The jaunt to Big East media day yesterday provided probably the opportunity I’ll have all year to write extensively about West Virginia.
For years, there was a guaranteed week of considering the various things the Mountaineers presented. West Virginia was a fixture on Maryland’s schedule from 1980 to 2007.
SEE RELATED:
Last year —- and again this year —- the teams won’t meet.
“I don’t know what happened there,” senior linebacker Reed Williams said.
Filling in the blanks: Maryland added California for a home-and-home in 2008 and 2009.
“Well at least they’re staying in the blue-and-gold, so they’re not too far from us,” Williams said.
It’s not like West Virginia didn’t find a suitable (albeit temporary) replacement, either. The Mountaineers scheduled home-and-homes with Auburn and Colorado over the last two years. All but this season’s game at Auburn landed on a Thursday night on ESPN.
Next year, though, Maryland-West Virginia picks up again in Morgantown, the first of at least four straight seasons the schools will meet.
And that will suit Williams, a West Virginia native, just fine.
“That’s a great rivalry,” Williams said. “To be able to go to U-Md., that was fun every year. It’s a great crowd and we always had some fun over there. And obviously it was always a tough opponent to play against.”
—- Patrick Stevens
