A Moral Loss

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(Posted 9-7-26)

Greetings from The Booth!

You’ve heard the term “moral victory?” We WVU fans are very familiar, as we suffer heartbreak after heartbreak following “almost” wins and “we were this close” losses. Every West Virginia fan has the score “13-9” ingrained in their membrane. For the unwashed, that’s the result of the infamous 2007 Backyard Brawl, when the Mountaineers lost to a god-awful Pitt team in a game that cost them a spot for the National Championship. I could go in and on with countless other examples of the Old Blue and Gold grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.

Here’s how I got fired up for last Saturday’s opener against Coastal Carolina: earlier in the week I watched a replay of the 2014 Chick Fil A Kickoff Game. In that contest, WVU lost to mighty Alabama, 33-23. The Tide was an almost 4-touchdown favorite, but a gritty West Virginia team hung in there until the very end. Man, nothing fires you up like a loss. On occasion, I’ll watch Tavon Austin’s incredible performance against Oklahoma, where he piled up 572 total yards (by himself!) in a–you guessed it–heartbreaking 50-49 defeat at the hands of the Sooners.

You get the idea…

So, why is it that I can’t be happy about WVUs opening win against the Chanticleers? Because that’s how we are in the Mountain State. We immortalize the legendary losses and pick apart the underwhelming victories. And make no mistake, the Mountaineers’ 31-24 win this past weekend was underwhelming.

After the homecoming hire of Rich Rodriguiez and a 4-8 campaign last year to begin RR 2.0, 2026 was/is supposed to be a return to the 2005-2008 golden era of WVU football. Quarterback Michael Hawkins, Jr. and running back Cam Young were/are going to be the second coming of Pat White and Steve Slaton. An improved O-line, and a blitzing, aggressive defense were/are going to make us the surprise team in the Big 12.

What we got in the first half against Coastal was a hint of that promise, as Young took his first WVU carry 72 yards, then punched it in one play later for a 7-0 lead. Hawkins 49-yard touchdown pass made it 14-0 Mounties. The expected rout was on! WVU added 2 more scores for a 24-0 advantage, but left points on the table as Hawkins lost the football shy of the goal line, and then, inexplicably, Rich Rod took a knee with 50 seconds left in the half and all three of his timeouts. Still, WVU went into the locker room with a 24-0 lead.

A different WVU team came out of the locker room as Coastal Carolina QB Deuce bailey torched a Keystone Cops West Virginia secondary, the WVU defense took bad pursuit angles, and the Mountaineer offense bogged down, as Rodriguez stubbornly tried to run the ball against an 8-man front. Fortunately for the lubricated Morgantown crowd, time ran out on the Fancy Chickens, and West Virginia escaped with a 31-24 victory.

It’s said that the biggest improvement for a team comes between weeks 1 and 2. I hope that’s true, because after an anticipated Saturday win against UT Martin (who?), a 2-0 start is going to have us all pretty depressed in West-By-God.

Until the next visit from The Booth…GO EERS!

RW

 

 

WCHS Alum Darrell Whitmore named to WVU Hall of Fame

West Virginia University unveiled the 2025 Sports Hall of Fame Class which included Front Royal native and Warren County High School Alum Darrell Whitmore.

He was a three-sport standout at WCHS and named to the Lawrence “Sweeney” Shiflett Hall of Fame in 2003.

Whitmore was a two-sport athlete for the Mountaineers, starring in baseball and football from 1988-1991.

He still owns school records in slugging percentage at .678 and on-base percentage at .481.

He also set the Mountaineer record for career batting average at .392 which now ranks second all-time.

On the football field, he was a four year starter at safety and left as the career leader in passes broken up with 21.

Whitmore was a standout from year one as he played an integral part in WVU’s undefeated 1989 season before breaking his leg in the final regular season game.

His career highlights also included a Mountaineer Field record setting three interception game, nine tackles in the 1989 Gator Bowl, and finishing his junior season as Honorable Mention All-American.

Whitmore went on to be drafted by the Cleveland Indians 46th overall and then selected with the 16th pick later that year by the Marlins during the MLB expansion draft.

He played 112 games in the Majors over 3 seasons.

Other members of the 2025 WVU Hall of Fame class include Bill Stewart, Pat McAfee, Chelsea Carrier-Eades, Bill Kirelawish, and Petra Zublasing.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Friday Tidbits

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Greetings from The Booth!

As we head into a busy sports weekend, I thought we’d cover several topics with “Friday Tidbits”…

Tonight the hardware will be on the line in the second annual “River Rivalry” game, sponsored by Royal Broadcasting. The Warren County Wildcats will take on rival Skyline (the call at 6:30 on The River 95.3 and Fox Sports Radio 1450), and there’s a little more on the line tonight than the beautiful trophy. There are playoff implications, too. A Skyline win assures them of a home playoff game next week, while a Wildcat victory gets them into the postseason. I don’t openly root for any one team during my “Game of the Week” broadcasts, but a Warren County win would be a feel-good story, The “No-Quit Cats” have been undermanned all year, but what they lack in talent, they make up with sheer effort. The Wildcats fight until the clock says “zero” and that attitude is worth an extra game next week as a reward. That being said, the Hawks are equally deserving, as they’ve turned a 1-3 start into a potential 7-3 finish, most wins since 2014. Can’t wait to call this one!

Everything the Washington Commanders touch has seemingly turned to gold this season. The culture in Ashburn has been completely changed by new owner Josh Harris, GM Adam Peters, and Head Coach Dan Quinn. According to multiple sources, players from all around the NFL want to come to Washington to play for the burgundy and gold. Indeed, the team looks cohesive, and the players look like they’re having fun. And it doesn’t hurt that they are the surprise of the league with a 7-2 record and atop the NFC East. Washington made another great move this week by signing defensive back Marshon Lattimore from the Saints, a 4-time Pro Bowler, who instantly makes the Commanders’ secondary much better. That move signals to the fan base that the team wants to win now! Somewhere, George Allen is smiling…

Let’s see if the hot seat is a little cooler this weekend for WVU football coach Neal Brown, as the Mounties take on Cincinnati. 4-4 West Virginia returns from it’s bye week with a full-blown quarterback controversy, which is never a good thing for a football team. Starter Garrett Greene sat out WVU’s win over Arizona while backup Nicco Marchiol led the way for the gold and blue. It’s been rumored that Greene has had concussion issues this season, which would explain his inconsistent play. Just one more thing for Brown to deal with, as “Fire Neal Brown” billboards have gone up around Morgantown. A loss to the Bearcats on Saturday will not help matters any, as anger has turned to apathy in the Mountain State.

There ya’ go–some Friday Tidbits to digest as you head into the weekend. Enjoy…and from The Booth, a big thank you to a Veteran on Monday!

RW

 

 

 

 

 

Tony and Neal

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Greetings From The Booth!

Once again, another miserable football weekend if you’re a fan of the old Gold and Blue, as the WVU Mountaineers were humiliated on prime time national TV Saturday night by Kansas State. From the get-go, there was never a feeling that the Mounties were going to win, and things got progressively worse as the night wore on. WVU Garrett Greene picked up where he left off against Iowa State with 2 really bad interceptions, including a pick-six. Injury was added to insult, as Greene didn’t answer the bell in the second half, and most of the home crowd at Puskar Stadium was gone by the end of the third quarter of the 45-18 blowout.

These are not salad days for WVU football, and the seat is now white-hot for Head Coach Neal Brown. Now in his sixth season in Morgantown, Brown is now 3-18 against ranked teams in his tenure, and in those six seasons, the Mounties have not made an appearance in the AP Top 25. This is not acceptable to a fan base that not too many years ago was in the thick of the Big 12 Championship conversation.

What was angry passion with the WVU fanbase has now become just plain apathy, as Brown continues to pile on the excuses after each Mountaineer loss–officials, weather, injuries, etc. Brown also made national news recently when he inferred that winning was not as important as fans having a good time at the game. The problem for Mountaineer fans who want Brown gone is that he holds WVU hostage, as his huge buyout prevents the powers-that-be from firing him. That is not going to happen before the end of the season, and may not happen at all in 2024 if WVU goes on a run, finishes 6-6, and goes to the Who Cares Bowl.

Brown needs to do the right thing and step down…now.

Contrast all the above with the University of Virginia, where Men’s Basketball Coach Tony Bennett surprisingly resigned last week. Bennett, who is just 55, displayed incredible honesty (a rarity in the world of big time college athletics) by stating that in this age of the Transfer Portal and NIL money, he was not the right man to move Cavalier basketball forward.

Bennett is one of a growing number of “old school” coaches who’ve had trouble adapting to the brave new world of college sports. Truth be known, the Portal and NIL are probably why the great Nick Saban stepped down at Alabama. And, although he committed more serious offenses that led to his demise, West Virginia’s own Bob Huggins struggled in the new world of the NCAA. When JMU Football hung 70 on North Carolina earlier this season, Mack Brown, realizing that the game may have passed him by, offered to resign.

Today’s prototypical coach will need to navigate through this Wild West, where good teams can become bad in a hurry, and bad teams can go from a conference basement to championship contender in just a season’s time. Meanwhile, Tony Bennett leaves a winning legacy in Charlottesville, where a 2019 NCAA Championship banner hangs. Neal Brown’s legacy has yet to be etched in stone, but so far, he has turned a once-proud program into a smoldering dumpster fire.

At least the tailgating is good in the Blue Lot…

Until the next visit from The Booth…GO EERS!

RW

 

 

 

 

The Oscillating Fan

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Greetings from The Booth!

Ouch!

I just did a swan dive from the Neal Brown Bandwagon. I wasn’t alone. In fact, there are lots of seats available on this “day after,” following WVU’s embarrassing, weather-delayed, 34-12 beatdown at the hands of Penn State in Morgantown. After much preseason hype, this was supposed to be Brown’s signature win at West Virginia, the next step in “The Climb,” following last year’s 9-4 season, which culminated in a Duke’s Mayo Bowl win over North Carolina. Yesterday was to have been a nationally-televised message that West Virginia football was back. Instead, the Mountaineers laid an Old Blue and Gold egg on the Milan Puskar Stadium turf.  As the Oscillating Fan, here are my takeaways from yesterday’s debacle:

This was supposed to be the “new” Neal Brown, the bada$$ version, with the goatee and all. Instead, we got the same questionable coaching decisions WVU fans have come to expect in the last 6 seasons. There are times you go for first downs and times you don’t. I thought early in the game, the Mounties should have taken an almost sure FG for a 3-0 lead, psychologically important for an underdog . Instead, Neal rolled the dice, came up short, and gave the Penn State defense some early momentum. Then there are the countless behind-the-line passes, and a “tush push” QB sneak on 4th and 1 instead of giving it to your 240-pound running back. It’s this lack of “reading the room” in a game that has driven Mountaineer fans crazy in the Neal Brown Era.

Second, let’s stop mentioning Garrett Greene and the Heisman in the same sentence. I love his fiery attitude, guts, and determination, but let’s call him what he is–a 60 percent passer with some running ability who is going to have some great games, and some really bad ones. On a national stage Saturday, he had a chance to put himself in the early Heisman conversation, but was shut down by the Nittany Lions defense, who provided Big 12 opponents a template for stopping him. All that being said, Greene’s wide receivers need to make plays for him, and aside from some tough catches by Preston Fox, the WVU wideouts were nonexistent.

Next, West Virginia lacked any kind of physicality on Saturday. Both lines were pushed around all day, there was no pass rush (making an already inept secondary look even worse), and desperate arm tackles were the order of the day. While we’re at it, let’s mention the visible lack of team speed by WVU. Mountaineer defenders were out of position time and time again against PSU.

Finally, and this has nothing to do with football, what’s with MGK? His sorry pregame performance of a hybrid “Lonely Road” and “Take Me Home Country Roads” was hideous and disrespectful. I know I’m showing my age, but couldn’t we have found someone who could have done justice to the song that is considered by many to be the West Virginia state song? And by the way, MGK, pull your pants up.

All in all, a disappointing start to the 2024 WVU football season on Saturday. However, with Mountaineer wins over Albany, Pitt, and Kansas in the next several weeks, this Oscillating Fan will be scrambling to find my seat on the Old Blue and Gold Bandwagon!

Until next visit from The Booth…Let’s Go EERS!

RW

 

Sports Dogs Podcast: Talkin’ College Football

It’s that time of the year when the air is getting cooler, and college football takes center stage! The Dogs break down The Dukes, Mountaineers, Hokies, and Cavaliers in the latest edition of the Sports Dogs Podcast. Let the tailgaiting begin!

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Sports Dogs Podcast: HS Basketball Preview & Bowl Talk

It’s time to come indoors for High School basketball, and the Sports Dogs highlight the area teams and some players to look out for in 23-24. And, it’s college football bowl season, with several of our regional teams playing one more game. Plus, the final CFP selections have been made–not without controversy. The Dogs have an opinion!

The Oscillating Blue And Gold Fan

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Greetings from The Booth!

The true fan, I guess, is one who watches every single play of a lightning-delayed, 5-hour, 56-17 blowout of FCS opponent (Duquesne). Or, one of what looked to be 200 people in Puskar Stadium, but I’ll get to that in a moment. I wanted to give myself at least a small sample size before I shared my thoughts about the 2023 West Virginia Mountaineers, my beloved Blue and Gold.

Objectively, I guess this edition of the Mounties lies somewhere between the team that got blown out in it’s opener at Penn State and the team that piled up over 600 yards of offense against the Dukes last night in Morgantown. Playing the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley is certainly not the usual opening game against the Sisters of the Poor, and when you looked at the schedule in the preseason, you probably chalked that one up as a “L.”

Conversely, you would certainly have counted week 2 as a “W.” But if you’re WVU, you really can’t win a game like the one against Duquesne. If you win, you were supposed to, and if you don’t win by enough, it feels like a loss. And God forbid you lose (remember Michigan-App State?). The fan base will lose it’s collective mind.

(A quick side road here: last night’s spread was 38.5 and West Virginia won by 39. It’s creepy how the oddsmakers get these things right more often than not. This is why I don’t bet. Sorry FanDuel, you’re not getting my money.)

As for last night, after a slow start and much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth from the fan boards, the Mounties did what they were supposed to do, and routed the Dukes. What do we take out of this? I’m not sure, except that embattled Head Coach Neal Brown lives to coach one more week. WVU quarterback Garrett Greene looked sharp and ended up with 4 touchdown passes, 3 of those to freshman walk-on Hudson Clement. I menton him because he is a fellow Martinsburg Bulldog, and it was great to see one of our own do well at the D-I level. Hopefully, he will get his scholarship.

Aside from that, WestVirginia played a clean game with few penalties and mistakes, and racked up over 300 yards on the ground. WVU boasts an NFL-quality tight end, which they need to use more, and some exciting young running backs. On the other side of the ball, the front seven looks solid, but the secondary is truly bad. If that doesn’t change, WVU will be torched by Big 12 passing offenses on a weekly basis.

So, at 1-1, the Mountaineers get ready to face Pitt at home in the Backyard Brawl, a game that needs to be won. A loss against the hated Panthers, and the aforementioned fan base will once again rear it’s head and call for Brown to be fired. Spreaking of that “elephant in the room,” it’s widely thought that anything short of an 8-win season, and a decent bowl, and Brown will be gone after this season. In his tenure at West Virginia, Brown has looked like a coach in above his head in terms of recruiting, play-caling, clock management, and general decision-making. Last year’s loss at Pitt is still a fresh wound, and a win this comimg Saturday is a must for Brown.

But the one thing that will get a coach fired more than anything is an empty stadium, which was the case last night. Some of that, we will chalk up to the weather. When disgruntled fans start staying away in droves, athletic administrators pay attention. Football pays the frieght for everything else at a major university, and donors are football fans. Too many more crowds like last night, and Brown’s already-hot seat will go thermonuclear.

But hey, it could be worse. You could be an Alabama fan this morning…

Until  the next visit from The Booth…GO EERS!

RW

 

 

Building On Success

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Greetings From The Booth!

The cream is starting to rise to the top with regard to the VHSL football playoffs. Five of our area teams are still alive after quarterfinal action this past weekend and although there were a few surprises, usually when we get to the state semifinal and championship level, the best teams are left standing. One of those teams appears to be Strasburg. The Rams, who will host Stuart’s Draft this Friday night in a Region 2B semifinal, are 10-1, with their only loss coming via forfeit in the season opener. My broadcast partner, Ryan “The Duke” Rutherford, correctly describes Strasburg by calling them almost “militaristic” in their approach. They don’t do anything fancy, but they are always in sync, well-disciplined, and fundamentally sound.  They will be hard to beat on Friday night.

As a football fan, I had a rare “Daily Double” this past weekend (for entertainment purposes only, not in a gambling sense), as my WVU Mountaineers and the Washington Commanders both posted wins. West Virginia beat Oklahoma in Morgantown for their first home victory against the Sooners. This year’s Oklahoma team is a bit down and still not bowl eligible, so this is not like beating your father’s Sooners. We’ll take it. These last few seasons have been lean ones for the Mountaineers, and head coach Neal Brown is on the hot seat. With the exit of WVU AD Shane Lyons earlier this week, Brown would almost certainly have to win out against Kansas State and Oklahoma State (unlikely), then win a minor bowl game to keep his job. Even that might not insure a 5th year for Brown, as there is no Lyons now to act as a buffer. A new athletic director will almost surely want his own guy, so it appears “The Climb” will end sometime shortly after the season ends.

The Washington Commanders shocked the football world Monday night with a win over previously undefeated Philadelphia in Philly. Don’t look now, but the Commanders are 5-5 and have won 4 of their last 5. Washington QB Taylor Heinicke has been the catalyst, and the team has rallied around the ODU product, who has now become a Cinderella story around the NFL. Chase Young is set to return this week, so things are looking up for the Burgundy and Gold as they head to 1-7-1 Houston on Sunday.

Can the aforementioned Mountaineers and Commanders build on the success of their recent victories? In the case of Washington, I’ve seen this movie way too many times before where a great win is followed by an egg-laying performance against a weaker foe. This just feels like one of those games. A win Sunday, however, would set the Commanders up for another winnable game the following weekend against Atlanta and a 7-5 record. Make no mistake–Sunday is an important game for Washington, and they must treat it that way.

It’s a much different situation for WVU. Forget about the angle of “playing to save your coach.” That is overrated. Brown is probably gone already, so their game Saturday against K-State is about finishing strong and building some momentum going into Spring 2023. The Mounties have some nice young players, including QB Garrett Greene, who injected much-needed life into the team in the win against Oklahoma and hopefully will start on Saturday.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need go to FanDuel about that Daily Double…

Until next visit from The Booth, HTTC & Go EERS!

RW

 

He Said, She Said

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Greetings from The Booth!

Well, I’ve got a bit of a dilemma this coming Thursday. Mountaineers or Commanders? The way both are going, I may opt for a third choice: bed. Thursday night, my 2-3 WVU Mounties host Baylor, while the dumpster fire franchise formerly known as the Redskins play the Chicago Bears. This past Sunday, I watched exactly zero seconds of the Washington disaster against Tennessee (I’d better explain. I don’t get CBS and efforts to stream or add some app would take longer than the game itself). I decided to tidy up my long-neglected .92 acre. It turned out to be a great choice, as the Commanders lost on a Carson Wentz interception on the Titans’ 2-yard line on the game’s final play.

As for West Virginia, the cries of “fire Neal Brown” are growing louder in the Mountain State, as the fans are growing tired of “trusting the climb.” Should things go south early against Baylor Thursday night, it could get ugly in Morgantown. I have never bailed on the Blue and Gold–until their last game against Texas. 28-0 down was about all I could take.

So, who to watch on Thursday night? Forget about the DVR option. That stuff is beyond me, My VHS is still blinking twelve o’clock.

OK, we’ve all heard about the imminent end of the perfect marriage of Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Apparently, the two are living separately, and she is nowhere to be seen at any of Brady’s games this year. I have no way of knowing for sure, but this all seems to stem from his decision to come out of a brief retirement and play one more season.

In my mind I can almost see how this breakup happened. After last season, Brady decided to hang up the cleats and concentrate more on his family. Football puts a great strain on a marriage and family, even more so with a player as driven as Tom Brady. His many Super Bowl rings are a testament to the time he has given to the game, and the sacrifice Brady has made at the expense of other facets of his life.

Gisele has made sacrifices of her own, having assumed most of the parental duties in the marriage while giving up her own career as a supermodel. I’m almost sure the couple mutually agreed that last season was to be Brady’s last. But, as most retired NFL players will tell you, there is an empty space when a player leaves the game. It’s not the grueling training camps they miss, or even the games. It’s the camaraderie they miss with the other guys. Players share a common bond that nothing else can replace, and Brady needed that more than another ring.

This has become a polarizing tale, with some calling Tom Brady selfish for choosing football over family, while some say that Gisele knew what she was getting when she married Tom Brady. As with most stories, there are three sides: his, hers, and the true story that lies somewhere in the middle. The truth, for now, remains Victoria’s secret…

Until the next visit from The Booth…GO MOUNTAINEERS!

RW