Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408260017
SECTION: COLLEGE FOOTBALL PAGE: FB4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J. LENGTH: Medium
Last season, the Mountaineers played for the title in the weekly polls. When its 11-0 season was bittersweetly rewarded with a Sugar Bowl berth but virtually no chance for the national championship, WVU surrendered 41-7 to Florida.
The outcome - and everything that led up to it - has some Mountaineers wishing for amnesia as they prepare for a 1994 season that figures to be more mountainous than WVU's smooth '93 record.
``It's a lingering taste only when somebody says something to us,'' strong safety David Mayfield said during the Big East Football Conference's annual media day this month. ``At the time, we played one period and said, `That's all we feel like playing today,' and lost focus.''
Mayfield shrugged.
``The best we were going to get is two of three,'' he said, referring to possible poll finishes. ``The team I played with from the second quarter on was not the team of the first 11 games.''
That team won five games by five points or fewer and won the Big East's first true championship, beating league favorite Miami in Game 10 and title challenger Boston College on the season's final weekend.
That team also had 27 seniors - more than half of whom made significant contributions - and bequeaths an uncertain future to coach Don Nehlen's 15th Mountaineers team, which begins its season today in a Kickoff Classic encounter with Nebraska, a preseason top 10 team.
Thousand-yard rusher Robert Walker is back, but WVU's top three receivers (Mike Baker, Jay Kearney and Ed Hill) are gone. And, anyway, who's going to throw the ball?
``I don't suppose we have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, since we're not sure who [our quarterback] is,'' Nehlen said.
Sophomore Chad Johnston (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) won the job in the spring, but Nehlen still was looking at Michigan transfer Eric Boykin (6-3, 200), a junior who was 14-of-23 for 174 yards passing in the spring game.
``They're great character kids, they're both smart, just tremendous young guys,'' Nehlen said. ``Tremendous quarterbacks? I don't know.''
In a way, WVU's football reputation rides on the answer. Although the Mountaineers twice have been in the national championship picture in the past six years, they've gone 23-19-3 in between with one bowl appearance and one Top 25 finish.
WVU's reputation as a non-regular among the nation's elite probably hurt its '93 national title hopes. Following a 5-4-2 '92 season, the Mountaineers began the season unranked in The Associated Press poll, were ranked No.25 after a 3-0 start and didn't make the top 10 until they beat Rutgers to go 8-0. Two weeks later, the Miami victory moved WVU to No.5, and the Boston College victory the next week finally got it into the national championship picture at No.3.
The Mountaineers were No.2 in the USA Today/CNN coaches' poll, however, and thought they should be playing the coaches' No.1 team, Nebraska, for a share of the mythical national championship.
Some programs might be highly ranked following an 11-1 season, a tribute to their layers of talent. WVU isn't there yet; the Mountaineers are No.24 in the preseason AP poll.
What does Nehlen think? Get ready for some Mountaineer spin. On paper, he admits, WVU has slipped. But ...
``We always expect to have a good football team. Are we? I don't know,'' he said. ``I told you last year not to forget about us. Nobody believed me. Well, don't forget about us again, because we're gonna play.''
Besides quarterback, Nehlen can pick apart this year's Mountaineers like anyone else noting their losses. Uncertainty resides at receiver, middle linebacker (replacing Wes Richardson) and strong safety (where Mayfield is being moved to replace Mike Collins). WVU will miss All-America tackle Rich Braham, although guard Tom Robsock returns to lead the offensive line. The return of troubled but talented defensive tackle John Browning is a boost.
Rahsaan Vanterpool and Zach Abraham, who combined for 18 catches last year, probably will start at receiver. Junior Tony Minneyfield and freshman Jerrald Long may figure there, too.
Richardson, Nehlen said, ``was the best player on my team last year.'' Second-year player Bo Chatfield (nine tackles last year) may have to step in.
Mayfield said the defense struggled to improve in the spring against an offense struggling to find players. But, he said, the players didn't hesitate when Nehlen asked them during a spring meeting whether they wanted to play Nebraska in the Kickoff Classic.
Even though WVU may not be in Nebraska's class in the preseason rankings, the Mountaineers see it as justice delayed.
``I don't believe there'd be a red-blooded football player saying, `No, I don't want to play them,''' Mayfield said. ``We were each 11-0 [last year]. We should've been playing each other.''
by CNB