BCS title good as gone -- but so is WVU's bad reputation
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia isn't going to win the national championship, but that was never at stake Thursday night -- not before, during or after the No. 6 Mountaineers' 38-31 victory against unranked Louisville.
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| Pat White's 50-yard TD run in the fourth quarter seals the deal for the Mountaineers. (AP) |
West Virginia's reputation.
Going into Thursday, the Mountaineers had been something of a gutless wonder under coach Rich Rodriguez, physically strong enough to dominate most games -- but mentally weak enough to lose the rest. West Virginia was a bully, but the worst kind. West Virginia was a bully that faints at the sight of its own blood.
That's how it was in 2005 when the Mountaineers blew through the relatively weak Big East and blew up a mostly bogus non-conference slate but lost 34-17 to the only salty team on its schedule, Virginia Tech. West Virginia was 11-1 and never had a chance at the BCS title game.
That's how it was in 2006 when the Mountaineers' first 11 games featured nine blowout wins ... and two close losses. Again, no serious BCS title contention.
Here we are in 2007, and West Virginia was on the same path. Coming into this game the Mountaineers had posted seven victories by an average of 30.7 points, none closer than a 31-14 rout of Maryland. They had been seriously pushed just once, Sept. 28 at South Florida, and the result was a 21-13 loss that eliminated West Virginia from serious national championship contention.
Then came Thursday, and the Mountaineers did what they do. They jumped a wimpier team, leading Louisville 31-14 and looking to put it out of reach late in the third quarter. But then came a fumble by All-America tailback candidate Steve Slaton, and a fumble by superstar quarterback Patrick White, and a brutal 8-yard quick kick by future NFL fullback Owen Schmitt.
So there was West Virginia doing, alas, what it often does when another team finally flicks it back in the nose: crumbling.
This was painful to watch, even if you're inclined to dislike West Virginia as a general concept for being the school that spawned NFL miscreants Pacman Jones and Chris Henry as well as a fan base notorious for being one of the nastiest in college football.
(That is your reputation, Mountaineers fans. Don't blame the messenger. Blame decades of misbehavior. Or, if you want to be more current, blame the idiot in the crowd who threw the football Thursday night at a Louisville player. Or blame the idiot who threw the half-full can of soda at the West Virginia sideline after a WVU fumble. The spewing aluminum can never reached the sideline. But it did hit another West Virginia fan in the back.)
Again, this was painful. If Slaton was a borderline first-round pick coming into this game, he fell off the border in front of 12 NFL scouts on Thursday. He continued a substandard junior season by gaining 60 yards on 17 carries, losing one fumble and having another lost fumble overturned by instant replay. By the fourth quarter his own coach had lost faith in him, ignoring the school's touchdown leader.
On defense the Mountaineers couldn't stop Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, who threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns. West Virginia completely unraveled, committing most of its 11 penalties for 116 yards in the second half.
