West Virginia Football: Bill Stewart Accepts Doc Holliday's Challenge

The game announcers for the Mountaineers season opener provided the following statistic, “When the West Virginia University football team scores 30 or more points in a game, they are 59-1 in their last 60 such games," an impressive stat.

The Mountaineers pitched a shutout on Saturday afternoon, another impressive stat. Still, it must be pointed out that the Mountaineers were playing a team from the FCS. An FCS team that missed two field goals that would have ruined the shutout.

Looking further still, the Mountaineers showed three penalties for 25 yards. Three penalties in an opening game is another impressive stat.

Generally, the lower the penalty count a team displays, the higher the quality of coaching that team is portrayed to display.

Add to those stats a special teams performance that was actually special, and WVU fans might find themselves inclined to start believing in, “The Year of the Mountaineer."

One of the fastest players on the Mountaineer team, Jock Sanders, caught eight passes on Saturday. Add that to the list of impressive stats fans can derive from the game.

The argument could be made that Sanders is the fourth best receiver on the WVU roster, behind Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, and Ivan McCartney. Of course, J.D. Woods caught Geno Smith’s first touchdown pass of the 2010 season.

Depth at the receiver position is no longer a concern in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Even with all the impressive statistics, improvement is paramount for the WVU football team in 2010.

Which leads us to the question; did WVU’s performance in their opening game against Coastal Carolina signal a turning point in Bill Stewart’s coaching proficiency?

As a noted ESPN Gameday announcer is fond of saying, “Not so fast my friends."

Bill Stewart’s 2010 version of the Mountaineer football team is certainly talented. Team speed is off-the-charts. The Mountaineers field an impressive array of players with sub 4.4 40-yard dash times.

Mountaineer football is more about the coaches that Stewart has brought to the Morgantown campus to direct all of that speed, and talent.

As with any opening season game for any football team, there are areas of concern that present themselves. How the Mountaineers coaching staff address those areas for the future will decide the season.

Each position coach for the Mountaineers now has fresh game tape from which to teach. How well that training tool is used will ultimately decide the fate of the season, as it progresses.

With Marshall next up on the WVU slate, a Friday night game in Huntington, improvement should be noticeable.

To say that WVU will be traveling to hostile territory on Friday is as large an understatement as can be declared. Marshall fans have been waiting for this game since John “Doc” Holliday was hired away from WVU last December.

Doc, along with his Marshall faithful, have been doing everything in their power to stir up a rivalry between these two West Virginia schools.

As Ohio State showed last Thursday, Doc should have concentrated on stirring up recruits to put on the field. Marshall was completely embarrassed by the Ohio State Buckeyes.

It should be noted that Ohio State is often picked as one of the FBS teams to contend for the BCS title this year. Marshall traveled to Columbus to play the Buckeyes.

The Marshall game will present an excellent barometer for the Mountaineer football team. Should WVU struggle in Huntington, it could be a long season for the Mountaineers.

Stewart and his staff will not open the playbook against Marshall. What the WVU faithful witnessed offensively against Coastal Carolina they will witness again on Friday. Although, Mountaineer fans should expect to see improved execution, and better ball security.

Look for the Mountaineer offensive line to begin to show improvement in this game.

What was missing in the season opener for the Mountaineers will not be missing when they tee it up on Friday. The WVU football team will be highly motivated in this game.

Stewart wants this win, the position coaches want this win, and the WVU players want this win. WVU will not only match the Marshall intensity for this game, they will surpass it.

WVU has never considered the Marshall game a rivalry, and for good reason, Marshall has never defeated the Mountaineers in football.

Doc has been screaming from the proverbial mountain top to change WVU’s perception regarding the Marshall game.

There is an old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." Doc would have been wise to remember the lesson within, Bill Stewart and Co. are going to give Doc what he asked for. Just do not expect it to be what Doc wanted.