The Rutgers football team will lose its Big East opener at West Virginia

2008 appears to be shaping up as one of the weakest seasons in the history of Big East football.  Yet, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights don’t seem to have the goods to take advantage of the mediocre landscape.  And that will become evident this coming Saturday when R-U plays its league opener at West Virginia.  No, right now, this is not one of those powerhouse Mountaineer teams…certainly not good enough four games into the campaign to warrant the media’s pre-season pick as the eventual Big East champion.  The ‘Neers are only 2-2 under new head coach Bill Stewart…and all-league quarterback Pat White is fighting a bruised thumb.  But this is still W-V-U we’re talking about and, in case you forgot, Rutgers has never won a game in Morgantown.  White completed 17 of 21 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns and had 61 yards rushing in last Saturday’s 27-3 win at intra-state rival Marshall before injuring his thumb…a pretty good line on the road.  And his back-up, Jarrett Brown, was 5-for-7 for 44 yards and had 78 rushing yards.  Then you have the number-one featured back Noel Devine running for 125 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.  So, from an offensive skill position point-of-view, West Virginia appears to have more than enough to strike early and often against a medicore Rutgers defense, notwithstanding last Saturday’s 38-0 home win over lowly Morgan State.  As for the Mountaineer defense, it held the Thundering Herd to just 39 rushing yards and 158 yards of total offense.  So, the W-V-U “d” will be tough to crack for quarterback Mike Teel and Company.  Bottom line—Rutgers is a 14-point favorite on the road at a place it’s never won before and not playing the kind of consistent football needed to pull off a big upset.  West Virginia, on the other hand, is set to break out after a sluggish first four games under head coach Stewart.  So, I look for the Mountaineers to win going away Saturday…beating the Scarlet Knights 35-10…kicking off what will be a long Big East season for head coach Greg Schiano.