West Virginia's Ground Game To Be Tested By The BYU Cougars

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

Football:

WVU ground game to be tested by BYU | The Exponent Telegram
West Virginia’s rushing ability has provided the needed compliment to what was expected to be a solid pass game. But the Mountaineers face a surprisingly stingy BYU defense which has kept both of its foes to three scores this season.

Basketball:

Checking in with WVU's Huggins | Charleston Gazette-Mail
If you’ve been to the grocery store, you might have noticed the college basketball preseason magazines are out. It might be worthy of head scratching since most college football teams have only played a couple games. Yet check the calendar. Basketball practice begins on Oct. 1, just a couple weeks from now.

Campus Connection: WVU's Adrian Sees Balance | WVU Athletics
A bitter ending last March is fueling WVU in 2016-17.

West Virginia Athletics:

WVU women's soccer set for busy weekend | The Exponent Telegram
West Virginia’s women’s soccer team will play its first game as the nation’s No. 1 team at 7 p.m. today at Dick Dlesk Stadium to open a weekend that promises to make the Mountaineers prove they deserve the honor.

No. 1 Mountaineers Face Familiar Foes | WVU Athletics
The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team closes its home nonconference slate against familiar foes this weekend at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The Mountaineers (6-0-1) face Princeton (6-0) on Friday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m., before lining up against No. 9 Georgetown (6-1) on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m.

Around The Big 12:

The Houston Cougars' massive potential might be their toughest Big 12 roadblock | SBNation
Cincinnati and Houston have both presented their expansion pitches to the Big 12, per SB Nation sources. Thursday night, UH added another emphatic slide.

Podcast: How adding Houston would impact Big 12 recruiting | SBNation
A rundown of national recruiting news in podcast form for the college football fan.

Big 12 has 1st league game, 3 more vs. Power 5 teams | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Things to watch in the Big 12 in Week 3, when Iowa State goes to TCU for the first game that counts in the conference standings. But more important to the league could be three more nonconference games against Power Five teams after going 0-3 in such games last week

The Friday Lunch: Crucial weekend for Big 12 powers | WV MetroNews
The Gold & Blue Lunch Report thinks the bye week arrived too early, and there’s another one right around the bend. But scheduling is hard, which is why it’s handled three decades in advance.

Oklahoma-Ohio State primer: Traditional powers meet for third time | ESPN
Ohio State travels to face a desperate Oklahoma team in a nonconference matchup that is likely to impact the College Football Playoff.

Texas finding efficiency in rebuilding its passing attack | ESPN
Better tempo, a punishing ground game and impressive young QB Shane Buechele have instilled confidence in the Texas Longhorns' revamped offense.

Around The NCAA:

How Lamar Jackson went from 3-star recruit to Louisville superstar | SBNation
Louisville’s sophomore QB could have a Heisman moment against Florida State (12 p.m. ET Saturday, ABC). He’s surprised lots of us, but not the people who knew him back when.

How Appalachian State got the Miami Hurricanes to play in Boone, NC | SBNation
Boone is ready for its biggest home game ever, as two teams with very different national championship histories meet in a surprising place.

Fellow parents, prepare to see this on a loop for at least the next year and a half.

Today's Miss Throwdown is the ESPN sideline reporter from Houston's fourth quarter beatdown of the Cincinnati Bearcats last night. Erin who? CLICK HERE for Laura Rutledge's Instagram.

A photo posted by Laura Rutledge (@lauramrutledge) on Sep 13, 2016 at 6:07pm PDT