Morgantown Mess

Does anyone in power at West Virginia football look good right now? The decision to have Bill Stewart coach one more season with coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen operating as offensive coordinator was idiotic. If you want Holgorsen as your head man, then hire him as such. Having a lame duck situation cannot be a good thing, unless the coach-in-waiting is taking over for a guy looking to leave. It worked very well at Kentucky, for example, where Rich Brooks was looking to go and the school wanted to keep Joker Phillips around.
I assumed that Stewart was gone after the team--and especially the offense--performed so poorly in losing the Champs Sports Bowl to North Carolina State last year by a 23-7 score. Holgorsen had been a hot commodity and it looked wise for AD Oliver Luck to snap him up. But neither coach was happy with the situation and from the looks of things Stewart and his wife were so determined to stay that they began sniffing around for some dirt on the new guy to get him fired. Holgorsen, meanwhile, was asked to leave a casino in the middle of the night and was therefore not helping the situation. suddenly rumors were flying around that Holgorsen had a drinking problem and that he had been in trouble with the law numerous times since being hired by West Virginia.
While it is difficult to know exactly what happened, Holgorsen's problems were exaggerated by the Stewarts, who now became the bad guys in this soap opera. But all of this could have been avoided by removing Stewart after the 2010 season. That was Luck's decision. And he had better hope that Holgorsen wins and stays out of trouble.

Remember When

After meeting twice in the mid ‘40s, Syracuse and West Virginia began playing on an annual basis in 1955. The rivalry was defined by hard play as the teams knocked heads together in games that were almost as much about proving toughness as they were about wins and losses. Today the two Big East rivals play for the Schwartzwalder Trophy, named for long-time Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder who played at West Virginia.

The 1955 game pitted two solid Eastern squads searching for national recognition. Each team featured a future Hall of Famer in great Syracuse back Jim Brown and Mountaineer lineman Sam Huff, who began their famous rivalry on this day. Here is the action from 54 years ago (11/19/55) as depicted in The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia:

Syracuse 20 WEST VIRGINIA 13: Short-handed due to injuries from its bruising defeat to Pittsburgh, West Virginia (7-2) was unable to use its alternating units. It showed as Syracuse (5-3) HB Jimmy Brown wore down Mountaineers D in steady snowstorm, and Brown did it right from the start, going 71y with opening KO. Orangemen failed to score on that opportunity thanks to holding PEN but stayed steady despite slipping behind 13-6 at H. West Virginia scored on HB Joe Marconi’s 6y sweep early in 2nd Q after HB Bob Moss’ 64y spurt, saw Orange tie it on QB Eddie Albright’s short TD keeper, and went ahead late in 2nd Q on QB Mickey Trimarki’s 24y pass to HB Ralph Anastasio. WVU made nary single 1st down in 2nd H until last 2 mins. By then it was too late as Albright launched TD passes of 47y to E Jim Ridlon and 12y to E Dick Lasse.

Oddly, the Orange became ranked at no. 20 in the AP Poll after this win in their final game of the season. West Virginia would beat a mediocre North Carolina State squad one week later and then take the no. 19 spot in the final poll from November 28. Syracuse dropped out despite having beaten the Mountaineers nine days earlier. And you thought the polls were screwy today!