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

It's Thursday of "Beat Up Your Little Annoying Cousin Week."  This week is also the start of the BB pre-season, so with the increase in BB news, it may get it's own section, day-to-day.  Send in your links, tips, requests, etc and on with the show...

What You May Have Missed:

Marshall Preview - MSNsportsNET.Com
Pravda version.

Preview: WVU - Marshall - BlueGoldNews.com
BGN Version

Game Preview: Marshall - WVIllustrated.com
and another

What to watch in the Big East, Week 7 - Big East - ESPN

BIG EAST Extends Bowl Deal - MSNsportsNET.Com

Boise State survives Tulsa scare to remain unbeaten - ESPN

College Football Mailbag - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

BB Pre-Season:

WVU Basketball Teams Hold Preseason Media Day - WTRF.com

Huggins sees potential in Mountaineers - Charleston Gazette
I can honestly say, I have never been excited for a BB season to start...until this year.

Expectations high for WVU men - Times West Virginian

Mountaineers Enter New Season, "Looking for a National Championship." - Eersports.com
"West Virginia basketball enters the new season with perhaps its best team in decades."

WVU women strong in health, numbers - Times West Virginian
The women look to be pretty good this year too...if they can avoid the injury bug.

FB News of Note:

Running mild - Charleston Gazette
"West Virginia has given up 100 rushing yards twice this season. No, that's exactly 100 yards. Only 100 yards. No more."

Friends of Coal Bowl - Register-Herald

WVU-Marshall: Round Nine - WVMETRONEWS.COM

Tight end invading Mountaineer offense - Charleston Daily Mail

Noel Devine and Darius Marshall meet in a marquee match-up of nation's top rushers - WVIllustrated.com

Marshall-W.Va. features 2 of nation's top rushers - Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register (AP)

West Virginia's Sanders making his amends - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mountaineer quarterback anything but disappointing - Register-Herald

Stew has vested interest in sweater - Dominion Post
Thanks to Dougity Dog for leading me to this one.

Car Care Bowl tie-ins taking shape - Charleston Gazette
Vingle's BE notebook

Neild glad to do defensive dirty work - Times West Virginian
Hertzel Column

Young players stepping up in Berry's absence - Charleston Gazette

In Berry's Absence, Taylor Making His Mark - Eersports.com

Taylor driven to succeed - Register-Herald

Back on the Road, Erin Andrews Is 'Hanging in There' -- NCAA Football FanHouse
EA gives her first interview since Oprah, but will only talk about sports. There's a paragraph or two about her reporting at our Colorado game last year.

Around the League (and Beyond):

UC offense scores too fast - Cincinnati Enquirer

Bulls-Bearcats a hot ticket in Tampa - Tampa Tribune
I believe, the last time the that crowd was as big as it's supposed to be tonight, was against us in 2007.

Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage will be in the spotlight Friday night against Pittsburgh - Star Ledger

Rutgers' run defense poses problems for Pitt - PPG

NFL Network: Jon Gruden is top target for Louisville job - Card Chronicle

Lee Corso headlines Media Power Rankings for September - SI.com
While I've certainly never liked his comments about us, I've generally found him mildly funny and entertaining when talking about any other team. I do wish him a full recovery.

Alabama contends NCAA wrongly vacated 21 wins - SI.com
What? You expected them to say, "OK"? Basketball and other sports, maybe...

What's on Tap:

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. South Florida Bulls Preview, October 15 2009 - ESPN
Tonight on ESPN, 7:30. Cinci is favored by 2.

Video of Interest:

Here's a video of Huggs' Presser, courtesy of WVIllustrated.com.

Gallery of the Day:

Miss Throwdown:

Today's Miss Throwdown is another Africaans beauty from South Africa.  I present Lieschen Botes.

via assets.sport.ro

Windhoek Lager image via www.sawinesonline.co.uk