Matt Whitfield, Uncategorized, West Virginia News

AN OMINOUS OPENING WIN FOR WVU?

by MATT WHITFIELD

After losing QB Pat White and several key starters from last year’s squad, no one expected West Virginia to be quite the team they were in 2008, at least not to start the 2009 season. However, with a strong successor to Pat White in 5th-year senior Jarrett Brown, and a wide-open Big East, the Mountaineers were expected to hold their own and many projected WVU to finish in the top two of the conference. The way they came out Saturday left many wondering if they could actually pull it off.

Saturday, West Virginia did win the game, but they did so in very lackluster fashion. In the previous five seasons West Virginia handily defeated 1-AA opponents by an average of 35.4 points a game. However, in this season’s opener, the Mountaineers didn’t even come close to matching that. Liberty hung around all afternoon against WVU before the home team finally put the game away with 6:57 left in the contest by stretching the lead to 20, 33-13. Liberty would score again, with under a minute to go, to make it 33-20. The game would end at that score, but it undoubtedely left many Mountaineers fans and players asking themselves what kind of season are we in for?

In the game, Jarrett Brown did throw for 243 yards and also hit five receivers for more than twenty yards, but what was scary was the numbers that Liberty put up. Liberty quarterback Tommy Beecher threw for 210 yards and a touchdown and interception. His best wide receiver Saturday was Mike Brown, who finished with 157 yards on eleven catches. Brown also amassed a total of 107 yards on kick returns.

If West Virginia gave these numbers up to Brown and Liberty from the 1-AAlevel, imagine what some teams in the Big East can do against them. The future could be scary for Mountaineer fans.

Most coaches and analysts believe that the most a team will improve during the season is between game one and game two. With revenge on WVU’s mind headed to their match-up with East Carolina this coming weekend in Morgantown, there is certainly enough room for improvement that should make that cliche true. Will there be enough improvement to avenge last season’s loss to the Pirates? The West Virginia faithful certainly hope so!!