West Virginia notebook
High expectations may have taken toll on Mountaineers MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Excuse Rich Rodriguez if he doesn’t wallow in thinking what might have been for his 2004 West Virginia football team.
The Mountaineers fell to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big East conference after suffering a 36-17 defeat to Boston College at Mountaineer Field on Saturday, but there’s no need to start making funeral arrangements for WVU just yet, according to Rodriguez.
“A lot of teams would like to be in the position we’re in,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody wants to get down on the team. We’re 8-1, playing for a BCS bowl and we’re getting booed at home. I guess that’s what it’s come to.”
The BCS bowl may be out the window now, however.
West Virginia, which entered Saturday at No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25, slipped to No. 21 and 20, respectively, in those polls.
Meanwhile, the Eagles moved up two spots in each poll to No. 19.
The key is the BCS standings, though. If Boston College wins its final two games and pulls within five spots of West Virginia there, then it will earn the BCS bowl out of the Big East, thanks to its head-to-head win. The latest BCS standings will be released today.
All that still doesn’t add up to a poor season for the Mountaineers, but preseason hype may have taken its toll on the team.
“I’m not going to say it’s disappointing,” Marshall said of his team’s record. “Everybody forgets we only lost two games so far. The way people talk, you’d think we were 0-10.”
“There was a lot of pressure on us from all the predictions,” said WVU linebacker and Uniontown graduate Kevin McLee. “But we’re still a good team. We’re still a good program.”
Marshall agreed that the team did have high expectations, but …
“It never came out of my mouth we were going to go 12-0,” Marshall said.
It seems the Mountaineer fans thought so, though, and they expressed their disappoint throughout the game.
“I don’t like walking off the field at halftime and having people yelling at you and cussing at you, but I’ve got thick skin,” said Rodriguez, who was nonetheless irked at the fans’ response. “You’ve got recruits here and national TV here and bowl scouts and then you’ve got a bunch of fans booing your team.”
Rodriguez did admit his team hasn’t played to its potential.
“I thought we had a chance to be a better football team,” Rodriguez said. “We have higher goals here and we think we can win every game.”
McLEE UPDATE
McLee earned back his starting spot as an outside linebacker for the Mountaineers.
Well, at least until breakfast.
“I was supposed to start, but then I was five minutes late for the team breakfast,” said McLee, whose tardiness resulted in him entering Saturday’s game on West Virginia’s second defensive series.
McLee and his teammates had a hard time corralling elusive Boston College quarterback Paul Peterson.
“He’s real slippery,” McLee said. “He reminds me of a Doug Flutie-type. He knows how to get away. I got him in the third quarter, but missed him the first time.”
McLee had two tackles, including a 10-yard sack of Peterson in the third quarter, his first of the season. He would’ve had two, but Peterson spun away from him near the sideline in the first quarter on a play that eventually resulted in a sack for a WVU teammate.
Although downtrodden by his team’s loss, McLee was upbeat about his performance with some increased playing time on Saturday.
“I felt good today,” McLee said. “I was reacting a lot better and my coverage was a little better. They ran away from my side a lot.
“I played as hard as I could. We all did. We just came up short today.”
‘EER NOTES
West Virginia wide receiver Chris Henry’s six-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter was his school-record 12th of the season and the 22nd of his career. Henry had eight catches for 118 yards. … The Mountaineers allowed Boston College return man Will Blackmon to bring back a punt 71 yards for a touchdown and two kickoffs for a total 61 yards. Brian Toal added a 43-yard kickoff return for the Eagles. … The understatement of the game came from West Virginia special teams coach Bill Stewart, who said, “We had a little bit of trouble with coverage today.” … WVU also had the misfortune of witnessing the two longest field goals of Boston College kicker Ryan Ohliger’s career (44 and 47 yards) and a career-long, 76-yard punt by BC’s Johnny Ayers. … The Mountaineers close their regular season against Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m.