WVU working on keeping fans in stands

Originally Published: November 13, 2003

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By Bruce Feldman
ESPN The Magazine
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The Backyard Brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia Saturday will be huge with BCS bowl implications. However, the atmosphere is so charged that local officials around Morgantown are trying whatever they can to make sure things don't get out of hand Saturday night. Back on Oct. 22, when WVU shocked Virginia Tech 28-7, in another prime time TV night, Mountaineer fans fought with police in an unsuccessful attempt to tear down the 600-pound goal posts, then set more than 100 fires around town.

The university will install hinged goal posts at Mountaineer Field, restrict fans from leaving and re-entering the stadium during Saturday night's game and keep them off the field afterward. The school also had the local police chief, a state trooper, the fire chief and someone from the school's public safety department speak to the Mountaineer players Monday to encourage them to encourage their classmates not to get too out of hand. They hope to remind fans to have a good time -- and not to do anything stupid.

"They wanted us to remind them that after the game, we want to make sure people are talking about the game, not who got maced," says running back Kay-Jay Harris.

Hopefully, it'll work, although Harris is skeptical. "If I tell them (fellow students) anything like that, they're gonna look at me like I'm stupid. It's a 7 o'clock game. That means they'll be drinking all day. Heck most of 'em will be lucky if they can even read their ticket number to find their seats."

Random Notes
We hate to trash some of our brethren in the media, but felt compelled after hearing some of the commentaries ripping OU coach Bob Stoops for running up the score on Texas A&M. It'd be nice if these guys actually knew what they were talking about or bothered to actually watch the game before they popped off. Stoops has a QB Jason White who is making a Heisman run. White was putting up sick numbers against the young A&M defense. But then Stoops and his offensive coordinator Chuck Long pulled White after the first half, along with game-breaking wide receiver Mark Clayton and fullback J.D. Runnels, who is pivotal to the Sooners run game. The first-team O-line did remain in the game for the most of the third quarter, but that was so it could get some time with backup quarterback Paul Thompson. OU threw three passes in a four-touchdown third quarter, none after.

Charlie Strong, Florida's first-year D-coordinator, deserves one of the head coaching vacancies this winter. Anyone doubting Strong's ability to motivate just look at the rise of Gator CB Keiwan Ratliff. The Gators were 3-3 and coming off consecutive losses, when Strong pulled Ratliff aside and challenged him to become a playmaker. Ratliff, responded by adding an extra hour of film study to help dupe QBs. The result? He has seven of his SEC-best eight picks in the last four games.

Last year, it was Kliff Kingsbury. This year, B.J. Symons has been the one putting up the big numbers at Texas Tech. Next year, expect Robert Johnson to be the QB flying into the Heisman picture. A fast, strong-armed QB who led Reedley (Calif.) JC to a national title last season, Johnson is headed to Lubbock. Better still, he's bringing with him three big-time defensive players from Reedley (DE Charles Glover, LB Sylvester Brinkley and DT Marcus Campbell) and John Harris, a game-breaking WR from NW Mississippi JC. Harris was Johnson's prep teammate in Americus, Ga., and initially signed with FSU.

From the Scratch-Your-Head department: Rutgers is unbeaten (8-0-1) against the spread. Pretty interesting since Tony Soprano (RU alum James Gandolfini) has become the official poster child for Knights Football.

Whoever gets the Arizona job (Mike Stoops? Ricky Hunley? Mike Price?) will be inheriting a blossoming star in Mike Bell. The speedy sophomore TB has slashed his way to 517 yards in the last three games. He'll get a huge test this weekend against the great USC D-line and defense that is only surrendering 68 rushing yards per game and 2.1 ypc. "He's shown he can do everything Clarence Farmer can do," says USC coach Pete Carroll. "It'll be a real good challenge for us."

One last take on the Winslow tirade, we decided to find out what some college players thought, to see how this story played in their eyes. Their answers weren't quite what we expected.

"He melted down," says a Big 12 player. "It looked like he thought he was on 'Playmakers.' I thought it was funny, though. But then after I kept seeing it over and over again and hearing everyone ripping him, I was like 'y'all (the media) need to settle down. You're treating him like he's Mike Tyson.'"

"I think its funny he's getting dogged for what he said," says Big East player. "He basically just said what every coach is telling his players every day. It's every day! 'Hurt 'em.' 'You find a weakness, you see where they're hurting, attack that!' I can't even think of a pregame speech -- heck, I can't remember too many practices -- where one of our coaches wasn't talking about 'war' or using war terms. And anybody, especially those former players on TV who says different in a f---ing hypocrite. We all talk that way. They teach us to. (Winslow's) mistake was saying it in front of the cameras."

USC All-American wideout Mike Williams took it a step further, telling the L.A. Daily News he wants the Trojans to be just as intense after losses. "Who knows? The way coach (Pete) Carroll is bringing it, maybe one of us might go nuts after a game," Williams said. "That's my goal at USC. To build it to a point where a loss is considered a big deal and pretty much unheard of."

Bruce Feldman covers college football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espnmag.com.