Fiesta Bowl: With Program in Turmoil, WVU Happily Back to Being the Underdog

For WVU fans looking for some hope in the upcoming Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma, the pickings have been pretty slim.

For instance:

- The Las Vegas line, about 6 before Rodriguez left, is now up to 7.5 or 8, with Oklahoma as the favorite.

- The line from the national sports media goes like this: The WVU program, already crippled by the devastating upset loss to Pitt, is now in shambles with the slimy exit (my line, not theirs) of Rodriguez. WVU, already overmatched by a Sooners team playing its best football of the season, now has no chance. SI's Stewie Mandel has Oklahoma winning, 35-24. Some less-charitable scribe, I forget who, has WVU losing, 42-17.

- Running back Steve Slaton virtually disappeared in the last few games of the season.

- The offense got completely gummed up and throttled by Pitt and by South Florida (the two losses) this year; the spread-option, zone-read looks have been figured out and Oklahoma figures to be the best defense WVU has faced all year.

All that being said, here is one reason fans might take some hope into the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl: Over the past few years, WVU has played far better as the underdog than as the favorite.

WVU was a significant underdog in the 2006 Sugar Bowl against Georgia, and ripped off 28 straight points before Georgia got its bearings and started to come back. By then, however, it was too late for the Bulldogs.

WVU was an underdog against Georgia Tech in last year's Gator Bowl. And, after giving up 6,000 first-half yards to Tech WR Calvin Johnson, WVU simmered down and fought back for the win.

I would say that fans should not forget that WVU was a prohibitive underdog against Oklahoma the last time these two teams played—in ancient-history 1982 in Norman, when WVU won 41-27—and in the previous year's Peach Bowl victory against Florida, but those results really don't have any bearing on this team. Still, I'm just sayin'.

Further, as we found out this year, WVU is very bad at being the favorite. The team has not become accustomed enough to, occasionally, being an elite program and wears the swagger poorly.

Witness some WVU players getting off the plane in Tampa in September to play South Florida while wearing Yankees caps—after Rodriguez said earlier in the week that, when WVU comes to town, it's like the Yankees coming to town. Subsequently, South Florida played the game of its life and WVU fumbled away the win.

Again, following the head-swelling 66-21 demolition of UConn, one WVU player—I forget who—said the team felt an obligation to "put on a show" for fans against Pitt, paving the way to the National Championship Game. As soon as I read that, I smelled trouble. They need to think less about putting on a show, I thought, and more about winning the game.

Yet, they did not, and behaved like they couldn't believe what was happening to them during the Pitt game. I would add that Rodriguez acted like that, too.

One of the best things I liked about Rodriguez was his slogan: "Stay humble, stay hungry." It's a shame it didn't take all the time.

But on Jan. 2, as a unanimous underdog—with their program in shambles—with at least one player already committed to bolting to the NFL (Johnny Dingle), and perhaps another two on the way (Darius Reynaud, Slaton)—and playing under an assistant coach—WVU will be the hunter, as they say, not the hunted, for the first time in some time.

And it suits them well.