WVU - OSU Preview: Random & Superstitious Thoughts

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach is a bastard! He’s screwing with our chances of winning by predicting our victory.

There I was, at the bottom. Sad. Down and out about the past three weeks of WVU football. Then the line came out on the WVU/Oklahoma State game and my spirits were lifted…OSU is a 7.5-point favorite. The Mounties always play better when the country thinks we’ll lose and I more than halfway believe them.

Then Schlabach goes and calls the upset of the week as WVU beating Oklahoma State. Which Mountaineer team has he been watching? What kind of journalist foolishly puts his reputation (and our underdog karma) at risk by making such a prediction? Don’t buy it. Protest against it. Write ESPN and demand a retraction! We don’t want to be favored or suspected to win.

And, let’s be honest, I don’t need to be reminded of the obvious – three weeks ago we were dreaming of a national championship and our first Heisman Trophy winner. Now we’re the upset pick of the week. Needless to say, I want to win. I’m just looking to cover all the angles of superstition needed for victory:

• Underdog on the road.
• Team Uniform: White Jerseys/Blue Pants/Blue Helmets.
• Me in my old school WVU #6 jersey (circa Grant Wiley)

I was thinking about how many different similarities there are between WVU and Oklahoma State:

1. Our mascots carry fire arms
2. We run the same offensive scheme
3. We both have party school reputations
4. We both won BCS games last January
5. We’re both 5-3 and need a victory this season to become bowl eligible

This season still has the potential to be a good one, but Schlabach has to be right for it to be a great one. If somehow WVU can win three of it’s last four (salvaging an 8-4 season record), that would be impressive given what we experienced in the last month.