beaver2004

Most definitely. Some of the games even at the beginning of the decade (does Greg Vinyard ring a bell?) were always great -- and even dangerous at times, between the fans. Really sad to see the state of affairs down at Mt. View .. hope they can bounce back soon.

Finally most of VA's recruits are starting to realize how much of a better future Tech has than UVA. I dunno how in the world UVA has recruited who they have in the past few years, and even when they didn't win any more than 6 or 7 games it still went on. Tech has usually cleaned up in the state compared to UVA, but now its not even close. BTW WVU has landed a few of VA's finest - the first being Bradley Starks, a dual-threat QB out of Orange, VA who is rated the #8 player in the state by rivals. They also have landed Brandon Hogan from Manassas who is the #20 ranked player in VA. Usually the Mountaineers don't recruit a lot down here in VA but I just thought that was interesting.

Yeah that freaking guy is a joke. A ton of talent and he literally does not have a brain. He is a prime reason (now that he's gone) that this upcoming year will be different for WVU as compared to preseason top-10 WVU from 2004 (which I still wonder who in the world thought that team was that good 2 years ago).

No doubt about that. I have the upmost respect for the pre-Vick VT fans around Bluefield. You would be surprised to see how many people walking about with a VT hat or shirt on couldn't even name 3 players on Tech's football team. (That is not a joke -- I've done it to a few of my younger sibling's friends). It's hilarious to see the look on their face when you ask them too. But that kinda crap happens everywhere, it has happened some now that WVU won the Sugar Bowl.

Thats what Pitt is for (although being from around here I definitely prefered the rivalry with VT much more). To most people in the northern part of the state, the Pitt game is much bigger than any other game. I agree that the WVU/MU game is "good for college football," but it will never, EVER live up to the rivalry of WVU/VT or even the "budding" rivalry of WVU/Louisville. I really have a lot of respect for the VT program because of them playing WVU and the competitiveness of that series, but I have very little for Marshall. Their fans have been whining about this series forever and they have never even beaten WVU (in football, obviously). I just hope they get their satisfaction on opening day.

Yeah I've read on espn.com where they are having a Sunday night slot b/c they lost Sunday night NFL to NBC. But I certainly hope it stays on Saturday too, b/c if not then WVU will be playing the first 3 games of the year in 11 days (MU, E. Washington, and Maryland). The only good thing about it being on Sunday would be the fact it would be a guaranteed night game. Coach Rod has never lost a home night game since he's been at WVU. So good luck to the herd if it's a night game either on Sat. or Sunday.

It's most likely not going to happen. http://www.wvgazette.com/section/Sports/2006052549 Of course the idiotic Huntington paper jumps all over it when a local news station says "sources" tell them that ESPN has interest in moving the game to Sunday. If they would actually get their facts straight like the Gazette did, they would realize ESPN hasn't even contacted either party (WVU or MU). People around Huntington seriously can't accept the fact that no one - on a national scale - gives a hoot about this game. The only reason it may be televised in the first place is because of WVU's expected preseason ranking.

Great analysis buddy.

Also when BigD talked about keeping a certain level in the polls to keep the BCS, that is the final BCS standings before the bowl games are played that he was talking about. Tranghese, the BE's commish, did a brilliant thing right before the new teams entered the BE in football ('Ville, USF, and Cincy) by allowing Louisville's BCS ranking in their last year of Conf. USA to be counted as the Big East's ranking for that particular year (when it was a big mess and Pitt went to the Fiesta). That year, Louisville went to the Liberty Bowl against Boise St. and the Cardinals were ranked between 8-10 in the final BCS. So although they were in Conf. USA, their ranking counted towards the average of the Big East. Don't ask me how it happened, but that's the way it worked out. This past year, obviously, WVU's ranking was the highest, which was 11. What's funny is the ACC did this whole expansion thing for the conf. championship game, and it backfired on them. Florida St. somehow beat Tech, and instead of getting Tech's top 10 BCS ranking to go into their average, they get Florida St.'s which I believe was somewhere between 20 and 25 (22 I think). Anyway, my whole point is the Big East's BCS ranking is in fact in very good shape, the WVU's win over UGA only helped to solidify it. With WVU expected to be ranked in the top 10, possibly the top 5, and Louisville in the top 15, the BE may be top-heavy, but as far as the security of their BCS ranking is concerned, there is nothing to worry about. I love how all the pro-ACC and pro-VT people on here talk about the whole expansion deal like they were in the war room during the whole process; it's such a joke. I agree there was quite a bit of friction between WVU and VT in the past few years, and the break from each one's schedule will definitely be a good thing. I'd love to see the rivalry renewed way down the line - as in the next 8-10 years - but even that is likely not to happen, especially with WVU being locked into the idiotic Marshall series by the governor. But as much as people will mock and rip WVU's schedule this year, the next few years they have the likes of Michigan State, Auburn, Florida St., and Mississippi St. (who they play away this year as well) on the schedule. They just got very unlucky in this year's schedule because it's the last year of the "hangover" from the expansion. Their OOC schedule for this upcoming year was locked up 3-4 years ago when they still thought Tech, Miami, BC would be in the BE. You could argue, well, why not pick up a very good BCS opponent with the 12th game added? Well, thank the governor or WV for that one.

Exactly.

J.D. is another senior, too. Granted next year will not be like this one, but Coach Beilein is a great coach, and don't be surprised to see WVU fighting for another NCAA spot by the time the year is out. (And BTW, he isn't going anywhere, no matter what everyone wants to gossip about. He's said countless times he loves West Virginia, and even today when he arrived in Morgantown, his last sentence to the crowd was "We are going to do everything we can to keep this tradition going." He just got to Morgantown, he's building a program at a Big East school, why would he leave?) I'm not going to guarantee they'll make the tourny next year, but they'll certainly be competitive. They've got a pretty solid recruiting class coming in next year - which includes two of, if not the two best - players out of NJ. Not the rivals 4 or 5 star guys, but from my understanding, WVU does pretty damn well in both basketball and football with "less-than-stellar" recruits. Also, Darris Nichols, the back-up PG from Radford, is a star in the making. When he gets a full-time role, watch out. Frank Young is also back with a year of starting experience. Alex Ruoff is another reserve who came on late in the year this year. Nonetheless, a terrific athletic year this year in Morgantown with Rich Rod's and Beilein's guys. And BTW, who is this bandwagon jerk Texas fan? As everyone here is commenting on what a terrific game it was, he comes on here and acts like an idiot. Show some respect - your team, twice, almost got beat by the "little" WV school.

What a moron .. it's almost like the Marcus Vick situation. I mean whether you like the guy or not, how many chances do you need? Once again, like Vick, a very talented player who is just throwing it all away. I'd be highly surprised if they suspended him for the year (because in that article from the Daily Mail, it stated how Snyder is a no-nonsense guy), but he'll at least get suspended for the opener at WVU, so good luck to Marshall in that game now...

Yep so much for that. I still think Tech is as good as Texas, but as long as Texas wins out it will be impossible for VT to jump them in the polls. This all goes back to the fact that preseason polls need to be thrown out, period.

Yeah, I know, b/c Marcus threw the ball in McCann's face first then he shoved him back, and the ref threw flags on both of them, as he should have. And as for video proof, we didn't waste our time taping the opposing team's fans just to make ourselves feel better unlike some people.. we were just trying to enjoy ourselves. I'm not trying to get into a big argument here, I'm just trying to say that stuff happens everywhere and for some people to act like that only happens at WVU is complete bull.

Thank you, at least there is someone else here who realizes that goes on everywhere and isn't so biased against WVU they have to take simple forms of taunting like that and turn it against the fans. And speaking of that game.. besides the lovely gesture Vick gave the fans (and don't even start to say it was the fans fault, b/c we ALL know Tech fans never taunt the players of the opposing team), anyone hear about when he went out of bounds, he hit WVU's secondary coach (Tony Gibson) in the back of the head with his elbow? Or when he threw the ball in the face of Dee McCann after another play? (which actually drew a flag b/c Dee retaliated after the play). No.. b/c if it is not about WVU, nobody outside of Morgantown wants to talk about it.