Year in and year out, Survivor is one of the most popular reality shows. Watching individuals do whatever it takes to advance in a game where the victor is awarded $1,000,000 has become "much watch television".
Playing in their own game of Survivor over the next weeks will be the Mountaineers of head coach Dana Holgorsen as well as 24 high school football teams whose head coaches met at the WVSSAC office on W.Va. 47 Sunday to decide when, and where they will meet to take the next step toward a possible appearance in the Super Six Championships.
Eain Smith's block of a potential game-tying field goal by Cincinnati may prove to be the play that saves a West Virginia season that began with talk of a national championship berth, changed to a hopeful BCS contest after a 26-point loss to then-No. 2 LSU, and now rests on the Mountaineers' ability to win out in its two regular season contests against arch rival Pittsburgh in the annual "Backyard Brawl" in Morgantown the day after Thanksgiving and a trip to Tampa to take on South Florida.
Even should WVU come out victorious in those two contests, it still will need a lot of help from the other members of the 8-team Big East as the Bearcats are still in control of their own destiny with only one loss in conference.
Wins over Rutgers, Syracuse and Connecticut will send Cincinnati to its third BCS bowl in the last four seasons while another loss throws the 'Cats into a possible three-way tie with Louisville and WVU - should all finish with 5-2 marks.
Two losses and UC will be relegated to a minor bowl while a two-way tie between the Mountaineers and Cardinals would send Louisville to the "big game" based on the Cards' 38-35 win in Morgantown.
Louisville appears to have a slight edge in remaining league games as it travels to Connecticut next Saturday and then closes its conference slate at South Florida on the same day WVU entertains the Panthers.
The best scenario for Mountaineer fans is for their beloved old gold and blue to take care of business at home against Pitt and show the emotion it displayed at Cincinnati against a Bulls team that may be dangerous, but is also just as beatable.
A three-way tie between WVU, Cincy and Louisville gives the Big East berth to the highest ranked team in the final BCS standings - in all likelihood that would be WVU - while a two-way tie with the Bearcats would send the Mountaineers into one of the five "major" bowls.
On the high school side, losses by Parkersburg, Roane County, Ritchie County, Ravenswood, Parkersburg Catholic and Wirt County leave the Mid-Ohio Valley with three representatives in the postseason - Parkersburg South in Class AAA and Williamstown and Wahama in Class A.
The Patriots find themselves in a rematch against Morgantown while the Yellowjackets entertain Valley Fayette and the White Falcons play host to Fayetteville. Win and you go on, lose and go home. Sounds like Survivor to me.
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
