow left for N.C. State earlier this year.
It is, after all, a series coaches and fans on both sides want to see continue. Fortunately for both the Terrapins and the Mountaineers, that's certain of happening for at least seven more years after this Saturday's meeting.
Maryland and West Virginia have tacked four games into their football series, Maryland announced today.
The series now runs uninterrupted through 2017.
West Virginia leads the series 23-21-2 and has won four straight meetings. The schools meet Saturday in Morgantown after a two-year hiatus in the series.
Before Maryland took two years off for a home-and-home with California, the teams had met every year since 1980.
Maryland now has home games against the Mountaineers scheduled for 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017. West Virginia will be at home in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016.
This is a huge plus for both schools. West Virginia, for now stuck with filling out a five-game nonconference schedule, gets a locked-in date against a major-conference opponent that is nearby.
Meanwhile, Maryland gets to re-establish its best (or, at the least, most consistent) nonconference rivalry deep into the decade.
It's a win-win, and a good thing for fans both schools had the foresight to lock up a deal so soon.
For those who didn't check out yesterday's discussion on the half-dozen quarterbacks who could win the Heisman, go back and read this.
Here's the cliff notes: Just one of the last 19 Heisman Trophy winners has come from a team that was ranked outside the top 10 in the AP poll at the end of the regular season.
So team success --- and the mere possibility of team success --- is just as important as skills and stats in trying to figure out who might come home with the Heisman in December.
As a result, the list of quarterbacks and today's list of running backs is not meant to be an outright ranking of abilities. Rather, it's simply a guess at the chances of (a) Guys to enjoy strong years; (b) Players to have those strong years for teams at least contending for a spot in a BCS game; and (c) The chances each player will get a hefty share of the credit for that success.
Onward:
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama. He's the incumbent winner, he's playing for a team many believe should be ranked No. 1 and he has more name recognition than anyone. If he comes close to matching his 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns from a year ago, Ingram will surely be in the Heisman discussion. He already has the best head start of anyone.
2. Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech. Sure, Darren Evans could pilfer carries and eat into Williams' numbers. But Trent Richardson rolled up more than 700 yards last year and it didn't hurt Ingram. More likely than anything, Williams' candidacy depends on following one of the oldest rules in the book: "Don't flop, individually or as a team, in a high-profile opener." The Hokies will run. And run. And run. Williams had 1,655 yards and 21 touchdowns as a freshman, and he'll be a household name if Virginia Tech beats Boise State and can remain in the top five much of the season.
3. Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State. Rodgers' chances could crumble based on team success alone; the Beavers, never known for being a great team in September, play Texas Christian and Boise State in the first three games. If anyone can overcome a stumble or two, though, it's the electrifying Rodgers, who will make the sort of runs folks will remember even if Oregon State doesn't play particularly well around him at times.
4. Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh. The diminutive sophomore scampered for nearly 1,800 yards and collected 17 touchdowns a year ago, and the Panthers should contend for a Big East crown. The nonconference schedule is dicey (at Utah, Miami, at Notre Dame) and could derail Lewis' chances regardless of how good he is. But if the Panthers stay relevant and Dave Wannstedt makes sure Lewis keeps getting the ball, then the Panthers will have a legitimate Heisman possibility on their hands. Would he be the best in the Big East? That depends on the output of ...
5. Noel Devine, West Virginia. From a Thursday night game, three Friday night contests and a trip to Louisiana State, Devine will enjoy plenty of significant platforms to show off his speed. He had 1,465 yards and 13 touchdowns a season ago, and with West Virginia breaking in a new quarterback (again), he'll be the center of the Mountaineers' offense. The non-LSU part of the nonconference schedule (Coastal Carolina, at Marshall, Maryland, UNLV) is friendly enough to give Devine a decent chance to get off to a good start.
6. LaMichael James, Oregon. As good as the running backs have been in Eugene since Chip Kelly installed his offense upon arrival in 2007, the quarterbacks (Dennis Dixon and Jeremiah Masoli) are the maestros who have made it work. James is exceptional --- he ran for 1,546 yards after stepping in for gridiron pugilist LeGarrette Blount early last season --- but it'll be curious to see how much credit he earns nationally for whatever success the Ducks can piece together.
Six more also considered: John Clay, Wisconsin; Montel Harris, Boston College; DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma; Bernard Pierce, Temple; Evan Royster, Penn State; Jordan Todman, Connecticut.
Five more teams as the top of the list inches ever closer ...
No. 25 NOTRE DAME
Go ahead and underestimate Brian Kelly. Dare you.
For once, Notre Dame didn't simply elevate an assistant with no head coaching experience (Bob Davie) or pluck a fairly successful coach from an academically-oriented school (Tyrone Willingham) or just hand the keys to a storied program to a blustery NFL coordinator with virtually no background in the college game (Charlie Weis).
No, this time, the Irish went with a long-time coach at three schools who simply won. A lot. He went 34-6 in three years at Cincinnati, a run that's going to look downright impossible another 20 years down the road.
Unlike Willingham (who won six of his first eight games by 10 points or less) or Weis (who beat three ranked teams in his first five games on the job and then knocked off one more in another four-plus seasons), Kelly actually should get credit if Notre Dame surges this year. After a 6-9 record in one-possession games the last two seasons (some "decided schematic advantage," huh?), no one will complain if luck favors the Irish.
Kelly is fortunate to have a schedule designed for a bounceback season. The Irish play three true road games (Michigan State, Boston College and Southern California), and Western Michigan, Tulsa and Utah all pay a visit to South Bend in what might be Notre Dame's least glitzy home schedule in quite some time.
Kelly's a confident guy, willing to speak his mind --- but in a less abrasive way than Weis. That will help erase some lingering frustration from the last few seasons. But more than anything else, winning will do that. Kelly has exactly one losing season in 20 years as a head coach, and it's not likely for that total to double this autumn --- or in any year in the near future.
No. 24 WEST VIRGINIA
The Mountaineers have rattled off eight straight winning seasons --- the first time the program has done so since a 12-year stretch from 1914 to 1926 (there was a season lost to World War I in there).
Throughout this stretch, there have been periods West Virginia has gone through as a program. There was the "Hey, Rich Rodriguez got the team fast in a hurry" phase. Then came perhaps a hint of impatience in 2004, followed by the three straight 11-win seasons.
Rodriguez, of course, bolted, and Bill Stewart managed a pair of 9-4 years. A third in a row could be in the cards.
The Mountaineers need to find a new quarterback (again), only this time they'll turn to a true sophomore rather than a fifth-year senior (Jarrett Brown). That's going to cause some early issues, and while the defense should be better this fall, Mountaineers fan could easily feel like their team is plateauing a rung below where it was only a couple years ago once this season is through.
No. 23 FLORIDA STATE
No, there wasn't some plan to trot out Florida State the same day Christian Ponder's new website was unveiled. Besides, Ponder --- as good as he is --- is going to account for only so much improvement on his own.
The issue in Tallahassee for the foreseeable future is defense. It was, to put things diplomatically, below average a season ago.
The most telling number: The Seminoles gave up 40 points three times in four weeks during one midseason stretch. Florida State had 40 hung on them three times total during one 16-year stretch (1987-2002).
An up-close look at the Seminoles in November revealed a startlingly shoddy defense. It was sort of like watching North Carolina's basketball team in 2002; sure, the trappings were basically the same, but the talent just wasn't there.
There's a new defensive coordinator (Mark Stoops) and plenty of new starters, which in this situation isn't all bad. If the Seminoles can just achieve adequacy on defense, Ponder and a veteran offensive line will take care of securing the program's first Atlantic Division title since 2005.
No. 22 PENN STATE
If there is a team whose expectations should be reined in simply because of its schedule, it is Penn State.
The Nittany Lions must visit Alabama, Iowa and Ohio State, all while breaking in a new quarterback and working with a revamped front seven on defense.
The schedule does bring a nice treat --- a "road" game against Indiana in Landover, Md. But effectively playing five conference home games (who really thinks FedEx Field will be a pro-Indiana environment on Nov. 20?) only does so much to make up for the brutal road the Nits will face.
The last five years were incredibly impressive in Happy Valley --- 51-13, with a couple BCS bowl appearances. Penn State probably won't make a trip to Pasadena on New Year's, but a 10-3 season isn't out of the question. That would include Joe Paterno's 400th career victory, a feat Nittany Lions fans can only hope comes during one of three midseason home games.
No. 21 PITTSBURGH
Tailback Dion Lewis is back for another romp through the history books. That's good.
Quarterback Bill Stull, who completed 65.1 percent of his passes last season and tossed 21 touchdowns against eight interceptions, is not back. That's not good.
Oh, and that guy on the sideline. He still scares the heck out of me. The Panthers have won their share of close games the last few years, but it's also worth pointing out the Panthers' last five losses have come by a combined 21 points.
Nonetheless, Pittsburgh has accrued plenty of talent in the last few seasons, and it's important to allot some of the credit for that to Dave Wannstedt. At this point, it's left the Panthers in as good a position as anyone in the Big East.
That's why, with a measure of reluctance, Pitt is the pick here to win the Big East. There's ample opportunities for a nonconference loss (Utah, Miami, Notre Dame) and it's difficult to imagine the Panthers hanging around the top 10. But it's a solid group, and a trip to the Orange Bowl is the next logical step for a program that's won 19 games the last two years.
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