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Dominion Post
7 minutes ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Pitt's Pat Narduzzi strong advocate for yearly Backyard Brawl
MORGANTOWN — The biggest game on West Virginia's schedule isn't a Big 12 conference game. It's the third game of the season against Pitt in the 108th Backyard Brawl. That's not an opinion; looking at the ticket prices, WVU's priciest home game is the Backyard Brawl, which is as low as $260 right now. Speaking with former players and fans, the Week 3 matchup is the must-see game. ESPN's Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit even talked about potentially having College GameDay from this year's Backyard Brawl if everything goes right. After this year, the Backyard Brawl is shelved. The rivalry won't return until 2029. It's a lot less of a hiatus than the 11-year gap from 2011 to 2022, but still, the season will feel incomplete. Pitt's head coach, Pat Narduzzi, has been vocal about regional rivalry games with West Virginia and Penn State, and talked about the importance of the regional games at ACC Media Days this week. 'With the way the college landscape is going, conferences have kind of exploded, and we have teams from the West Coast in the Atlantic Coast Conference,' Narduzzi said. 'I think those regional rivalry games are critical.' However, the regional rivalry games are becoming harder and harder to occur. With conference shuffling, rivalries have been lost. Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma was a yearly thing, but once Oklahoma left the conference, it's harder to make the game happen since it's used as an out-of-conference game. There's also the issue of money, and how out-of-conference opponents are scheduled years in advance. WVU's three out-of-conference games are set up until 2030, and already have one opponent for 2031. Narduzzi said during his press conference that he wanted to play West Virginia every year, and still does, even with the Mountaineers not being on Pitt's schedule until 2029. The players and fans want to see it, but with all the outside factors, it's hard to make it happen. 'Our players look forward to playing West Virginia every year,' Narduzzi said. 'That's a rivalry game that'll end after this year. In three years, it picks back up. So, we do have a four-game stretch. If you guys have any power to see if we can get them in the next three years, we are willing to make some movements in our schedule and try to get that done. I would love to play them every year.' Due to scheduling issues, Narduzzi's wish won't happen. The two schools could technically fit the Backyard Brawl into their schedules, but WVU already has a couple of big games in its place, and the pay-to-play game with smaller schools, which those smaller institutions rely on financially. They'd need to cancel one of the games. Then there's the required nine Big 12 games, so realistically, it's a longshot. At least for WVU, the three years without the Backyard Brawl won't be a snoozefest. WVU has a home and home with Alabama over the next two years, and plays Virginia in Charlotte in 2026. Then in 2028, WVU plays Tennessee in the Duke's Mayos Classic. WVU definitely has entertaining games on its schedule in place of the Backyard Brawl. However, those games don't have the same lust as the Backyard Brawl. What's positive is there's mutual interest in keeping the rivalry a yearly game, and so far, it's scheduled in three of the four years starting in 2029. It's only a couple of years of a break, but the Backyard Brawl will be missed by fans, players and coaches. 'That's what the game is all about, those regional rivalries,' Narduzzi said. 'It brings fans in. The fans love it, the players love it, it's intense. There's no love lost. That's what it's all about. That's college football.'
Dominion Post
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Dominion Post
WVU football recruit SirPaul Cheeks already well known
MORGANTOWN — There are a couple of names in college football that are memorable not for their performance, but just for their name alone. Some make the fan-made all-name teams, and West Virginia could have one of their own coming to Morgantown soon. A week ago, West Virginia received a commitment from 2026 running back SirPaul Cheeks, from Chesterfield, Va. Some say Cheek's name sounds like a name from the Key and Peele East/West College Bowl skit, but it's not. Cheeks is the newest addition to the 2026 class. Cheeks isn't the only name tagged to the new back. The running back also goes by the nickname 'Jesus in Cleats,' which is high praise for the high schooler. According to his X account, Cheeks runs a 4.37 40-yard dash, ranking 11th in this year's NFL Combine and second among running backs, so he is fast. Cheeks' name and nickname have already caught national attention. A couple of days after his commitment, ESPN and former WVU player Pat McAfee introduced Cheeks to College GameDay co-host Kirk Herbstreit, during McAfee's show. 'SirPaul Cheeks,' McAfee said. 'You are going to learn today, Kirk. West Virginia got a commitment from SirPaul Cheeks. Jesus in cleats.' 'Where is he from?' Herbstreit asked. 'He's from f——- football god,' McAfee replied. Experts don't think the same of Cheeks, and he doesn't have the highest rating. Cheeks is a composite three-star prospect and ranked as the 54th-best running back in the 2026 class. Cheeks is the 24th-ranked player in Virginia. Cheeks has promising stats from last year to back up his nickname, though. His junior year, Cheeks had 1,495 all-purpose yards, 18 touchdowns, three pick-6s, 900 rushing yards on 38 carries and 265 receiving yards. Kentucky, Buffalo, Appalachian State and Ball State liked what they saw and offered him, too. He can do it all on both sides of the ball but will play running back in college. Rich Rodriguez said earlier this spring that two-way players might be more present in college football, with the shrunken rosters, so it's not out of the question that he plays more than just running back. 'You still may need to have a few guys that maybe can go both ways,' Rodriguez said. 'I think you'll see a little more of that. I know Travis Hunter did it at Colorado.' Cheeks could be the future of Rodriguez's offense. Rodriguez's offense is run-heavy and tempo, so a running back that can do it all should have success. However, Cheeks is on the smaller side at 5-foot-9, but he has some time to put on some size since he's just a high schooler. Rodriguez's starting running back this year, Jahiem White, is only 5-foot-7 and 192 pounds, so Cheeks shouldn't have an issue. Cheeks will have to compete for the starting role one day. In just his class alone, there are two other running backs, fellow 3-star prospects Christopher Talley, who's also 5-foot-9, and Jett Walker. Cheeks is ranked higher than those two, and rated as the fourth-best player in WVU's 2026 class, which consists of 25 pledges. It'll be interesting to see how Cheeks pans out and if he stays committed to WVU. There will be WVU fans pulling for him just because of his name alone. 'All I can tell you is if Rich Rod recruited him, he's a great player,' Herbstreit said. 'There's a new era in Morgantown, and I am officially on the bandwagon.'
Dominion Post
7 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
COLUMN: The top 10 things that makes a WVU fan's blood boil
MORGANTOWN — You walk into a grocery store to buy a pack of gum and the person in front of you has a full cart, won't let you skip ahead and then their debit card won't register on the swipe machine. If that doesn't tick you off, then your frustration tolerance is to be commended and maybe the rest of this column won't exactly be your cup of tea. The idea was simple: Who or what makes a WVU fan fly off the handle the most? We'd like to tell you that an extensive study was applied to this subject, but that just wouldn't be our style. Instead, the question was posed to fellow sports writers here at The Dominion Post, as well as to some accomplished WVU beat writers around the state and a top 10 was born. Here's the interesting part, though, a few of the answers are quite obvious and need little explanation, but most of them have branches that branch off into other similar branches. When it comes to who or what WVU fans love to hate, it's not exactly a black and white topic. Take ESPN for example. People in West Virginia obviously watch the network, which makes one wonder how anyone could actually rationalize that WVU fans hate ESPN. The anger comes in numerous miniature bunches. The game commentators always talk more about WVU's opponent than the Mountaineers. That's a strong belief among WVU fans. Whenever the WVU-Kansas men's basketball game is stuck on ESPN+ rather than ESPN2, that's a big pet peeve. But yet ESPN is still very much a regular part of our personal TV time. So, without further delay here are the top 10 ideas we came up with that WVU fans love to hate. This one was so obvious, but let's talk about it. Whether it's 13-9, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald or Dave Wannstedt, the school in Pennsylvania is just hated by WVU fans. But here's the question: Why is it just the school WVU fans hate and not the city itself? Does that make WVU's hatred for the Panthers unique? Michigan fans hate Ohio State, but I also seriously doubt people in Ann Arbor go out of their way to visit the city of Columbus unless absolutely necessary. Miami fans do not vacation in Tallahassee, Fla. Chapel Hill, N.C. residents don't rub a lot of elbows with the residents of Durham, N.C. Yet so many WVU fans love the Pittsburgh Steelers, travel to several Pittsburgh Pirates games over the summer and do a lot of shopping in the city of Pittsburgh. Does anyone else think it's weird to have a likeness for a city except for the one small part where the rival campus is located? There are some other branches to discuss here. Let the WVU football team start 5-0 this season, but then check out the reaction on social media when all College GameDay discusses is Alabama and Georgia. 'ESPN hates West Virginia' has actually trended on social media in the past. One interesting topic that came up was WVU fans absolutely hate noon kickoffs. It's not always ESPN setting the time for WVU kickoffs, but the network always gets the blame. The other perception is ESPN and its analysts favor the Big Ten and the SEC over the Big 12. That one may not be that far off base. This one is pure hatred. Quick review: Dakich was hired in 2002 as WVU's men's basketball coach. After assessing the program, he left after eight days and went back to Bowling Green. He later became an assistant coach at Indiana and eventually ventured into radio broadcasting. His radio broadcasting time has been, in some small part, twisting the knife into the back of WVU and its fans. He's taken numerous shots at former WVU men's hoops coach Bob Huggins, claimed that former WVU President David Hardesty threatened him and boasted he would have had WVU at an elite level had he remained at the school. He once tweeted: 'Watching hoops thinking how badly me resigning from WVU destroyed that program …. Bless their little hearts.' A Dakich sighting in Morgantown … I don't even want to venture a guess as to what would happen. OK, this one has real branches, because the feeling here is WVU fans don't truly hate Marshall. At least not anywhere near the same level they hate Pitt. What WVU really hates about Marshall is when the Mountaineers lose to the Thundering Herd in anything. What WVU fans really hate is Marshall's constant yapping about the two schools being on the same level. Remember when former Marshall men's hoops coach Dan Dan D'Antoni accused Huggins of being too scared to play the Thundering Herd? That's the thing, it's a rivalry where one side is pushing way more harder than the other side. Do Marshall fans hate WVU? Likely so, but there are only certain aspects of Marshall that WVU fans can't stand. Not sure you can call that all-the-way pure hatred. This is the all-time conspiracy theory on the list that goes back further than just the Mountaineers being snubbed from the tournament in 2025. That snubbing led to an announcement of an 'investigation' from West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey. There's more, like when WVU won the 2010 Big East tournament. The Mountaineers not only weren't awarded a No. 1 seed, they got stuck in the same bracket with a loaded Kentucky team. So, yeah, there's not a lot of love right now for the committee from WVU fans. Just the Black Diamond rivalry itself sort of fits the bill here. But, there's also Michael and Marcus Vick, who in their own ways forever ticked off WVU faithful. Michael did it with a last-second drive that led to the third-ranked Hokies' 22-20 victory inside Milan Puskar Stadium that kept WVU from pulling off a monumental upset. Marcus went as far as flipping the bird to WVU fans after getting run out of bounds during Virginia Tech's 34-17 win in 2005. The former Pitt men's basketball coach is now a foe in the Big 12 as TCU's head coach. There is truly no other opposing coach than Dixon that WVU fans love to hate, but there is also a good story of compassion in that relationship. Dixon's sister, Maggie, died of a heart condition in 2006, and Dixon has told the story of how he received many heartfelt letters of support from WVU fans. 'When my sister passed away 18 years ago, my two parents in California said, 'Jamie, why are so many of these notes, and emails, and letters that we got from West Virginia?'' Dixon said last season. 'So, people of West Virginia made two people in California going through a hard time feel a little bit better. So, that's what I remember about West Virginia.' Dixon is 20-17 all-time coaching against the Mountaineers. Maybe time does not heal all wounds, because WVU fans still hate the Atlantic Coast Conference. The whole reason WVU competes in the Big 12 right now is because of the ACC's raid of the Big East in 2004. The ACC took Miami and Virginia Tech first, and then later went after Boston College, Pitt and Syracuse. Not for one second did the ACC consider adding WVU, which also plays a role towards the hatred against the ACC. To be truly honest, Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self is pretty much hated by everyone in the Big 12. It's not because he is a bad guy. It has more to do with his success and the perception of how much help he gets from the refs in order to reach that success. Self is 21-8 all-time against WVU. Remember Feb. 17, 2018? No. 13 Kansas attempted 35 free throws, while WVU was awarded only two. Huggins got ejected and Kansas won, 77-69. That's the No. 1 example of why WVU fans can't stand the Jayhawks. Honestly, if Rich Rodriguez had not decided to return to WVU to be its football coach, would DeVries have made this list? It's debatable, but there is no doubt DeVries is not well-liked by WVU fans at the moment. Not after bolting for Indiana after just one season as WVU's men's hoops coach. Not after never giving WVU athletic director Wren Baker a chance to make a counter offer. And certainly not after he never officially told his players he was leaving.
USA Today
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
USC Trojan Marching Band honors college football legend Lee Corso at ESPY Awards
Wednesday night marked the 2025 ESPYs. With the big four professional sports leagues all taking the night off, ESPN rolled out the red carpet in Hollywood for its annual sports awards show. Although he told some hilarious jokes, USC fans likely were not thrilled that the event was hosted by Notre Dame fan Shane Gillis. However, the Trojans had their moment at the ESPYs, too. Later in the night, ESPN rolled out a tribute to legendary College GameDay personality Lee Corso, who is set to retire following one final show in September. After the video rolled, GameDay co-host Pat McAfee, who was on stage with Corso, called out, "USC, please strike the band!" On cue, members of the Trojan Marching Band, including the Drum Major, took the stage playing the iconic College GameDay theme song. In addition, the band presented Corso with a Trojans helmet, which he put on while throwing up a "Fight On." This marked Corso's 18th and final time "picking" the Trojans. Famously, USC went 17-0 when he donned their headgear on GameDay. Corso's final edition of College GameDay will take place on August 30th from Columbus, Ohio ahead of the Ohio State-Texas showdown.
New York Post
18-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Nick Saban's daughter clears the air amid swirling rumors about potential coaching return
The rumors continue to swirl about Nick Saban potentially returning to the sidelines. But his daughter is shutting them down. On Thursday, Kristen Saban posted a video to her Instagram Story of her father's walkout during his time coaching at Alabama with the caption: 'Damn, I miss this.' Some Crimson Tide fans took that as a sign of a possible return to coaching football. However, Kristen shut down the speculation with a quick response post. 'Apparently, some of y'all feel trolled by my last story of Nick's walkout… he's not coming back to coaching, hate to break it to you,' Kristen said in a follow-up story. 'You had your time.' 3 Kristen Saban shot down the coaching rumors involving her dad. Kristen Saban/Instagram The rumors began circulating in earnest on Monday after former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy said on 'McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning' that he was informed by a trustworthy source that Saban — who now works as a panelist on ESPN's 'College GameDay' — would return to coaching in the future. ESPN's Paul Finebaum, who was also on the podcast, thought the rumors were bogus. 'Greg, you know Nick Saban better than I do, but I ran into somebody the other day who spends time with Saban in Florida — you can imagine where — and said that he is literally having the time of his life,' Finebaum said. 3 Alabama head coach Nick Saban looks toward the Texas A&M side in warmups before an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. AP The Saban speculation was brought up at this week's SEC media days, and Kirby Smart, the head coach at Georgia and former Alabama defensive coordinator, said he believes that Saban's coaching days are past him. 'I don't think Nick's coming back,' Smart told reporters at SEC's Media Day. 'I think he's too happy where he is. I think y'all were lacking buzz and they needed some buzz yesterday… I talk to Nick pretty regularly, and I don't see it. It's one of those things that if he wanted to, he'd be unbelievable at it.' 3 Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban and Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart shake hands after the 2022 CFP college football national championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. USA TODAY Sports But one of Saban's former offensive coordinators, Lane Kiffin, said he wouldn't be surprised if the iconic coach decided to come back to the sideline — either in the pros or college. 'I kind of always thought that was going to happen. I kind of thought it would happen after one year,' Kiffin said. 'And I say that just because even seeing recent stuff with him and talking. To him on the phone — I have no knowledge that he's coming back. I don't think anybody does… I just think he'll be back, whether it's NFL or college.'
