Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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November 2, 2009

WVU tries to rebound after defeat

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD — With consecutive games with Big East unbeatens Cincinnati and Pittsburgh later this month, the West Virginia Mountaineers couldn’t afford a loss last Friday to South Florida.

Yet, that’s exactly what happened.

B.J. Daniels, who was only playing quarterback for the Bulls after Matt Grothe was lost in September to a season-ending knee injury, put on a show for ESPN2 viewers, throwing for 232 yards and three touchdowns, and also ran for another 104.

Daniels and the Bulls used a 10-0 fourth quarter spurt to pull away for the 30-19 win, South Florida’s third in five meetings with West Virginia, including in the Mountaineers’ last two visits to Florida.

“It’s a team game, this is a team loss by the entire travel party, coaches, players and the whole gang,” West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart said. “We do have some things to build on. It was a good, athletic bunch we played and now we just have to regroup and get ready for the stretch run.

“That’s what it’s all about from here on out.”

That stretch won’t be easy. West Virginia (6-2, 2-1) will get Louisville (3-5, 0-3) — which is tied with Syracuse at the bottom of the Big East — on Saturday, but that will be followed with a pair of Friday tilts with No. 4 Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0) and No. 14 Pittsburgh (7-1, 4-0).

They’ll complete the regular season by visiting disappointing Rutgers (6-2, 1-2) on Dec. 5.

West Virginia, which had won four of the last six Big East titles, hasn’t gone two seasons in a row without a conference crown since Rich Rodriguez’s first two seasons in 2001-02.

The Mountaineers dropped out of both of the polls and the BCS rankings after the loss to the Bulls.

“I think we’re playing pretty good football. We got beat by a team that has good athletes and that right now I think they have the same record as us,” Stewart said. “I sure wish we were 7-1 and they were 5-3, but we’re not.

“So are we a juggernaut right now? No we’re not, but I saw a lot of good things. We’re not as good as we need to be. We have made a lot of good plays, and we have had some good times this season, and I hope we have more good times and more good plays left in us in all three phases of the game.”

If statistics are telling, the Mountaineers should be able to get healthy against the injury-ravaged Cardinals, which defeated Arkansas State 21-13 last week, led by 5-foot-10, walk-on quarterback Will Stein. The Cardinals’ only other wins were against Indiana State and Southern Mississippi.

Louisville is ranked last in the Big East in numerous categories, including rushing defense (147.38) — which might be good news for West Virginia tailback Noel Devine (119.3, 10th in nation) — scoring defense (27.63), total defense (371.75), scoring offense (20.25) and turnover margin.

Still, Stewart isn’t a stat guy, pointing out that West Virginia had 441 yards against the Bulls and still came out on the losing end.

“Statistically speaking, there were a lot of positives, but a stat sheet doesn’t win a football game as I said after the game,” Stewart said. “That being said we just have to get better, strain harder and stay together. I mean that sincerely, stay together.”

Stewart was asked before Sunday’s practice what the ‘Eers could do after seeing their four-game losing streak come to an end, and possibly its Big East hopes dashed as well.

“Now what can we do? We can coach harder, play harder, get a little bit (better) and that’s what I told them after the game,” said Stewart, who defended his secondary, especially Keith Tandy, who struggled against the Bulls. “You can go zero, cover zero and blitz. You can roll up and cover two, you can go quarters, you can play three-deep. All the stuff we’re trying to do and did in that game to help against some athletic youngsters, we try to do.

“We have to get better and continue to mix it up and maybe we’ll get a break and have a tipped ball or batted ball. It was just a long night for a couple of youngsters, one in particular, and we’ll do the best we can to shore that problem up.”

West Virginia will host Louisville at noon on Saturday. The Mountaineers’ will be featured later this month on an ESPN network at Cincinnati (Nov. 13) and at home against Pittsburgh (Nov. 27), both of which will be Friday night games.

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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