.... lies in its numbers.
On October 15, 2005 the West Virginia University Mountaineers (gridiron football team) hosted #19 Louisville Cardinals, which joined the Big East Conference just this year. At the start of the 4th quarter WVU was trailing 24-7 and things looked really bleak. The defence then stopped Louisville and forced a punt. WVU got the ball with 13:10 on the clock.
The Mountaineers then proceeded to score 17 points to tie the game, with NO turnovers by the other team!
We scored a TD to make it 24-14, then recovered an onside kick (which, in hindsight, should not have been WVU's ball) and went down the field and got a field goal to make it 24-17, with 4:40 on the clock. The defence stood strong and forced the Cardinals to go 3-and-out and punt it back with 3:41 on the clock. We then drove 60 yards for a TD to tie the game with a minute left.
Strangely, with 54 seconds to go and 2 timeouts left, Louisville chose to play for overtime and ran out the clock.
We finally won in the 3rd overtime, after scoring a TD in each one. It was an exciting game and, for me, the most heartening part was this - in spite of being down 24-7, by my count, WVU attempted 30 rushes and 9 passes in scoring the next 39 points for the win. A very composed performance indeed.
Here is an excerpt from the the Big East Conference PRESEASON media guide which sized up WVU's running back situation thusly: "Sophomore Pernell Williams will see time behind [junior Jason] Colson. Junior Erick Phillips, who is returning from knee surgery, will also look to make an impact, along with tailback Jason Gwaltney, Josh Bailey, Brad Palmer, Justin Dziak, Owen Schmitt and junior college transfer Louis Davis, who will compete for time at fullback and tight end."
In this game against the Cardinals, a WVU running back had 31 rushes for 188 yards and 5 TD's, and 3 catches for 20 yards and another TD. WVU is to running backs what the Steelers are to linebackers and the Broncos are to running backs - a factory. The guy who did all this is a true freshman - Steve Slaton, who is not even mentioned in the list above!!
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Slaton has started only two games but leads the Mountaineers (6-1, 3-0 Big East, ranked 17th in BCS Poll) in rushing with 459 yards and a robust 6.1 yards per carry.
The remaining teams on the schedule are South Florida, CONNECTICUT, Cincinnati, and PITTSBURGH (home games in caps). These teams are 3-3, 4-2, 3-3, and 3-4, respectively. Hopefully the Mountaineers can retain their composure and earn a BCS Bowl bid.
Stay tuned for weekly updates on the progress of the Mountaineers.
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