WVU should be complete football team

By DAVE POE, dpoe@newsandsentinel.com
With the conclusion of the Gold/Blue scrimmage on Saturday, West Virginia University’s football team won’t publicly surface until fall drills begin in August.

That means we’ve got several months to dissect the Mountaineers, to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and to compare WVU to the 12 teams that will provide the regular season opposition this fall.

Obviously, a lot can and likely will happen before the Mountaineers open against —say it ain’t so —Villanova. (Shouldn’t that count as a Big East win? That way if WVU and some other team both suffer one conference loss, West Virginia wins based on a better league record. Hey, it’s worth trying.)

I’m not even close to being ready to commit to a prediction on the 2008 season, yet there’s little doubt that prediction will be an optimistic one.

It’s hard not to be optimistic about a team with a veteran offensive line, Pat White at quarterback, Noel Devine at superback and a coaching staff that realizes there’s more to the passing game than the bubble screen.

As always, we start off talking about offense. But that may not be the right order. WVU is going to be strong defensively, especially in the linebacking corps.

Plus, with Patrick McAfee returning, we know the kicking game will be solid.

I like the offense. Like the defense. Like the special teams.

But what i like more than any of those three is the new spirit surrounding the Mountaineer football camp.

This is a happy camp, one in which the players respect the coaching staff and vice versa.

I’ve read all the knocks on Bill Stewart. That he will be the next Larry Coker. That he’s in over his head. That he is the painter who is replacing the architect.

I couldn’t disagree more. Those who continue to badmouth and/or question the coach must be blind.

How could they not have loved the way Stewart handled the preparations for the Fiesta Bowl?

Or the way star players like White and Owen Schmitt literally told school administrators to end their search for a head coach and hire Stewart?

Speaking of star players, it’s obvious neither they nor any other member of this team is going to receive preferential treatment from Stewart and his staff. The rules are going to apply to each and every player, regardless of their value to the team. No looking the other way. No letting the inmates run the asylum.

That’s a refreshing approach.

And that’s a good word to describe what is taking place in Morgantown —refreshing.

The same underdog, we’ll show them spirit of togetherness that led WVU to the stunning win over Oklahoma still exists.

The same confidence with which WVU approached that game lives on.

The fall schedule is more difficult than the ones faced in the recent past with a road game at Colorado and a home game against Auburn.

Yet, there’s not a single game to which you can point right now and pencil in as a sure loss.

What could have been a chaotic situation has quickly evolved into a better one than previously existed.

Contact Dave Poe at dpoe@newsandsentinel.com