Final thoughts on WVU

When we took the field against WVU last Friday, the start to the game was almost perfect. It seems as if when the team can script out the series and practice it all week we seem unstoppable. Our first drive ended with Bill Stull throwing probably the best pass he has as a Panther. The touchdown wasn't a long bomb, but it was long enough for those of us who have watched Stull enough to think that it was a great pass and one that we really haven't seen him complete before. He hit Kinder right in stride and put it in a spot that even if it wasn't caught, you knew it wouldn't be intercepted.

Following this series we saw some strange play calling. I must say that our offense was puzzling after the first drive. I don't know if we were trying to remain unpredictable or what, but it seemed that we were doing everything we could to not get the ball in Shady's hands. The most obvious being the goal line play where we attempted a pass to Baldwin that was intercepted. With a player like Shady and with the continually improving play of our offensive line, anytime we have a goal to go situation inside the 3 yard line, the ball needs to be in Shady's hands every single play.

The sad part about the game was that in the 3rd quarter we should have been up, at most, 28-3. I understand the ruling about Ransom's phantom fumble recovery as White's progress was stopped. I do not understand how WVU got away with the blatant block in the back on that run.

Despite those mistakes, we used the end of the fourth quarter to make it the Shady show. WVU knew each time the ball was going to him but they couldn't stop him. The only time they really did stop us is when we called that awful quarterback draw on the 2 point attempt. I really think that the quarterback draw was the worst call Cavanaugh has ever used in his career.

On that cold Friday afternoon, our Panthers were the better team. We overcame our own mistakes, we overcame some questionable calls by the refs, and we overcame some questionable play calling.

Everyone should now know, the only way to stop us is to stop Shady. Hopefully on Saturday the Huskies aren't able to do that and we can win against a team that for some reason has given us major trouble these last few years.