By Dave Morrison
West Virginia safety Robert Sands and kicker Tyler Bitancurt were named the Big East Conference defensive and special teams players of the week Monday.
Sands had seven tackles, three pass breakups and a pivotal fourth-quarter interception as the Mountaineers held Pitt to a season-low 16 points.
Bitancurt had four field goals, including the game-winner as time expired.
Sands and Bitancurt may have also turned the bowl tide in West Virginia’s favor.
Now, instead of talk of the Papajohn’s.com Bowl, the Mountaineers are potentially in line for a berth in the Gator Bowl.
But it will take some work.
West Virginia has to beat Rutgers Saturday when the two teams meet at noon at Rutgers. The game will be televised on ESPN.
And Cincinnati will have to beat Pittsburgh in what is the de facto Big East championship game.
That way, WVU would finish second in the Big East, making it a perfect mark for the Gator.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Notre Dame lost to Stanford Saturday night.
Gator Bowl executive director Rick Catlett was quoted in the Jacksonville Times-Union a couple weeks ago that a 7-5 Notre Dame team was still a “viable option” for the bowl.
Notre Dame finished 6-6 and coach Charlie Weis was fired Monday.
Typically, coach Bill Stewart eschewed any talk of bowl games.
“I’m going to tell the team it’s round seven of the Big East,” Stewart said. “I can’t stop what people put out there. As soon as we got off the field on Friday night, I started hearing things about the Gator Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
“It’s the same thing I said last season — let us get through game 12 before we worry about game 13. It would be so much easier on keeping these young men focused. I’m going to have to rely on our seniors to keep this bunch focused. We are playing Rutgers before we play in any bowl.”
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Sands had a big day against Pitt, a team he originally committed to, at times looking like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Troy Polamalu.
“From what I have seen, and according to coaches (Steve) Dunlap and (Jeff) Casteel, he is getting it,” Stewart said. “He is absorbing more and more and getting everything quicker. He is playing like a veteran, and he’s just a young sophomore, which is really good.”
Sands leads the Mountaineers in interceptions with five but had a pair of other would-be interceptions against Pitt that he dropped.
“I told the guys to get the jugs (gun) out — I want him to start getting the interceptions, just not knocking them down,” Stewart said.
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Stewart was asked about this week’s Pitt-Cincinnati game.
“I’m going to leave it up to you guys — if I say something in one direction, there will be people wanting my scalp.
“I see two really good teams. One is a little bit more talented than the other, and one is a bit more physical than the other. I will let you decipher what that means. That is going to be a good football game.
“I think it is going to be a great game. When you have (Cincinnati quarterback) Tony Pike hitting on all of those cylinders that he is hitting on, they are really good.
“Then, you look at Pitt, running the football and playing defense — it’s going to be a heck of a football game.”
