West Virginia Mountaineers

Head Coach

Bill Stewart	1st year
07-08	11-2
Big East	5-1
FCR	3

Previous Season Wins

Big East Previews by Michael Matts

Head Coach - Bill Stewart is living the dream. He gets to inherit a team in Morgantown that in the last 3 years has accomplished the following: a 33-5 record, 2 BCS bowl wins and 2 BE championships. He is the man that the players wanted and, after heavy lobbying, the WVU AD relented and now he is the headman. The job will be to keep the Mountaineer machine rolling, and it looks like he has the pieces to do it.

Quarterback - Obviously, the team will be built around senior quarterback Pat White. He rushed for 1,335 yards and passed for 1,724 more. He accounted for 28 TDs and was the leader of the 2007 team, as evidenced by the loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl where he was injured. His blazing speed and big game experience make him an obvious Heisman candidate.

Running Backs - With Steve Slaton gone to the NFL, Noel Devine will take over at running back, and that good news. He averaged an amazing 8.6 yards/carry and scored 6 times in limited duty. The loss of FB Owen Schmitt will also hurt, but junior Maxwell Anderson is ready to step in, and he is a bruiser at 240 lbs.

Receivers - Seniors Tito Gonzalez and Darryl Jalloh will spearhead a deep wide receiver corps. Gonzalez averaged over 20 yards per catch in ’07, and Jalloh, the possession man, had 27 catches last year. Sophomores Brandon Hogan and Jock Sanders are speedsters that will make an impact in 2008.

Offensive Line - WVU will have one of the nation’s best offensive lines. All five starters will return as well as nine lettermen. Ryan Stanchek, an honorable mention All-America, is the leader at 6-4 and 300lbs at left tackle. LG Greg Isender and C Mike Dent are all BE performers from a year ago. Overall, this line averages 6’5” and 295 lbs, and had great speed.

Defense - This is where the challenge will come. WVU was magnificent on defense last year. They were 7th nationally, allowing just 301.7 yards per game. From that unit, seven starters are gone.

Defensive Line - In the 3-3-5 scheme, the interior linemen are critical, and WVU has only sophomore Scooter Berry returning. Huge NG Chris Neild (305 lbs) and junior Zac Cooper will fill out the line.

Linebackers - The strength of the “D” will be at linebacker where seniors Reed Williams (107 tackles 3 FFs) and Mortty Ivy (89 stops and 6 sacks) return.

Defensive Backs - Only safety Quentin Andrews comes backs from a secondary that ranked 14th nationally in pass defense. The success of the unit will depend on how well new junior CBs Kent Richardson and Guesly Dervil perform

Special Teams - Standout Past McAfee handles both kicking chores. He made 13-19 FGs and was 13th nationally in net punting.

Schedule - Three easy ones and two tough ones out of league. The easy ones are with 1-AA Villanova, at East Carolina and home to Marshall. After an off week, a potential shootout comes on Thursday night with Colorado at Boulder. The biggie is in Morgantown on Oct. 18 when Auburn comes in to what could be a match up of Top 10 teams. Rutgers and Cincy come to Morgantown and the key stretch comes right at the end, where in consecutive weeks WVU will play at Louisville (1-1 in the last 2), the revenge game in the Backyard Brawl at Pitt, and the finale at home with nemesis South Florida.

Outlook - WVU will have a chance to be #1 at the end of the year. They have a key game with Auburn at home, and will have all the national focus on them when they play USF on December 6th. The challenge will be to reconstruct the defense. A great initial step was the return of coordinator Jeff Casteel. If the secondary can limit big plays and get the ball in White’s hands…watch out.