2007 Season Preview
WVU
By Tony DeFazio

Over the past 12 months, three dates in particular stand out for West Virginia Mountaineers. No, not January 1 - although the Mountaineers did win their second consecutive New Year's Day bowl game, capping a two-year run during which they've won 22 games (only USC, LSU and Texas have won more).

No, the dates that matter the most to the WVU football program are Dec. 7, March 30 and April 23.

This past Dec. 7, Rich Rodriguez turned down an offer to become Alabama's head coach and instead signed a two-year extension with West Virginia. Alabama made a major run for RichRod - so major, in fact, that several newspapers and websites across the country reported that Rodriguez had accepted the position with the Tide - but the native son instead inked his second extension with WVU in just six months.

On March 30, the West Virginia football offices received a Letter of Intent from Noel Devine, one of the top high school players in the country. That Devine chose West Virginia over just about every team in the nation served notice to other elite programs that the best is yet to come for the Mountaineers.

But perhaps the most important date of all was April 23. That's when replacement of the playing surface at Mountaineer Field began. The new surface is FieldTurf Duraspine, considered to be the fastest surface in the country. "Extremely firm and fast," is how Rodriguez described the new turf, and for a team with super-speedy stars in Heisman candidates Steve Slaton and Pat White, a faster stage is downright scary.

So it was no surprise when West Virginia received 20 of a possible 24 first-place votes in the Big East preseason media poll. Eighteen starters return from last year's 11-2 team. Everybody knows about Slaton (2,104 yards from scrimmage and 18 touchdowns) and White (2,854 combined yards, 31 TDs), both juniors.

But senior Darius Reynaud has 69 catches over the past two years, fullback Owen Schmitt is one of the best in the game, and newcomer Devine promises to add a one-of-a-kind threat if and when he is deployed in the same backfield as Slaton and White.

Three-fifths of West Virginia's starting offensive line returns in tackles Jake Figner and Ryan Stanchek and guard Greg Isdaner. The losses are major, however, as Rimington Award winner Dan Mozes and all-Big East guard Jeremy Sheffey are gone. If those two can be adequately replaced, the Mountaineer offense should again be one of the premier scoring machines in the country.

The other side of the ball is the issue. It's hard to imagine West Virginia seriously competing for a national title without a much-improved defense, especially against the pass.

The pass defense was downright awful in 2006, ranking 109th out of 119 Division I teams. The pass rush was non-existent, as WVU only managed 31 sacks on the season.

"We've got to get better against the pass," Rodriguez admitted. "We did not play well defensively in the latter half of the year as we did in the first half of the year."

West Virginia jumped out to a 7-0 record last season while surrendering just 13.3 points per contest. Over their final six games, however, the Mountaineers allowed an average of 31.2 points per game.

Defensive lineman Keilen Dykes and defensive back Eric Wicks will pace the defense, but they'll need help. Whether or not they get it could be the difference between a run at the national championship or merely another New Year's Day bowl.