Let's look at the record

[Falcon1981]

TCU was able to hit the recruiting pipeline from Texas faster than WVU has been able to increase it's depth.
They were getting solid recruits from Texas before, now they are getting elite and not afraid of character flaws.
They have 8 four stars verbal already.
We have been competing against teams that are able to recruit four and five star player. We won the Big East with two and three star players for the most part that should tell you something.
Yes we beat some elite teams in bowls. When you play the elite teams every week it takes a toll without depth.

 

[KeatonsCorner]

By the way, TCU plays the same schedule WVU does, won the Big 12 and should have been in the national playoffs. Now, how can you explain that TCU did it, from the Mountain West which was below the Big East in quality (not even a BCS conference like the Big East), but WVU has not. TCU didn't lead the league in excuses. As Nike says, just do it. TCU did. Why not WVU? Anything you say about WVU applies to TCU, the Big 12 co-champs and top 10 team nationally. Huh, huh, huh!

you try this "stance" about twice a month now.................

You're asking a question, but if any of us submit the actual answer............ you'll just post "Not trying to hear excuses"


your act is tired and lacks forethought.

 

[ThePunish-EER]

TCU was able to hit the recruiting pipeline from Texas faster than WVU has been able to increase it's depth.
They were getting solid recruits from Texas before, now they are getting elite and not afraid of character flaws.
They have 8 four stars verbal already.
We have been competing against teams that are able to recruit four and five star player. We won the Big East with two and three star players for the most part that should tell you something.
Yes we beat some elite teams in bowls. When you play the elite teams every week it takes a toll without depth.

the biggest reason tcu was able to do that is they didn't have to deal with rebuilding their entire roster like WVU did. Remember, stews lack of retaining scholarship players and failures in recruiting saddled the program with huge scholarship disparity numbers. The program was nearly 30 scholarship players down.

 

[mounty99]

Yes the competition is superior today compared to the Big East. But to his point TCU has improved more quickly than WVU in the W/L column. From my perspective what's most frustrating is that we had and have the talent to be as successful as TCU/Baylor. When you glance over Dana's tenure here you can see missed opportunities across the board....how many games did we blow because tons of mistakes or by perceived lack of effort? Many more of those than just being outplayed by a superior team. (Oklahoma last year excluded) By Dana's own account we were good enough to win the league last year if we don't turn the ball over at such an alarming rate. It's not that WVU is so far behind Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma it's that the team isn't performing to it's potential....and that's on Dana. I personally think Dana gets that fixed this year and we start trending upward.

 

[torontoeers]

Quit telling yourself that WVU should NOT be at the TCU level already. You are accepting mediocrity from my alma mater. That's unacceptable. And if TCU was a top flight program well before they hit the Big 12, what was WVU, with six Big East titles? Chopped liver? So what Rodriguez did was nothing? What Stewart did was nothing? Don't you LIKE WVU? TCU IS exactly a valid comparison. TCU and WVU were new kids on the block who did well in their previous, lower-level conferences. And WVU was in the Big East, which got an automatic BCS spot, but the Midwest did not, which tells you all you need to know about which conference was higher on the totem poll. You can't just ignore the facts that you don't like. TCU proved that it could be done, and did it. WVU hasn't proven anything in the Big 12, and it's been more than a few seasons that WVU hasn't set the Big 12 world on fire. Huggins did, so why not Dana? Don't your excuses for Dana apply to Huggins' situation. Like TCU football, Huggs just did it. No excuses from Huggybear; just performances. Dana needs to emulate Huggins. And apologists need to stop making excuses. I suppose if WVU loses to GaSo there will be those who find all kinds of reasons why it's not a calamity. Geez, guys, open your eyes and brains.

Calling into question whether I 'LIKE WVU' tells me all I need to know about this discussion quite frankly...and what does Ga Southern have to do with anything in regards to it?
If you simply look at the last 3 years of WVU and TCU before admission to the Big12 you would see us with very respectable 9-4,9-4,10-3 records and one heck of a dominant win over Clemson...TCU over same period? 12-1,13-0,11-2 with a Rose bowl victory over #4 Wisconsin in that 13-0 season...as a few other posters mentioned TCU has had a distinct recruiting advantage in the Texas hotbed, amongst several other factors ...I also see you throwing around the dreaded Dana apologist label. This is another tactic oft employed by those who choose to ignore the facts, if Dana does not improve on last year's results (imo must at least acheive 8-5 with a bowl victory minimum), then I'll say we should start looking elsewhere.
To start throwing around comparison's with the Frogs and say we have no excuse to not be just like them is foolish...
Btw I've got 4 tickets every year all season long so...yeah I LIKE WVU...

 

[43rd Parallel]

As a few other posters mentioned TCU has had a distinct recruiting advantage in the Texas hotbed, amongst several other factors ...I also see you throwing around the dreaded Dana apologist label. This is another tactic oft employed by those who choose to ignore the facts, if Dana does not improve on last year's results (imo must at least acheive 8-5 with a bowl victory minimum), then I'll say we should start looking elsewhere.
To start throwing around comparison's with the Frogs and say we have no excuse to not be just like them is foolish...

Whoa! It is not like there is some huge chasm between West Virginia and Texas Christian.

WVU and TCU have played three times as Big 12 league members. The road team has won all three games. TCU took an overtime win in Morgantown in 2012 and eked out a 31-30 win last season. The Mountaineers won by 3 in overtime in Fort Worth in 2013. A series does not get closer than WVU-TCU since becoming Big 12 members.

Both programs went 4-5 and 2-7 in their first two seasons in the conference. Last year, of course, TCU went 8-1 while WVU went 5-4.

That's what has caught everyone's attention, and I don't mean to minimize the difference between an all-time league record of 14-13 compared with 11-16. With that said, West Virginia could square the comparison with one good autumn.

These two programs look very similar to my eyes. If TCU goes 8-1 this fall, and if WVU goes 5-4, I'll agree they have grown apart. But for now, this notion that Frog football is far, far ahead of Mountaineer football looks awfully premature to my eyes.

 

[torontoeers]

Whoa! It is not like there is some huge chasm between West Virginia and Texas Christian.

WVU and TCU have played three times as Big 12 league members. The road team has won all three games. TCU took an overtime win in Morgantown in 2012 and eked out a 31-30 win last season. The Mountaineers won by 3 in overtime in Fort Worth in 2013. A series does not get closer than WVU-TCU since becoming Big 12 members.

Both programs went 4-5 and 2-7 in their first two seasons in the conference. Last year, of course, TCU went 8-1 while WVU went 5-4.

That's what has caught everyone's attention, and I don't mean to minimize the difference between an all-time league record of 14-13 compared with 11-16. With that said, West Virginia could square the comparison with one good autumn.

These two programs look very similar to my eyes. If TCU goes 8-1 this fall, and if WVU goes 5-4, I'll agree they have grown apart. But for now, this notion that Frog football is far, far ahead of Mountaineer football looks awfully premature to my eyes.

Oh and I dont believe I said or intimated that a huge chasm existed between the 2 programs 43rd...What I said is TCU was a top flight program prior to admission and we were a very good one. To draw a line and say we should be just like them at this point however? Bit of a stretch imo...yes we have played them very well and I am happy for that but it is not the sole determining factor. Both TCU and Boise St were the class of non BCS conference football for a few years before conf re-alignment...and I do give the Frogs credit for keeping pace during their B12 existence with the exception of their one fairly abysmal season as I recall...in reality we are going off of 1 season that was quite dominant on TCU's behalf in the B12, the other 2 were mediocre and lacklustre, so perhaps it's a bit premature as you suggest we should be 'just like TCU'?...btw I always enjoy your updates...please keep them coming!

 

[WiiWii]

Whoa! It is not like there is some huge chasm between West Virginia and Texas Christian.

WVU and TCU have played three times as Big 12 league members. The road team has won all three games. TCU took an overtime win in Morgantown in 2012 and eked out a 31-30 win last season. The Mountaineers won by 3 in overtime in Fort Worth in 2013. A series does not get closer than WVU-TCU since becoming Big 12 members.

Both programs went 4-5 and 2-7 in their first two seasons in the conference. Last year, of course, TCU went 8-1 while WVU went 5-4.

That's what has caught everyone's attention, and I don't mean to minimize the difference between an all-time league record of 14-13 compared with 11-16. With that said, West Virginia could square the comparison with one good autumn.

These two programs look very similar to my eyes. If TCU goes 8-1 this fall, and if WVU goes 5-4, I'll agree they have grown apart. But for now, this notion that Frog football is far, far ahead of Mountaineer football looks awfully premature to my eyes.

1000% right! I get so sick of hearing how great TCU is. If they had not decapitated our quarterback (with an illegal hit, I might add) we had them beat. Hell, if Dana had put Howard in and not played not to lose, we had them! TCU and WVU are almost completely comparable in every way.

This FACT is part of the reason that CFE's droning, never ending, boring as shit posts are so dumb. It is just more from the old timer group who simply cannot come to terms with the fact that Bill Stewart (a great guy) was NOT a great coach and take it out by attacking and attempting to bring down Dana and Oliver.

 

[torontoeers]

1000% right! I get so sick of hearing how great TCU is. If they had not decapitated our quarterback (with an illegal hit, I might add) we had them beat. Hell, if Dana had put Howard in and not played not to lose, we had them! TCU and WVU are almost completely comparable in every way.

This FACT is part of the reason that CFE's droning, never ending, boring as shit posts are so dumb. It is just more from the old timer group who simply cannot come to terms with the fact that Bill Stewart (a great guy) was NOT a great coach and take it out by attacking and attempting to bring down Dana and Oliver.

I wonder if we are all arguing the same point here...it is too early to draw this comparison I suppose? Let's not forget that Patterson has had what 12 years to develop his program? If Dana improves even minimally, in this tough conference this year with this gauntlet of a road sched he's definitely on track imo...

 

[CatSnipah]

This is a new one on me.....leave it to a journalist, one who is way past his prime and worked for a no-one, nothing city paper, to use statistics and facts incorrectly.

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

Well anyway CFE ..... you've either 1) succeeded in stirring up a bunch of crap in the off-season because there is nothing else to do. Or 2) you really don't grasp how poor your assertion is by predicating it on the supposition that conference quality has no bearing on this matter.

 

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers]

This is a new one on me.....leave it to a journalist, one who is way past his prime and worked for a no-one, nothing city paper, to use statistics and facts incorrectly.

You mean the no one, nothing city paper that won four Pulitizers. Yeah, that's nothing alright.

Back to my point: TCU did it, WVU did not do it. Everyone in the rest of the world knows that TCU did what WVU hasn't been able to do. Not even a debate. I don't want it to be that way. I would prefer that WVU win the Big 12. Heck, win a national title for the first time in its football history. But I'm not an ostrich. It is what it is. It's up to Dana to make it better, and soon. How many 7-6 seasons will even the apologists endure? I'm always in Mountaineer Field for every game, no matter who is coaching or playing for my alma mater. And I don't withhold my donations no matter who is the coach or who are the players. But I do have my analytical mind. Maybe a bit of Missouri's "Show Me" motto, too.

Now, let's be 7-0 by November and we'll all be happy. Me because my alma mater is 7-0. The apologists because they can come on here and rub it in my face. I'll love it!

 

[wbgvwbgv]

Feel free to point out anything factual I stated which is not true.

What about Pitt and Syracuse and Louisville.

You mean the no one, nothing city paper that won four Pulitizers. Yeah, that's nothing alright.

Back to my point: TCU did it, WVU did not do it. Everyone in the rest of the world knows that TCU did what WVU hasn't been able to do. Not even a debate. I don't want it to be that way. I would prefer that WVU win the Big 12. Heck, win a national title for the first time in its football history. But I'm not an ostrich. It is what it is. It's up to Dana to make it better, and soon. How many 7-6 seasons will even the apologists endure? I'm always in Mountaineer Field for every game, no matter who is coaching or playing for my alma mater. And I don't withhold my donations no matter who is the coach or who are the players. But I do have my analytical mind. Maybe a bit of Missouri's "Show Me" motto, too.

Now, let's be 7-0 by November and we'll all be happy. Me because my alma mater is 7-0. The apologists because they can come on here and rub it in my face. I'll love it!

Nehlen was at WVU for 20 years and his winning percentage was about the same as Holgorsen - so the apologists have a history of going at least 20 years. Now maybe the 3 or 4 best Big 12 schools leave and are replaced with a bunch of CUSA schools. We could win 9 and maybe even 10 games and the dumbest portion of fan base would feel really good about our program. California stat boy could even work of some interesting (cough) statistics showing us WVU"s improvement resulting from the conference's best teams leaving.