Game 9 - WVU v. UNC
welcome to the queen city folks, the current home of the one and only sports donkey. although the donkey has migrated southwest for a houston holiday, his spirit is still in bank of america stadium for this highly anticipated match up. pat white is making his bid to win an unprecedented 4th bowl game start, and butch davis would like to leave a positive stamp on what hopes to be the beginning of good football in chapel hill.
the meineke car care bowl did it right - matching up a local UNC team to force the tarheels to travel well amidst the college basketball beat down season they are unfurling, and to put WVU on the slate who tends to travel well regardless. those guys would travel to antarctica if a mountaineer was competing in igloo carving.
this game is a toss up, both teams have big time skill guys and have under achieved at different parts of the season. a win here would be well earned. not to mention, teddy bear bill stewart needs to win any bowl game this year after last years improbably fiesta thrashing of oklahoma using rich rodriguez’s guys. teddy bears are fun to hug when times are good, but it’s equally fun to rip off their cotton stuffed limbs when times are tough. ask bill stewart how much cotton he’s got left in there after this up and down WVU season.
fire me or keep me, just quit ripping off my ears
there is no in game blog for this one, just a quick recap of this thrilling match up. both teams moved the ball at will, and both defenses forced the occasional timely turnover. WVU looked like they’d pull away in the first half, but big play hakeem nicks and his two sweet catches (two of the best catches you’ll ever see) helped pepper the score board with points, as well as convert a crucial third down in the second half. and after UNC turned the tides in the fourth quarter, WVU forced a crucial turn over and eventually out muscled the tarheels when the final whistle sounded. UNC had its chances, and seemed to resort to the overly conservative fourth quarter approach. WVU never removed their foot from the pedal, and overcame their own blunders to win the best bowl game thus far, 31-30.
two main observations the sports donkey noticed in this game. the first, hakeem nicks is ridiculous. it’s one thing to put up statistics in college, and run a sexy 40 yard dash time, as way too many people turn into number whores. but the best players are simply that - they are the BEST at what counts. a guy like nicks will catch anything thrown near him, and when he’s bored he’ll even try to go through his legs and around his back just to let us know what he’s bringing to the table. most players can create separation in college, so having venus fly trap hands is critical and overlooked way too often when bringing guys to the NFL game. and what i like, which has become more prominent over the years is how powerful the skilled position guys have become. they carry a toughness that translates well to the pro game. no longer do receivers just try to run away from defenders, or tap dance around would be tacklers, but some offensive guys look for contact. hakeem nicks and beanie wells are my two favorites to watch. in some instances, i think they get confused and try to tackle the defender even though they are the ones running with the ball. powerful football. it was enticing to watch nicks throw defenders around, almost getting annoyed that guys even had the nerve to tackle him. how dare they.
the second observation to this game is that although the sports donkey is not a WVU fan, it’s always good to see guys like pat white who adore their schools go out on top. everyone knows that guy is a flat out athlete, but other than a bad interception, he threw the hell out of that football all day - and into great coverage on many occasions as well.
even though the ACC couldn’t squeak out this win, FSU should easily kick wisconsin back to their frozen tundra in the next game of today’s triple header. so that’ll bring some satisfaction back to the ACC.
congrats bill stewart, you snagged a win. no, even when scrambling the letters into a new word puzzle ‘meineke car care bowl’ will never spell ‘fiesta bowl repeat’ or ‘orange bowl win’, but stewart should feel good about the finish to a trying season. but don’t get too cozy stewart, those soft plush arms of yours can be sewn back onto your trampled teddy bear body only so many times. and for some reason, people like throwing old teddies into the gutter when the time comes. tick tock, tick tock.
Tags: beanie wells, bill stewart, butch davis, charlotte, fiesta bowl, fsu, hakeem nicks, mountaineers, NFL, orange bowl, pat white, queen city, tarheels, the sports donkey, unc, wisconsin, wvu
Yep, wait until next year when fans expect no drop off at the qb position, quickly forgetting one of their greatest players just left. I see the Stewart experiment getting axed next year when they are in a somewhat rebuilding year. You can’t replace a Pat White, who really was their whole team. They have great players in Devine, but Pat was the commander, and people will just expect each guy be just as good. Great players leave fans thirstier for more, and we know WVU fans aren’t the most rational.
i hear ya - things could tumble quickly out there. and when people build success, they expect that as the new standard. i think we’ll then finally see the impact of richy rod leaving town.