cannot be overstated.
Game 1 at Penn State - we all kinda knew that was an uphill battle. We were playing with house money. And, for a long time, that game was breaking our way. The Nittany Lion fans I encountered at the half were nervous. But, as it tends to happen in that series, Penn State's depth and talent wore us down...and an all-timer play call gaffe didn't help.
Game 2 vs. Duquesne - we did what we had to do after a slow start. Nothing more to be said.
So, we don't know who we really are after two games. We have a clue, but we don't know for certain. We're all about to find out Saturday night. All the bitching and moaning about Neal Brown is put aside at the moment, because we all truly have one thing in common - we just want to win. Plain & simple. Let's start stacking wins. No more pick-6's. No more losses in Lubbock. No more blown leads down the stretch in the Phog. No more embarrassment from our head coaches, plural. Just.....win. And, start stacking them. We've done it before. Let's do it again.
Tomorrow is a fork in the road. It's one for WVU, it's definitely one for Neal Brown. I've said for a long time that the season comes down to Pitt and Texas Tech. But, I fear the response if we drop this one to the kittens tomorrow. This is big. This is a game which can propel the program forward, or cause the program to be torn into warring factions.
And, this is Pitt. This is our rival. There's a raging river of history, both good and bad, undercutting this game tomorrow. As a youngster I was told by Don Nehlen that in order for WVU to gain national respect, we had to beat two teams; Pitt and Penn State. There's a lot of truth there. That is why when Jeff Hostetler crossed the goalline on that bootleg, and fell to one knee, index finger pointing to the blue sky...it ignited the WVU program. Willie D. housed a punt the following year and WVU pummeled Pitt in their home stadium to prove the point -- this WVU program had arrived. Major dismantled a 10th-ranked Pitt team on their home turf in '88 a week after Pitt had demolished Ohio State in Columbus. Amos Zereoue kicked off his career in style in our last ever game on that awful field. Marc Bulger dropped 104 points on the Panthers over his final two years, and Pat White dropped 90 on them in his first two years before...
It's a rivalry boiling over with hatred. It's about recruiting turf battles, the Beast of the East, national respect, the ACC vs. the team the ACC did not see fit to invite.
And, in 2023, it's about WVU's reversal of fortune. We've been stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity, as Beck would say: "
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral". Well, tomorrow, we need to downshift into overdrive. We need to give our program and fanbase a shot in the arm. We need to give our fans the chance to sing a well-lubed Country Roads under the lights at Mountaineer field in front of the team, in front of a national audience, in front of all of the ghosts that still adorn that turf we call home. We need to give our 2023 team the chance to face Texas Tech in Morgantown next week with the chance to get to 3-1 and to once again became a team worthy of some buzz. Some respect.
Make no mistake, fellow Mountaineers, we have a football program which has the potential to win at the highest level and sustain that success. We are just awaiting that moment where we win again, gather some steam, and begin to pile up victories to once again - gain momentum -
growing like a breeze.
So, to those of you going in, don't hold back. For Mountaineer Nation - for one more day tomorrow, let the memories of Eastern football glory gather - the battles of the past between these two old rivals, renewed, and it feels bigger than ever.
txst.com
