The Smoking Musket, a West Virginia Mountaineers community

Once, well that was an isolated incident. Twice is a little bit harder to explain away. There's no exact transcript of Oliver Luck's comments to a West Virginia radio station available yet, but he's sure to receive a stern complaint in the morning regarding a second swipe at a fellow conference member in as many months. How odd is it that the two of the most forward-thinking athletics departments in the Big East are now engaged in petty, one-sided sniping? Comparing Rutgers and West Virginia athletics just is not an apples to apples comparison. Rutgers fields 24 sports. West Virginia fields 17, and rifle isn't exactly as resource-intensive as soccer or lacrosse. Part of the difference between the two athletic departments is that WVU sells a lot more tickets (decades of history tend to accomplish that), and part of it is that they don't have as many mouths to feed. Yes, on a per-capita basis, there may not be a team in the country with more local support than the Mountaineers. That...is irrelevant. Here's the thing: people who are secure don't feel the need to justify their position (take heed, Syracuse fans cackling over this.) Luck is no dummy, but these comments come across as something halfway between self-reassurance and even a hint of desperation. With college football about to be enveloped in chaos, he is compelled to make an elaborate case for their continued relevance, because if the forthcoming reshuffling is all about markets, they're in very difficult position. Tim Pernetti, he just needs to point to a map of New York City.