The Shotgun/Throwdown (10/5/18): The Story Behind Carrying The West Virginia State Flag

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

Football

Campus Connection: Carrying Our State Flag | West Virginia Athletics
The state flag has always been a great source of pride for Mountaineers from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between, but I bet your pride swells when you learn that there is a backstory to this particular flag. It holds a very special story.

Heisman Trophy campaign heating up for West Virginia’s Will Grier | WV MetroNews
Will Grier’s Heisman Trophy campaign is continuing to pick up momentum in front of a nationwide audience.

Grier, No. 9 Mountaineers will need to be 'patient' against Kansas | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen generated a little buzz on the internet earlier this week when asked about Kansas’ ability to intercept passes.

Tony's Take, Presented by West Virginia Tourism | West Virginia Athletics
Football, by its very nature, is a game that leads to second-guessing. There's the Monday morning quarterback and the armchair quarterback, two well-conceived monikers that basically say it all. Regardless of a game's outcome, we're going to talk about it ad nauseam. With the Mountaineers off to an undefeated start and a spot inside the nation's top 10, the Monday morning conversation is different this season. There's less to criticize when your team is winning by an average of 24 points and has yet to trail for a single second.

5 questions for West Virginia-Kansas: Setting up ‘Gold Rush’ game | WV MetroNews
A fistful of questions to ponder as No. 9 West Virginia (4-0, 2-0) entertains Kansas (2-3, 0-2) at Milan Puskar Stadium.

WVU Doing More With Less Than Anyone in the Country | EerSports
One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not belong. Or at least that's what the 247Sports Team Talent Composite would have you believe about West Virginia.

Kennedy McKoy focuses on ‘the big one’ for West Virginia | WV MetroNews
West Virginia running back Kennedy McKoy had a pretty good start to his career in his first two seasons, rushing for 1,099 yards and 11 touchdowns. But he wasn’t happy with how he performed past the line of scrimmage and made a concerted effort to make bigger plays and have longer runs.

Hard to get mad at Long for missed tackle | WV News
Junior linebacker David Long has been that good. But all anyone wanted to talk about this week was the one mistake anyone can remember him making all year — a missed tackle of Texas Tech’s scrambling quarterback Jett Duffey that kept the Red Raiders’ comeback hopes alive.

WVU football: Robinson sees positive parallels between two teams | EerSports
There are reasons why West Virginia wanted Jabril Robinson on the team and on the field in 2018, and there are reasons why Robinson wanted to be with the Mountaineers. The defense gets the starts and the stats. The player gets the the chance to play with a high profile for the first time in his career.

HERTZEL COLUMN: Drops against TTU not a future concern for WRs | Times West Virginian
Did you ever have one of those days? You know the kind. You wake up, spill your morning coffee, bang your head getting into the car, your pen runs out of ink at work and you lose your cellphone. If you have, you know the kind of day West Virginia’s wide receivers had last Saturday at Texas Tech.

WVU football: Cajuste coaches teammates to 'keep your head' | EerSports
Yodny Cajuste may have looked like Rocky. He spoke like Creed. There ain't gonna be no rematch.

Basketball

Basketball Season Tips with Gold-Blue Debut | West Virginia Athletics
West Virginia University will tip off the 2018-19 men's basketball season with the Gold-Blue Debut presented by Coca-Cola on Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m., at the WVU Coliseum.

West Virginia Athletics

Ranked Foes Battle Friday Night | West Virginia Athletics
The No. 16-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team opens a key weekend at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Friday, Oct. 5, against No. 24 Baylor, with kick set for 7 p.m.

Around the Big 12

Yes, Oklahoma does, in fact, suck | Burnt Orange Nation
Many may have led you to believe Oklahoma does not suck, but I am here to assure you that such false praise couldn’t be further from the truth. Of course the Sooners suck.

It’s time we ask Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder the hard questions | Bring On The Cats
Bill Snyder has built a mountain of well-deserved good will in Kansas and across the country, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be asked hard questions.

2018 Game V: Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State Football Preview | Wide Right & Natty Lite
Time to Knock Some Heads in Boone Pickens’ House!

Around the NCAA

Questions the CFP committee can get answers to this weekend | ESPN
There are 11 undefeated Power 5 teams left in college football, but which ones have staying power? Saturday should start to answer that and several other questions facing each conference.

Spread picks for every game in 2018’s college football Week 6 | SBNation
Is it time for rivalry games to spark some long-awaited chaos in this season?

Grading 2018’s new college football coaches based on nothing more than their polo shirts | SBNation
It’s time for the coach rankings article that matters just as much as any other coach rankings article does.

C.J. Fuller, former Clemson Tigers running back, dies at 22 | ESPN
C.J. Fuller, a former Clemson Tigers running back, has died at the age of 22, the school confirmed Wednesday night. Clemson did not give a cause of death.

Kentucky’s playing A&M for the first time since Bear Bryant left Kentucky for ... A&M | SBNation
The Wildcats and Aggies were early catalysts for one of the greatest coaches in football history.

The story of Lane Kiffin’s coaching career starting in the most Lane Kiffin way imaginable | SBNation
His former QB competition at Fresno State, David Carr, adds an amazing detail to the tale.

3 really simple reasons Chip Kelly’s UCLA is so bad | SBNation
2018 is way too early to assume Kelly doesn’t have it any more.

If you had to bet on either Nebraska or Tennessee to be good again, which would you pick? | SBNation
Two of the best 1990s programs have rarely been good ever since.

Kansas Jayhawks vs #9 West Virginia Mountaineers
Saturday at Noon ET on ESPN2 from Morgantown, West Virginia. The Mountaineers should be able to sleep walk their way to a victory here, but it’d be advisable for them to keep their foot on the gas on their way to a blowout. The Mountaineers are favored by 27.5 points.

#19 Texas Longhorns vs #7 Oklahoma Sooners
Saturday at Noon ET on FOX from Dallas, Texas. The Longhorns will officially be ‘back’ and the joke will have to be retired if they win the Red River Shootout. The Sooners are 7 point favorites.

Iowa State Cyclones vs #25 Oklahoma State Cowboys
Saturday at 3:30PM ET on ESPN2 from Stillwater, Oklahoma. A loss to the Cowboys will all but put the nail in the coffin for Iowa State’s bowl game hopes. Oklahoma State is a 9.5 point favorite.

Kansas State Wildcats vs Baylor Bears
Saturday at 3:30PM ET on FS1 from Waco, Texas. A win in this game will probably end up being the difference between eighth and ninth place in the Big 12 Conference this year. Baylor is favored by 4 points.

#6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs #24 Virginia Tech Hokies
Saturday at 8:00PM ET on ABC from Blacksburg, VA. If you want to avoid Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, we need to [fights back vomit] cheer for the Hokies to win here. The Fighting Irish are a 7 point favorite.

---

Have any tips, suggestions or requests for what you want to see in The Shotgun/Throwdown? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or contact us on social media.

Follow us!
Twitter: @smokingmusket
Facebook:The Smoking Musket