WVU Football Ends on a Dud

Another football season in the books and another disappointing bowl loss that will fester all the way up to spring workouts.

It's been a day since the Champs Sports Bowl ended and the head-shaking hasn't stopped yet. For all the good and bad the Mountaineers have endured this year, it was widely assumed that the team had found its way out of its midseason slumber and was going to salvage a lost BCS game opportunity, but yet there was still more frustration to come.

West Virginia has been in the news a lot thanks to the hiring of new offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting Dana Holgorsen.

Athletic Director Oliver Luck said on the sideline of last nights game to ESPN how he thought the offense had underwhelmed this season and he felt the talent was capable of a lot more, and boy did he hit the nail on the head after last night's pitiful performance by the outgoing OC Jeff Mullen.

The one thing that's baffled everyone this season is how this team seemed to stop itself on offense, there always this feeling with the West Virginia offense that it was running in place a lot of the time because we know the speed that it processes and we know not many teams can keep up with an offense that had the potential to be so prolific, so what happened?

Overcoaching happened, it was so simple during the Rich Rod era to see the way this team scored points and assume that with the way that team was constituted that a more complex offense was needed in case defenses wised up.

It's not a bad startegy, but the execution of that idea is what's bogged down this offense.

The passing game became the focus instead of the classic running attack that the golden years were built around and while that's fine, at times the running game was seemingly all but forgotten and when you have a talent like Noel Devine in your backfield, that's a problem.

Geno Smith has been a revelation this year for the Mountaineers and there's no doubt that he will continue to improve, but under this system his good play seemed to come despite the questionable play calling at times and that's not what you want out of your offense.

Last night was less about Geno's rough game and potential future surgery and more about the fact that this team has gone as far as it's going to go in its current iteration.

As much as I think Bill Stewart has done a solid job this year, it's clear that solid is not what the WVU program should be. It should be elite and hats much go off to Oliver Luck for seeing and doing what's necessary to put West Virginia back where it belongs on the national scene.

There's nothing wrong with three consecutive nine win seasons, but coming from the cloud nine heights of 2005-2007, more can be attained with the players than what has been acheived and it'll be a point of interest to see if the hiring of Holgorsen is enough to get back to the top. 

Photos Courtesy Getty Images

Tuesday Night Football was Not Worth the Wait

I guess you can definitely say that the high from the Giants comeback has finally worn off. Last night the Eagles put forth their worst performance since Michael Vick was selected the starting quarterback and the explosive Eagles offense was missing in action as the Minnesota Vikings owned the Linc last night thanks in part to the play of an aggressive Minnesota defense and a coming of age display from rookie QB Joe Webb.

Webb made really clutch plays on the Vikings' final TD drive in the forth quarter which included a couple critical third down conversions.

Going into last night's contest all the talk was about how green Webb was and how the Eagles could get their defense on the right page by teeing off on the youngster from UAB who was originally drafted as a wide receiver.

When it all was said and done however, it was the Eagles defense that gave up the big plays in big spots that secured the Vikings victory.

As poor as the Eagles defense looked last night, we cannot forget about how terrible the Eagles offense looked. The rhythm, energy, balance, whatever you want to say an offense must have to be effective, it wasn't there for the Eagles last night.

It's surprising how tired and uninspired the Eagles look considering how poorly they started last week's game against the Giants. And now everyone's talking about how a prolific offense turns into what it's been the last seven and a half quarters.

Part of the problem for the Eagles as coach Andy Reid said after the game was the preparation of the team, it's evident that they just weren't ready and unfortunately Reid has a few games like this every year and last night was one of them. The question now has to be whether Andy Reid can now do the job to fix this team's problems before the playoffs.

Michael Vick played his worst game of the season last night, but a lot of that also has to go to play-calling, bad protection and some questionable route running. There's no question that Vick was part of the problem but as Reid said there's a lot of blame to go around.

Vick threw the ball 43 times last night which is one attempt shy of a season high that he had against the Bears earlier this season. In that game, Vick threw his first interception of the season and since that game he has thrown a pick in four straight games and in those four games Vick's completion percentage has been on a steady decline as his number of times sacked has been on the rise.

Vick was sacked a season high six times last night as the Viking rush made an impact as he made a couple game changing mistakes with a couple of fumbles and one of which was returned for a touchdown at the end of the first half and tied the game at seven.

The best option last night was the one that was maybe used the least, LeSean McCoy only had 17 touches last night and it was the forth time this season the he's had less than 16 touches in a game.

It was clear last night that every time McCoy touched the ball that he had a spring in his step that was largely absent last night from his teammates and the Eagles missed an opportunity to give him the football more to make up for what DeSean Jackson couldn't bring (2 catches, 32 yards).

The one positive we can take out of all of this is that the Eagles can decide to rest some players this Sunday since there is nothing on the line now and Vick can get a much needed breather.

And now you can offically say that the raging debate for who's the NFL MVP is effectively over. As remarkable a season Vick has had, his recent stretch of okay play should eliminate him from consideration. As for the talk about who's the best team in the NFC it looks like that conversation is pretty open ended right now.

Photos Courtesy Getty Images

The Smell of Success is Intoxicating

Well, I've had a couple of days to recover, but man is this overwhelming. What hasn't been said about the foursome of awesomeness that now compiles the Philadelphia Phillies rotation, it's something that many Philadelphia fans never thought they would experience, but how we probably should start getting used to it.

What a transformation this franchise has undergone since 2001, when the Phillies had their first winning season since 1993. That was the season where you can say this all began. There wasn't much, but you could begin to see something shining through for the Phillies and a change in philosophy, but I think the culture began to change in Philadelphia for the Phillies when they signed Jim Thome.

In December of 2002, the Phillies became big spenders and decided to enter the free agency market hungry with a three pronged approach. They wanted David Bell, Tom Glavine and Jim Thome. They got two out of the three and in terms of production and popularity they got one out of three right in picked Jim Thome.

By choosing Philadelphia, Thome marked a change in baseball for the city of Brotherly Love, it was becoming a destination instead a baseball black hole. And when Citizens Bank Park opened, it just got better and better.

The Phillies have won four consecutive division titles and have finished with a winning record the last eight seasons. Along the way, this team has acquired and developed a great mesh of talent which has become the great foundation for a World Series championship in 2008 and for what we see in front of us today.

Aggressive leadership, a electric sell out crowd, a beautiful ballpark and great management along with really good character guys have made the Phillies a destination for free agents.

We act surprised when things like what happened Monday night occur, but in all honesty it makes perfect sense. Cliff Lee loved his time in Philadelphia and he continued to make that known even while he was in Seattle and Texas and the team improved while he was away.

Even though Lee's decision was logical, it didn't make it any less cool. Roy Oswalt was willing to come here because of the positive reputation of the city and fans as given to him by Brad Lidge, Roy Halladay came to Philadelphia because he wanted to win a championship, and now players will take less money to come to Philly because they want to be a part of it.

It's a great feeling being on this side of the equation, the Phillies have slowly but surely turned themselves into a baseball power and that is a truly impressive feat considering where this franchise stood a decade ago.

The Mountaineers Rebound from Midseason Slump

The (9-3) West Virginia Mountaineers are the best team in the Big East, but if you saw the bowl selection special on Sunday, you wouldn't know that since the Connecticut Huskies are going to their first BCS bowl.

WVU beat Rutgers last weekend and clinched a share of the Big East championship alongside Pittsburgh and UConn. The Mountaineers can blame no one but themselves for not going to a BCS game, they did after all lose to Syracuse at home and the eventual Big East BCS repesentative UConn in a sloppy, mistake filled overtime loss.

In the end, the Mountaineers will travel to the best Big East bowl you can go to if not in the BCS, the Champs Sports Bowl...yeah that one.

We can talk about the lackluster Big East bowl lineup later, right now I want to talk about the masterful job two people in particular did with this WVU team. One will surprise you and the other won't. I'll start with the obvious pick.

1) Geno Smith- Geno had a historic first season as WVU starting QB, he led the Big East in passing efficiency and had 23 TDs versus only 6 interceptions. Smith's completion percentage was 65.8 which put him among the top 20 passers in all of college football. Not to mention that he led the Big East in just about all offensive categories and had 11 TDs and only 4 INTs in Big East contests, Smith outperformed all initial predictions.

He only had three games this year in which his completion percentage was under 60%, which is unbelievably pinpoint for a sophomore QB who played very little last season. He came in firing and ended the season on the same note having his best game of the season against Rutgers going 23-28 with 352 yards passing with a touchdown and no interceptions.

The way Geno has dealt with the pressure of being the third WVU starting QB in as many years on a team that was expected to be much better than they were last year has been picture perfect, I can say I can count on one hand this season the amount of times Smith has been visibly rattled, he's led the team with confidence and poise and finished off the season on the best possible note personally.

It took a lot in that locker room to get this team back on the right page after the Syracuse and Connecticut fiasco's, but the other reason they were able to right the ship was wait for it...Bill Stewart.

2) Bill Stewart- Bill is a man who has been the butt of many jokes in Morgantown. But honestly, when you look at what was occurred up in road in Pittsburgh with Dave Wannstedt, we should really be fortunate with what we've gotten here the last couple of years.

A lot of what people dislike about Stewart is his very nice and easy going exterior, the question usually is whether the players are motivated by such a figure. As someone who had been on the sidelines for all the Mountaineers home games this season, the Bill Stewart I see is one that isn't always huggable and cuddly.

He's the guy that got the Mountaineers to open their eyes before their season went by the wayside, he's gained an aggressiveness that wasn't as apparent his first season on the sideline.

Is there an argument to made about why WVU went into the slump in the first place, yes, but the outcome can't be ignored. Another nine win season and now Stewart is 27-11 as WVU head coach and 14-6 inside the Big East. In a college football landscape where coaches are expected to produce immediately if you look at the numbers, so far Stewart has.

He's getting the players to respond to him and even though you can say his first year was not what it could've been with Pat White under center and a preseason top 10 ranking, the last two years should more than make up for what occurred that first year under Stewart.

These Mountaineer teams were not the most stacked rosters in history, but they were still able to pull out consecutive nine win seasons in a constantly changing Big East, look at some of these powerful college programs and how they have dealt with coaching changes: USC, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Michigan and the results have been poor.

And you can't discount the effort it took to get this year's team back on track, there will be years where adversity will hit and to me the way you respond in seasons like this mean more than winning with a lot of talent under tropical conditions. Bill Stewart deserves a lot of credit for what he did this year and a lot less blame.

Werth Gone, But I Feel Nothing

I've had a couple days to sit and think about how important a loss Jayson Werth will be to the Phillies and their offensively charged lineup, but everytime I try to think about the topic, I suddenly get hungry and move on.

That's not to say Jayson Werth was not important to the Phillies or that he didn't influence our lineup because he did, but in the end him leaving generates an "ehh" from me.

Werth had four productive seasons and three of them were phenomenal in terms of the way he picked up the lineup on occasion, but never would you say that Jayson Werth was the guy. He was one of the guys, a piece of the puzzle, a part of the whole, but he never was THE guy.

Jayson, along with Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and even Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz in recent seasons have made this offense what it is and in clutch situations this team became Ryan Howard's and Chase Utley's ball club, it never became Jayson Werth's.

Yeah, we can all make light of the fact the Washington Nationals massively overpaid for a player who didn't become an everyday starter until 2008 or the fact that sometimes Werth can catch a strikeout bug the likes of which could even make Ryan Howard shake his head in disgust.

But the truth is that Jayson Werth is a good player, but he isn't a franchise changer, he isn't a guy you can put an entire team on when the offense is in a slump, he's a guy you would love to add to an almost completed puzzle, because it is at that point where he shines. He shined as a Phillie, but because the stars were already aligned for him to succeed.

I'm not saying that Werth won't succeed in Washington, but rather the team will not succeed because he does. A great season from Werth could still spell a losing record for the Nationals and more than likely will, but I guess you have to start somewhere if you're a franchise just looking to gain ground in a division dominated in recent years by the Philadelphia Phillies.

It will be very interesting to see Jayson Werth return many times to Citizens Bank Park with the Nationals, but it will be even more intriguing to see the impact he has in D.C.

Can Jayson Werth become a franchise player, a superstar, a hero, and more? Well if he does, it'll be the first time he's ever done it.

ill Take: LeBron Returns

LeBron James returning to Cleveland is going to be the highlight of the Cavaliers' season and tonight we will find out what the scorned fanbase has planned for the fallen King.

The Miami Heat has been THE story of the NBA season and since they are, we've been subjected to Coach Spo this and we want to chill that and the Pat Riley conundrum. But every so often something interesting comes from the overhyped coverage of the Heat and tonight's one of those moments.

There's no doubt that everyone wants to see how Lebron will be received at the Q and if he will do his powder dusting before the game. The honest truth is that tonight isn't about the Heat vs. the Cavs, it's LeBron vs. Cleveland and that's why the buzz is at the level it is.

Tonight is more about just a game between two okay teams, it's about how a desperate city will treat a man who was once their answer to everything. The reaction is what all this coverage is about, no one will remember who won this game, but everyone will never forget the response LeBron receives when he steps on the floor tonight.

I can understand the anger Cleveland fans hold towards James and why tonight is the equivalent to the NBA Finals for them and why media coverage will resemble the same. It's a chance to give back to a man who embarrassed your city on national television and dashed the hopes of a fan base who had grown to love the Cavs based on what that one man did for the team and a city. 

I can feel the pain the pain of Cleveland and I can only imagine the amount of pain they will unleash tonight. It's should be an exciting moment and not to mention the fans will get to see a game tonight as well.

Your....Scrappy Philadelphia 76ers

Great news everyone, the Sixers are no longer mired at the bottom of the NBA. They are now solely in the cellar of the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division.

I guess I can't say that anyone is really surprised by the developments of this season, but I will say I'm moreso dissapointed than anything. Even though this team wasn't expected to do anything special, at the very least as a fan of the Sixers (yes, they still exist) it's so unfortunate that this team continues to dwell and stall in last place.

When watching the Sixers there's a sense of inevitability that some how, some way the team will find a way to lose and when a fanbase feels that way about a franchise, the Wells Fargo Center begins to look the way it looks.

The positives for the 76ers are few and far between, but they are there. For one, the team is on a two games winning streak, which is their first such streak this season and their first two game winning streak since March 26th of last season.

The Sixers (5-13) beat the struggling Portland Trail Blazers last night 88-79 and they did it by playing suffocating defense. They held the Blazers to only 11 points in the fourth quarter and the Sixers went on a 15-4 run that basically iced the game.

Coach Doug Collins played everybody and their momma last night...well almost everybody. Darius Songalia didn't the call, but everyone else who got into the game scored and for the most part the Sixers keep up their energy throughout the second half. Which is something they haven't done many times this season.

Guard Andre Iguodala told CSNPhilly's Dei Lynam that he thinks the Sixers are improving on the court.

“I could just tell by the way we were playing we had that unity there as far as making the extra pass. The little things like making the extra pass, our rotations, guys saying I got to get there, just small things that I could see with the guys. The big things we do well. We go after rebounds, we try to box out, we try to play hard every night and when you play hard you give yourself a chance.”

It's nice to see consistent effort out of the Sixers becauseI feel that's the one thing we've seen out of the team this year, is an effort to win even though the energy level sometimes doesn't match.

Though, the toughest situation the Sixers are dealing with right now is the poor play of Evan Turner. The number two pick in this year's draft has not lived up to anyone's expectations and going back to summer basketball has looked unready to play at the level expected of him. 

Last night, he went 0-4 in 19 minutes of action and had one point with two rebounds, two steals and three assists and in his last four games has totaled only seven points on 2-14 shooting. Turner looks way too passive on the offensive end, he clearly a smart player and doesn't make big mistakes on the floor, he has a turnover differential of +2, he knows how to make plays but just hasn't made them consistently.

Well the Sixers are and will continue to be a work in process and hopefully we can see significant progress this season so we can start to feel a little better about basketball in Philadelphia.