No way. Their defense loses a lot of experience and talent to the NFL. Their offense simply won't be that talented aside from Pryor. They will be worse at running back for sure, and they really don't have any game breaking wide-outs to speak of either. I actually think it could be a down year in Columbus if the rest of the big ten could step it up.
I think the Mountaineers -- maybe the funnest team to watch for much of 2006 and 2007 -- are going to be down for quite a while. With their studs gone and a coach clearly in way over his head I think it's back to the bad ol' days for WVU.
Guys like Rich Rodriguez don't come their way very often. They should have ponied up everything they could to keep him.
Boston College is another program that may suffer because of their high-handed ways in dealing with talented coaches. Firing Jeff Polishnamski because he interviewed for a dream gig was arrogant, stupid and short-sighted.
ope:
Yeah I agree. I think the farther removed they get from the Rodriguez coaching reign, the farther down their program will go. Plus the fact that the Mountaineers identity has been defined by Pat White for the last four years. With him gone I don't think they'll look much like the team that we've seen in the past.
You're pre-judging Rodriguez because of one bad year at Michigan, where he had virtually nothing to work with on offense coming in. Give him a couple years to draft the players he needs for his system and I'll bet their fortunes turn around. He is one of the great young offensive minds in football. Another great offensive mind and a coach that I think will be missed by his old school is Paul Johnson. I'm betting the farther he is removed from Navy the more downhill they'll go.
