ITG 132 - 2023 Season Review + Awards
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00:00:00 (upbeat music)
00:00:02 - In the Gun, episode 132.
00:00:08 It is time for a WVU season review here in the gun.
00:00:13 It is your new favorite WVU football podcast.
00:00:15 And today we will be doing the 30,000 foot view thing.
00:00:19 Looking at this WVU season, this 2023 season as a whole,
00:00:23 the 12 games, we'll share some thoughts.
00:00:25 We'll get into some individual awards, some moments,
00:00:28 some different things, all of that to come here
00:00:30 on this edition of ITG.
00:00:32 I am Wesley Uler, your host,
00:00:33 and I've got the best teammates in the business.
00:00:35 We got this signal caller, Jed Drenning,
00:00:38 and we've got, I don't know, Skyler,
00:00:39 do we have a cool nickname for you yet?
00:00:41 Mr. Extraordinaire, Mr. Here, Mr. There, Mr. Everywhere.
00:00:46 - Show him, Tommy.
00:00:47 - You know he snuck into one of those lists, Wes?
00:00:51 He snuck into one of the lists
00:00:52 that he populated with his name.
00:00:54 - Hold on, were you in like a big game boomer list?
00:00:58 - Oh, yeah. - Oh, you mean like a, okay.
00:01:00 - Yeah, so- - Caliber?
00:01:01 - I like that. - It had Wes, Jed, Cali, Owen.
00:01:05 Yeah, you put Cali in there, so we called it Cali.
00:01:07 - I didn't wanna put my full name
00:01:08 'cause it would take up the whole damn screen,
00:01:10 so I said, "Let's go with Cali."
00:01:12 That's what everyone used to call me in baseball, so.
00:01:15 - Well- - I don't know if I like it
00:01:17 or not, but I was like, "It's better
00:01:19 than putting the whole damn name in."
00:01:20 - You don't like it?
00:01:21 Well, then we gotta call you that.
00:01:22 - That's exactly it, that's right.
00:01:24 You tell somebody you don't like a nickname
00:01:25 and it sticks forever.
00:01:26 - So, our producer/co-host, Skylar Cali Callahan,
00:01:30 here today.
00:01:31 Once again, good news, bad news.
00:01:34 The bad news is we don't have Big O
00:01:35 for this ITG round table.
00:01:37 He is UPS, I mean, this is his month, December.
00:01:42 The only person working harder
00:01:43 than jolly old Saint Nick and the Elves
00:01:45 is Big O and Schmidt and those people who work
00:01:49 for UPS, for FedEx, for USPS.
00:01:51 Really, anyone who works in any type of delivery
00:01:54 or any type of retail this time of year,
00:01:56 God bless you, thank you for everything
00:01:58 that you do to make the holiday season
00:02:00 the holiday season.
00:02:01 The bad news is Owen just didn't have 60 minutes
00:02:04 of his time to give us tonight with his work schedule
00:02:06 and we totally get that.
00:02:07 The good news is, though, is I got his answers
00:02:10 right here in front of me.
00:02:11 So, even though he won't be here,
00:02:13 we'll still hear from Big O, we'll share some
00:02:15 of his answers to some of these crazy questions
00:02:17 and some of these review things
00:02:19 that we are about to get into.
00:02:20 - And as always, we just spent five minutes
00:02:23 on the phone with him.
00:02:24 - We did.
00:02:25 - We spent five years off his life
00:02:27 by convincing him that we were live
00:02:29 at five minutes into the conversation
00:02:30 and it scared him to death.
00:02:31 (laughing)
00:02:33 - Owen, everything you've been saying here
00:02:34 is live on YouTube, by the way.
00:02:35 We got 30,000 people that are watching right now.
00:02:38 This episode of ITG brought to you in part
00:02:40 by our friends at BetOnline, where the game starts
00:02:42 and where we are gonna start.
00:02:44 Gentlemen, you know, again, we've had some time
00:02:46 to digest this season.
00:02:47 I think we all did that intentionally.
00:02:49 We wanted to take a couple weeks here, you know,
00:02:52 and have some time to think about this
00:02:53 and let it marinate and all that stuff.
00:02:55 And get the full snapshot.
00:02:56 So we're going to each give a good, a bad,
00:03:00 and an ugly designation, okay?
00:03:02 It could be something that was a theme over 12 games.
00:03:06 It could be something that popped up at certain moments.
00:03:09 A good, a bad, and ugly designation.
00:03:12 And then we are gonna talk some individual moments.
00:03:13 We'll give a best moment and a worst moment of the season.
00:03:16 And then we'll give some individual awards.
00:03:18 We'll do Offensive Player of the Year,
00:03:19 Defensive Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year,
00:03:22 Position Coach of the Year,
00:03:24 and then we'll share our favorite uniform combination
00:03:27 that we wore before we get out of here as well, too.
00:03:31 So plenty to get into.
00:03:33 Gentlemen, without further ado,
00:03:35 we will start with our good, with our bad,
00:03:38 with our ugly, and Skyler.
00:03:40 I'm gonna put you on the spot, Kali, right away.
00:03:43 What you got for us, cousin?
00:03:44 - So I guess, are we doing all three at first,
00:03:48 or are we just going with the good to start out?
00:03:50 - You know what, that's a really good question.
00:03:51 Jed, how do you think we should do this?
00:03:52 - I wanna do it.
00:03:53 However you wanna do it.
00:03:54 I get all three together,
00:03:56 but however you guys wanna do it.
00:03:57 - Let's go all three together, then.
00:03:59 - Okay.
00:04:00 - Yeah.
00:04:00 - We'll go all three.
00:04:01 So my good, and this is gonna be interesting,
00:04:04 'cause I gotta figure out my bad and ugly on the fly here,
00:04:06 'cause I really don't have anything bad.
00:04:08 But my good, no coaching search.
00:04:11 We entered the year thinking, you know,
00:04:14 this is a pivotal year for Neil Brown,
00:04:16 and you didn't really know how many wins
00:04:19 you would need to get to for him to be safe.
00:04:22 And for them to win eight games,
00:04:24 win six conference games, that's huge.
00:04:26 This program has stability.
00:04:27 You know what you got moving forward with your coach.
00:04:30 I think that's the best thing.
00:04:33 The bad, I'm gonna go with, man, this is hard.
00:04:38 It's hard to find the bad and the ugly
00:04:41 in a four-to-loss season.
00:04:42 I'm gonna go with something
00:04:46 that's really not that big of a deal,
00:04:48 but it's just kind of a pain in the butt.
00:04:50 And it was the loss to Oklahoma.
00:04:55 Because I really didn't like having
00:05:00 that last taste be that taste.
00:05:03 You know what I mean?
00:05:04 So, yeah.
00:05:07 - And for it to be as comfortable
00:05:09 of an Oklahoma win as it was.
00:05:10 - Exactly.
00:05:11 And I think we all thought, going into it,
00:05:15 that that would be a game that they could win.
00:05:17 We talked about that.
00:05:20 And then the ugly, I'll save the actual moment for later.
00:05:25 I'm giving this away, obviously.
00:05:29 But I would just say losing to Dana Holderson.
00:05:31 - Yeah.
00:05:34 - Just losing.
00:05:35 Regardless of how it went.
00:05:37 - We're gonna get into that one.
00:05:38 I know that that one's gonna pop up a little bit.
00:05:40 I've got some more to say on that,
00:05:42 that Oklahoma loss as well, too.
00:05:44 But I like those, Skylar.
00:05:45 Those were some good ones.
00:05:46 I like that good, too.
00:05:48 I hadn't really thought about that.
00:05:49 But you're right.
00:05:49 I mean, if you would have told us all,
00:05:51 you know, no coaching changes,
00:05:54 particularly with the head coach, right?
00:05:56 But I mean, at this point,
00:05:57 a staff that's remained mostly intact
00:05:58 before the season started,
00:06:00 that would have been a good indicator, right?
00:06:01 I mean, that means we're taking care of business
00:06:03 and we're having a positive season, a step forward.
00:06:06 I like that designation from you.
00:06:08 That's good.
00:06:08 Jed, you wanna go next?
00:06:12 - That's fine.
00:06:13 My good, bad, and ugly are kinda interlinked.
00:06:19 I'm gonna start with the good.
00:06:21 I think back to what it was like to be on the sidelines
00:06:25 and watch what seemed like a very desperate
00:06:30 fourth down and 10 situation at Houston,
00:06:33 a must convert from midfield
00:06:36 in the closing seconds of the game,
00:06:39 and watching Garrett Green deliver that throw to Huddy.
00:06:44 Huddy, make the guy miss.
00:06:46 Keep his balance, keep his feet.
00:06:49 Find a way against all odds to get into the end zone
00:06:53 and give us the lead.
00:06:54 That's what I'm going with for the good.
00:06:58 The bad, immediately following that.
00:07:02 And it wasn't just this one penalty against Garrett.
00:07:06 It was, we had this problem for part of the year.
00:07:11 CJ got flagged for it.
00:07:13 It was an issue.
00:07:14 Taking the helmet off.
00:07:15 - Taking our helmets off on the field of play.
00:07:17 - And look, unless you're gonna be smart enough
00:07:19 to claim that you have a bee in your helmet,
00:07:21 and I didn't hear any of our kids
00:07:23 make that claim to the official.
00:07:24 Hey, I got a bee in my helmet.
00:07:25 You want me to get stung?
00:07:27 So the bad, the penalty against Houston,
00:07:30 and not just that, but also the issues
00:07:32 we had with it earlier in the year.
00:07:34 But that of course impacted the field position,
00:07:37 impacted where we kicked off from.
00:07:39 And that led to the ugly.
00:07:42 And that was all the things that had to play out
00:07:46 the way they did, starting with Aubrey Burks
00:07:48 not being on the field,
00:07:49 starting with the fact we didn't get much pressure,
00:07:52 starting with the fact they got away with some holding.
00:07:54 All the things that you would typically expect to see
00:07:58 on a Hail Mary, plus a couple others,
00:08:00 that it took for them to make that throw,
00:08:02 make that play and come down with that football,
00:08:05 and for Dana to beat us the way they did.
00:08:08 So that's my ugly.
00:08:10 So right there you have it.
00:08:11 The good, the bad, and the ugly in microcosm
00:08:13 in Houston that terrible Thursday night.
00:08:17 - Ooh, I like how you laid that out, Chad.
00:08:20 I dig that.
00:08:21 Now, see, so you both had some surprises so far.
00:08:24 I don't know if I've got any surprises,
00:08:26 but I'll do my best here, okay?
00:08:28 Those are good ones.
00:08:29 I love those by both of you guys.
00:08:31 My good was an offense with some pop,
00:08:36 an offense with some juice.
00:08:38 I, this was the first time since Greer and Sills
00:08:43 and Gary Jennings and Big Yodney and all those guys
00:08:47 that I've just really thought our offense can score
00:08:50 every time they take the field.
00:08:51 And maybe that's more of a back half good
00:08:54 because at the beginning of the season, right,
00:08:56 they're figuring their way out and then Garrett gets hurt
00:08:58 and Garrett ends up missing some time.
00:08:59 And even when he comes back, he's not quite 100%.
00:09:02 It took him a little bit to really hit their stride.
00:09:04 But after, man, just the first few years of Neil
00:09:08 struggling with consistency on offense,
00:09:11 struggling with consistency in the run game.
00:09:14 I mean, I remember even with a back like Letty Brown,
00:09:19 the message every week was, man,
00:09:21 could this team just get to 100 yards rushing?
00:09:23 If they could just get to 100,
00:09:25 when we're averaging 72 yards or 73 yards a game,
00:09:27 whatever it was, man,
00:09:28 if they could just get to 100 yards rushing,
00:09:30 they got a really good chance to win this game.
00:09:32 Boy, we've come a long way to games like BYU,
00:09:36 games like Cincinnati, where it just felt like UCF.
00:09:40 I mean, where they're just scoring at will almost
00:09:42 every single time that they take the field.
00:09:45 That to me, an offense with juice,
00:09:47 an offense that was really fun to watch again,
00:09:50 which is, let's be honest, in the glory days,
00:09:53 in the best years of West Virginia football,
00:09:55 that's kind of always been our bread and butter.
00:09:56 Whether you want to talk Major Harris in those offenses,
00:09:58 Rashid Marshall in those offenses,
00:10:00 Pat White in those offenses,
00:10:01 Gino Smith in those offenses,
00:10:03 Will Greer, Skylar Howard,
00:10:05 the weapons that they had to work with.
00:10:07 That's when WVU football has been its most fun.
00:10:10 And we got back to that in 2023
00:10:13 for the first time in a few years.
00:10:15 That was the good for me, an offense with some juice
00:10:18 after a couple of years of struggling in that department.
00:10:21 The bad for me, gentlemen, lack of a signature win.
00:10:27 And so I'll go a little different here, right?
00:10:29 And I want to be clear with this.
00:10:30 I should say, I should point out from a national perspective
00:10:33 because to the three of us, to Mountaineer Nation at large,
00:10:37 winning the backyard brawl is always a signature win.
00:10:40 I don't care if you go two and 10 in a season,
00:10:42 if you beat Pitt, that's the beauty of a rivalry,
00:10:44 that's a signature win.
00:10:45 Anytime you play those guys and beat those guys,
00:10:48 that's a signature win.
00:10:50 But from, and that win, to be fair,
00:10:52 did get a lot of attention from a national perspective,
00:10:54 right, the atmosphere, the return of the brawl,
00:10:57 the sweet Caroline at the end of the third quarter,
00:10:59 the country roads after the game,
00:11:01 those videos were played
00:11:03 and there was a tension in that moment,
00:11:05 but a national signature win, right,
00:11:07 going to Penn State and winning in Happy Valley,
00:11:09 going to OU and beating the Sooners,
00:11:12 you only get two or three opportunities
00:11:14 at a win like that every single season.
00:11:16 And unfortunately we did not have our best showings
00:11:20 in those type of environments.
00:11:21 So that would be the bad for me.
00:11:23 And then the ugly, you know, it's funny,
00:11:26 I had the Oklahoma loss as a game
00:11:29 that really felt like a measuring stick at the time.
00:11:31 And it's going to be the last time you saw these guys
00:11:33 and you're going out to Norman
00:11:34 where you probably should have won
00:11:35 when you were there two years ago
00:11:37 and you let it get away from you.
00:11:38 But since Skyler went with that,
00:11:40 I'll do a little audible here on the fly.
00:11:44 For my ugly, I'll go giving up
00:11:46 three kick return touchdowns on the season.
00:11:49 - Two in the same game. - Can't happen.
00:11:51 Can't happen.
00:11:51 One kick return touchdown is too much
00:11:53 to give up in a season.
00:11:54 Three just can't happen.
00:11:56 And that, listen, there was a lot in that Houston game
00:11:58 that you can point to is the kick return, certainly.
00:12:02 The Jalen Anderson in the end zone swing, certainly.
00:12:05 Some of the penalties, some of the stuff that Jed mentioned.
00:12:06 I mean, that Houston game,
00:12:07 it felt like there were a million
00:12:09 different swing moments, right?
00:12:10 But one of those was certainly that kick return touchdown
00:12:13 and against Baylor back to back that could have cost you,
00:12:16 maybe should have cost you that game as well too.
00:12:18 So once again, my good in offense with some juice
00:12:21 that was fun to watch again.
00:12:23 My bad, kind of the lack of a signature win
00:12:26 from a national perspective that really grabbed
00:12:28 the attention of a national audience.
00:12:30 And then ugly, I'll go three kick return touchdowns
00:12:33 given up on the season.
00:12:35 Hey, thanks to our friends at Toothman Ford.
00:12:38 Jed was at Toothman Ford.
00:12:41 I tell you what, you laid it all out, Jed.
00:12:44 You had some Oak Barrel steaks, a big spread.
00:12:46 You guys put together a really cool video
00:12:48 that you can see on all of Toothman's social media channels.
00:12:52 So make sure you get into Grafton
00:12:53 where we all know cars cost less in Grafton.
00:12:55 Big shout out to JR and everybody at Toothman Ford.
00:12:58 That was good guys, I liked that.
00:12:59 Any final thoughts there before we move on?
00:13:02 - It's interesting how you hit that Wes.
00:13:04 You made a great point.
00:13:06 In other words, when you're eight and four,
00:13:09 you would hope the exclamation point
00:13:11 is the eight and four itself, right?
00:13:14 But if you're trying to spice it up individually,
00:13:16 I mean, internally, as you talked about,
00:13:18 the pit wins always gonna be a pit win.
00:13:20 Knocking Tech off for the first time since 2018,
00:13:23 internally, that was a big deal, right?
00:13:25 To get that monkey coming back.
00:13:26 - TCU coming back from, you know,
00:13:27 - TCU as a double digit underdog, that's right.
00:13:30 But at the end of the day,
00:13:32 you're left standing with eight wins.
00:13:34 It has a 2016 vibe, a 1969 Jim Carlin Mountaineers vibe
00:13:39 in the sense that we didn't make the absolute most
00:13:44 of our premium opportunities
00:13:46 against a nationally ranked Penn State team
00:13:49 or a nationally ranked Oklahoma team.
00:13:51 But we got another shot against a North Carolina team.
00:13:54 And I sent you guys something in the thread
00:13:56 that we communicate through.
00:13:59 And it's not the first time we're gonna see that.
00:14:00 It was the first one that I noticed,
00:14:02 but people are already looking at their way too early
00:14:05 top 25 next season.
00:14:07 And they had West Virginia at number 20,
00:14:09 this particular national outlet did.
00:14:11 So this will change as the portal changes, of course.
00:14:15 But guys, if we find a way to take care of business
00:14:18 against a very talented Oklahoma, North Carolina team
00:14:21 and finish nine and four,
00:14:23 so much of this going into these preseason polls
00:14:26 is centered around your quarterback.
00:14:28 It really is.
00:14:29 Especially if you're a fringe top 25 team,
00:14:31 I've said this many times,
00:14:32 the difference between somebody being ranked 23rd,
00:14:34 not ranked at all, maybe getting both.
00:14:36 - Is their quarterback.
00:14:37 - Is often, is your quarterback.
00:14:39 - That was UNC coming into this season, right?
00:14:41 - I mean, that's exactly right.
00:14:42 - Didn't they start like 22nd
00:14:44 and that's because of Drake May.
00:14:45 - That's often enough to put you over the top.
00:14:48 So given the nature of the way Garrett played
00:14:51 down the stretch, if he has a good showing in the bowl game
00:14:54 and if we'd find a way to win that game,
00:14:56 I do have to believe that we have a puncher's chance
00:14:58 in some of these polls to land in the preseason
00:15:00 based on some of the things we have returning.
00:15:02 We had all that young talent as a nucleus offensively.
00:15:06 We have all these backers backs.
00:15:08 A lot of it's gonna turn on what happens in the portal.
00:15:10 Fair enough.
00:15:12 But that was why I sent that to you guys earlier today
00:15:15 because I do think that's gonna be somewhat of a theme.
00:15:19 But again, when you don't have that quote unquote
00:15:21 signature win, it would be a foregone conclusion.
00:15:24 If we'd knocked off a ranked team
00:15:25 and had a chance to finish nine and four game set match
00:15:28 you're in the top 25 with what we have returning.
00:15:30 But the fact that we didn't,
00:15:32 that's why it's a conversation piece, right?
00:15:34 But interesting.
00:15:35 That's a great point on your point Wes.
00:15:37 - No, I also add to the offense thing
00:15:39 where you're talking about 2018.
00:15:42 It's the first time we've had a tight end involved
00:15:44 in the passing game since Trevor Onwesko.
00:15:47 And I'm a big tight end guy.
00:15:49 We've been hearing it for years
00:15:50 that they're gonna get the tight ends
00:15:51 more involved, more involved.
00:15:53 This was the first time they really did.
00:15:54 So Cole Taylor actually led the team in receiving.
00:15:58 I can't remember if it was one of the two.
00:16:01 But yeah, it was really cool to see Cole Taylor.
00:16:04 He is committed to the trust.
00:16:05 So he will be back next year.
00:16:07 Big news on that front.
00:16:08 - Heck yeah.
00:16:09 - And not just tight end news
00:16:10 but tight end news to build on, right Skyler?
00:16:13 And to your point,
00:16:14 I think it's the first time in about 40 years
00:16:17 that a Mountaineer tight end has led the team in reception.
00:16:21 I think it was 1984 or something like that.
00:16:23 But so yeah, Andy's back.
00:16:26 So that's a formidable weapon
00:16:27 that we're gonna have a chance in the off season to enhance.
00:16:31 - Sure is.
00:16:31 I'm with you guys.
00:16:32 Well said.
00:16:33 And you know what?
00:16:34 You go and take care of business
00:16:35 against North Carolina and get to nine and four.
00:16:36 Not only do you have a good shot
00:16:37 to go into next season ranked,
00:16:39 you might find yourself ranked
00:16:40 in the final eight people of this season
00:16:42 with a nine and four record
00:16:44 and an impressive bowl win as well too.
00:16:47 So yeah, I like all of that from you guys.
00:16:50 That's a good start for us here in this one.
00:16:52 Okay, now we'll move on to some moments here
00:16:55 on our WVU season review.
00:16:57 - Oh, did Owen?
00:16:58 - Oh, well, I was gonna say,
00:17:00 I didn't know if we wanted to,
00:17:01 like if I wanted to share all of his at the end,
00:17:03 if I wanted to throw him in right now, but he--
00:17:06 - We toss him as we go, yeah.
00:17:07 - Yeah, so he didn't give me a good or an ugly.
00:17:10 He only gave me a bad, okay?
00:17:12 (laughing)
00:17:14 And that was every time we wear the Storm Trooper uniforms.
00:17:18 (laughing)
00:17:19 'Cause he said they look really cool,
00:17:22 but we have brutal results every time we wear them.
00:17:24 Check off one off the board there for Big O.
00:17:30 - You're not gonna be wearing them at home
00:17:31 against the Mack school for homecoming.
00:17:33 - That's right, exactly.
00:17:34 - Typically, it's under the lights, it's on the road,
00:17:37 it's against a pretty good team.
00:17:37 - It's in Norman or it's in Austin or yeah.
00:17:41 - I love it.
00:17:42 All right, moments, best moment, worst moment.
00:17:46 Gentlemen, I'm gonna start on this one, okay?
00:17:50 I went last on the, I'll go first on this one
00:17:52 because I don't think either of you guys
00:17:54 and Owen doesn't have my best moment,
00:17:57 but just in case you do,
00:17:58 I wanna have first crack at this, okay?
00:18:00 Speaking of signature wins,
00:18:01 now the backyard brawl is always this to us.
00:18:04 As somebody who grew up, you know,
00:18:06 Pittsburgh's foremost Mountaineer,
00:18:07 the initials WVU in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
00:18:10 and that game meaning so much to me, to my family,
00:18:13 to my childhood, to everything,
00:18:16 for that going away for over a decade.
00:18:18 And then coming back and losing the first installment
00:18:21 of that like we did in 2022 in that heartbreaker
00:18:24 at Akershaw Stadium on Thursday night.
00:18:27 Fellas, the best moment of this season for me,
00:18:30 not even close, is sweet Caroline
00:18:33 at the end of the third quarter when we hosted Pitt.
00:18:36 When it started, I went, oh no, this is a bad idea.
00:18:40 We're jinxing ourselves.
00:18:42 This is gonna happen and we're gonna blow it
00:18:44 and it's gonna be a laughing matter.
00:18:46 I could not have been more wrong.
00:18:48 I was nervous when I first heard,
00:18:49 when the place went silent for a second
00:18:52 and then you heard the,
00:18:53 (humming)
00:18:55 - Then everybody runs.
00:18:56 - And everyone went nuts.
00:18:58 I went, oh no, I can't believe we're doing this.
00:19:00 We can't do this.
00:19:01 We're gonna jinx ourselves.
00:19:02 Three minutes later, by the time it was over,
00:19:04 there was no doubt in my mind we were winning that game.
00:19:06 I mean, that place was just out of control.
00:19:10 It was electric.
00:19:11 It was the most I had seen Mountaineer Field
00:19:13 rocking in years, maybe since that 2018 Oklahoma,
00:19:17 the Kyler Murray-Will Greer game
00:19:19 with a spot in the Big 12 Championship on the line.
00:19:22 That moment was one that I will cherish forever,
00:19:24 especially because the Mountaineers took care of business
00:19:26 in the fourth quarter and won the game by double digits.
00:19:29 My best moment of the season, by far,
00:19:32 in a season that had some really great moments,
00:19:35 was singing sweet Caroline with 61,000 of my best friends
00:19:40 at the end of the third quarter
00:19:41 as we went on to beat the stinking Pitt Panthers.
00:19:44 - That's a good one.
00:19:47 That's a good one. - Jed.
00:19:48 - I tell you. - Jed, best moment
00:19:49 of the season.
00:19:49 Or you can comment on that first if you want to.
00:19:51 - Well, here we go.
00:19:53 I'm gonna go ahead with mine, and it's my comment, okay?
00:19:57 So I have some listed here.
00:19:59 As a matter of fact, I tell you what, Kyle,
00:20:00 that'd be unfair to you.
00:20:01 Why don't you go ahead and hit yours,
00:20:03 and then I'll have some of the ones I listed
00:20:05 as like honorable mention.
00:20:06 - There we go.
00:20:07 - And I don't wanna, yeah, I don't wanna steal your thunder
00:20:08 if I hit yours with an honorable mention here.
00:20:11 - Well, honestly, this is tough
00:20:12 because it's really a tie for me.
00:20:14 Like, I've got a co-champion for this thing,
00:20:16 but I've gotta pick one.
00:20:17 But I'll at least give you my thoughts on the runner-up.
00:20:20 My runner-up has to be the Zach Frazier thing, right?
00:20:24 Against Baylor, to suffer that injury,
00:20:27 to grab Hudson Clement,
00:20:28 drag him across the first down marker,
00:20:29 get off the field, not go down, saves the time.
00:20:32 We talked about it a couple weeks ago.
00:20:34 Just an insane moment that you just never think a kid his age
00:20:39 will be able to process in that intense of a situation.
00:20:43 Hats off to Zach.
00:20:45 But Wes, I'm right there with you, dude.
00:20:47 Like, it has to be the backyard brawl for me.
00:20:51 The reason I say that is because we've been to,
00:20:54 ah, geez, six, seven, eight games
00:20:57 between me and my wife together,
00:20:59 and she has never experienced a backyard brawl.
00:21:03 She's been to some games,
00:21:04 but never a big, big game like that.
00:21:06 And I've tried to tell her, like,
00:21:07 this stadium is different.
00:21:09 The atmosphere is different when you go to a game like this.
00:21:14 She couldn't get to go to,
00:21:15 she was unable to go to the backyard brawl in Pittsburgh.
00:21:20 And I was excited about that.
00:21:23 I knew that the very next year when it came to Morgantown,
00:21:26 it was gonna be insane, and she had to go.
00:21:27 So I told her, put the time in off
00:21:29 for you to get off and we'll go.
00:21:32 She didn't have any idea what was about to happen.
00:21:35 She knows about the sweet Caroline and everything.
00:21:37 And when that happened in third quarter,
00:21:38 she looked at me, she goes, are they really doing this?
00:21:41 (laughing)
00:21:42 - That's what we were all thinking, right?
00:21:44 Is this really happening?
00:21:45 - And I think it was really cool, too,
00:21:47 because she's kind of become a mountaineer by marriage,
00:21:51 right, and she ended up actually going to grad school there
00:21:55 virtually during the pandemic.
00:21:57 And so she's kind of really fallen in love
00:21:59 with WVU and everything.
00:22:01 But whenever the game ended, she's like,
00:22:04 they're gonna play country road, right?
00:22:06 I'm like, yeah, absolutely.
00:22:07 As soon as it came out of her mouth,
00:22:10 they started playing, and I could see the emotion
00:22:13 just come over her face.
00:22:14 And I'm like, this is somebody that has lived
00:22:17 and breathed North Carolina Tar Heels basketball
00:22:20 for her whole life, and for her to take that moment
00:22:22 and feel it as if she's a West Virginian,
00:22:25 that was an ultimate moment for me.
00:22:28 - Love it.
00:22:29 Love it, man, that's what it's all about.
00:22:31 That's awesome.
00:22:32 - I'll tell you what, boys, that's a tough act to follow,
00:22:35 'cause it's one of them I looked at mine.
00:22:37 - Then real quick here, real quick, Jed,
00:22:38 let me give Owens first, and then that way
00:22:40 you won't have to follow that,
00:22:41 in case you touch on his, too.
00:22:43 Owens, you guys will remember,
00:22:45 Owens' best moment of the season was watching
00:22:47 the Texas Tech goal line stand to get the victory
00:22:50 down in the end zone with JR.
00:22:53 - That's a free job.
00:22:55 - Yeah, and everyone, you might have seen the video,
00:22:58 we laughed about it, we shared it on all of our,
00:22:59 but JR got a great video of Owens celebrating
00:23:02 and screaming in the end zone.
00:23:03 - The poncho in the rain.
00:23:04 - After we held him on that fourth down
00:23:06 in a poncho in the rain, and so being down on the field
00:23:10 for the Texas Tech goal line stand,
00:23:12 and down there with JR and the good Toothman folks,
00:23:14 that was Owens' best moment of the season.
00:23:17 - So when I go through, again, I was trying to brainstorm
00:23:21 and stimulate the gray matter and see which one I thought
00:23:24 I would settle on as the best moment,
00:23:27 and the goal line stand or red zone stand,
00:23:31 really, if you want to call it that,
00:23:33 that's on my list because that was a big, big deal.
00:23:37 It had that sense of, here we go again,
00:23:39 the other shoe's about to drop,
00:23:41 just as it has so many times against these cats,
00:23:44 but we finally found a way to finish them.
00:23:46 The blocked field goal against TCU, same type of thing.
00:23:49 We went into that building at three and one,
00:23:52 irrespective of our record, nobody was giving us
00:23:55 any respect, we were double-digit underdogs
00:23:58 as a three and one football team.
00:24:00 So I don't know where that thing would have gone
00:24:03 on the road against an incredibly hot-handed Chandler Morris
00:24:06 in overtime, had it gotten to that point,
00:24:08 but we didn't have to find out because Sean Martin
00:24:10 got that big paw up and whacked that thing down,
00:24:12 and so we had a couple blocked kicks,
00:24:16 big special teams opportunities there to seal that win.
00:24:19 It was a complete team win.
00:24:20 One of the others on my list, of course,
00:24:22 the first one listed is Pitt Sweet Caroline.
00:24:25 How can it not be?
00:24:27 It was just such a seminal moment for so many reasons.
00:24:31 And Wes, it's funny you say that you knew
00:24:34 after the three minutes of the song being played,
00:24:36 the game was over and we won.
00:24:38 There was no doubt in my mind we would win.
00:24:40 This was one of only two times since Neal's gotten here,
00:24:44 and this is hard, pregame's hard,
00:24:46 'cause not many times in my life have I felt this way.
00:24:50 That was the second time that when he finished his address
00:24:54 to the team in the locker room,
00:24:55 I thought the game was over and we won.
00:24:58 That night against Pitt was the second time.
00:25:00 The first one was one of those dedication games.
00:25:03 It was back in, like, '20, I think, against TCU,
00:25:06 and it was one of the games where we dedicate the week
00:25:08 and our preparation to someone critical
00:25:10 in your life and your family.
00:25:12 And I remember thinking when Neal talked to the team
00:25:16 that day, "Gary, you don't know. You just lost. Sorry.
00:25:19 We haven't left the locker room yet, but the game's over.
00:25:21 You just lost," and we went out and beat them 24-6.
00:25:23 But when he told the team
00:25:26 before we took the field against Pitt,
00:25:29 "That energy out there is waiting on you.
00:25:32 Feed off that energy," he said, "Guys,
00:25:35 the people in this state and in those stands
00:25:37 have been waiting since 2011
00:25:40 to celebrate a win over the Panthers.
00:25:42 That ends tonight."
00:25:44 When he said that, I was just like,
00:25:46 "You've got to be kidding me. This is incredible."
00:25:47 I was like, "Oh, wow. Wow."
00:25:50 I mean, just everybody in that room was swelling up.
00:25:52 And that's only the second time in five years
00:25:55 that I remember feeling that way
00:25:57 before we left the locker room.
00:25:59 So it's strange you'd say that three minutes
00:26:01 into that song in the third quarter.
00:26:02 If there was any doubt left, I agree with you.
00:26:06 I went from an anxious -- I went from a ball of anxiety
00:26:12 to I'm partying for these last 15 minutes
00:26:14 and enjoying the moment.
00:26:16 Absolutely.
00:26:18 So that's not what I'm going to go with.
00:26:20 Guys, what I'm going to go with --
00:26:22 and I'm glad you mentioned Zach's moment, Skyler,
00:26:27 because that's forever --
00:26:29 to me, forever linked with this actual moment.
00:26:33 What Zach did and the sacrifice he made for this team
00:26:36 set the table for this moment.
00:26:38 But for what Zach Frazier did,
00:26:39 we're not having this discussion.
00:26:41 And when that ball was in the air
00:26:46 and you saw Jaheim hit the rail
00:26:48 and you recognized this is game, set, match.
00:26:51 I mean, Garrett has delivered a perfect ball.
00:26:54 Jaheim has run a perfect route.
00:26:56 Now to seal the deal, secure the catch,
00:26:58 and let's go instruments up on this thing.
00:27:00 But a couple plays before that,
00:27:03 that whole drive was just so magical.
00:27:06 Self-inflicted as that deficit might have been,
00:27:09 despite the shortcomings in special teams,
00:27:11 and the other issues we had on and off throughout that night.
00:27:17 That entire drive, starting with the play that Zach made
00:27:20 that will forever be etched in the annals
00:27:24 of West Virginia football,
00:27:25 is one of the great all-time moments.
00:27:28 But a couple plays later, and I talked about this
00:27:30 in the episode following the game,
00:27:32 when Garrett scrambled and made his way out of bounds
00:27:36 right in front of us, just the look on his face
00:27:38 of a stone-cold killer.
00:27:40 I mean, at that moment, we were at midfield,
00:27:42 and at that moment, I just took a deep breath,
00:27:45 and I was at ease because I was nervous,
00:27:48 pensive, horrified, on edge,
00:27:50 all those things like everybody else,
00:27:52 wondering what's going to happen, what's going to happen.
00:27:54 But somehow, someway, I'm just telling you,
00:27:56 when Garrett moved by me, right up into me,
00:27:58 looking through me on the sidelines, the look on his face,
00:28:01 I was like, "That's it. We're scoring. We're scoring."
00:28:03 There is no doubt in my mind we are scoring.
00:28:05 I don't know how. I don't know when.
00:28:07 I don't know if he runs it. I don't know if he throws it.
00:28:09 I just know we are scoring a touchdown.
00:28:11 And to sit back and kind of just enjoy the final
00:28:13 so many seconds of that ride and watch that ball in flight
00:28:17 and Jaheim come down with that, it was one of those things
00:28:21 that you literally could not believe what you were seeing.
00:28:23 I mean, he was probably 20 yards away from me
00:28:25 when he caught that football in the end zone.
00:28:27 And your first thought, it was similar.
00:28:31 Circumstances are different,
00:28:32 but when something like that happens,
00:28:33 I remember this crossing my mind
00:28:35 when Will scored the two-point conversion
00:28:36 to beat Texas in 2018.
00:28:38 Again, he was right in front of me.
00:28:40 You're like, "I can't believe that I'm so close
00:28:42 to this incredible moment in history
00:28:44 that people will remember forever."
00:28:46 That's literally your first thought.
00:28:48 When it happens right in front of you,
00:28:50 that is your first thought.
00:28:52 This is history, and I'm literally --
00:28:55 I've got a front-row seat for history.
00:28:57 And that's what it felt like
00:28:59 because Jaheim White was making that catch.
00:29:00 So for me, guys, that was --
00:29:03 We might not have had the signature win,
00:29:05 but we certainly had some signature moments.
00:29:07 No doubt.
00:29:08 And that was the signature moment
00:29:10 of all signature moments, to finish the 12-game season.
00:29:14 And what a perfect chariot on top that was.
00:29:16 And I'll add one more quick thing right here, too.
00:29:19 Don Nealon getting immortalized.
00:29:21 That was long overdue.
00:29:23 Great call.
00:29:24 I'll add one more real quick, too.
00:29:26 I've got family from Tennessee.
00:29:28 They are from Dodger County, like the rest of my family.
00:29:34 They lived in Clarksburg for a long time,
00:29:37 but they've been in Tennessee now for like 20 years.
00:29:41 And they had not been to Mountaineer Field since 2008.
00:29:45 My cousins had not been to Mountaineer Field
00:29:47 since they were like 14, 15 years old.
00:29:50 And now we're all in our 30s.
00:29:52 And so they came up.
00:29:53 I remember I shared this with you guys.
00:29:55 They did -- 'Cause they're Titans and Steelers fans,
00:29:57 depending on, you know, which ones.
00:29:59 So they did the Steelers-Titans game in Pittsburgh on Thursday
00:30:02 and stayed with my wife and I.
00:30:03 And then we all went to the WVU-BYU game Saturday.
00:30:06 For that to be a night game, the tailgate that we had,
00:30:10 and then to go and just comfortably smoke BYU
00:30:13 in one of the most stress-free environments.
00:30:15 And we had a great time.
00:30:17 And it was an easy win and a comfortable win
00:30:19 and so much fun.
00:30:20 That was a night that I'll remember for a long time, too.
00:30:23 Just my Tennessee family being up here.
00:30:25 I only get to see them once or twice a year in general.
00:30:28 And like I said, they hadn't been to Mountaineer Field
00:30:29 in, you know, 15 years, 14 years, something like that.
00:30:33 I mean, if you think about it.
00:30:34 Another quick shout-out to my Tennessee fam
00:30:36 if they're listening to this episode.
00:30:38 If you think about it, every --
00:30:39 it felt like every win had a moment, right?
00:30:41 Even if it was -- -No doubt.
00:30:43 -Dupain. -Even Dupain.
00:30:44 Like we talked about.
00:30:46 The two-hour weather delay in UCF,
00:30:49 it had some kind of moments in between.
00:30:51 No, UCF had a moment.
00:30:52 It was B.B. Bishop catching an interception
00:30:55 that bounced off a dude's foot.
00:30:56 Yeah. And then you had Eric Collins
00:30:58 calling the flipping interception,
00:31:01 which is hilarious because I give him crap for it all the time
00:31:04 because he's actually the hornet's play-by-play guy on TV.
00:31:07 And the day that he came back, I was giving him crap for it.
00:31:11 He just laughed. It was funny.
00:31:14 -Like, UCF moment is always going to be, guys,
00:31:16 in the postgame, listening to Garrett talk about.
00:31:18 He came into the postgame press conference
00:31:20 with the ball in his hand. -That's right.
00:31:22 -I was scoring three touchdowns. -That's right.
00:31:23 -And he said, "This is one of my grandma."
00:31:25 She came up from South Florida to watch me play.
00:31:27 She's been a schoolteacher for a quarter century.
00:31:29 She never takes time off work.
00:31:30 She asks for a day off to travel up and watch me play,
00:31:34 and I'm going to give her this ball
00:31:35 as soon as I leave this press room.
00:31:36 And that's what I'll always remember.
00:31:38 But, Wes, you talked about smoke and BYU.
00:31:41 I think it's worth mentioning
00:31:42 that those are two games right there
00:31:45 that are somewhat unheralded,
00:31:47 the BYU and the Cincinnati games.
00:31:49 Look, the mark of a good football team is --
00:31:53 -I'm glad you're saying this.
00:31:54 -And take care of business against teams like that.
00:31:57 In other words, you don't struggle.
00:31:58 You don't let them hang around.
00:32:00 And in both those games,
00:32:01 we used the home field to our advantage.
00:32:03 We played fired-up football.
00:32:05 We got to a fast start.
00:32:06 We handled BYU and Cincinnati like a good football team
00:32:10 would handle teams like that.
00:32:12 -Kelani Setaki gave us a moment before the game even started,
00:32:14 too. -Yeah, he did.
00:32:15 -Right. Country roads, baby.
00:32:17 -No, guys, and you'll laugh, too.
00:32:19 I put in my other here on my notes, on my outline for this,
00:32:22 I put, "Make sure to mention dramatic victories.
00:32:24 Pitt, Texas Tech, TCU, and Baylor.
00:32:27 Make sure to mention the return of blowout wins,"
00:32:29 something we haven't had for a while, BYU and Cincinnati.
00:32:32 -Yep, absolutely. -So, yeah, that's what --
00:32:34 Good teams win close games,
00:32:35 and good teams win comfortable games,
00:32:37 and we did both of those things this season.
00:32:40 All right, gentlemen, before we go to break, worst moment.
00:32:43 Jed, you haven't let us off yet on one of these,
00:32:45 so you up first here.
00:32:46 We'll spin the block right back to you.
00:32:48 Worst moment of the season.
00:32:50 -I have to go with the Muffin Punt against Oklahoma State.
00:32:53 -Ooh. -I mean, it's a 24-20 game.
00:32:55 It's the fourth quarter.
00:32:56 We're getting ready to take possession.
00:32:57 -Oh, yeah. -We pretty much had the sense
00:32:59 that we were about to seal this thing, right?
00:33:02 In other words, it's hard to think back
00:33:04 to what that game was like at that juncture
00:33:06 because from that moment forward,
00:33:09 it became almost immediately a completely different game,
00:33:13 but it was 24-20.
00:33:14 We were in control.
00:33:16 A special-teams faux pas.
00:33:18 We get blocked into our return, man.
00:33:20 Andrew Wilson-Lambs gets blocked into them.
00:33:22 We saw the same thing happen a couple games later
00:33:25 with the opposition doing it,
00:33:26 but that was -- It was 24-20.
00:33:30 We were starting to get a little rhythm on offense.
00:33:32 You just kind of felt that that was the moment
00:33:35 we were on the verge of seizing control of that game,
00:33:38 and instead, we gave it back to them,
00:33:41 and if you remember what unfolded a couple snaps later,
00:33:44 we almost got the defensive stop,
00:33:47 but they ran the perimeter screen.
00:33:50 Presley makes the one-guy miss
00:33:51 on a very controversial block on the perimeter.
00:33:53 We thought we got held.
00:33:55 He busts the thing 28 yards or so.
00:33:57 They take the lead, and they never look back
00:33:59 because from that point forward, it was the Ollie Gordon show.
00:34:01 We were rolling the dice, pushing numbers downhill,
00:34:04 playing zero, missing run fits.
00:34:07 The rest is history, but at that point,
00:34:09 that was such a fundamentally different game at 24-20,
00:34:14 a couple minutes into the fourth quarter,
00:34:16 than it ended up 48-34.
00:34:19 It was a whole different animal.
00:34:20 It was a whole different game than what it was with just,
00:34:24 you know, what, 12 minutes to --
00:34:25 I don't remember exactly what the time was on the clock,
00:34:27 but it was a few minutes into the fourth quarter.
00:34:29 We were in control.
00:34:30 Everything seemed to be going in our favor.
00:34:32 We were making our own luck, and then that happened,
00:34:36 and to me, that was the worst moment.
00:34:39 In some ways, it was worse than the Hail Mary at Houston
00:34:43 because it came a week later,
00:34:45 and it was our opportunity to recover
00:34:47 from the Hail Mary at Houston,
00:34:48 but instead, we kind of doubled down on the misery,
00:34:51 and it was just -- it was bad.
00:34:55 Yeah, I mean -- Yeah, it was.
00:34:58 I'm kind of right there with you, Jed.
00:34:59 I mean, I know, Wes, you're probably going to talk
00:35:03 a little bit about that other game
00:35:04 against a former head coach of ours,
00:35:06 so I'll steer away from that,
00:35:09 and I'll kind of piggyback off of what Jed was saying
00:35:11 a little bit about the Oklahoma State game.
00:35:13 That was the game me and my wife went up to.
00:35:16 We actually filled in for Wes in the box seats,
00:35:20 and we were having a great time, a great weekend.
00:35:23 Felt like even though they weren't playing great football,
00:35:26 they were hanging around in the game.
00:35:28 That happens, and the game kind of got out of control.
00:35:32 Everyone started leaving the stadium.
00:35:33 I'm like, "All right, I think we should just start heading back
00:35:35 because I had to do a post-game show,"
00:35:37 and it was pouring down rain the whole way back --
00:35:41 on the walk back and ended up being drenched,
00:35:44 but I'm going to go a little bit different.
00:35:46 I'm going to go with the two scary injuries at TCU,
00:35:52 with Trey Latham and Aubrey Burks.
00:35:55 It seems like this is happening more and more often in sports.
00:35:59 Even just happened with the Mountaineer basketball team
00:36:01 with the Kuka Kook,
00:36:04 but to see those guys go down and the way they went down
00:36:07 and just that whole scene is just a dark,
00:36:10 eerie feeling that I don't like,
00:36:12 and it just makes you think for a second
00:36:15 that your life could change just like that,
00:36:18 and I think, fortunately for those two guys,
00:36:22 they came out on the other side of it really good,
00:36:24 and they seemed to be --
00:36:26 Obviously, Aubrey came back and has played.
00:36:28 Trey Latham seems to be on his way back,
00:36:30 but those two individual moments were really hard for me to watch.
00:36:37 Listening to the kids on the field wail.
00:36:40 Yes. We were all in the middle of the field
00:36:43 during that extended stoppage of time,
00:36:46 and we didn't know what was happening with Aubrey.
00:36:48 We just saw him getting loaded up,
00:36:50 and listening to his teammates,
00:36:52 just 20- and 21-year-old young men just wail.
00:36:56 Oh, it just rips your soul.
00:36:58 No rush. It really does.
00:36:59 That's such a dark part of this game we love.
00:37:03 But as you said, they both bounced back,
00:37:07 and as you would expect, it impacted Aubrey for a while,
00:37:12 but, yeah, it could have turned out much differently than it did,
00:37:16 but that was a tough moment.
00:37:18 Good point on your part.
00:37:20 Yeah. Good call there, Skylar.
00:37:22 I'm surprised.
00:37:24 I mean, not surprised, but I didn't think
00:37:26 that we would get through both of your worst moments,
00:37:28 and neither of you would have gone with the Hail Mary
00:37:32 there that we saw, of course, in Houston against Dana.
00:37:37 That was Big O's answer.
00:37:38 Big O's answer, Jed, was the Hail Mary
00:37:43 for worst moment of the season,
00:37:44 you know, thinking you had had a dramatic victory there.
00:37:47 You kind of used that for your ugly.
00:37:48 Skylar just touched on it there momentarily.
00:37:52 So, originally, you guys will laugh.
00:37:53 I didn't pick the Houston Hail Mary
00:37:55 as my worst moment of the season
00:37:56 because I thought everybody else was going to pick
00:37:58 that as their worst moment, and I wanted to be a hipster,
00:38:01 but it turns out you guys were the hipsters
00:38:03 and had different things.
00:38:06 So it's funny how this works, too, right?
00:38:08 Because Skylar kind of used this as a best moment.
00:38:10 For my worst moment, I put the Zach injury,
00:38:13 and it's like a Phoenix rising from the ashes moment
00:38:16 because it is incredible in a way, right?
00:38:18 It's poetic in a way of a guy who is selfless
00:38:23 and is team-oriented as he is.
00:38:25 For him to get injured in a moment like that,
00:38:27 pushing his guy across the first down on a last-second drive,
00:38:30 getting off the field with a broken leg
00:38:32 so that 10 seconds don't run off the clock for his teammates.
00:38:37 In hindsight, it's a beautiful moment in a way, right?
00:38:40 It's a legendary moment,
00:38:42 and as long as he makes a full recovery
00:38:44 and all those things, it could be a real notch in his belt
00:38:48 for not only his Mountaineer career
00:38:49 but his football career as a whole.
00:38:51 For me, though, I went with it as worst moment
00:38:53 just because it's his last game
00:38:55 he's going to play as a Mountaineer,
00:38:56 and he's in the medical room.
00:38:58 He doesn't get to be jumping up and down for joy
00:39:02 on the field with his teammates as they accomplish that.
00:39:04 He doesn't get to be standing in the circle
00:39:06 singing the fight song, "It's West Virginia,
00:39:09 it's West Virginia, it's the pride of every Mountaineer.
00:39:11 Come on, you old grads, join with us young lads,"
00:39:14 for the last time that he deserved to be
00:39:16 in the middle of that with all those other seniors.
00:39:19 And as you guys know, as someone who has a really good chance
00:39:23 of being a high draft pick, it hurts his draft prep.
00:39:28 It hurts his draft stock, all those different things.
00:39:31 You know, he doesn't get to hit the ground
00:39:33 running for his combine training and his pro day training,
00:39:35 and now it's something he's going to be tested about
00:39:37 at nauseam when he gets to the combine.
00:39:39 And, you know, maybe instead of getting drafted
00:39:41 in the early second round,
00:39:43 he falls to the back of the second round
00:39:45 or early in the third round, something like that, right?
00:39:48 I liked your guys' perspective of the silver lining
00:39:52 and the Phoenix rising from the ashes in a good moment,
00:39:55 which I do think in hindsight will view it that way.
00:39:59 But for me, it was worst moment
00:40:00 just because of what it cost Zach.
00:40:03 The opportunity to have that moment on the field,
00:40:05 the opportunity to have that moment in the locker room,
00:40:07 the opportunity to really hit the ground
00:40:09 running with his NFL draft process.
00:40:12 Zach's broken leg was my worst moment.
00:40:14 I guess it just depends on how you look at it, right?
00:40:17 -And, you know, let me make this cinematic a little bit, Wes.
00:40:20 You're exactly right.
00:40:22 You could look at it either way.
00:40:24 And I think back to that there was a theme in "Batman Begins"
00:40:28 between Bruce Wayne and Ra's al Ghul when they started.
00:40:31 They were going back and forth throughout the movie
00:40:33 about making yourself more than a man.
00:40:36 You become a symbol.
00:40:37 You stand for something greater.
00:40:39 And it's almost like that was one of those moments
00:40:41 for Zach Frazier.
00:40:43 He almost transcended mountaineer status
00:40:47 and became symbol status.
00:40:49 It's now what he did on that final play of his career
00:40:52 will forever stand as the mark and the measuring stick
00:40:57 of what it means to symbolically be a mountaineer.
00:41:02 So that is already --
00:41:05 Here we are how many weeks removed from that.
00:41:07 And it is forever linked to his legacy already.
00:41:11 I mean, we're gonna be saying the same thing in conversations
00:41:13 30 and 40 years from now,
00:41:15 just like we are 30 and 40 days after it happened.
00:41:18 And that's pretty unique, pretty special.
00:41:20 It's so bittersweet in the sense that everything you just said
00:41:24 is spot-on accurate.
00:41:27 It's gonna impact the preparation
00:41:29 for the things he's dreamed to do his entire life.
00:41:32 There's nothing good that comes from it in that sense.
00:41:35 But the silver lining would be he's now more
00:41:38 than just a mountaineer.
00:41:40 I mean, he really is in some strange way,
00:41:43 if that makes sense what I'm trying to say or communicate.
00:41:44 -Yeah, absolutely.
00:41:46 But it endears you, you know.
00:41:49 It's like, Jed, it reminds me a lot of DeSean Butler,
00:41:51 honestly.
00:41:52 Like, I mean, you remember how DeSean Butler's career
00:41:54 with WVU ended.
00:41:56 Like, in a way, that moment is more memorable
00:42:01 than if DeSean Butler's career would have ended
00:42:02 with cutting down the nets
00:42:03 and winning a national championship.
00:42:05 You know what I mean?
00:42:06 Like, in a much different --
00:42:08 But that's the --
00:42:09 You know, now that we've had some time, again,
00:42:10 to digest these things over a couple weeks,
00:42:12 like, that's the other example that I think of.
00:42:15 You know, a guy like DeSean Butler,
00:42:16 who meant so much to the program in a moment like that,
00:42:19 not being able to see that thing out.
00:42:22 But because of that, I mean, he's one of the most beloved
00:42:25 WVU basketball players of all time.
00:42:26 Not just because of that, but that was kind of the send-off,
00:42:29 being like that.
00:42:31 -Yeah. -And I think, too, with Zach,
00:42:33 you could also look at it as it sucks from his NFL preparation,
00:42:38 but I think a lot of NFL teams and scouts,
00:42:41 if they weren't sold on the kid already,
00:42:43 they're even more sold on him now
00:42:45 just to see the sacrifice that he gave up on that play
00:42:48 and then the mental fortitude
00:42:49 that he had to get off the damn field,
00:42:51 like, and not cost his team more time.
00:42:53 Because I think Jed did the math.
00:42:56 If he doesn't get off the field and takes the 10-second runoff,
00:42:59 there's no time left.
00:43:00 So that's an incredible job.
00:43:04 -You take the 10-second runoff.
00:43:05 In other words, to quickly revisit it,
00:43:08 if he doesn't carry Hudson to the sticks,
00:43:11 he's losing 10 seconds there. -Yep.
00:43:13 -And then you have the runoff.
00:43:14 So you're talking 20-plus seconds.
00:43:17 But it's like we talked about in the episode
00:43:20 immediately following the win at Baylor.
00:43:23 Somebody is going to draft him,
00:43:26 and it's not going to be despite of this.
00:43:27 It's going to be in large part because of this.
00:43:30 Not just because of what he did in the moment,
00:43:32 but because of what he is doing as we speak
00:43:35 and the way he's so fiercely going to attack,
00:43:37 getting back on his feet.
00:43:39 And they'll really see what he's all about.
00:43:41 And that'll be part of the reason
00:43:42 they're pounding on the table
00:43:43 to make him a selection in late April.
00:43:46 -You're absolutely right.
00:43:47 Whatever team ends up selecting Zach Frazier,
00:43:50 let's say it's the Houston Texans, okay?
00:43:53 Let's say it's the Carolina Panthers.
00:43:54 Let's say it's the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:43:57 Every team has, like, you know,
00:43:58 former players that do media, that do website stuff,
00:44:02 you know, all those different things.
00:44:04 Some dude from that team is going to be breaking down
00:44:07 film of Zach Frazier on HoustonTexans.com,
00:44:10 and he's going to be going, "Look at this.
00:44:12 Look at this guy right here. Look at what he did.
00:44:13 Look at this warrior. Are you kidding me?
00:44:15 Look at this guy. This is a football guy right here."
00:44:17 And, yeah, I cannot wait for that to happen.
00:44:20 -And as Jed mentioned multiple times, too,
00:44:23 the person that they're going to get to is just as good.
00:44:27 -No doubt. He's going to work in his woodshop.
00:44:31 He's going to visit your children's hospitals,
00:44:33 and he's going to punch people in the math.
00:44:35 -Did you see the picture in Vegas with him and Peyton?
00:44:38 Ray texted me that. I sent it to you guys.
00:44:41 And then the football account posted it up.
00:44:44 But his dad had the perfect line.
00:44:45 Ray texted me.
00:44:47 And it's a picture of Zach standing with Peyton Manning.
00:44:50 And he said, "You ever find two better guys
00:44:52 who can ID the mic than these two?"
00:44:54 And I was like, "That is just so spot on.
00:44:56 That is so spot on." Yeah.
00:44:58 -That's great. -I love it.
00:44:59 Well, we love Zach Frazier, and this is for sure
00:45:02 not the last time that we will be talking about him.
00:45:04 In fact, somebody on this podcast
00:45:06 will be at the combine for a week
00:45:08 and is going to be spreading Zach Frazier propaganda
00:45:10 every single day.
00:45:12 And hopefully we'll have some audio
00:45:13 and some conversations with him
00:45:15 that will bring you late February,
00:45:17 early March as well, too.
00:45:18 All right, we got to get to a break here.
00:45:20 Those were some more global perspective,
00:45:23 whole-season perspective thoughts.
00:45:25 On the other side of the break, we'll close this thing down.
00:45:27 We'll give out some individual awards.
00:45:29 We'll talk more individuals instead of moments, if you will.
00:45:32 We'll do that when we return. On the other side, you are in the gun.
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00:46:05 -For more West Virginia Mountaineer football content,
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00:47:37 (upbeat music)
00:47:39 - Get your Coyote at the new location of Johnston Equipment,
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00:47:48 - Back in the gun here, ITG.
00:47:50 It is our WVU season review episode.
00:47:53 All right, now, first half of this thing,
00:47:56 I thought we were gonna have a lot of similar answers,
00:47:59 and I think we all did a pretty good job, funny enough,
00:48:01 of touching on different things
00:48:03 and different moments and different angles.
00:48:05 These individual awards here,
00:48:07 I got a feeling we are definitely going to have
00:48:09 a lot of the same answers.
00:48:12 So gentlemen, let me put it this way.
00:48:14 We'll start with Offensive Player of the Year.
00:48:16 I think this conversation, we can kind of round table
00:48:18 more than just going to each of us at a time.
00:48:21 Does anybody not have Garrett Green
00:48:23 as their Offensive Player of the Year?
00:48:25 - I do.
00:48:27 - You don't?
00:48:28 (laughing)
00:48:30 All right, I've got six, Owen's got six.
00:48:34 So I want to hear who else you two got.
00:48:37 - 54.
00:48:38 - That's where I go.
00:48:40 - I got 54.
00:48:41 In other words, I remember having this discussion
00:48:43 really before the Oklahoma game, in the pregame,
00:48:46 and we were talking about, "Hey, who needs to play well?"
00:48:49 And we were all saying Zach does, and the O-line does.
00:48:52 And there was this conversation about,
00:48:54 "Well, yeah, but so does Garrett."
00:48:56 I'm like, "Well, that's all well and true."
00:48:57 But you see what happens,
00:49:00 what our quarterback and skill guys look like
00:49:03 in a game like Oklahoma, where the offensive line
00:49:05 didn't bring its premium optimal performance.
00:49:09 When they don't play well, nothing else matters.
00:49:12 And they were the tip of the spear for us.
00:49:15 We said so many times in the off season,
00:49:18 "Look, there is a path for greatness
00:49:20 "for this West Virginia offense, there is.
00:49:23 "It might be a narrow path, but that path
00:49:26 "must necessarily be forged by this offensive line."
00:49:30 And that is exactly what we saw happen.
00:49:32 And not just the offensive line,
00:49:35 but the versatility of the offensive line,
00:49:37 playing seven guys, not the five
00:49:39 we talked about all off season.
00:49:40 So I think that Zach's the glue
00:49:42 that held those guys together.
00:49:44 He's the glue that made everything else
00:49:46 offensively possible.
00:49:47 I don't think without Zach Frazier,
00:49:49 we're talking about Jaheim or Garrett,
00:49:51 or any of the playmakers on the perimeter.
00:49:53 I really don't.
00:49:55 And so I think all the success that we enjoyed,
00:49:57 and we had a lot of it.
00:49:59 And trust me, you know that I can make a case
00:50:02 for some of these other guys.
00:50:04 But I think it's all downstream
00:50:06 from what we saw at a number 54.
00:50:09 - Yeah, I'm of agreement with you.
00:50:11 I mean, Garrett had a terrific season.
00:50:13 We didn't know really what to expect out of him
00:50:15 when it all started.
00:50:16 But I mean, Zach is unique.
00:50:21 He's one of the best players in the country,
00:50:23 and he's the only player on that offense
00:50:26 that is the number one player,
00:50:28 or arguably the number one player
00:50:29 at his position in the entire country.
00:50:31 So I think it's, I don't want to say this
00:50:35 as a slight to Garrett,
00:50:36 but I think it's not even close
00:50:38 in terms of the importance of Zach Frazier
00:50:42 and what he means to this offense.
00:50:44 So I think, I mean, you saw it with,
00:50:47 you know, early in the season,
00:50:48 when Garrett went down, they still won games.
00:50:51 So I mean, I think a lot of that has to do
00:50:53 with that offensive line of Zach Frazier,
00:50:55 but Garrett, hell of a season.
00:50:57 - I like it, boys.
00:51:00 I dig it.
00:51:02 - I really do.
00:51:03 Maybe I'm guilty of the NFL thing here.
00:51:05 We're like MVP offense,
00:51:07 it's always gotta be a quarterback, right?
00:51:08 No, Tyreek Hill can never win it.
00:51:10 Somebody else can never win it.
00:51:13 It's gotta be a quarterback, gotta be a quarterback.
00:51:14 Well, I like that.
00:51:15 Pleasant surprise there.
00:51:17 Okay, then.
00:51:18 I'm gonna put, I'm gonna walk out on a limb here again.
00:51:21 (laughs)
00:51:23 Defensive player of the year.
00:51:25 Owen and I both have Beanie Bishop.
00:51:27 Do we all four have Beanie Bishop?
00:51:30 - Yes. - I do.
00:51:31 - Okay, there we go.
00:51:33 It's unanimous, baby. - Let me read you a quick tweet.
00:51:36 - Give me the numbers, Jed, give me the numbers.
00:51:38 - Quick tweet I posted.
00:51:39 You had, obviously, he's the 13th consensus
00:51:44 All-American in school history.
00:51:46 Skyler, you wrote about it.
00:51:47 John Antoni wrote about it.
00:51:49 Here is the path to becoming the 13th consensus
00:51:53 of All-American in West Virginia history.
00:51:55 Now stop and think about that.
00:51:57 13th in history consensus All-American.
00:52:00 - And we've played, what, 131 seasons of WV football?
00:52:05 - All that Beanie did this year.
00:52:08 Again, what I like about it, it's not interception-driven.
00:52:13 It's production-driven.
00:52:15 There's more ways to produce defensively
00:52:17 than just intercepting passes.
00:52:19 He picked off four balls, which puts him, I don't know,
00:52:22 15th, 16th tied in the country.
00:52:23 He's among the national leaders, sure.
00:52:25 But he made his mark in passes defended in PBUs.
00:52:30 He led the nation in passes defended with 24.
00:52:34 That is eight more than all other
00:52:37 Power Five defenders this year.
00:52:39 Let me repeat that.
00:52:40 He had 24.
00:52:41 Number two among all Power Five defenders had 16.
00:52:44 And that's the most by a Power Five defender total
00:52:50 since 2018, by any Power Five defender.
00:52:55 So eight more than any other P5 defender this year,
00:52:58 and the most since 2018.
00:53:01 He also led the nation in passes broken up with 20.
00:53:05 That's five more than all other P5 defenders this year,
00:53:10 and the most by a P5 defender total since 2018.
00:53:14 The most in five years by a P5 defender
00:53:17 in both those categories.
00:53:19 See, what I always try and do for a frame of reference,
00:53:22 when I'm tracking numbers and tracking metrics,
00:53:24 first, how do you stack against the collective pack?
00:53:27 How do you stack against the pack this year?
00:53:29 How do you stand against your league?
00:53:31 If you fare well against your league,
00:53:32 then I take it to the next step.
00:53:33 Where do you stand nationally?
00:53:35 And then I look at it versus FBS and versus Power Five.
00:53:37 Well, then once I see that you've staked your claim
00:53:41 this year as one of the premier players,
00:53:44 then I start going back in years,
00:53:45 say, okay, when's the last time somebody did this
00:53:48 or did that?
00:53:49 I had to go all the way back to 2018
00:53:52 in tracking these numbers for Beanie.
00:53:54 So to say that he was more than a worthwhile addition
00:53:58 in the off season through the portal,
00:54:00 this is not bad for a kid who this time last year
00:54:03 was a backup number three corner
00:54:05 playing some nickel for Minnesota.
00:54:07 So tremendous, tremendous season.
00:54:12 And I like the fact that the game has bent a little bit
00:54:17 in favor of some defenders
00:54:18 where you don't just have two or three statistical categories
00:54:22 and you either dominate one of those two or three categories
00:54:24 and that's it, or you can't produce.
00:54:26 Like I've always said, look, offensively,
00:54:28 take a look like this, a quarterback,
00:54:29 if I throw a 30 yard touchdown pass,
00:54:32 well, that's one statistic, it's a touchdown,
00:54:35 but it's another statistic, it's a completion.
00:54:37 Plus I get credit for the yardage.
00:54:39 So that's not true on the defensive side of the football.
00:54:42 So the NFL, for instance, hasn't even tracked sacks.
00:54:47 They didn't start tracking sacks until 1982.
00:54:50 So when you look at Deacon Jones, some of these guys,
00:54:52 the reason they're not in the all-time sack leaders
00:54:54 is because when they played, sacks was not a statistic.
00:54:57 So some things are more contemporary.
00:55:00 When you look at passes defended,
00:55:01 when you look at pass breakups,
00:55:03 those are more contemporary stats.
00:55:05 And John Antoniuk and I have had these conversations.
00:55:07 Imagine going back, and I'd like to do this
00:55:08 as an all-season project if John could find the tape,
00:55:11 go back and find a guy like Steve Newberry.
00:55:13 I would love to go through an entire season's worth
00:55:16 of Steve Newberry's defensive reps.
00:55:19 And we know how many interceptions he had
00:55:20 because that's the only stat they tracked back then.
00:55:23 You either picked off a bunch of passes
00:55:24 or nobody knew your name, right?
00:55:25 That was it.
00:55:26 But now, look at Beanie.
00:55:28 Beanie has four interceptions
00:55:30 and he's a consensus All-American.
00:55:32 I don't think that was possible when Steve Newberry played.
00:55:35 But I'd like to track like a Steve Newberry
00:55:37 and see how many passes defended he had,
00:55:39 see how many pass breakups he had.
00:55:41 And for clarity's sake, let's review this very quickly
00:55:44 for those listening at home who might be confused.
00:55:47 There are three defensive categories we're discussing here
00:55:50 when you look at a defensive back, okay?
00:55:52 Category number one you're all familiar with, interceptions,
00:55:56 pretty much is what you think it is.
00:55:57 It's a pick.
00:55:58 You pick off a pass, you get credit for an interception.
00:56:00 And then there is a pass breakup.
00:56:03 In other words, a pass in which you forced an incompletion
00:56:06 but it's not an interception.
00:56:08 And then the third category encompasses
00:56:10 both those first two.
00:56:11 So if you have one interception and one pass breakup,
00:56:14 you have two passes defended.
00:56:16 And that's how these stats that we just talked about
00:56:18 really track.
00:56:20 So again, I like the fact that you can demonstrate
00:56:24 how productive you are as a corner
00:56:26 by doing things other than simply intercepting passes.
00:56:30 Because there's so many more ways you can impact
00:56:33 the football game as a defensive back
00:56:35 than just picking off passes.
00:56:37 And I think that Beanie has made the ultimate case
00:56:40 in why that's true.
00:56:41 - Well said, Jed.
00:56:44 Completely agree.
00:56:46 And I think Beanie has also made the ultimate case
00:56:49 in laying out the blueprint for hitting on portal guys.
00:56:54 And what we hope we can continue to do.
00:56:58 Also, once again, in that secondary
00:57:00 that is gonna need some reinforcements through the portal.
00:57:03 Had a feeling we were all gonna be unanimous on that one.
00:57:06 Big O going with Beanie as well too.
00:57:08 That's the answer for Defensive Player of the Year.
00:57:10 - We'll close with Beanie here.
00:57:12 Again, he led the nation in passes defended with 24.
00:57:16 Last year, Malachi Ruffin led West Virginia.
00:57:21 Beanie had 24 this year.
00:57:23 As the team leader last year,
00:57:25 how many do you think Malachi had
00:57:27 to lead the entire team last year?
00:57:29 - Nine.
00:57:30 - I was gonna say eight.
00:57:31 - Six.
00:57:32 - Wow.
00:57:33 - Six.
00:57:34 - Not bad.
00:57:35 And Beanie had 24?
00:57:36 - Part of the group on the output.
00:57:37 - 24.
00:57:37 - I was gonna say, that's four times as many, Skyler.
00:57:40 I could do the quick math on that one, baby.
00:57:42 You beat me to it, baby.
00:57:44 Thanks to our friends at Fortis
00:57:46 for presenting this episode of ITG as well too.
00:57:48 For Ruff performance and financial certainty,
00:57:51 make sure you're visiting fortis.us.com.
00:57:54 Shout out to our guy, Rick Lewis.
00:57:56 Not a Newcomer of the Year,
00:57:58 a Returning Champion of the Year with Fortis.
00:58:01 All right, gentlemen, last one of these designations.
00:58:05 I left this one kind of open.
00:58:06 I said Rookie of the Year or Newcomer
00:58:09 because you can go with a true freshman,
00:58:11 you can go with somebody that we added in the portal.
00:58:13 I don't know if maybe you guys doubled up here with Beanie.
00:58:15 I'll be interested to see where everybody went with this one.
00:58:18 But Newcomer of the Year, Skyler, let's go back to you.
00:58:21 - I mean, you could go Beanie here too
00:58:23 because he is a newcomer,
00:58:25 but I wanna spread the wealth a little bit here,
00:58:28 so to speak.
00:58:28 So I'm gonna go with Jaheim White.
00:58:30 I think it's pretty easy.
00:58:32 I mean, what that kid did down the stretch,
00:58:35 I mean, you gotta think about it.
00:58:36 He really wasn't playing that first half of the season.
00:58:39 And most of those yardage, that came from the bye week on,
00:58:43 and really not even after the bye week
00:58:45 'cause he didn't really play a whole lot in Houston,
00:58:47 if my memory serves me right.
00:58:48 So what he did really, especially in his final two games,
00:58:53 where CJ was kind of banged up a little bit
00:58:55 and you really saw him come to life,
00:58:58 not only in the ground game,
00:58:59 but the 70-some yard touchdown reception that he had
00:59:01 and he just ran away from everybody against Cincinnati.
00:59:05 It just gives you this hope and this feeling
00:59:08 that they've got something special in this kid.
00:59:11 And I don't really remember the last time, guys,
00:59:14 like the last offensive player that made an impact like that
00:59:19 as a true freshman.
00:59:21 - Steve Slate.
00:59:22 - At a skill position.
00:59:23 I mean, yeah, you're probably talking Steve Slate.
00:59:26 - Noel Devine, yeah.
00:59:27 - I mean, it's been a long, long time.
00:59:30 And what he's done is, I mean, he's just electrifying.
00:59:34 In some ways, I think the excitement factor,
00:59:37 he kind of reminds you of Tavon,
00:59:39 but of course with the running back position,
00:59:42 I think he does give you that Noel Devine type feeling.
00:59:45 - Completely on the same page.
00:59:49 Jed, you concur?
00:59:50 You going elsewhere?
00:59:51 - No, I agree.
00:59:53 You could go with Beanie
00:59:55 if you wanted to speak to the portal,
00:59:57 but Jaheim, I mean, here's the perspective for you.
01:00:01 We talked about the historic struggles in the run game
01:00:04 when Neil inherited what he did offensively in 2019.
01:00:08 We ran the entire year for 879 yards.
01:00:11 As a football team, we ran for 879 yards.
01:00:14 Guys, this year we had three 700-yard rushers,
01:00:18 and one of those was Jaheim.
01:00:21 And as you talked about, Skyler,
01:00:22 it took him a while to get lathered up.
01:00:25 It really wasn't, I would say the light came on.
01:00:28 Sure, we still had the spurt against Duquesne,
01:00:30 but I think that was just an overwhelming talent deficiency
01:00:32 on the part of Duquesne.
01:00:34 But I think you saw, he had some moments against UCF,
01:00:38 but the Brigham Young game was really his coming out party,
01:00:41 just as a well-rounded, complete back
01:00:43 in the pass game and the run game.
01:00:45 And he never really looked back from that.
01:00:47 He had the big yachting against Cincinnati.
01:00:49 He was so productive and did so many things against Baylor.
01:00:52 But I agree with you.
01:00:53 You have to go back.
01:00:55 I mean, we've had some freshmen with some moments.
01:00:57 Tavon had some moments, right?
01:01:00 I mean, David Sills,
01:01:01 when he finally switched positions, had some moments.
01:01:04 But the level of consistency,
01:01:08 once he started humming down the stretch,
01:01:10 it's been, I think, since Steve.
01:01:13 It really has.
01:01:14 That level of consistency,
01:01:16 week in, week out, that level of production.
01:01:19 And to think that, you know, he's really just,
01:01:24 this is the surface of the ice.
01:01:27 That's what this is.
01:01:29 I mean, he hasn't hardly scratched that surface yet.
01:01:31 I mean, he is gonna get more explosive, more dynamic.
01:01:35 The game's gonna slow down for him even more.
01:01:38 He races bad plays.
01:01:41 It's just, he's been so exciting to watch.
01:01:45 He's more than just a changeup.
01:01:47 His vision, his speed, his skillset, his burst.
01:01:51 He sees the crease.
01:01:55 He sees daylight.
01:01:56 He has all those God-given things,
01:01:58 but also the things that he works to enhance.
01:02:01 And again, I remember watching him on tape
01:02:04 when he was a senior last year at York.
01:02:07 And then talking this time last year with his high school
01:02:10 coach and how excited they were about what he could do.
01:02:13 And he's really just, think back to the spring.
01:02:17 Remember how excited everybody was in the spring game
01:02:19 when he popped that big run in the second half
01:02:21 of the spring game?
01:02:23 Well, those of us who had been at practice
01:02:25 during spring ball saw that
01:02:26 throughout the course of practice.
01:02:28 So really since the first day he showed up in pads
01:02:32 in spring practice, even when the media wasn't looking,
01:02:35 when the fans weren't looking,
01:02:36 these are the types of things he's been able to do.
01:02:39 He has that gear.
01:02:40 He has that it factor.
01:02:41 I think you almost have to go with him.
01:02:45 And that's to say a lot when he's part
01:02:48 of a very talented freshman class.
01:02:50 - No doubt.
01:02:51 Talented freshman class, talented newcomer class.
01:02:53 I mean, right?
01:02:54 Cole Taylor's technically a viable answer here.
01:02:57 Beanie Bishop, like we mentioned, a lot of great options.
01:03:01 I went with Jaheim White as well too though.
01:03:03 For everything that you guys just said,
01:03:05 the only thing I'll add gentlemen is
01:03:07 this kind of gets back to my first answer, right?
01:03:09 When we were talking about the good of the season
01:03:11 and I said an offense with some juice,
01:03:13 an offense with some pop.
01:03:15 This offense was crying out for a game breaker,
01:03:18 an explosive playmaker, a home run hitter, right?
01:03:21 CJ is a solid player,
01:03:24 but he's not necessarily a home run hitter.
01:03:26 Cole Taylor, Devin Carter, right?
01:03:28 I mean, you had guys that are good players,
01:03:31 but not necessarily home run hitters.
01:03:33 Garrett Green was really your only home run hitter
01:03:36 on offense and he's your quarterback.
01:03:37 Jaheim added that much needed final element to that offense.
01:03:42 Someone who could take a play that should go for 70 yards
01:03:45 and take it, or someone, sorry, let me say that again.
01:03:48 The holiday cheer beers are catching up to me.
01:03:50 He's someone who could take a play
01:03:52 that should only have gone for seven yards.
01:03:54 And next thing you know, you blink
01:03:55 and he takes it 70 yards to the house.
01:03:57 Those are the type of guys that we haven't had
01:03:59 in a couple of years as well too.
01:04:01 And Jaheim has changed that.
01:04:02 And as you guys have alluded to,
01:04:03 the most exciting thing is that he's just,
01:04:06 it's like Steve after his freshman year.
01:04:08 It's like Noel after his freshman year.
01:04:09 Like, if that's the starting point,
01:04:11 if that's the starting point,
01:04:12 imagine where he's going to be going forward.
01:04:14 - And I do think this class has three of those kids.
01:04:18 I really think that.
01:04:19 I think we're going to be having similar discussions
01:04:21 about Trae Lynn Ray and Roddy Gallagher this time next year.
01:04:25 I think all three of those kids are game breakers.
01:04:28 - I love it.
01:04:29 Gentlemen, this one was not unanimous though,
01:04:31 because our hipster big Owen Schmidt
01:04:34 had to show some love to the linebackers.
01:04:36 And I thought he made a good point.
01:04:37 He said Ben Cutter was his newcomer of the year
01:04:40 because of what you had transpired
01:04:41 at that linebacker position.
01:04:43 You thought Josiah Trotter was going to be
01:04:44 the first kind of young guy to get a crack at it.
01:04:47 He ends up getting hurt before the season even started.
01:04:50 Trae Lathan goes down,
01:04:51 then all of a sudden you're down Trotter,
01:04:52 you're down Lathan, you desperately need somebody viable
01:04:56 who can steady the ship there and man the fort.
01:04:59 And Ben Cutter asked to do a lot as a freshman
01:05:02 kind of right away there,
01:05:03 and was able to man that ship and keep that thing humming
01:05:07 and have a solid freshman campaign of his own.
01:05:09 So big O is going to deny the unanimous vote,
01:05:13 but with a good answer in Ben Cutter as well too.
01:05:16 - How about a little honorable mention here,
01:05:19 special teams, Michael Payne.
01:05:21 Speak now or forever hold your peace baby.
01:05:23 - Michael Hayes is a good one.
01:05:25 - In the kicking that he did,
01:05:27 filling in for Casey Legg,
01:05:28 he was very good in his own right.
01:05:29 There's a lot of questions about the kicking game
01:05:31 coming into the year.
01:05:32 - There was, listen special teams,
01:05:35 that third side of the football,
01:05:36 you forget about it until it costs you, right?
01:05:39 Our special teams, listen, kick return unit aside,
01:05:44 special teams was, well not kick return I guess,
01:05:49 kick off unit, pardon me,
01:05:53 but you guys get what I was saying there,
01:05:54 but yeah, good shout Skyler.
01:05:55 I liked that one.
01:05:56 I'm glad you brought that up.
01:05:57 All right, gentlemen, just two more here
01:05:59 as we close this thing down.
01:06:00 This one I'm going to be interested
01:06:02 to see where everybody goes.
01:06:03 I think I have a good answer here.
01:06:05 So I don't know if I want to go first.
01:06:08 You know what?
01:06:09 We'll let big O go first on this one,
01:06:10 'cause I don't think I've let off
01:06:11 with his answers on any of these.
01:06:12 His position coach of the year,
01:06:14 he said, this is a real easy one for me.
01:06:16 He said, it's gotta be Chad Scott.
01:06:17 What he was able to do with that offense as a whole,
01:06:19 what he was able to do with those running backs,
01:06:22 big O going with Chad Scott as position coach of the year.
01:06:25 That's a tough one to argue.
01:06:26 That's not my answer, but that's a great answer.
01:06:28 That's a tough one to argue.
01:06:31 Jed, let's go to you here next.
01:06:33 Position coach of the year.
01:06:35 - Yeah, Chad Scott will be easy, right?
01:06:36 I mean, it's difficult to argue against that.
01:06:39 I tinkered with Matt Moore.
01:06:41 You know, there's some glue to Matt Moore.
01:06:46 I think Zach Frazier and Matt Moore
01:06:49 have been the glue holding that whole group together
01:06:51 and they've taken the next step.
01:06:53 And really the reason they were able to achieve
01:06:55 what they achieved was in large part
01:06:57 because Matt Moore has been that mainstay in that room
01:06:59 for the last five years.
01:07:01 But you know, maybe it's a curve ball,
01:07:04 maybe it's not, you tell me, Wes.
01:07:05 I'm going with Sean Reagan.
01:07:07 - Wow, okay.
01:07:08 - And the reason I'm going with Sean Reagan,
01:07:10 look at what this guy's done.
01:07:12 You talking about the ultimate team guy as a staff member.
01:07:16 A year ago, we got what we thought was
01:07:18 the hot shot coordinator in Graham Harrell.
01:07:21 And you know, Sean Reagan has spent his entire career
01:07:24 as a quarterbacks coach,
01:07:25 the lion's share of it coaching those quarterbacks.
01:07:28 But Graham Harrell steps in as the new OC,
01:07:31 part and parcel of that deal
01:07:32 was him coaching the quarterbacks.
01:07:34 So, you know, Sean didn't complain,
01:07:36 didn't say a word, stepped aside and said,
01:07:39 "Look, I'm gonna go coach the tight ends."
01:07:40 And for a year, that's exactly what he did.
01:07:42 He, you know, handed things over to Graham
01:07:44 and let Graham coach the quarterbacks.
01:07:46 Well, Graham moves on to Purdue in the off season.
01:07:49 So we're back to the staff that we had initially.
01:07:52 Sean Reagan settles right back into that QB room.
01:07:55 And all he does in the midst of that
01:07:57 is not just help transform Garrett
01:08:02 into what we saw Garrett become,
01:08:05 which Garrett this time last year was not that player.
01:08:10 Was not, I can't say it enough.
01:08:12 People saying, "We should have been playing Garrett all along.
01:08:14 You weren't watching practice."
01:08:15 Okay, he was not that player.
01:08:18 That took coaching, that took Garrett's willingness
01:08:21 to take the next step and take that coaching.
01:08:24 So I think Sean Reagan did a heck of a job
01:08:28 in helping Garrett become the player
01:08:31 that he is developing into.
01:08:33 And oh, by the way, along the way,
01:08:36 helped this staff take a backup quarterback
01:08:38 and win the backyard brawl and beat Texas Tech
01:08:41 for the first time since 2018,
01:08:43 when Nico had to make basically two starts,
01:08:46 if you want to say outside of the six, nine snaps
01:08:49 that Garrett played against Pitt.
01:08:50 But so I say hats off to Sean Reagan
01:08:53 for doing a bang up job.
01:08:55 And we're falling in love with what we're seeing
01:08:58 coming out of that quarterback room
01:08:59 with the combination of Garrett and with Nico.
01:09:01 And I think that has a lot to do with,
01:09:05 don't sell short the job that Sean Reagan's doing
01:09:07 in that room and the most valuable set of eyes
01:09:11 that potentially Neil Brown has up in the sky,
01:09:13 up in the booth is Sean Reagan.
01:09:16 I know the tremendous level of faith that he has in Sean
01:09:18 and what Sean sees for him to convey that
01:09:20 down to the headsets to him on the field.
01:09:22 So Sean Reagan's been an instrumental part of the staff.
01:09:25 And to me, I think maybe as a dark horse,
01:09:28 but I'm going to say he's my assistant coach
01:09:31 of the year on the staff.
01:09:32 - Love it, love it.
01:09:34 All right, Skyler, hold on.
01:09:36 - Yeah.
01:09:37 - I got a feeling you and I,
01:09:38 I'm not feeling good about this.
01:09:39 I got a feeling you and I have the same answer.
01:09:41 - No, I don't think we do.
01:09:43 I really don't.
01:09:44 This is just a curve ball.
01:09:47 - Here's what we're going to do just to be safe.
01:09:48 Just to be safe, okay?
01:09:50 I got a number one or two behind my head.
01:09:52 All right, and I promise you I'm not going to change it.
01:09:55 All right, hold on.
01:09:55 Let me do this side.
01:09:56 You know what?
01:09:57 Actually, let me do it like this.
01:09:58 So you guys can very easily see that I'm not cheating.
01:10:02 I'm flipping you off.
01:10:03 (laughing)
01:10:04 Odds are on our system here.
01:10:06 Odds or evens?
01:10:09 - Evens.
01:10:09 - You go first.
01:10:13 - You rock, scissors, paper that thing.
01:10:14 Come on.
01:10:15 - You go first.
01:10:16 You were correct.
01:10:17 It was even.
01:10:18 - All right, so.
01:10:19 - Rock, scissors, paper opportunity.
01:10:21 I'll tell you that.
01:10:22 - Rose Shambo.
01:10:23 - What if like one of us got delayed and then...
01:10:26 - Or if the Zoom thumb thing would start popping up.
01:10:31 - That's right.
01:10:32 (laughing)
01:10:33 - It's not doing it that time.
01:10:35 - So, you know, I like what Jed said about Matt Moore.
01:10:38 What he's done with this group essentially
01:10:41 is just groomed these young pups along
01:10:44 over the last three, four years.
01:10:46 But I'm going with a major curve ball.
01:10:48 And I don't know, I might be breaking rules here,
01:10:49 but I don't really care.
01:10:52 I'm going Neil Brown, offensive coordinator, Neil Brown.
01:10:56 Because this is an offense that was stagnant
01:10:59 for three to four years, didn't really have an identity.
01:11:04 He found that identity towards the end of last year
01:11:07 when he switched to Garrett Green.
01:11:10 And then the first kind of four or five weeks,
01:11:13 we talked about how they had to manage the game
01:11:14 because of the quarterback injuries.
01:11:17 The TCU week, he finds out late
01:11:19 that Nico's got an ankle sprain.
01:11:21 So now he's got to go to Garrett
01:11:22 to see if he can even play 48 hours
01:11:25 before they have to even play the game.
01:11:27 And I think too, not only did he make it work,
01:11:31 but he made it flourish.
01:11:33 And it almost kind of gave you
01:11:35 like a Sean McVay type of vibe,
01:11:37 or a Mike McDaniel type vibe,
01:11:39 all the window dressing that they do.
01:11:41 It's not only a fun offense to watch post-snap,
01:11:44 but it's also fun to watch pre-snap.
01:11:46 All the movement, all the eye candy,
01:11:48 getting the defense to have no idea where to look
01:11:51 or put their eyes on.
01:11:52 I think the job that Neil did with that offense,
01:11:56 he's taken a lot of flack over the years,
01:11:59 but he has done an incredible job with that offense.
01:12:02 So I'm going to go offensive coordinator, Neil Brown.
01:12:04 - I love it.
01:12:07 Nobody went with mine.
01:12:09 The ultimate curve ball.
01:12:10 My guy, your guy, used to get an up close look at him
01:12:16 at Steelers training camp every year.
01:12:18 Now he's roaming the sidelines for the Mountaineers.
01:12:21 Gentlemen, we talked about Cole Taylor earlier, right?
01:12:23 And we'd said all these,
01:12:24 led the team in receiving.
01:12:27 First time that's happened in 40 years.
01:12:29 Tied for team lead in touchdown receptions.
01:12:31 Had more receptions this season
01:12:34 than I think the WVU tight ends did
01:12:36 for like the last three seasons combined
01:12:38 or something like that.
01:12:40 Tight end was a forgotten position
01:12:43 under Neil Brown for WVU so far in this era
01:12:47 until our guy Blaine Stewart got to campus, baby.
01:12:51 And until he took Cole Taylor
01:12:53 and led the team in receptions,
01:12:55 tied with the lead in touchdown receptions
01:12:57 and led the team in receiving yards.
01:13:01 Is that Anthony Beck walking through the door here
01:13:04 for the Mountaineers all of a sudden?
01:13:05 Blaine Stewart, position coach of the year.
01:13:07 And I can't believe I went fourth
01:13:09 and I still got him, baby.
01:13:11 Yeah.
01:13:12 I like it.
01:13:14 - You want to think, something funny.
01:13:15 I think back to a conversation I had with Garrett.
01:13:18 I want to say it was probably in March
01:13:20 and I was in Morgantown and he and I were talking
01:13:23 and he's like, "Jed, wait till you see Cole Taylor."
01:13:26 And they hadn't really even been to pads yet, right?
01:13:29 I mean, he'd just been repping things out
01:13:31 and throwing with them.
01:13:32 And he's like, "Just wait till you see this dude."
01:13:34 The reins on him, the target radius on him,
01:13:36 the skillset, the hands.
01:13:38 I mean, he was just frothing at the mouth already
01:13:42 for the opportunity to throw to Cole Taylor.
01:13:45 Now we saw that unfold the way it did.
01:13:49 And it's exciting to think, 'cause we talked about
01:13:51 that these guys have an entire off season together
01:13:54 to continue to build towards something special
01:13:57 'cause they already have a report.
01:13:59 - Can't wait.
01:14:00 Great to see the tight end back as a central performer
01:14:05 in the West Virginia Mountaineers offense, without a doubt.
01:14:08 Before we get to our final category and wrap this thing up,
01:14:11 a final thank you to our new friends of the program
01:14:15 at Johnson Equipment.
01:14:16 Make sure you're visiting their new location
01:14:18 right outside of Weston on Route 33.
01:14:21 Okay, gentlemen, final one here
01:14:23 as we wrap up this WVU season review.
01:14:25 Favorite uniform.
01:14:27 And I don't mean in general.
01:14:29 I want a specific game from this season.
01:14:32 Favorite uniform combination.
01:14:35 I'll go first on this one again here.
01:14:38 This year for me, it was going blue, blue, gold
01:14:40 against Cincinnati in the Don Nealon game.
01:14:43 The look that Don Nealon ushered in, right?
01:14:45 I saw this really cool video.
01:14:47 There's this guy, like Helmet History is his name on TikTok.
01:14:50 And he does like three, a Jed,
01:14:52 I'll have to send it to you because you'll love it.
01:14:53 It's totally like nerded out up your alley.
01:14:56 But this guy does like three, four minute videos
01:14:58 on college football programs and their helmet history
01:15:02 from their earliest days to currently.
01:15:04 And he just did one this week on WVU.
01:15:07 And he talked about how we never had
01:15:10 in our entire program history,
01:15:11 just a basic blue helmet with a W on it
01:15:14 until Don Nealon got to Morgantown in 1980.
01:15:17 He said, "Why are we wearing white helmets?
01:15:19 Why are we wearing this different color gold helmet?
01:15:21 Our colors are gold and blue.
01:15:23 Why not have that be our helmet?"
01:15:24 The way that that all worked out
01:15:27 to wear that combination, his combination,
01:15:30 with Don Nealon being honored against Cincinnati,
01:15:32 the school that gave him his first job,
01:15:34 the school that he got,
01:15:35 or he coached his first WVU game against.
01:15:39 To me, my favorite uniform combination this year
01:15:41 was blue, blue, gold against Cincinnati.
01:15:43 My favorite uniform combination in general
01:15:46 is when we go blue, blue, blue.
01:15:47 I just love it.
01:15:49 But I will say,
01:15:51 don't come at me here, all right?
01:15:55 I love the American flag decal helmets just standalone.
01:15:59 I want one.
01:16:00 I would display it in my basement.
01:16:02 But that's not the same
01:16:03 as our traditional blue, blue look to me
01:16:05 that has the gold WV on the helmet.
01:16:07 So as much as I love those American flag
01:16:09 state outline decals, which I do,
01:16:12 I like them more in a vacuum
01:16:14 than I do as part of the whole uniform,
01:16:16 if that makes sense.
01:16:17 Red just doesn't vibe with our uniforms.
01:16:20 It just doesn't.
01:16:21 - I haven't heard that for years.
01:16:23 - So blue, blue, blue is my favorite
01:16:25 uniform combination traditionally.
01:16:27 I just don't love it with the red in the helmet.
01:16:30 I love that standalone,
01:16:31 but not as part as the combination.
01:16:32 I don't think people will attack me for this
01:16:34 and say I hate America.
01:16:35 I think they'll understand what I'm saying here.
01:16:37 So my favorite uniform combination this year,
01:16:39 in honor of our guy Don Nealon,
01:16:41 blue, blue, gold against Cincinnati.
01:16:44 Skyler, let's go to you on this one.
01:16:46 - I gotta get right there with you.
01:16:47 It is by far the best look that they have to offer,
01:16:51 and it's not even close.
01:16:52 And I think with the current set too,
01:16:55 it's like the perfect combination
01:16:58 or perfect mix of blue and gold.
01:17:00 I mean, the road uniforms,
01:17:02 they just don't do it for me
01:17:03 because there's no real gold on them
01:17:05 unless you're wearing the pants or the helmet.
01:17:07 So, I mean, I think the all whites do look cool,
01:17:10 but I'm right there with,
01:17:11 oh, like they're not cool
01:17:13 until they start winning some games with them.
01:17:15 So I like the blue, blue, gold the best.
01:17:17 And in general, outside of this season,
01:17:20 I would actually say gold helmet, blue jersey, blue pants.
01:17:25 - Ooh.
01:17:28 - I really like that Georgia Southern game look.
01:17:31 - Gold, gold, blue Skyler likes.
01:17:33 - Gold, blue, gold, blue.
01:17:35 - Sorry, gold, blue, blue.
01:17:36 - Yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry.
01:17:37 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:17:38 - Gold, blue, blue.
01:17:39 Okay, I got you.
01:17:40 - Owen's answer by the way was the BYU game.
01:17:42 The blue, blue, blue with the decal.
01:17:45 That was Owen's answer.
01:17:47 - I'm not a monochrome uniform guy.
01:17:50 I like multiple colors when it comes to uniforms.
01:17:54 But, and you know, I'm not a huge fan
01:17:59 of all the different uniform combinations.
01:18:01 Well, I'm not a versatile,
01:18:02 and I'm not one of those get off my lawn guys,
01:18:04 'cause I know some of them, trust me.
01:18:05 I'm like, why do you care so much
01:18:07 that you're trying to piss on somebody's parade
01:18:09 about young recruits liking uniforms
01:18:11 just 'cause you don't, who cares, right?
01:18:14 But I will say this, I'm not a fan of the gray,
01:18:17 but I always make one caveat.
01:18:19 I do wish, if you wanna use gray uniforms.
01:18:22 - I know where you're going with this.
01:18:24 - Take the game closest to September 11th every year
01:18:27 and make it the Chris Gray hat.
01:18:28 - Chris Gray game, yeah.
01:18:29 - I would be all about every part of that.
01:18:32 And you know, Wes, if you wanna incorporate
01:18:34 the flag logo in that, I'm fine with that too.
01:18:36 - Do it for that game, yep.
01:18:37 - But I'm gonna say this,
01:18:40 and then I'm gonna leave you guys with a question,
01:18:41 'cause I'm gonna force you to think
01:18:43 on your feet here for a second.
01:18:44 I'm gonna agree.
01:18:46 I do think the traditional look,
01:18:48 the traditional look we wore against Cincinnati
01:18:49 for Coach Nealon is the way to go.
01:18:52 I mean, that's the standard bearer to me.
01:18:54 And funny little aside story about that.
01:18:58 Yes, we started wearing those uniforms
01:19:01 and that logo against Cincinnati
01:19:03 in the 1980 season opener, okay?
01:19:05 Now, you probably know who was responsible
01:19:10 for drafting that flying WV logo, John Martin, okay?
01:19:15 Now, my interesting story is this.
01:19:18 We'd been to John Martin's studio in his house
01:19:21 in an unremarkable neighborhood in Kansas, okay?
01:19:26 Back when the old MSN crew, me, Tony, Hoppy Kircheville,
01:19:30 Dale Miller, all of us went over and visited John's studio.
01:19:34 Now, I can tell you specifically when we were there,
01:19:37 and there's a reason I can tell you when we were there.
01:19:40 West Virginia wore the flying WV logo on its helmet
01:19:44 from the opener in 1980, every single game without fail,
01:19:48 all the way up through 2013.
01:19:53 When we came out, even in pregame,
01:19:55 we came out with the normal flying WV helmet logo.
01:19:58 We went back in, switched helmets.
01:20:01 I'll never forget, we were standing in the tunnel.
01:20:03 What's that, Texas?
01:20:05 We were standing in the tunnel November 9th, 2013.
01:20:08 Dana looked at me and said,
01:20:09 "What do you think of the lids?"
01:20:11 And that's when we had the different logo
01:20:13 other than the WV.
01:20:14 We had the old school West Virginia logo on the helmet.
01:20:17 So that was November 9th, 2013.
01:20:21 The first time since 1980, we wore...
01:20:24 Now, there's a reason I'm giving you these dates.
01:20:27 That's the first time since 1980
01:20:30 that we wore something other than the flying WV logo
01:20:33 created by one John Martin.
01:20:34 Six days later, we're in John Martin's studio.
01:20:37 So we broke the streak after 33 years,
01:20:42 and we're something other than the logo he designed.
01:20:45 And six days later, we walk into his studio in his house.
01:20:49 The very first question out of his mouth,
01:20:51 "What the hell's with that new logo?"
01:20:53 The very first question out of his mouth.
01:20:56 But I'm telling you what,
01:20:57 we could tell stories about that studio.
01:20:59 It was unbelievable.
01:21:00 Jed, we'll have to do that for an off-season episode.
01:21:03 That's gonna be an off-season episode.
01:21:04 It was an incredible place.
01:21:05 But yeah, that's what I think of
01:21:07 when I think of the flying WV,
01:21:09 the uniforms that we went to in 1980
01:21:11 when Coach Neal was hired.
01:21:12 But so that's my favorite.
01:21:14 Now here's my question.
01:21:15 - Put us on the spot here as we wrap this up.
01:21:16 - I'm gonna push on the spot.
01:21:17 Those that you can come up with,
01:21:20 and maybe it's too difficult to come up with.
01:21:22 There's always one that I fall back to.
01:21:24 There's a lot of combinations that we have not used
01:21:28 out of these multiple combinations
01:21:30 that are possible with the helmet color,
01:21:33 the jersey color, and the pants color.
01:21:36 I have a favorite that we have not used yet.
01:21:41 And I'll tell you what it is.
01:21:42 Now you guys might or might not be able to come up with one
01:21:45 that we haven't used.
01:21:46 But I would like to see us blue pants on the road,
01:21:50 blue pants, white jersey, gold helmet.
01:21:54 We haven't done it.
01:21:57 And that's one of the possible combos.
01:21:58 There's a lot of possible combos we haven't used yet,
01:22:01 but that's one that I think looks pretty appealing.
01:22:03 In other words, I've seen the mock-ups of these things.
01:22:06 When I glanced through all the mock-ups,
01:22:07 that's one that jumps out to me.
01:22:09 But are there any that you guys can even think of
01:22:12 out of all the possibilities?
01:22:14 - All black. - That we might not have worn?
01:22:17 What's that?
01:22:18 - I said all black, but just kidding.
01:22:20 - The first thing that came to my mind,
01:22:22 and I think we've worn this once or twice,
01:22:24 but not often, is blue, blue, white.
01:22:26 - Yeah, we've worn that.
01:22:28 We have. - I know we have.
01:22:30 I don't think we do it very, or even white, blue, white.
01:22:33 - Well, I'll tell you what, Wes.
01:22:34 You know what I first think of when you say that?
01:22:37 We wore it with those hideous white flying WVs
01:22:41 when Will broke his finger against Texas in Morgantown.
01:22:44 That's what we had on.
01:22:45 - But didn't we have those, it was the different,
01:22:47 yeah, it was like the white,
01:22:48 it was the different decal, right?
01:22:49 - Yeah, it was the white WV.
01:22:50 That's right, yeah.
01:22:52 Yeah, there's a handful of times
01:22:53 we've definitely worn blue, blue, white, yeah.
01:22:57 - I'm trying to think.
01:22:58 I know one-- - You think of any?
01:22:59 - Two uniforms I'll just say that I absolutely hate
01:23:03 are the banana suits.
01:23:04 And I, for the most part, hate the grays,
01:23:08 except for, I'll admit, the Baylor game,
01:23:10 they look pretty sharp under the lights.
01:23:11 - With the blue and the blue, yeah.
01:23:12 - The blue is what made it pop.
01:23:15 But I don't know if I can think of any off the top of my head.
01:23:19 - The only time I've seen gray used in conjunction
01:23:21 with something that I thought was mildly appealing,
01:23:25 the outcome of the game was wretched.
01:23:26 It was the Jalen Hurts game at Oklahoma at 19.
01:23:29 We had gray pants, white jerseys, white helmets.
01:23:32 That looked kind of slick, kind of regal almost.
01:23:35 - Yeah. - Yeah.
01:23:36 - But like I said, I'm not a big gray fan
01:23:39 unless you do the Chris Gray thing.
01:23:40 I just, I don't think it's a good look.
01:23:41 - I like that, I like that.
01:23:43 Skyler, no black jerseys, all right?
01:23:45 We brought that thing back against Pitt and Hoops last week,
01:23:49 didn't go where it was. - Bury 'em.
01:23:50 - Hire it, Ren Baker, bury those things.
01:23:53 Not six feet under, Roy. - Put a lock on it, bro.
01:23:55 - 60 feet under, bury those, never to be spoken of again.
01:24:00 Gentlemen, this has been a lot of fun.
01:24:01 - If the kids like it, I like it.
01:24:03 - No, that's true. - If it lands us one recruit.
01:24:05 - If the recruits like it, I like it.
01:24:07 That's a very good point, I'm with you on that.
01:24:08 'Cause that's really all the managers at the end of the day.
01:24:09 - I don't care if it's green and purple.
01:24:10 Like I've seen some people raise cane
01:24:12 that we got traditional colors, we should--
01:24:14 - Hold on, look, I don't know about green and purple.
01:24:16 I might draw it out of the air, all right?
01:24:18 But I get what you're saying.
01:24:19 - Unless you realize our school colors
01:24:20 used to be black and red.
01:24:22 - Correct.
01:24:23 - In the early days when we were the, like the Snakes,
01:24:25 they were black and red before they were blue and gold.
01:24:28 - Yeah. - Maybe no black uniforms,
01:24:30 but I do have to make this one state.
01:24:33 Can we please go back to the glossy helmets?
01:24:36 - Yes.
01:24:36 - I think the matte look was cool at first.
01:24:40 - I don't think Jed's agreeable with this on this.
01:24:42 Jed likes the matte look.
01:24:43 Okay. - No, I'm good with it.
01:24:44 - I like the glossy look.
01:24:46 - Like I said, not many of these things
01:24:48 in my Mary Q won't wear the other.
01:24:50 - No chrome. - You can find,
01:24:52 you can find the In The Gun trio here
01:24:55 at Milan Fashion Week in Italy next month,
01:24:58 where we'll be breaking down everything on the runway.
01:25:01 Everybody do your best Tommy, do your best Tommy DeVito.
01:25:03 - Tommy Cutlass.
01:25:04 - Your pies on hand, your Mama Luke.
01:25:07 - That was the time on sprockets when we dance.
01:25:09 - Now this is the time on ITG
01:25:11 where we wrap up the episode.
01:25:13 Final, just anything else that you wanted to mention,
01:25:17 that you wanted to shout out, that you wanted to say,
01:25:18 speak now or hold your peace until next season.
01:25:21 I've got a quick final word, but I'll let you guys go first.
01:25:24 And not that you have to, but just floor's yours.
01:25:27 If there's anything else you want to add, speak now or don't.
01:25:30 - I mean, I think it was fun getting back
01:25:34 to more competitive football.
01:25:37 Again, no coaching search.
01:25:38 You got something to build off of, a lot of cool moments.
01:25:41 And it felt like, like I said earlier,
01:25:43 even every win just felt like
01:25:45 there was something memorable from it.
01:25:46 Even some of the losses, there was like some play
01:25:49 or some moments stuck out, but a lot of fun,
01:25:52 lot of fun being on here for the first time.
01:25:55 - Yeah, welcome to the party, pal.
01:25:57 - Glad you guys brought me on, a lot of fun.
01:25:59 - This season felt, it has the vibe,
01:26:06 and maybe you guys know what I mean.
01:26:09 We'll find out moving forward, but so far at eight and four,
01:26:13 going into a nice bowl matchup,
01:26:14 this season has the vibe of a prelude to something.
01:26:17 It has that vibe.
01:26:20 Now we won't know that until next year,
01:26:23 but it has that vibe.
01:26:25 - I like that, and that's kind of where I'll go
01:26:28 with my final word here.
01:26:30 Guys, I enjoyed, Skylar, you just kind of touched on this.
01:26:34 I enjoyed watching this team.
01:26:36 Every week felt like an adventure for a different reason.
01:26:40 - You looked forward to it.
01:26:42 - I looked forward to watching this team, yes.
01:26:46 And you looked forward to it.
01:26:49 And honestly, guys, I'm going to be honest,
01:26:53 I'll be vulnerable here for a second with you.
01:26:54 It's the first time I felt this way since 2018.
01:26:57 Like truly, I can be honest in saying that,
01:27:01 you guys, we all do, we work in football, right?
01:27:04 All in different capacities, the three of us,
01:27:07 but football is my living, football is my livelihood,
01:27:10 football is something that I love,
01:27:13 but also something that pays the bills.
01:27:15 And you can get caught up in that, right?
01:27:17 Like you can get jaded by that in the week to week,
01:27:20 and okay, this is work, and okay, this,
01:27:22 and I'm watching this, and that, and so much football,
01:27:25 and I'm trying to get this thing done.
01:27:27 But again, for the first time since 2018,
01:27:30 I found myself truly enjoying,
01:27:34 looking forward to watching this team,
01:27:36 looking forward to games, honestly,
01:27:40 I don't want to say dreading them,
01:27:41 but looking at them as just kind of another item
01:27:43 on a checklist.
01:27:45 I, for the first time, I felt invigorated,
01:27:48 I felt that enthusiasm, I really looked forward to
01:27:51 and enjoyed watching this team.
01:27:54 And I'm completely with Jed,
01:27:56 really how we view this season in hindsight, right?
01:27:58 Five years, even this time next year,
01:28:01 but three years from now, five years from now,
01:28:02 10 years from now, 20 years from now,
01:28:04 how we view 2023 will depend a lot on how 2024 goes.
01:28:09 You know, like the sugar bowl season
01:28:11 that we talk about with Big O
01:28:13 was romantic for all the right reasons,
01:28:15 but most importantly,
01:28:16 because it launched an era of great football, right?
01:28:21 And we all hope, we're all optimistic
01:28:22 that that's going to be the case for 2023.
01:28:26 But you know what?
01:28:26 Even if it doesn't, like, let's say 2024 is a good season,
01:28:30 but not a great season.
01:28:31 You know, maybe they do something,
01:28:32 maybe they go nine and three next year,
01:28:33 something like that, right?
01:28:35 In a similar type year.
01:28:37 I will always remember how much fun I had this year.
01:28:41 I'll remember that.
01:28:42 Of it being the first year of the Neil Brown era
01:28:44 that it really felt like fun,
01:28:45 getting that juice and that pop back on offense,
01:28:48 looking forward to games,
01:28:49 having that rivalry win over Pitt
01:28:51 for the first time in a decade.
01:28:54 No matter how we view 2023 in hindsight,
01:28:57 I'll remember that I had a lot of fun
01:28:58 watching this team this year.
01:29:00 And really, honestly, it might sound lame as hell,
01:29:04 but that's all I ask for.
01:29:05 I just want to look forward to watching this team play.
01:29:08 I just want to have fun watching this team.
01:29:10 And for the first time in a few years, I did this year.
01:29:13 And for that, I am grateful.
01:29:14 - And I'll add too, real quick,
01:29:16 this is going to be the first time in a long time
01:29:18 that it's going to be a fun offseason,
01:29:19 that we're not dreading-- - No doubt.
01:29:21 No doubt.
01:29:22 - Seven or eight months of,
01:29:24 oh, what's going to happen with the team?
01:29:26 And what's this thing going to look like next year?
01:29:29 - Who's hitting the portal?
01:29:30 - There's no hope where this offseason,
01:29:33 there's that feeling of this team
01:29:35 could do something special.
01:29:37 - No doubt.
01:29:38 No doubt.
01:29:38 - You know, for all the things that make this
01:29:41 the greatest game in the world,
01:29:43 there is one thing that tends to skew it
01:29:46 potentially more than any other game.
01:29:48 What was the old saying that Don Shule had?
01:29:52 A lot comes down to football,
01:29:55 or a lot of football comes down to luck,
01:29:57 and having a good quarterback's good luck, right?
01:30:00 So if you have a quarterback,
01:30:03 things are skewed so heavily in your favor in this game.
01:30:08 And if you don't, you really have, you can win,
01:30:11 but you really have to take the long way around.
01:30:15 And for the first time in a while,
01:30:17 you get the sense, again, far from a finished product,
01:30:22 and that's the beauty of it.
01:30:24 You get the sense that what we've seen out of that room,
01:30:26 starting with Garrett and the potential that Nico brings,
01:30:31 guys, I think we got quarterbacks we can win with,
01:30:34 not despite of, and that makes everything different.
01:30:38 I'm terribly excited to see what another offseason can do.
01:30:43 Now with an understanding and appreciation of that,
01:30:46 and instead of question marks,
01:30:48 like those voids have been filled by question marks
01:30:52 in the past couple of years.
01:30:53 Well, now it's bordering on an exclamation point
01:30:57 because we've seen such promising things
01:31:00 with the chips down, with the game on the line,
01:31:03 delivering in such crucial,
01:31:05 it's one thing to pile up numbers, okay?
01:31:08 But it's another thing to make such critical plays
01:31:10 in such critical moments,
01:31:12 and your team knows that they can lean on you
01:31:15 in those critical moments to win games.
01:31:17 We've seen that out of this room.
01:31:19 That excites me.
01:31:21 Anytime you have that going into an offseason,
01:31:25 it's gonna be an offseason
01:31:26 that you have a whole lot to look forward to.
01:31:28 - Hell yeah, brothers.
01:31:31 And you know what?
01:31:32 Let's go put an exclamation point on that,
01:31:34 and let's go beat the crap out of the Tar Heels
01:31:36 in their backyard, December 27th, down there in Charlotte.
01:31:40 Yeah, sorry, I hope Mrs. Calley
01:31:42 wasn't listening to me there, okay?
01:31:44 (laughing)
01:31:46 - Don't worry, she'll be good for the next three weeks.
01:31:49 - A big thanks to all of our sponsors,
01:31:51 all of our friends of the show here
01:31:52 for making this possible.
01:31:54 Big shout out to Big O, as he's being Santa's helper
01:31:57 and getting things done for UPS.
01:31:59 This was a lot of fun.
01:32:00 Let us know, you know where to get us on Twitter.
01:32:02 You know where to get involved in the YouTube comments.
01:32:03 You wanna chime in on some of these different things
01:32:05 that we discussed today, good, bad, ugly moments,
01:32:08 individual awards, you know where to get your comments in
01:32:11 as well.
01:32:12 The one thing we ask of you before we get out of here.
01:32:17 - Wes, it's been two weeks now,
01:32:19 so we probably should mention,
01:32:20 we did our competition for championship weekend.
01:32:23 - Yes.
01:32:24 - We all made our picks.
01:32:25 - Give him credit while he's not here,
01:32:26 so we don't have to listen to him brag.
01:32:28 - Give him credit while he's not here, I love that idea.
01:32:30 Owen won championship weekend.
01:32:32 He got seven of the 11 picks correct.
01:32:37 So he won that round of our tournament of champions.
01:32:40 So we went with all the picks against the spread,
01:32:45 and then the 11th pick was the over-under
01:32:47 on the Iowa game with Michigan.
01:32:49 - That's right.
01:32:50 - In the Big Ten Championship.
01:32:51 So Owen did win that.
01:32:52 So, so far we have you as the regular season champ
01:32:56 in terms of picking the defense of the week.
01:32:58 And then we have Owen as the conference
01:33:01 championship weekend champ.
01:33:02 And we're of course gonna get our picks in
01:33:04 for the post season.
01:33:06 And have some fun with that as well,
01:33:08 as these bowls unfold throughout the course of December.
01:33:11 We're not gonna have a bowl episode,
01:33:13 though Skyler and I will have Phil Steele on
01:33:16 to discuss the Mountaineer Bowl and a couple others.
01:33:18 But we're not gonna have a bowl episode per se,
01:33:20 but we will be discussing bowls, yeah.
01:33:22 And we're gonna be making our picks.
01:33:24 They'll be available for consumption,
01:33:25 and we'll see how that goes too.
01:33:27 - You know where to get involved.
01:33:29 You know where to consume us.
01:33:31 YouTube, Twitter, all your different outlets,
01:33:34 wherever you get your podcasts.
01:33:36 It might be getting close to off-season time here,
01:33:39 but we will roll through bowl season,
01:33:41 and we'll keep this thing going into the new year.
01:33:45 Thanks everybody for rocking and rolling with us
01:33:46 throughout this season.
01:33:47 Hopefully you enjoyed the season review.
01:33:49 Hopefully it was fun to have some,
01:33:51 look back on some moments that really stood out here
01:33:54 over the last three or four months or so
01:33:56 as the Mountaineers got back in the fun side of things.
01:33:59 Got back in the winning more often than losing column.
01:34:02 And that's what this is always,
01:34:04 that's what this is really about, right?
01:34:05 At the end of the day, that's what we're hoping for.
01:34:07 And like I said, let's go put an exclamation point on it,
01:34:09 get that ninth win down there
01:34:11 against an ACC opponent in Charlotte.
01:34:13 For the runaway beer truck
01:34:15 and Santa's favorite helper, Owen Schmidt.
01:34:17 For Skyler "Cali" Callahan, producer and host extraordinaire.
01:34:22 And for the signal caller, Jed Drenning,
01:34:24 I am Wesley Uhler.
01:34:25 Take care, everybody.
01:34:26 We'll be back soon with our bowl previews,
01:34:27 all of those good things.
01:34:28 Be in here, telling the ear
01:34:30 about your new favorite WVU football podcast.
01:34:32 You've been in the gun.
01:34:34 (basketball bouncing)
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