The Shotgun/Throwdown: Monday (9/19/11) Edition

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU's nationally recognized best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.  We're being brought to you today by Salopian Treasure Trove, in honor of today's Miss Throwdown.

Think back to that quasi-preview I did for the Marshall game where I said, "no more drama, just football."  Boy was that ever a misstatement.  I woke up Sunday not worrying about WVU's future.  I didn't go to bed with the same confidence.  This still can turn out just fine, don't get me wrong.  There is still a lot to be played out and unfortunately all we can do is wait and try not to worry.  The only thing we can do is support our Mountaineers...the rest is up to the administrators.  On to your morning links...

What You May Have Missed:

On the move: WVU rises in U.S. News & World Report rankings, among top 100 public universities - WVUToday
Any coincidence in this being released today?  Methinks not

Football: Coach Holgorsen Teleconference - MSNsportsNET.Com
Transcript

Gold And Blue Now: Monday - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Find out what Pitt and Syracuse officials say about leaving the Big East Conference, Chip Fontanazza profiles two recruits in the Mountaineers' 2012 class and the Mountaineers move up in the polls.

Football: Maryland Award Winners - MSNsportsNET.Com

2011 NCAA College Football Polls and Rankings for Week 4 - ESPN
#16 in both this week

Big East Power Rankings - Big East Blog - ESPN
Still on top here

Big East bowl projections - Big East Blog - ESPN
Orange is the pick here

2011 College Bowl Projections and Schedules - ESPN
Orange and Belk are the picks here this week

Big East helmet stickers - Big East Blog - ESPN
Geno gets a nod

Flow's World
John Flowers is in Japan playing pro basketball.  This is his blog.  Enjoy.  (make sure you read Attack of the Toilet)

WVU Extends Home Winning Streak - MSNsportsNET.Com
3-1 over Duquesne in men's soccer

WVU Stuns No. 8 Marquette - MSNsportsNET.Com
3-1 over Marquette in women's soccer

News of Note:

WVU officials, Big East not sure what will happen next - Charleston Daily Mail
"I believe things will be all right," said Drew Payne, chair of WVU's Board of Governors.  "How it's going to end up, how it's going to come down, I don't think we know what that will be, but we will be in one of the major conferences that survive."

Pitt's move stokes fear for Brawl - PPG
"When I saw it come across the screen I said to myself, 'Man, oh man!'  I can't even imagine football without Pitt and West Virginia in the same league," Nehlen said Sunday.

Win means even more in light of recent news - Charleston Gazette
Overall, though, the biggest player for WVU right now just might be athletic director Oliver Luck.

Luck’s silence is not golden - Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Making matters worse is the eerie silence that is coming out of the Big East headquarters as well as the lack of comments from WVU's Director of Athletics Oliver Luck.

WVU Will Look At Its Options - Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
Rumors rampant about joining the powerful SEC

HERTZEL COLUMN - WVU future filled with uncertainty - Times West Virginian
So what are those two roads to survival in the big time left to WVU?

WVU prepares to host No. 2 LSU, ESPN - Charleston Daily Mail
Casazza's Notebook

GameDay in Morgantown - Register-Herald
Morrison's Notebook

Holgorsen focused solely on Tigers - Times West Virginian
"My total focus is on the preparations for LSU. I have complete faith in President Clements, Athletic Director Oliver Luck and our campus leadership to do whatever is in the best interest of WVU," he said in a statement released by the university, one that said even less than did Luck.

Routine - BGN
"For the program, it's good, for the city its good and for West Virginia University it's good, but all of that will be handled by our administrators," he said. "Our job as coaches is to eliminate distractions and go through our weekly routine.  I know it's all positive but that's more on the administration's hands.  I do hope the fans have a good time with it." - Holgorsen on GameDay coming

Tiger D finds even match in W.Va. offense - News Star

Alston's debut breathes life into WVU ground game - Charleston Gazette
In Saturday's 37-31 win at Maryland, the Mountaineers finally ran the football.

WVU quarterback wants to improve red-zone passing game - Charleston Daily Mail
"It's not hard," Smith said.  "I made it look hard."

Mountaineers will go as far as Geno takes them - Daily Athenaeum
It wasn’t hard to spot the best player on the field in West Virginia’s 37-31 victory over Maryland.

Around the League (and Beyond):

Big East is facing another fight for survival - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"The Big East is looking at this as some sort of issue of tradition," he said.  "The Big East was formed to play basketball.  They didn't start to play football until 1991.  It's been a mishmash forever.  They've tried to put this together before.  The ACC has been a stable football conference for a long time.  The ACC was a stable football conference in the 1990s when the Big East wasn't even playing football." - Jay Bilas

Rutgers remains 'in contact' with ACC and Big Ten - Star Ledger

USF Sets Game Difficulty To "Freshman," Beats Florida A&M 70-17 - Voodoo Five

Louisville football upsets Kentucky 24-17 to take back Governor's Cup - Courier-Journal

Cincinnati Bearcats 59 Akron Zips 14 - Down The Drive

USC 38 - Syracuse 17: Gnarled By Barkley - Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician

Iowa State 24, UConn 20: Yikes. - The UConn Blog

Iowa 31 Pitt 27: Another Typical Pitt Loss - Cardiac Hill

College GameDay Final: Week 3 - ESPN

What's On Tap:

Men's Basketball: Season Tickets to Go on Sale - MSNsportsNET.Com
To order 2011-12 men’s basketball season tickets, call 1-800-WVU GAME, log on to WVUGAME.com or visit the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum.  Single game tickets will go on sale at a later date.

Gameday Picks WVU - MSNsportsNET.Com
For those living under a rock somewhere

Video of Interest:

Video of (Dis)Interest:

I'm really looking forward to this tonight

Miss Throwdown:

Today's Miss Throwdown is a British model and actress.  Click on the picture below for today's gallery of Kara Tointon.

Salopian Treasure Trove image via www.salopianbrewery.co.uk