Published: November 24, 2009 12:55 am      

Stew, staff prep for tough Pitt defense

Playing No. 9 Pittsburgh (9-1) is going to be a hard enough task.

And West Virginia coach Bill Stewart is often fond of saying the team will fire every bullet in its arsenal to get a victory.

West Virginia (7-3) hosts Pitt at 7 p.m. Friday. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

The question is, will Stewart be carrying the pistol in his holster.

“I learned a long time ago that in big games, fundamentals are the key,” Stewart said Monday at his weekly press conference. “I even saw a quote like that by (Pitt coach) Dave (Wannstedt). Both coaches are old school and both staffs are doing the same preparation.

“Trick plays will not win this football game; I don’t think they would even alter the outcome. I think fundamentals are going to be the key. What you do in games like this are you tie up the laces a little bit tighter, strap down the pads a little bit tighter and you go out there and play to the best of your ability.”

Still yet, for a team (Pitt) known for its power, might the pistol (lining up tailback Noel Devine a couple yards behind quarterback Jarrett Brown, who is in shotgun formation) be fired again?

“The pistol is still in the repertoire,” Stewart said. “I don’t know if we’ll use it. We have it. If, in fact, we need to do it, we certainly will. Right now, if we think they are doing something to us formation-wise, we’ll use it. We thought East Carolina kept doing something to us, formation-wise. We used the pistol to try to eliminate that problem. It’s almost like the I-formation. That helped us.”

A lot will depend on the health of Devine, who has rushed for 1,098 yards on 192 carries, an average of 5.7 yards per carry. He has 10 touchdowns.

“Noel is getting better each day,” Stewart said.

Brown is 157 of 241 passing for 1,849 yards and 11 touchdowns and he has rushed for 366 yards and five scores.

Stewart, without letting out too many secrets, said the offense likely will resemble some of what the Mountaineers did against South Florida. That is mainly because, like the Bulls’ defensive line, Pitt has a tough front.

“We’ll use tight end blocking and some chips,” Stewart said. “You cannot spend a lot of time worrying about the two defensive ends. If you do that, it will take you right out of your game plan. You can’t call the game.

“Our tackles — Selvish Capers and Don Barclay — are both fine football players. We will help them some with Tyler Urban and Will Johnson. We will have to call our game.”

Stewart relishes the opportunity to get back off the mat after a tough 24-21 loss to No. 5 Cincinnati two weeks ago.

“We are known nationally as the ‘Backyard Brawl’ and it’s great to have that type of notoriety to set this game up,” Stewart said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to play this coming Friday and we’re doing the best we can to get ready.

“It will be a very physical, emotional, hard-fought game. They all usually are. If history repeats itself, this game will be like it has in the past — tough and very exciting.”

It will be the Mountaineers’ final home game of the season. WVU travels to Rutgers Dec. 5.

— E-mail: demorrison@

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