Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, brought to you today by Baltika, in honor of today's Miss Throwdown.

It's Day 2 of MooU week.  There seems to be a lot of "is it a rivalry or isn't it?" going around and many of today's articles are no exception.  It may be "only Marshall" but it's still Mountaineer football and that's enough for me to get excited about this week's game.  Like Huggs said (I'm paraphrashing), you come to see the Mountaineers, not our opponents.  Send in your tips and requests and see you after the jump...

What You May Have Missed:

Stew's Views: "In-State Battle" - BlueGoldNews.com

Devine and Lazear Earn BIG EAST Awards - MSNsportsNET.Com

Syracuse Award Winners Announced - MSNsportsNET.Com

Mountaineers in the NFL - WVIllustrated.com
This week's update.

WVU-Connecticut will air on ESPNU - Charleston Daily Mail
This will make people happy......NOT.

Big East power rankings, Week 7 - Big East - ESPN

On The Mark: Week 6 - College Football - ESPN
Schlabach is still an ignorant slut.

NCAA College Football Power Rankings Week 6 - ESPN
Pitt's loss is to a 3-3 NC State team and ours is to a 1 loss Auburn team....and Pitt is ranked, WTF?!?!

News of Note:

Did You Know? - MSNsportsNET.Com
Caridi's blog post

Little backs, big numbers - Charleston Gazette

Dude has answers to WVU-Herd questions - Charleston Gazette
I thought he went all Lebowski on me for a sec....and he kinda does.

MU offense has stalled against Mountaineers - Charleston Gazette

Marshall impresses Stewart - Inter-Mountain

Herd ranks high among national statistics - Herald Dispatch

Effective third downs difference for WVU - Charleston Daily Mail

Hoppy's Commentary For Tuesday - WVMetroNews.com
'The week before WVU and Marshall meet on the football field inevitably prompts the question of whether the game can be classified as a "rivalry."'

Still not a rivalry, but ... - Register-Herald

WVU, Marshall hooking up in Morgantown - Parkersburg News and Sentinel

From one rivalry to another - Parkersburg News and Sentinel

Marshall series could be in jeopardy - Times West Virginian
The ONLY reason I would even begin to support a continuation is to fill out the HOME schedule. Otherwise, it's a lose-lose situation. Win, "well, you were supposed to" and Lose "WTF just happened?!?!"

Herd QB hopes to build on last game - Register-Herald

Recruiting:

Blue-Chip Florida WR Preparing for WVU Visit - Eersports.com
WVU joins UNC, Florida, Oregon and Miami in the final five for blue-chip Miramar (Fla.) wideout Ivan McCartney.

The Big Board: WVU Hoops Recruiting Overview - Eersports.com
"Everything you need to know about West Virginia basketball recruiting." Or so he says.

Around the League (and Beyond):

WVU, Pitt, and USF-Cincy Winner Lead Big East Title Race - Bleacher Report

Bag Krag
The name of the site says it all.

Beaumont possibly out with concussion - Card Chronicle

Goebel, Young, Woods ready to go - Cincinnati Enquirer

Things are about to get tougher for Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage - Star Ledger
He means the days of playing 1-AA schools this year are over (finally).

Redshirt freshman Grissom out for the year - Tampa Tribune

Defeat Cincinnati, and the city could belong to the Bulls - Tampa Tribune
USF still having a bit of trouble turning people in Tampa into fans, kind of like Pitt.

The Nassibening Cometh? - Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician
Greg Paulus' days of starting may be numbered.

Pitt taking losing streak against Rutgers personally - PPG

Missing: One four-star wideout with big-play potential and a bushy tail - TheUConnBlog.com
Call me crazy, but you should never expect a true freshman to light things up. It's always nice when they do, but the overall probability is against it.

BCS standings preview leaves Texas trailing three teams - ESPN
BCS standings officially are released after this week's games. Here's a mock preview if they were released this week.

Video of (Dis)Interest:

This Week in Bodypainting:

Like the man said before, if you don't like this gallery, there is something wrong with you (or perhaps you're a female, we do have female readers, you know).

Miss Throwdown:

Today's Miss Throwdown is a noted body painter herself, as she's donned the paint for Sports Illustrated (evidence below).  For the linked gallery you need to scroll down a little.  Here's a link to her body painting video (embedding disabled).  Meet Russian beauty Irina Shayk.

via i.cdn.turner.com

Baltika image via www.tatianasbeverages.com