Big East Preview: West Virginia, Contender

This might be the last chance for West Virginia to win a national title, or it might just be the start of something better. It's hard to tell at this point. A coach hired because of an emotional win generally doesn't last long. But Bill Stewart and West Virginia are taking a different approach. If they can keep the best of the Rodriguez era and replace the bad with their own style, they might just have a chance.

Why They'll Win

Offense! West Virginia returns two of the most electrifying players in the country in Pat White and Noel Devine. Both are exceptionally fast and near impossible to bring down in the open field. One thing that will ensure they get their chances in the open field is that all five starters return on the offensive line. The line isn't one of the biggest in the country, but they move well and use proper technique to gain an advantage. The West Virginia offense uses deception to get the defense moving in one direction and creates running lanes for backside cutbacks When everything is clicking, it's one of the most dominating rushing attacks in the country.

West Virginia plans on exploring more of the field in the passing game this year. One of the downfalls of the offense in recent year was that it didn't force teams to cover the entire field. On the few occasions that the Mountaineers did pass, it was mostly bubble screens and quick hits. So in the few games that the rushing attack was slowed, it left no options to open the field back up. The coaching staff plans on more intermediate routes to keep the defense honest as well as more pre-snap motion to help White get a better read on what defenses are doing. Also of note is senior kicker/punter Pat McAfee. He's got an extremely strong and mostly accurate leg that should ensure that West Virginia has a field position advantage in most games.

Why They'll Lose

You probably noticed that I didn't say anything about defense above. It's for a good reason. West Virginia lost four of the starting five defensive backs, one linebacker, and two defensive linemen. It should be noted that the Mountaineers are one of the few teams in the country that uses the 3-3-5 as their base defense. It's an advantage in that teams never face the odd defense except when they play West Virginia. It's also a disadvantage, though, because it isn't widely used and new players need time to develop in the system. That point becomes obvious when you look at how the Mountaineer defense stacked up nationally in years where they had a lot of experience returning as opposed to years that they didn't. In 2005 and 2007 West Virginia was heavy on upperclassmen on the defensive side of the ball. 2004 and 2006 were just the opposite. Considering the level of competition West Virginia faced in all four of those years, that point becomes even more evident. It's not to say that they can't have success this year defensively, but with a serious lack of depth on the defensive line they will be hard pressed to reproduce the results of last years defense.

It should also be noted that West Virginia lost two of it's most critical pieces on offense from a year ago, Owen Schmitt and Darius Reynaud. The runaway beer truck that is Owen Schmitt was also one of the most devastating lead blockers in West Virginia if not college football history. You just don't replace that kind of size and talent. Reynaud had 64 receptions of the 144 completions White had in 2007. As well as 12 of the 14 receiving touchdowns White threw. That's a lot of production to replace. If West Virginia is going to incorporate more passing, a go to receiver has yet to emerge to fill Reynaud's shoes.

How To Beat Them

Hurt Pat White. West Virginia has only lost one game that Pat White was not injured in or injured the week before. If you want to dig deeper, watch game film of the last two South Florida games. Unfortunately, what you will see is a defense that is every bit as fast as West Virginia's offense. A defense that had two lockdown corners that could go one-on-one with just about anyone in the country. That freed up the rest of the defense to focus on the running game.

You're defense isn't that good? Well then you need to be able to run the ball well and not make mistakes. You can't afford to lose the turnover battle against West Virginia. The offense is potent enough as it is. The last thing you want to do is give them more opportunities. The best game plan against West Virginia was executed by Pitt last year. They made almost zero mistakes and were able to run the ball effectively against one of the stingiest defenses against the run. It's a hard thing to do, but not impossible.

Prognosis

This team has a real shot at a national title run, and the schedule is just tough enough that if they go undefeated, they shouldn't get bumped by a one loss team from one of the power conferences. The offense should be good enough to get them nine wins, but the defense is going to have to show up against Auburn, Pitt, and South Florida for any national title dreams to turn into reality.