WVU fans are divided by lucky number 7
- Thread starter wvpaper
- Start date
But, but... We are playing in a big boy conference!
But, but... Stewart left the cupboard bare...
But, but... We are getting pounded by really good teams...
But, but... The ranked teams we beat in the Big East don't matter...
But, but... We are recruiting way better than Rodriguez and Stewart (even though the rankings say otherwise)...
Some of our "fans" sound a lot like Marshall fans...
I was thinking about this very thing today. It seems that some say, "we are never going to compete with the Oklahomas of the Big 12" and "expecting conference championships may be a bit much." I don't totally disagree with that. But those same people seem to extend the argument to "7-5 overall and 4-5 in the conference - with a bowl loss to finish 7-6 - is all anyone should expect."
Others seem to believe we can consistently challenge for conference championships... like in the old Big East.
I am actually in between. I can live with a 6-6 and 7-5 year... but then somewhere we should have a convergence of talent, luck, scheduling... to get an 8-4 season... and a bowl win for 9-4. I would think that is realistic goal for about once every 4 years... and - maybe I have low expectations - but I could be fairly happy about that.
However, our 4 year history in the Big 12 has seen us "top out" at 7-6. So yea, if we lose to Az State and finish 7-6... I am going to be disappointed that we couldn't win 8 games out of 13 -- even one time in 4 seasons.
Others seem to believe we can consistently challenge for conference championships... like in the old Big East.
I am actually in between. I can live with a 6-6 and 7-5 year... but then somewhere we should have a convergence of talent, luck, scheduling... to get an 8-4 season... and a bowl win for 9-4. I would think that is realistic goal for about once every 4 years... and - maybe I have low expectations - but I could be fairly happy about that.
However, our 4 year history in the Big 12 has seen us "top out" at 7-6. So yea, if we lose to Az State and finish 7-6... I am going to be disappointed that we couldn't win 8 games out of 13 -- even one time in 4 seasons.
Can anyone honestly say that any of the teams that we beat this year would have finished either 1st or 2nd in the old Big East?
I guess I am saying... though the Big 12 is a big boy conference... to be able to win 8 game just once in 4 years (when most years we have 13 games)... shouldn't be too much to aim for, but even that has been unattainable, so far anyway.
agree. 7 win seasons should be expected now and then, perhaps every 2 or 3 years. i struggle with accepting that it's the best we can do. it's going to take a few more years before i'm beaten down like some of the guys here.
no. none of the teams we beat were at the level of a louisville, south florida, or cincy in the big east 2.0.
Let's look at Dana's record at WVU: 55.6% winning percentage, the worst of ANY head coach at WVU in the past 35 years. He's 58.3% this season so far. Hell, if he beats a 6-6 Arizona State team he'll be 61.5%, which almost matches Nehlen's winning percentage of 61.6% over 21 seasons. I guess it depends how you look at it if you see progress or degradation.
To look at it another way, here is the list of teams that has moved from the Big East, American, or Mountain West up to a Power 5 league in the last 5 seasons:
Utah = Won 8 games in year 1 after switching, won 9 games in years 4 and 5
TCU = Won 12 games in year 3 after switching, won 10 games in year 4
Louisville = Won 9 games in year 1 after switching
Pitt = Won 8 games in year 3 after switching
Rutgers = Won 8 games in year 1 after switching
WVU = Still hasn't won 8 games in 4 seasons since switching
Syracuse = Still hasn't won 8 games in 3 seasons since switching
I guess I'm just frustrated because WVU is a really good QB away from being a great team. 7 win seasons were considered a success under Nehlen and I was happy with plenty of those type of years. The part that really gets me is there is no doubt coaching was the difference between 7 wins and 9 wins this season. A 9 win season with a win over Oklahoma State would have been great. Especially getting 10 wins with a good bowl win. Sad how close WVU came to doing that.
Reasonable response but the only relevant team in your post is TCU and we have played them very close, although I will concur that they have had more overall success than us.
Holgerson drives me nutz, but we have a lot of uninformed fans also.
wvu has been a basketball school since rich left. we just didn't know it until the last few years. but that's ok. i'm fine with it.
You just described what should a typical year 9 wins + a bowl win. With 12 games in most years and possibly 13 when the Big 12 expands, anything under 10 is a bad performance for a good team. There is not one single reason why WVU cannot be as successful as any other program, not one. A down year should be 7 or 8 wins and finishing in the middle of the conference and still with a bowl win.
If our target is 7 we will get 5 or 6 most years. You want to achieve greatness, you have to set that as your target. Our goal every year should be winning the conference and the subsequent bowl game, whatever it may turn out to be. We will only occasionally rise to that level, but a good program gets to the top spot at least once every 5 years. We cant even finish above the middle of the pack 5 years in and that is on our coaches. We have recruited poorly and then coached those substandard recruits poorly.
This program needs a bucket of bleach and a clean slate. Our bench is so poor on average, we could start over from scratch there too. The few guys we would retain because they stand out would only be backups on our better teams from the past if they made those teams at all. We have run the tank dry since Rich took his ego and departed. That is not a call by me to call him back, he is out of step with the game these days and his future is mediocrity, and I want excellence.
I think they're all highly relevant considering one of the most frequent arguments is the step up from a weaker league to a Power-5 conference. Each of those other schools had to make a similar move, which gives us a larger sample size of what reasonable expectations should be.
