Has the Bob Huggins honeymoon ended?

The short answer: probably not.  This coach of 600+ career wins deserves the right to weather a slump or two without too much question.  Still, through 16 games, this Mountaineer team seems to have many more questions than answers.  The talent is certainly present to justify the pre-season top 10 ranking.  The execution?  Not so much.

The Mountaineers own a losing record in 2010, with two wins over terrible teams and less than encouraging losses to Purdue (who has recently soiled its bed), Notre Dame, and Syracuse.  In each game, there have been extended periods of the game where West Virginia has looked utterly lost.  Sure, shooting has been cold, but it's not just that the shots aren't falling -- execution as a whole is down.

So what is the problem?  Here is just a sampling of the questions surrounding this team:

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Feel free to comment away. The Kentucky v. Lamar game is still on Fox Sports South so I have no clue what is going on.

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I don't know about the rest of you but I am ready to put this disappointing football season behind me and focus on basketball. It is tougher to get pumped for basketball games since there is less alcohol involved but lets change that and drink heavily for every game.

Tonight, at 9 p.m., CBH faces his old mentee Andy Kennedy in a crucial game for our Mountaineers. After a demoralizing defeat at the hands Blue Ball Nation, the Mountaineers need to make a statement on the road. With a 32-3 home record under Kennedy, getting a W could be a much tougher task than I originally thought.

Ole Miss has been besieged by injuries early on to backcourt mates Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice. While these injuries should give us a better shot at a W, we cannot overlook or slack off at any time this season. (see: the loss to a horrible Kentucky team) Getting this W on the road could really help out our tournament resume, if Ole Miss makes a run through the SEC.

Considering injuries and the fact that Ole Miss still is not that deep, we should win this game 76-67.

Normally, season predictions are done before the season starts but I like to be unconventional. Looking at our remaining schedule I see WVU finishing at 22-11, which includes one win in the Big East Tourny. After that, we will make another trip to the Sweet Sixteen and could go even deeper in March if our freshmen step up.

To all those in WV the game will likely not be broadcast locally, sucks to be you. Lucky for me, the game is broadcast on Fox Sports South and I will be able to see the Mountaineers play from the comfort of my own home. We will have an open game thread this evening, so come on back during the game.

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While the rest of you prepare for the Backyard Brawl, I am getting excited for the Mountaineers basketball match up with Iowa in Vegas.

The game is 3 years in the making, as WVU was supposed to play #3 seed Iowa in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament in Detroit in 2006. However, a circus shot at the buzzer by Northwestern St. essentially allowed WVU to become one of the only teams in history to advance to the Sweet 16 before even playing a game.

Minus Steve Alford and John Beilein, it looks like the corn-growers from "it's not Heaven, it's Iowa" finally get to play "almost Heaven West Virginia" in the battle for Heaven on Earth.

But honestly, that's not exactly what excites me. You see, what you probably don't know is that for Iowa fans, Sin City is whatever bathroom stall city the Hawkeyes are currently in, as evidenced by these Hawkeyes who channeled their inner Larry Craig.

From TwinCities.com

A couple of University of Iowa fans took a break from Saturday's game at the Metrodome against the University of Minnesota to have some illicit sex in a Dome restroom, police said.

The duo — a 38-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man from Carroll and Linden, Iowa, respectively — turned a handicapped toilet stall into their love nest about 8:30 p.m., late in the Hawkeyes' 55-0 trouncing of the Gophers.

A crowd of intoxicated fans gathered in the restroom to laugh and cheer the off-the-field action, until an Avalon Security guard tipped off University of Minnesota police to the ruckus.

Officers had to interrupt the intimate moment to cite the couple for indecent conduct, a misdemeanor.

University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness said similar citations at the Metrodome or on campus usually involve public urination.

He said it was the first time in his six years at the U that his force has interrupted a sex act during a Gophers game.

Hestness assumed the woman was embarrassed about being caught: She initially gave a false name to officers andhad to be identified by her husband before she was released.

The man was attending the game with his girlfriend, according to police.

"It's a long ride back to Iowa," Hestness said.
It seems bathroom stalls in Minneapolis get more action than Charley West's gimp-dungeon room.

No word yet on whether they used a glory hole.

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Sometimes we're Texas Tech with 5 wideouts, sometimes we're channeling 1970 in a single receiver, double tight end, I set, sometimes, we run fully loaded shotgun, sometimes we run half the team in motion. But everytime, we suck.

Offensive identity? "Bread and butter" plays? Who needs that when you can just randomly pick plays from nearly every offensive philosophy ever invented.

I'd rather run 6 plays that work than 66 that don't.

We have no identity on offense, or any seemingly any idea what we want to do or how to attack. We don't establish a run game, and we don't run play action. WVU scored TD's on the first drive in something like 10 straight games under Rich Rod at one point, now we go 3 and out every first possession and pretty much every ensuing possession, too.

Do we not scout? Do we not have a gameplan? Do we not know what the other team is going to do and how to react? Do we not practice during the week and prepare? We're not imposing our will on the other team, we could at least take what they give us.

3rd and short is embarrassing. We change our whole offense anytime it is 3rd and short...but really, what is our offense? The first possession of the 2ndhalf we came out with a 5 wide receivers and go 3 and out on 3 pass plays, the next possession we go 3 and out on 3 run plays out in the power I.

And every single play out of the I formation has a wide reciever going in motion, which might be okay, if the wide recievers weren't Tito Gonzalez, Dorrell Jalloh, and Wes Lyons who run an average of a 4.8 40.

Then on perhaps the two most important plays of the game we run the option out of the I formation, literally for the first time since the Darren Studstill era. Against Rutgers we ran the same shotgun QB dive about 10 times on 3rd and 1, and we haven't seen it since. Then we run Jock Sanders out of the I 10 times against UConn. The against Cincy, we go with the option every third and short.

How about mixing things up? How about developing a base offense which you feel comfortable running in every situation instead of installing a new idea every single week?

And how about the offensive line? Sure they suck, but we're asking them to power block 60% of the time when they are built strictly for zone blocking. Speed and angles, not brute force. But we only ran the zone stretch play 3 or 4 times on Saturday and the shotgun triple option once.

We ask our O-line to power block, our receivers to forget blocking and run routes, and ask our QB to make multiple reads instead of taking off and running which leads to sacks.

Which leads me to Pat White. First off I would rather Pat White get hit by a smaller defender in the secondary than a defensive lineman in the pocket. Making him work through multiple reads has led to sacks he has never taken before and has eliminated his most dangerous quality of running and improvising.

But most importantly, Pat is not a tremendous passer, and we don't have good wide receivers. Jock Sanders is probably the only good route runner, and he can't even catch.

Jeff Mullen has installed an offense that plays to every player's weakness. Running Devine between the tackles almost exclusively. Requiring Pat White to sit in the pocket and pass. Making the O-line power block. Reducing the emphasis on blocking with our slow wide receivers.

Besides 3rd downs, the offense is killing itself on 1st down. Bill Stewart loves to pass on 1st down, so instead of picking up 4 or 5 yards on an option or zone play, we're throwing incompletions and facing 2nd and 10. How many times this year has Noel Devine had 3 zone reads in a row? Very, very few.

I wouldn't mind seeing a true bubble screen on 1st downs sometimes. When we actually run it the way we used to, it's normally good for 5 or 6 yards. The problem arises on all the flare passes we throw with no blockers or poor blockers (Arnett) on 3rd and 13.

And what ever happened to the basic running back screen with linemen leading the way? Seems like Steve Slaton and Noel Devine used to pile up a lot of yards when it was still in the play book.

Furthermore, sending on the kicking team, then calling a timeout and going for it on 4th and 4 from the 6 in the 4th quarter just about sums up Bill Stewart as head coach and the offensive struggles. The coaches have no idea what they want to do, how they want to attack, and change their minds constantly. There is no decisiveness on the sidelines. There is no offensive philosophy resonating with the players and coaches day in and day out.

The day we decided to take what the defense gave us and "diversify" the offense, instead of taking whatever we wanted was the day the offense was doomed.

If I was head coach, I would have handed the new offensive coordinator the ole Richard playbook and said, "Run our down field routes 4 more times a game than we used to, and don't change anything else. Here is 300 grand." Instead, Mullen and Stewart broke that which was not broken and didn't need to be fixed.

WVU hired a man that was the tight ends coach, a non-position at WVU, and special teams coordinator, at which he sucked (see kickoff return, or the punting debacle of 2006 with Scott Kozlowski crescendoing at Louisville). Before that, he was QB coach, but anyone who thinks that Rich Rodriguez wasn't the actual QB coach is smoking something.

(Also, something that has made me scratch my head many times over the last 8 years...why was Stewart the only assistant Rich kept on from Nehlen? Was it because Stew had only been with Nehlen 1 year, or that Stew could recruit Va. a little bit, or was it to be the "good cop" to Rod's "bad cop." I don't know the answer, but I always had the perception that Stewart was a buffoon and one of our worst assistants. I assume he became Associate head coach simply because of his age and tenure?)

Then Stewart hired the QB coach from WAKE FOREST. Yes, Field Goal University. A man that had never called plays. A man that had no experience in the power spread running game. A man that never watched film from a top 10 offense returning 9 starters. A man that still calls plays like he is scrolling through the playbook on Madden and keeps seeing new formations and plays and says, "I want to try that."

Same players. Different coaches. Different results. The players aren't playing well, but that falls on the men being paid 6 figures to have them prepared. Even if the independent variable in this whole "we suck" equation wasn't the coaching, which it is, the buck still stops with the head coach. The head coach is responsible for everything that happens in the program. It's his responsibility to prepare the team to win. The preparation is far more important than the play calling on gameday.

Rich Rod's play calling was anything but deceptive, but his team's were ready on Saturday and could run those 6 plays and demoralize the opposition.

However, Stewart cannot be fired. Though he does not deserve the job, firing him would lead to years of rebuilding from which we might not recover. (Unless Casteel was promoted to HC and retained the majority of the staff and brought in a proven offensive coordinator.) But, the offensive coordinator needs to be fired and replaced, as does the offensive line coach.

Since no one at WVU is ever going to perform a national search for a highly qualified coach, no matter what the ties to the University, Stewart might as well call the jobless Charlie Taffe and give him a shot.

As long as Stewart views WVU as mediocre non-top 25 program that cannot even attract a qualified offensive coordinator to a top 10 offense, WVU will never be a top 25 program, and certainly not, a top 10 program.

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Is it really time for the first basketball practice of the season? Normally, the start of the season is like a girlfriends period, it always comes at the worst time. This year, however, it comes at a time that will divert some of our attention from a struggling football team. Hopefully, when we look up after analyzing the basketball team our football team will be back on track.

If you are going to be in town for the Syracuse game get your bitch ass to the Coliseum Friday night for Mountaineer Madness. CBH wants the place packed and if you don't go he will choke a bitch. You will not only get a glimpse of the basketball teams but also get to experience the new technology in the Coliseum. I have seen some of it and it looks fucking spectacular.

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Billy Hahn, aka "The Mock Turtle," joined other WVU coaches on a trip last week through Charley West (the town, not your author, because that would be gross). During that trip, he had some interesting insights and comments on this most recently signed recruiting class.

The most interesting was this little tidbit (and I'm slightly paraphrasing):

"Devin Ebanks is a great player, but the coaches like Kevin Jones more."

This is not that bold of a statement when you remember Kevin Jones is the #29 ranked player according to Scout. Comments like this also put our recruiting class in the proper perspective.

That perspective? It's fucking insanely good.

Devin Ebanks is the highest ranked player ever brought in to Morgantown and the coaches like another player better? Wow. Actually, more like wowowowowowowowoweeeeeeeeeewow.

The spotlight Ebanks has attracted should allow other top-end recruits, like Jones and Truck Bryant (Davis may not qualify, so he's a question mark at this point) to achieve success without that extra added pressure. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have a ton of talent and you're not expected to go for 20 points every night. Jones and Bryant can simply learn the system, play their game, and contribute quality minutes off the bench.

It's a formula that worked well for Joe Mazzulla, and it should continue to work for Jones and Bryant.

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"The 25314," I ask myself, "you sexy, good looking zip code, I know Devin Ebanks gives West Virginia a solid recruiting class, but how good is it?"

Well, recruiting rankings are out for the classes of 2008, and West Virginia - the place to which John Beilein swore you could not recruit - is ranked fourth in the country by ESPN.

Not to be outdone, Scout.com's new team rankings came out today and West Virginia is ranked 10th, right in front of Arizona, Duke, and Kansas.

The 25314 knew that Huggins could recruit - he brought the #1 class for 2007 to Manhattan, BFE - but I was hoping for top 20, not top 5.

When Huggins finally arrived in Morgantown (15 years too late), there were questions if he really could recruit his typical players to Morgantown or could win with Beilein's guys. I thought it might take a couple years to build a successful team and start landing impressive recruits.

I was wrong. Man, was I wrong. Wrong-er than the Jersey kid who rolls out of bed on a Friday night and thinks, you know what would look really good with this black wife beater, candy-striped or black shirt, blowback haircut, bachne, and guyliner? JAEGERBOMBS!!!

One point away from the Elite Eight, Top 10 recruiting class, and a lifetime contract. Fairly decent year one.

Not to mention a timeless and epic rant after the first Pitt game, in which Joe Alexander scored 5 points and grabbed 4 rebounds, where Huggins, without naming Joe, said, "I don't know why I keep calling plays for him. He doesn't want the ball when the game is on the line, and he won't get it anymore. I'll never call another play for him. As far as I'm concerned he's a screener from now on."

I think Joe responded a little bit.

Huggins first year in West Virginia has been so incredible good, I think a new letter needs to be invented to grade it. Maybe ZJ.

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