The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

College Sports

September 2, 2010

Don’t fault WVU for opening with a gimme game

By Dave Morrison Sports Editor

MORGANTOWN — Some fans would love to see West Virginia open with a Boise State — a la Virginia Tech — or an Ohio State, as the Mountaineers did in 1998.

The likes of Coastal Carolina, Saturday’s opening foe, or Liberty, Villanova or Western Michigan — the Mountaineers’ opening opponents the last three years — don’t inspire much more than a yawn.

Not a lot of magic in a sure-win situation.

No big play for a big win over the lesser weights of the Football Championship Subdivision.

Not that you’d convince Bill Stewart that it’s a sure-win, lesser-weight FCS team his team is playing Saturday. No, he’d have you believe he’s playing the New Orleans Saints.

Don’t fault Stewart, though. It’s his job. Truth is, he probably knows his team should win by name-the-score final.

“I think it is great for the game and great that those young men get to play against so-called I-A teams,” Stewart said. “If you guys can just think back a few years ago when that bunch out of Boone, N.C., went up north. They had a pretty good day up there if I remember correctly.”

True, Appalachian State went to the Big House on Sept. 27, 2007, and beat Michigan 34-32.

Coastal Carolina is not Appalachian State.

What does West Virginia get out of this deal? Outside a win, I mean?

“We learned last season that you need to finish the deal and that I-AA football, where I coached, is not bad football,” Stewart said. “We have 85 scholarships and they have 63 —that is 22 less. I also missed The Citadel beating Arkansas a few years back, so I don’t take any game for granted. We play them all one at a time.”

It’s a warm-up.

And I don’t blame West Virginia one bit for playing what should amount to little more than a glorified exhibition game.

It’s almost like a warm-up for the coaches and team, the fans and, yes, even the media.

But inside the box — right there on your magnetic refrigerator schedule,  you know you have one — West Virginia’s conglomeration of opponents isn’t exactly a trip through the FCS.

The Mountaineers play at LSU this year.

They played a home-and-home with Auburn the last two years.

They have restored the rivalry with Maryland, at least momentarily.

Say what you want, but the trip to Huntington should be a treat.

West Virginia has a chance, with its schedule, to climb the rankings and, with a few choice bounces and a little luck, make a push for the national title game. But so do a lot of teams.

It is the lay of the land in the BCS.

Win and advance, lose and enjoy your trip to (insert bowl location here).

And until the system is changed — and the college presidents don’t want any part of that — this is the way it’s going to be. You just can’t afford to go out and play a 50-50 chance game in the opener.

It’s a wonder the SEC doesn’t schedule an all-FCS nonconference schedule.

No, I don’t fault West Virginia at all.

It’s a 12-game playoff to get to the end. And if you fancy yourself a contender, a legitimate contender, don’t you always start a long playoff run with a team you should beat?

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