Colorado Recap

Thud.

Alright Mountaineer nation. The sky is not falling. At least not officially. Yet.

I was in Boulder once. I’d had this preconceived notion that Colorado was a hippie wonderland where weed fell from the skies. I was proven right. That said, our coaching staff seemed stoned last night.

I thought McAffee should have been given the chance to kick a 65-yarder at the end of regulation. This is a guy who said in yesterday’s paper that he could kick a 75-yarder in the thin air at that elevation. I believed him, besides what could it hurt?  But then Coach Stew opted for the Hail Mary instead. Remember, it’s called a “Hail Mary” because it doesn’t have a prayer to work. Stew also mismanaged the clock so badly that Pat should have had a shot at a much shorter field goal to win it.  By the time he bounced it off the upright I don’t think his head was in the right place after being jerked around by the coaching staff.

Fundamentally, the offensive play calling was atrocious. It did reek of Don Nehlen, as some have mentioned. One or two play action passes were all we would have needed to break open the game, and give White and Devine some room to run. I loved the flea flicker wide receiver pass, though it looked like a wounded duck fluttering about out there. It’s intended target didn’t have a defender within twenty yards of him. Further proof that faking a run would have opened everything else up.

All in all, we looked better than we did against ECU and this isn’t an embarrassing loss. Losing to Marshall next week would fall into that category, but my waning faith hasn’t slipped so much to make me think that will happen. The defense came to play, and that’s one glimmer of hope for the next 9 games of this season. We just need to take care of business in conference play. I still beleive Pat White can get it done, I just hope Stew and Mullen let him.

10 Things That Will Go Down Tomorrow: Colorado

I wish all their players looked like this....

Welcome to the return of “10 Things….”. I’ve had a lot of time to think about my mistakes, and I’ve decided that these posts will continue to contain the rampant homer-ism that they featured prior to the ECU debacle. With that in mind, and the agonizing lay-off over, consider the following points.

1. We will run the ball. Over. And Over. And Over. And, you get it….
2. We will NOT play like the “little fellas” coach Stew suggests. We will play like big fellas, huge fellas and tough fellas.
3. Jarrett Brown will see some snaps in the backfield where we desperately need his size and strength.
4. Reed Williams finally takes the field.
5. We distract the Colorado defense with the two things they have no power over: Yonder Mountain String Band CDs and high-grade marijuana.
6. Noel Devine finally finds the end zone.
7. John Denver and his affinity for both states is mentioned repeatedly. “Country Roads” and “Rocky Mountain High” are played. Thankfully “Sunshine on My Shoulders” is not.
8. The defense holds Colorado to under 400 yards passing. Barely.
9. McAffee goes looking for their chick kicker, but can’t find her. Weeps openly.
10. The traveling contingent of Mountie fans show the Buffs what partying is really about.

WVU: 31 Colorado: 27