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Thursday, November 03, 2005

Football Notebook

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Now a day removed from West Virginia’s impressive 45-13 victory over Connecticut, Coach Rich Rodriguez saw a lot of positives in his team’s performance after reviewing the game tape.

West Virginia strong safety Eric Wicks hauls down Connecticut quarterback Dennis Brown during last night's 45-13 victory over the Huskies.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

“We executed on a couple of drives when we had great field position. What was nice was that our defense and our special teams put us in those spots and offensively we capitalized on it. That’s what you want,” Rodriguez said during his Friday afternoon teleconference.

“We played good defense except for the last touchdown and our special teams were solid. Our guy’s attitude, effort and intensity were really good throughout.”

It was pointed out to the coach that his team was a perfect seven for seven in red zone chances (six of those seven scores were touchdowns).

“The big key was that we were getting touchdowns,” Rodriguez said. “Pat White made a couple of plays and our offensive line did a good job on a couple of touchdown runs and it was good to see that because you’ve got to get touchdowns when you’re down in there to beat good teams.”

Tailback Steve Slaton ran for 71 yards in the first half but was shelved for the remainder of the game due to what Rodriguez referred to as a “minor hip-pointer.” Fullback Owen Schmitt took a helmet to the thigh on one of his four runs but managed to remain in the game. Rodriguez said both players will be day to day.

Steve Slaton did not play in the second half with a minor hip-pointer but he should be able to jog around a little bit hopefully tomorrow,” said the coach. “We’ll see how he goes.

Owen Schmitt took a helmet to the thigh and he limped around a little bit but it’s the same thing – kind of a day to day thing. Hopefully we’ll have those guys for the Cincinnati game but we’ll have to wait and see,” Rodriguez said.

The coach ruled out the possibility that true freshman Jason Gwaltney will be available for next Wednesday’s game, mentioning that his rehabilitation progress has been “really slow.” Gwaltney suffered a sprained knee in the win at Rutgers back on Oct. 8.

If Slaton and Schmitt don’t respond to treatment this week that means the bulk of the running game will be on the shoulders of Jason Colson, Pernell Williams and quarterback Pat White. Rodriguez said Colson and Williams have accepted their backup roles.

“I’ve been proud of those guys,” Rodriguez mentioned. “They didn’t pout when they got moved down on the depth chart and they’ve worked extremely hard in practice. They’re good players and everyone knows they’re good players and they are willing to do whatever it takes for the team. You need guys that are unselfish that understand their roles. They understand that it’s a long season and that they are going to get their opportunities just like they did last night.”

One player that didn’t get an opportunity – by design – was quarterback Adam Bednarik who is still nursing a sore left foot after spraining it in the second half of the Louisville game. When West Virginia got its big lead Rodriguez chose to rest Bednarik for another week.

“He could have played but he wasn’t 100 percent and that’s why I didn’t put him in there,” Rodriguez said, adding that Pat White will get the start again next Wednesday night against the Bearcats.

Rodriguez was asked during his teleconference if he had a policy regarding starters not losing their jobs due to injury. The coach deftly answered: “Yes, that’s why he’s the co-starter. Now who takes the first rep … that’s subject to the head coach. If Adam is 100 percent he will play in the Cincinnati game and we’ll go back to having co-starters. But Pat will take the first rep.”

Rodriguez has already begun preparation for the Bearcats and has been impressed with what he’s seen on tape so far.

“They’re playing their best football of the year. I think they feel very good with where they’re at being 4-4 with a young team,” Rodriguez said. “They’ve got three extra days to prepare for us and playing them at night it’s going to be a very, very tough challenge for us.”

What jumps out at Rodriguez immediately is that Cincinnati has a very physical football team. He’s also impressed with running backs Bradley Glatthaar and Butler Benton.

“They’ve got a pair of running backs that could play for anybody in our league. Our guys are going to see that on film,” Rodriguez said.

Briefly:

  • Many West Virginia fans have pointed to Cincinnati being one of the trap games on the Mountaineer schedule, having recalled the Bearcats’ 15-13 victory over West Virginia in Morgantown in 2003. Rodriguez says his young team has handled everything thrown at them so far and he expects a mature approach to this game as well.

    “They know what is at stake and every game we play from here on out is for the Big East championship. I would hope we play like that,” he said.

  • West Virginia’s defense produced a season-high seven sacks against Connecticut to boost its season total to 25 – one shy of the single-season high under Rodriguez of 26 set by the 2004 team. In 2002 and 2003, the Mountaineer defense managed just 16 sacks each year.

    Coach Rod said many of the sacks last night were due to outstanding coverage in the secondary.

    “What we were able to do was force them into some third and very long situations where we knew they had to throw the football. Some of the sacks came from blitzes but some of them came from great coverage, too. I thought our guys did a great job of taking away some of their route packages and jumping on the wide receivers,” he said.

  • The buzz around the Milan Puskar Center today has been about quarterback Pat White’s block on UConn strong safety Dahna Deleston that sent him airborne. “He did have one nice block and I’m sure he’ll enjoy that when they watch it (Friday),” said Rodriguez.

    According to Rodriguez, White has continued to improve whether it’s being vocal during practice or understanding what defenses are doing against him. “He’s got kind of a feel for the game even though he’s a redshirt freshman,” said the coach. “The more precarious the situation the calmer he is which is a trait that a lot of good quarterbacks have.”

    It also doesn’t hurt that White is one of the fastest players on the field.

  • One of the keys to West Virginia’s recent run of success has been its ability to hold onto the football. But entering the Connecticut game the Mountaineers were ranked 45th in the country in turnover margin – down from their top-10 ratings the past couple of years. WVU had two turnovers in Wednesday night’s game against Connecticut.

    “A part of the reason we’ve had some success over the last several weeks is that our guys have taken care of the football and I think that’s going to be a key for the rest of the season,” Rodriguez said.

  • The last time West Virginia played Cincinnati in 2003 the Bearcats walked out of Morgantown with a 15-13 victory. Rodriguez remembers that game well.

    “We didn’t play very well from a turnover standpoint,” he said. “We had a bunch of fumbles. They took advantage of the situation and beat us. It was a very disappointing loss simply because we didn’t play our best football. They had a good football team and defensively they did a good job against us.”

  • The Mountaineers are playing back-to-back Wednesday night games for the first time in school history. Rodriguez believes the biggest impact of playing consecutive mid-week games is the lost time in the classroom for his players.

    “They had a late night last night and obviously they’ve got class today,” he said. “The next week they’re going to miss a couple of days and when we bus back they’ll get back late Thursday morning.”

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