Read his post below:

#BeatWVU Tomorrow

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, the Syracuse Twitterati has been hammering hashtag beatdowns on the Friday before each of the Orange’s football games this season.

Tomorrow it will continue with #BeatWVU.

Sean has been publishing “Best Of” posts on Friday evenings recapping the hashtag activity. Tomorrow, though, looks like it could be the ugliest of all the hashtag affairs. The Syracuse Twitterati is growing crazy large and active, and West Virginia has a large contingent as well. Friday should be the apex of this little experiment.

I highly encourage everyone to get on Twitter for, at a minimum, tomorrow. It’s worth it, not only for the hashtag cracks but the live-game commentary is rock solid. The stuff you will see will make you laugh and probably cringe.

This is West Virginia, people, and the shit is going to be hitting the fan from sunrise to sunset.

For the members of the Syracuse Twitterati, I say this: Bring good shit tomorrow. Don’t bother Googling cracks because we’ve already seen that tired stuff a thousand times before. We’re definitely winning in quantity and fervor, now it’s time to refine and smack some quality.

A 140-character crack is tough to make, but with a short hashtag this week, there’s no excuse for a resounding victory.

So WVU Mountaineer Twitterati, it’s time to show these fruits, er.. Orangemen what Mountaineer Nation is all about. Lets take their challenge and flip it on them with the #BeatSU or #beatSyracuse hash tag.

They say they will crack on WV and WVU pretty hard, which we all know is easy to do with the plethora of WV jokes out there. This our chance to hit them back and trust me, it’s a lot of fun to do this on Twitter.

So, like Hoya, I encourage all WVU Students, Alumni and fans to finally take the plunge and join Twitter, and make sure the first person you follow is @Mountaineer. It’s time for more WVU fans to be on Twitter anyway!

If you’re new to Twitter, join first then hit me up @Mountaineer and I’ll help explain how to do this properly. It’s super easy.

Remember when you’re making a crack at Syracuse that you tweet the #BeatSU or #BeatSyracuse hashtag!

This season’s television coverage is a little spotty – ESPN caused sort of an outrage amongst Mountaineers when they announced that the ECU game would only be covered by way of EPSN360.com. Which is only had by a select few Internet providers, namely Verizon. Here is a list of this year’s television coverage for the Mountaineers. A few games are still in the works as to where they will be covered.

v. Liberty  – Noon – Local/Regional Affiliate
v. ECU – 3:30pm – ESPN360
v. Auburn – 7:45pm – ESPN2
v. Colorado – 7:30pm – ESPN
v. Syracuse – TBA – TBA
v. Marshall – 3:30pm – Local/Regional Affiliate
v. UConn – TBA – TBA
v. USF – 8:00pm – ESPN2
v. Louisville – TBA – TBA
v. Cincy – TBA – ESPN2
v. Pitt – TBA – ABC/ESPN
v. Rutgers – TBA – ABC/ESPN/ESPN2

Times are still unknown for several of the games, even though a few of the important games are guaranteed coverage on the big networks. Schedule will be updated when we find out more. To find out more about the schedule – go to Big East’s website.

If you’re a rabid college football fan like me you are super pumped up for opening weekend (or week I guess since the games start today). Anyway, I thought I would put together a list of DO NOT MISS games from Week 1 for each time slot you can actually watch a full game. These are the “EFF YEAH ITS FOOTBALL SEASON AGAIN” games:

Today, Thursday, Sept. 3 – Just put it on ESPN and leave the remote alone

• 7:00 PM ET ESPN & ESPN 360
  South Carolina at North Carolina State. First, who cares who’s playing.. it’s college football!! This game is always fun though and should be a good start to the season.
• 10:15 PM ET ESPN & ESPN 360
  No. 16 Oregon at No. 14 Boise State. Right out of the gate we’re going to get a Kick-Ass game on the Smurf Turf (if your eyes can handle that ugly field and stay open long enough to finish it)

Friday, Sept. 4 – One Game, why not..

• 8:00 PM ET
  Tulsa at Tulane on ESPN & ESPN 360.  Meh.. don’t really care much for the matchup but it’s football!

Saturday, Sept 5 – ALL DAY LONG!

• 12 Noon Game:
  PAALEEZE.. do I even need to say this: Liberty at WVU. It’s on ESPN 360 and GamePlan and it’s being televised locally.. I do know that WVFX will show it… check your local listings. From WVMS.com fan WIGGY: in the NYC Tri-State area Liberty @ WVU is on for FREE I believe on “SNY” or “MSG” (not HD stations). And PPV on “GAMEPLAN” for $24.00
  
  **SIDE NOTE: if you want to watch sPITT drop a big EGG on to Youngstown St. at 1pm you’ll have to be there since it’s not being broadcast ANYWHERE
• 3 – 3:30 PM Game (if you can find a TV after the WVU game):
  No. 13 Georgia at No. 9 Oklahoma State on ABC and GamePlan
• 7:00 PM Game:
  No. 20 Brigham Young vs. No. 3 Oklahoma
  you can watch BYU get their asses kicked and lose that #20 spot live on ESPN! WVU should have that #20 spot.
• 8:00 PM Game:
  The BYU vs OK game will be over by the end of the first quarter so you might as well switch it over to ABC to watch the mega matchup. No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech* to get a preview of who we’ll play in the Sugar Bowl (yes I am being very presumptuous and i don’t care)

Sunday, Sept. 6 – Long Weekend of Football Continues

• 3:30 PM ET on ESPN you can reload your College FB Fix with
  No. 8 Mississippi at Memphis It will be interesting to watch how Mississippi is coming along and there’s always chatter about Memphis joining the Big East.

Monday, Sept. 7 – The end of an awesome opening week

• 4:00 PM ET ESPN will show the Big East opener game
  Cincinnati at Rutgers. This is a must watch for any WVU fan. Let’s see if Rutgers can live up to some of the preseason hype and if Cincy can keep it rolling.
• 8:00 PM ET Right after the Big East opener ESPN will show the ACC matchup between
  Miami (FL) at No. 18 Florida State

And that’s it. WHOA! What a weekend. If you don’t get your full of NCAA College Football by the end of the day Monday, you’re a sick puppy, oh and good luck being able to keep control of the remote for that long.

A day or two ago it was announced that the BIG EAST had lost the Gator Bowl ties. Today, we hear that the Sun Bowl has also decided to drop the BIG EAST.

In it’s place, the Big East has picked up the Champs Sports Bowl with a 4 year agreement. This bowl, if you didn’t know, takes place in Orlando and isn’t a New Years Day Game. Instead it’s typically played on Dec. 27, 28, or 29. It does however pay a nice 2.5 million to each participant.

The guys over at The Smoking Musket take a very optimistic view of these developments:

Is the Champs Sports Bowl on New Year’s Day?  No.  And that’s certainly a blow to the conference’s pride.  But what the bowl game does enjoy is an exclusive time slot, something the Gator could never afford.  Now, the entire country will see a Big East team under the lights before New Year’s rather than be muddled together with other (and often, better) bowl games on January 1.

The moral of the story is that this isn’t terrible, and the sky is certainly not falling.  This is going to likely be a very down year for the Big East, but a very young conference (with a lot of incoming talent) could be poised to break out in the coming years.  Agreements like this allow us to simply hold-serve, and wait for the next agreements when the conference is (hopefully) stronger.

I love the positive spin on this, but the more I think about it, the bigger the pit in my stomach grows. The Smoking Musket is probably right, but this sure does reek of conference media weakness and plays right into the hands of the “I-told-you-so-know-it-alls-Big-East-Haters” like Phil Steele and Cowherd. This is also fuel for the anti Big East gets a BCS bid people.

Some positives:

• The Champs Sports sounds more like a legit sponsor than Brut.. I mean who still buys that crap.
• It’s an easier trip to Orlando than AZ.
• If we just win the Big East this isn’t an issue…. EVER.
• 2.5 Million ain’t too bad for 2nd place in the Big East.
• Doesn’t matter if PITT is in this bowl or not, they will lose.

What do you guys think?

But apparently Eddie Griffin over at Bleacher Report thinks WVU would make a decent fit (a darkhorse) into the Big 10′s recent hyped up expansion talk. 

Here is what he had to say about WVU:

There could be a dark horse candidate in West Virginia. West Virginia isn’t the worst fit geographically, and if they can continue their recent success on the gridiron, they offer up a name that’s known on a national level. West Virginia’s basketball program is also a consistent winner, and they have a nationally-known coach in Bob Huggins. It’s not exactly a sexy choice, but it’s one worth considering.

and then under the “Darkhorses” list:

1. West Virginia: From a competitive standpoint, they’d as great of a fit as can be on the gridiron and on the basketball court. As for travel, they’re pretty reasonable as well. But how big of a draw would they be?

Personally, I’m glad this idiot put this out there. We need them talking us down. The worst thing WVU could do would be to defect into the Big 10. Also, why are fans of the Big 10 teams so presumputous that just any team of their chosing would happily accept the invitation to join them? I think they might find it harder than they think. It’s a stuck up conference with a bunch of asshole fans… not very friendly either. 

In football we are Top Dog in the Big East and have been for years now.  We have the BCS bid, which for now gives us a serious opportunity to make a Major Bowl. Why would we want to go into a conference that only really cares about Ohio St. and Meeechigan?

On the Basketball side we are in THE ELITE conference. The conference play alone makes our RPI so high getting into the tourney every year should be easy if we win 20 games.

I would never want to be associated with that crap conference and their obnoxious fans. Man, it makes me nauseous just thinking about it. ewwww.

So what do you guys think?

[poll id="79"]

From MSN:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The combination of two home runs from redshirt sophomore Grant Buckner and a solid outing from starter Billy Gross guided the West Virginia University baseball team to a three-game sweep over Georgetown, winning 8-3 on Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field.

The victory gives the Mountaineers (23-6, 8-1) a season-high seven game winning streak, and marks an undefeated 5-0 week for WVU. The Mountaineers outscored the Hoyas (10-19, 3-6), 28-14, during their three-game series over the weekend, and continue their reign in first place in the BIG EAST.

Anyway, we’ll get the boring game out of the way first. Louisville beat up on Providence. I mean beat up… 55-73. Louisville plays Villanova today. That should be decent match up.

Speaking of Villanova, they had a bit scare yesterday with Marquette. It seemed they had the game under control and had as much as a 17 point lead until the last few minutes when Marquette made a nice comeback took the lead with 1:40 left in the game. This game came down to the buzzer when Dwayne Anderson hit a layup as the clock ticked down to zero and gave Villanova a one point lead and the win 75-76. Great ending #1.

Enter the BackYard Brawl in the mighty Garden! Two Teams Enter, One Team Leaves! And that one team was the mother effing Mountaineers! WHOA!

I don’t need to tell you guys how awesome that game was last night. WVU just hung and then dominated with the 1-3-1 defense. PITT didn’t know what to do with it. If they (PITT) play like that in the tourney they won’t make it past the first round. BWAHAHAHAHA. By the way EBANKS is a stud and really showed how he’s coming into his own and will be the leader of the Mountaineers for the next couple of years. Great ending #2
Check out the highlights in case you missed it:

If you didn’t stay up to watch the end of the Syracuse vs. UCONN game last night you missed what is sure to become a classic. The game ended around 1:30 in the morning after 6 OverTimes! I happened to see the last 4 minutes of regulation and was then hooked into one of the most entertaining college basketball games… ever. Great (never) ending #3.
WVU should be in a good position tonight playing a totally gassed Syracuse team. Big East Champs anyone?
I can’t do the recap of that game justice, so check it out here:

Next Up: Semi Final Round
@ 7pm on ESPN: Villanova vs. Louisville (MountaineerBob picks Louisville.. I want to play them in the Champ game as we have some unfinished business)
@ 9pm on ESPN: WVU vs. Syracuse (MountaineerBob picks WVU easily beating an exhausted but proud Syracuse team)

The first game of the day was DePaul vs. Providence. The Friars looked like they were going to get their butts handed to them pretty much the whole game yesterday but made an impressive surge and hardcore defense to get back into it and pull out the win. If you look at the final score you’d never know they almost blew it!

The next game in the 2nd Round was St. John’s vs. Marquette. Marquette just stomped all over St. John’s winning 74-45. They held St. Johns to only 10 points in the first half! That is the lowest half time score by any team in a Big East Tourney Game. OUCH!

At 7pm yesterday WVU took on Notre Dame. We’ve had a tough time with them lately and I’ll admit I was a bit nervous going into this one. I knew we needed at least one win in the Big East Tournament to get in the #5 – #7 seed range for the NCAA Tournament. So a win here was critical.

I didn’t get to watch the first half of this game but when I turned on ESPN at halftime the score was ND 18 – WVU 36!  So it was our game to lose going into the 2nd half… and we almost did! Notre Dame went on a 19-9 run at one point and they closed into within 8 points with 2:27 left but it wasn’t enough and we held them off to win by 12, 62-74.

Stat of the Day: WVU improved to 11-5 in it’s last 16 games at MSG. Here are the highlights:

The last game of the night in NYC was Seton Hall vs. Syracuse. The Orange won by 15, 74-89. I didn’t really feel Seton Hall had a chance in this game cause the ‘Cuse are looking strong this year and when Seton Hall’s coach says this…

“There were some stretches in the game where the game got away from us,” Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. “They can hurt you a lot of ways. They are murder in transition and Jonny Flynn is almost unguardable.”

.. you got no chance.

Now onto Round 3… where the the big dogs get into the fight!

@ Noon on ESPN: Louisville vs. Providence (MountaineerBob predicts Louisville)
@ 2:30 on ESPN: Marquette vs. Villanova (MountaineerBob picks Marquettes defense)
@ 7pm on ESPN: THE BACKYARD BRAWL WVU vs. PITT (MountaineerBob picks WVU and Rouffs 3′s)
@ 9:30 on ESPN: UCONN vs. Syracuse (MountaineerBob picks UCONN)

DePaul Upsets Cincinnati … I say Cuck Fincinnati, they eeked one by us a week or so ago. It’s nice to see DePaul get their first win vs. a Big East team and end that terrible 18-game losing streak in a big upset like this. Cincy will have a good showing in the NIT. Stat of this game: Cincy is 0-3 in Big East tourney play. BWAHAHAHAHA.

Then Georgetown fell to St. John’s 64-59. This was St. John’s first win in the Big East tourney since 2003. Georgetown needs to regroup and figure out how to get back to the G’town of old. Since they weren’t gonig to the Big Dance anyway, need to focus on winning some games in the NIT.

The next two games went as expected.

Notre Dame knocked off Rutgers 61-50 and advances to face the mighty WVU Mountaineers. That game is going to be a tough one for us. It seems that ND has our ticket this year. Hopefully we can break that pattern of suckyness.

Here is a recap of that game:

In the last game of the first round Seton Hall put the smack down on South Florida by 14, 54-68. The biggest news of this game was that Seton Hall broke out of a 5 game Big East Tourney skid.

So onto Round 2 we go!  Things definitely heat up today with these match ups:
@ Noon on ESPN: No. 8 Providence vs. No. 16 DePaul (MB Pick: Providence)
@ 2pm on ESPN: No. 5 Marquette vs. No. 13 St. John’s (MB Pick: St. John in the upset)
@ 7pm ON ESPN: No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 10 Notre Dame (MB Pick: WVU duh)
@ 9pm on ESPN: No. 6 Syracuse vs. No. 11 Seton Hall (MB Pick: Syracuse)

Also, remember you can follow us on Twitter @Mountaineer as I will be trying to tweet some quick info about the games throughout the tourney.

Mad Charts from Statsheet.com: