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 San Miguel Oktoberfest, because it still is and I don't take challenges like this lightly.
Wow! Huggs is on a roll with this recruiting class and it seems another commitment may be imminent today. Big East Basketball media day is today, so there is likely to be more news flowing on that front later. OK, back to football. Orange prep continues and there's plenty of player and coach interviews to take in today, including a good bit of love for The Tandy. If you have any tips, suggestions or requests for content that you think is worth sharing, you can send them to me by email or Twitter and don't forget to "LIKE" the Smoking Musket MAIN PAGE on Facebook (follow this link, then hit "LIKE"). We need more fans to get back up to the level we had before (with the old name). Spread the word!! Special birthday wishes go out today to my old man and our Hump Day lead-off hitter, Candice. All of the news and fun is after the jump...
What You May Have Missed:
Gold and Blue Report for Wednesday - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Mountaineer Report: Make It Nine In-A-Row - WVMetroNews.com
The Mountaineers have their eyes set on defeating the Orange for the ninth consecutive time - Video
Football: Coach Stewart Quotes - MSNsportsNET.Com
Quotes From Coach: Week 8 - WVillustrated.com
Football: Select Player Quotes - MSNsportsNET.Com
WVU's Luck talks allegations, future of Coal Bowl - Charleston Daily Mail
Luck understands fan passion - Bluefield Daily Telegraph
College Football Power Rankings - Andy Staples - SI.com
#22
West Back on Basketball Team - WVillustrated.com
Jonnie West back with team - Times West Virginian
Pitt picked to win Big East, Syracuse picked to finish 3rd in Post-Standard's annual preseason writers poll - Post Standard
WVU is picked 5th, with 1 first place vote
New Season, New Expectations - MSNsportsNET.Com
The highly ranked Women's BB team is the focus here
Men's Soccer: Late Goals Drop Mountaineers - MSNsportsNET.Com
2-0
Colts punter Pat McAfee arrested after drunken dip in canal - SI.com
News of Note:
Stewart comes to defense of bubble screen - Charleston Gazette
West Virginia's ground game stuck on mediocrity - Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register (AP)
West Virginia Notebook: Tandy surprising key to defense - PPG
Tandy coming along at cornerback - Times West Virginian
Jeff Mullen: Some Physical Oranges - WVMetroNews.com
T-1000 talks about the tough Syracuse defense and how the Mountaineers are preparing for one of the biggest surprises in the Big East - Video
Syracuse Week Player/Coach Video Interviews - WVillustrated.com
The Tandy, Predator, Pugnetti, T-1000 and Bowser
Tony's Mid-Term Report Card - MSNsportsNET.Com
Your turn: Who are the halfway point MVPs of this team? - 'Eers to the Ground
Video: West Virginia a top-10 team? - ESPN
Bennett breaks it down
Punter Pugnetti Gets Scholarship - WVMETRONEWS.COM
WVU coach says team is praying for LeGrand - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Syracuse Coach Doug Marrone Previews WVU - WVillustrated.com
Audio
Marrone knows Syracuse has tough task - Inter-Mountain
Syracuse vs. West Virginia: The Devine Problem - Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician
Syracuse hoping to rebound from tough loss to Pitt - Charleston Daily Mail
Syracuse defensive backfield stubborn - Charleston Daily Mail
Recruiting:
Jabarie Hinds Commits to WVU - WVillustrated.com
WVU lands top hoops recruit, more on the way - Charleston Gazette
Vingle's Notebook
Huggins and Mountaineers busy working on recruiting class - Charleston Daily Mail
WVU addressing holes in a hurry - Charleston Daily Mail
The Recruit That Didn't Get Away - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Hinds' AAU Coach: "I haven't seen him this happy" - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Impressive Class Comes Together - WVillustrated.com
Around the League (and Beyond):
Big East Roundup - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Moving past loss to Pittsburgh, SU puts focus on WVU - The Daily Orange
Pitt's Street creates matchup problems - PPG
Fledgling UC defense learning on the fly - Cincinnati Enquirer
Erik Kuraczea Quits UConn Football Program - Hartford Courant
USF struggles just part of rebuilding process - Tampa Tribune
Big East Notebook | Media can't catch Louisville's Bilal Powell, either - Courier-Journal
Coveted freshman leaves Hurricanes - Truth & Rumors/FanNation/SI.com
Ballyhooed freshman safety Latwan Anderson, rivals.com's 15th-best prospect in the 2010 recruiting class, has left the Miami football team but remains on the track team
Zebra Report: More SEC Controversy - NCAAFB FanHouse
Fire My Coach, Please: Week 8 - Pre-Snap Read
A weekly hot-seat ranking
Videos of Interest:
Video of (Dis)Interest:
Is that Geoff Coyle of WVi at the end of this, sporting glasses and a mustache?
You decide:
Miss Throwdown:
Today's Miss Throwdown is one of the BetUS girls. Here's Ursula Mayes (pic links to 3 pages worth of gallery pics and a vid).
San Miguel Oktoberfest image via farm4.static.flickr.com
