This was originally supposed to be a 2-paragraph comment in Pierson's "Slept On It" post, but it kind of took a life of its own. I think it puts in perspective how lucky we are to have Justin Fuente as our head coach and also exposes why WVU will never be anything more than an occasional thorn in the side of the better programs in the Big 12.
It never ceases to amaze me how WVU will find an excuse when they lose no matter what. After Will Grier was announced eligible, I figured there was no way they could make excuses if we won. Their inferiority complex just wouldn't let them lose gracefully, though (and just simply because they're Mountaineer fans and have been the armpit of college football fanbases for as long as anyone can recall).
Yesterday and today, WVU fans have picked apart each play of the game finding any examples of a missed holding call, missed PI, etc. against us and pointing it out as if the same missed calls didn't play in their favor as well. My favorite missed call on them was that Cam Phillips catch towards the end of the first half when #4 for WVU practically mugged him. For whatever reason, the penalty flag wasn't thrown for PI, but Cam made the catch anyway which made everyone forget about the missed call. I know for a fact that we didn't commit one penalty that went uncalled (and there were some) that were that obvious. When you have better players, holding to block and interfering to defend the pass becomes less necessary.
WVU's recruiting classes haven't exactly been anything to be proud of as a Mountaineer fan lately. They can't get highly touted high school football players outside of WV to come to Morgantown (shocker), so they settle for JUCO kids who are/were talented enough to be a D1 player but ended up at JUCO for whatever reason, whether it be injury, grades, discipline issues, and so on. Players who are injury-prone, can't get good grades, and/or can't stay out of trouble have less of a chance to work out out than a kid who goes straight to high school from D1, gets good grades, and stays out of trouble. You still have to hope that that player won't become injury-prone, but that's one thing to worry about contrary to many that you have to worry about with a lot of JUCO players. When you're recruiting classes consist of more JUCO players than the average power 5 program, you're likely to struggle to compete with top power 5 programs that bring in solid recruiting classes that consist of an average amount of JUCO players or less.
Additionally, they have a head coach who is an absolutely nutcase. For as great as Dana is offensively, his demeanor is nowhere near what a team wanting to compete for the CFP and NY6 trophies should be. When you are given the duty to lead nearly 100 college kids in a highly emotional setting, having complete meltdowns when something goes wrong isn't exactly asking for a lot of players to respond in a positive way. When we fell behind by 17 and 24 in the Notre Dame and Arkansas games respectively last season, Justin Fuente remained calm. The players followed his lead, did what they were coached to do, and we won both games. Earlier in the season when we got down to Tennessee, Syracuse, and Georgia Tech, Fuente's demeanor was the same as it was against Notre Dame and Arkansas; our players just decided that they were going to follow their head coach' said lead. Dana's players following his lead has lead to a total record of 36-29 since joining the Big 12 with 10 of those winnings coming in a season where the Big 12 was the weakest it has been in a very long time.
WVU got slaughtered by Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Miami last season and lost to us the first game of this season. The last time they even beat a top 25 team was 2014. Per usual, though, WVU fans are out of touch with reality. I saw a WVU fan account on Twitter who even thinks they still have a chance at the playoffs this year. I would go back and do the research, but I think I already know the answer to this question: has there ever been a team to make the CFP or finish top 4 in the final BCS standings who nearly went 3 full years without beating a ranked team? My guess would be no.
The refs did not lose that game for WVU. What lost the game for WVU was coaching and talent. When the game got highly emotional, Holgorsen lost his mind while Fuente remained calm (aside from the false start called on Wyatt Teller). When it came down to better players making better plays than the opposing team's players, our players made those plays (with the exception of Joey Slye who will likely never do anything like that again).
As with a lot of highly anticipated rivalry games, this game was close and even almost became an instant classic. What I saw, though, was two teams with vastly different futures. WVU will continue to struggle to recruit top high school talent, have a head coach that can't handle emotional moments in a way to helps his players, and beat top 25 teams. I don't think they will go down, but they won't go up either. We, on the other hand, are recruiting good high school talent, have a coach that knows how to lead his players at all times, and have beaten two ranked teams in four tries dating back to last season (both away from home). When 2021 rolls around and it's time to put the Black Diamond Trophy on the line again, I think we might see the effects of the different directions each program is traveling in right now.
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As an aside, it wasnt Fuente who got the unsportsmanlike penalty, it was our offensive line coach, standing up for his unit. Source - I was at the game and saw Vance Vince give the ref a piece of his mind, the same ref who threw the flag, and the head ref announced "assistant coach" for the penalty. CJF has only lost his cool once, the ND game, (ironically in a very similar situation)
To your full on post. I think it's human nature to try to excuse any failure, I dont blame WVU for that. We all have our fans that seem out of touch with reality. Here's the thing tho...Will Grier is legit, their defense wasnt horrible, and the Big 12 is weak, what if they run the table? what if they finish 12-1/11-2 with a Big 12 championship under their belt? It doesnt sound as far fetched as it seems.
This game was close. They were a slightly better pass away from sending the game to overtime. If we believe we're a darkhorse team for the playoffs, capable of beating Clemson in Lane, then it's not too far of a jump to think WVU has an outside shot too.
With that said, I dont think they will tho.
If they run the table and we go 6-6, there's no way they make the playoffs. That would never, ever happen. Like, ever.
Two reasons (among many) that won't happen.
They aren't going to run the table, and we aren't going to go 6-6.
a 12-1 team with it's lone loss in the first game of the year? I could buy them making the playoffs, at worst their in the first 2 or 3 teams out
Psssssssst.
The exact scenario he's describing happened the year that OSU won the title.
Is a joke.
Completely wrong. tOSU lost their 2nd game, not their first. His scenario is therefor, impossible.
/s
Ya know...it's so obvious that I'm mad at myself for missing it
Actually no. OSU opened with Navy that year.
But FWIW teams have won the championship after losing their first game. Miami did so in 1983.
Nevertheless, WVU isn't going to be a playoff team this year. Frankly, I think they'll lucky to go >.500 in Big 12 play. Grier has a good arm and made some very good passes, but overall his performance wasn't spectacular (although some of that was due to VT's D).
Was it just me, or did anyone else see Grier's accuracy go way down every time we got in his face? I understand why we didn't bring pressure (for fear of giving up big QB runs), but he had a lot of time.
Does anyone have a clip of what happened? I can't find it anywhere on youtube and couldn't see it from my seat.
Having watched a couple of WV games last year, I thought they looked improved on offense due to Grier. Their D didn't seem much different, and they had the best defense in the Big XII last year. So I think they will be competitive in their conference this year. Given the state of things in that conference, they feasibly could win it (I think they'll end up in third place behind OkieSt & OK). If they get better as the season goes on (as most teams do), that's a possibility. They should get their LB back from an injury in a few weeks, and the one kid that was suspended for our game, which should help them. And the better they do from now on, the better our strength of schedule looks.
I agree with you, the refs didn't cause their loss. I was pleased when I found out that the refs would be a Big-10 crew. They generally call a very even game (not like say...PAC 12 refs), and seemed to Sunday night. They let the kids play a little more than I would like (quite a few obvious holds and a couple of PI calls missed), but didn't seem to be harder on one team than the other. I think Holgo costs them a game at some point during the season due to his rage issues, which may end up deciding the conference. Perhaps one of the assistant coaches will start a pregame Xanax-in-the-Gatorade ritual with him. That might help.
Good job.
When you have anyone that rants and raves consistently, it become nothing but irritating noise. Now if someone remains calm and focused for most of the time; he is more likely to be noticed when he does go off.
WOLF!!! WOLF!!!!
Irritating noise, you say?
Fuck Pat Narduzzi
FWIW I haven't seen a single WVU fan on r/cfb that has been unreasonable about the outcome of the game, and those are typically pretty football-educated fans on the same level as what you see on this site. VT has its share of people who will make excuses for anything as well.
This is the first article that comes up on google from the WVU side. Sooo much butthurt about the refs. In spite of that I have to agree, most of the WVU chatter I've seen has been pretty tame. Perhaps places like r/cfb are more even-headed because you have to socialize with fans from other teams?
https://www.smokingmusket.com/2017/9/5/16254396/what-i-think-after-west-virginia-mountaineers-virginia-tech-hokies-wvu-football
Refs just called the hold on the wrong guy. #79 was holding on the 3rd & 1, like he was all night.
No 55 held. Watch the live play - he doesn't allow Hill to make a play on the ball carrier. He grabs him behind the shoulder and Hill flails and falls awkwardly.
After my dad (an experienced official) pointed it out to me, it is OBVIOUS. I wasn't sure until I rewatched it and he was spot on. I will try to get my poor quality vid up here lol.
Edit: What a joke! I got this shot from the guy complaining about the hold at that link - you can see how 55 is holding Hill. The back runs off the backside of Hill, and that hold prevents Hill from making any attempt.
I love these little tidbits:
1. its not that hard to pass block when the defense is only rushing 3, and 2. it's also not hard to disrupt a pass rush when you're pushing the holding boundary to the extreme. Oh, and Big Timmy also had a pretty big sack and single handedly destroyed not one, but TWO woovoo linemen.
He also managed to misspell behemoth. \_()_/
There are quite a few WVU fans who go to Marshall. I walked into my dorm yesterday wearing a Virginia Tech shirt, and this girl says, "I know you're not wearing that into my building. How much did y'all pay the refs?" And of course WVU Twitter is up in smoke. I guess I'm a little more spiteful towards their fans growing up here my whole life.
I know where you're coming from, I get it. Barbour County here.
Bluefield here. My mom got booed in Kroger on Sunday.
I will be thrilled when the rivalry is done for good.
Edit: Let me also add Jwill - that I don't envy you in any way. No matter where I go I get comments in WV on my VT gear. "You have shit on your shirt" seems to be their motto.
At the Greenbrier Classic - the same damn volunteer told me multiple times I had to sing Country Roads to leave.
Most (99%) people at Marshall hated WVU when my wife was there and I visited often, so it is surprising to see the change.
Greenbrier County my entire life. The diehard Marshall fans are really the only ones who hate WVU anymore. Most don't really care, but a select few hate them. I'm one of those few just because of the Tech rivalry. I would love to see Marshall play them again. WVU dropped the series as soon as Marshall became a powerhouse among the group of 5 schools.
Had a job in Princeton WV on Monday and man did I get some looks for wearing my VT hat! I did also throw the occasional how bout them Hokies at random times. But one dude would even let me cross the street from chic fil a!
On another note if y'all ain't believers in Coach Fuente I don't know what to tell you. This man finds a way to have us ready, finds a way to win. I firmly believe he is the next nick Saban of college football. The carrier dome curse will be broken next! In Fuente we believe!
Correct me if I am wrong but the carrier dome curse will have wait like 11 more years to be broken.
It's not just a "Carrier Dome" curse, it's all domes. Since winning the 1995 Sugar Bowl, by my count we've gone 2-10 in domes: 0-3 in Sugar Bowls, 1-3 in the Georgia Dome (2 losses vs. Bama and 1-1 in the Peach Bowl), and 1-4 in the Carrier Dome, with the lone win coming in 2000 during the Vick era.
I had a WVU fan at the Driving range yesterday tell me he didn't think our coach (Didn't know his name) didn't look like he related to the players and probably wasn't a good coach. After I explained what he did at Memphis, first year at tech/recruiting, Andy Dalton, The guy just said "eh, I don't think he'll last very long".
This is the same guy who thought it was more impressive Grier passed more yards than Jackson (51 attempts to 26) because they were behind the whole game....which is like...when you pass
Can you imagine the next time WVU and Pitt play each other?
It's this:
versus this.
In the broadcast last night, it was mentioned that controlling sideline behavior is to be a "point of emphasis" this year. I hope so. They gave Holgorson a great deal of leeway on the first rant, and then he seemed shocked that he got a penalty later in the game "without a warning". C'mon man. I hope Narduzzi gets flagged a few times himself this year. His behavior is appalling.
I am 100% convinced Nardouche gets ejected this year. Probably the Penn State game.
via GIPHY
Hate the Mountaineers, love Coach Fu, and think we are absolutely on the upward path but... can we not do this? It was a nail biter to the very end, not a blow out. Plus we brag on ourselves for doing more with lower ranked recruits all the time, if WVU can do it and keep up, how is that something to bring them down for? Posts like these are what turn into embarrassing memes along the lines of UVA guy last year...
I respect the way you see it. You're not wrong. As someone who was raised in WV and literally picked on at times for wearing VT stuff, though, the way I see it is "fuck WVU, I'm going to let everyone know about every last thing that's wrong with them." That's just me, though.
I have no problem with Fuente blowing up about the false start call, because it was bullshit. I know the flag was thrown on Wiggins, but the point still stands that he had every right to be pissed. They threw the flag on Teller for doing something he's coached to do, because its the correct interpretation of the rules. That is, when the defense jumps offside, if their movement causes the OL to move, its a defensive penalty, 5 yards. We coach our players to reach out and force contact with any DL that jumps early to force the call to be made, not allowing them to get back onside before the snap. What Teller did was the right thing, and the refs completely blew the call.