West Virginia Linebacker Xavier Preston Suspended For Season Opener Against Missouri

Welcome, By-Godders, to the afternoon edition of The Shotgun/Throwdown: WVU's best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

Football:

Sources confirm Xavier Preston’s one-game suspension | WV MetroNews
West Virginia outside linebacker Xavier Preston, the projected heir apparent to NFL fourth-round pick Nick Kwiatkoski, has been suspended for the season opener against Missouri, sources confirmed to MetroNews.

WVU WR Gibson seeking to become more consistent | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Missouri’s new head coach is actually the old defensive coordinator, so West Virginia’s offense has a bit of an idea what to expect from Barry Odom and his Tigers Saturday when the two teams open the 2016 season with a noon game at Mountaineer Field. For WVU receiver Shelton Gibson, that probably means different cornerbacks throughout the game. The Tigers typically assign one cornerback to the narrow side of the field and another cornerback to the wide side of the field.

West Virginia defense aiming to boost sack totals | Charleston Gazette-Mail
A quarterback sack is treated in a particular manner at West Virginia. It’s celebrated, but it’s not required. The Mountaineers blitz, but they do so from a variety of places, often unexpected. They’re unique in what they do and how they instruct and deploy their players that they essentially count sacks in the absence of them.

WVU running backs coach hoping Rushel Shell ready to shock opponents | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Some would say West Virginia’s No. 1 tailback has been, well, a shell of his former self since high school.

2016 season preview: West Virginia Mountaineers | ESPN
In its sixth year under Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia appears to have arrived at a crossroads. The Mountaineers continue to seek a Big 12 breakthrough, having won no more than eight games in any of the four years after joining the league on the heels of seven consecutive seasons with at least nine wins. Is this the year? With a senior quarterback, perhaps the Big 12’s best offensive line, a solid defensive system and a tough -- but manageable -- schedule, opportunity awaits.

Mark Scott’s eyes an invaluable asset to WVU football staff | Charleston Gazette-Mail
On a staff with assistant coaches and even graduate assistants in charge of specific positions, Mark Scott is a man without an identity. Technically, he is a defensive assistant. It’s a full-time job on West Virginia’s coaching staff, the same one that has a defensive coordinator who oversees everyone and everything, plus separate coaches in charge of the defensive line, the linebackers, the cornerbacks and the safeties.

West Virginia Athletics:

No. 6 Mountaineers Send Message with Big Home Win | WVU Athletics
The No. 6-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team sent more than 2,000 Mountaineer fans home happy Friday night, as the squad opened its 2016 home season at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium with a 1-0 victory over No. 8 Clemson.

No. 6 Mountaineers Outmuscle Saint Francis | WVU Athletics
The No. 6-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team was too much for Saint Francis Sunday afternoon, as the Mountaineers overcame a rare first-half deficit and defeated the Red Flash, 3-1, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

Mountaineers Upset No. 7 Georgetown | WVU Athletics
A goal by sophomore midfielder Tucker Stephenson in the 81st minute lifted the West Virginia University men’s soccer team to a 1-0 upset victory over No. 7 Georgetown on a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in Akron, Ohio.

WVU Sweeps Georgia Southern | WVU Athletics
Hitting .208 with 36 kills, the West Virginia University volleyball team claimed its first win of the season with a 3-0 sweep of Georgia Southern to finish out the Penn State Classic at Rec Hall in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening.

Around The Big XII:

Air Raid at Oklahoma might be better than in 2015 | Charleston Gazette-Mail
A year ago, new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was still installing his Air Raid system while trying to figure out who would be his quarterback. By the end of the season, he had won the Broyles Award for the nation’s top assistant coach, quarterback Baker Mayfield had finished fourth in the Heisman balloting and the Sooners had qualified for the College Football Playoff.

Around The NCAA:

To compete with Clemson, Auburn had better answer some questions right away | SBNation
The Tigers are a potential mismatch, unless the Other Tigers figure some things out immediately.

All the ways North Dakota State and Charleston Southern formally brought back college football | SBNation
College football technically reintroduced itself with a Cal-Hawaii game in Australia on Friday (Eastern time, anyway). But the 2016 season's stateside debut was Saturday, in the form of defending FCS champion North Dakota State hosting Charleston Southern at the Fargodome.

The Solid Verbal: One of these teams should 100% win the College Football Playoff - SBNation.com
Dan and Ty are back for the final installment of The Solid Verbal's preseason countdown.

Embed this video on my tombstone

Ah yes, The Disappointments. A movie about my sex life.

Today's Miss Throwdown is a Cambodian-Vietnamese model from Dallas, TX. CLICK HERE for Marie Madore's Instagram.