Between The Eers: Scrap the Alabama Series?
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Good Tuesday morning everyone, Scott Callahan and
00:13 this is Between the Ears, thank you guys for tuning in.
00:16 [MUSIC]
00:17 Schedule release is set to drop today for football in the 2024 season.
00:23 And should be full of some goodies.
00:26 West Virginia is slated to have seven home games in 2024.
00:30 And I put that as an asterisk because it really should be eight.
00:34 If you count the pit game as being a home game, which I do, and a lot of fans do.
00:41 West Virginia's got a heavy home schedule this year.
00:45 And speaking of pit, speaking of schedules,
00:48 [MUSIC]
00:50 This is really what I wanted to talk about.
00:54 And it just happened to be that yesterday we talked about Sean Reagan news.
01:00 And lined up perfectly today with schedule release day.
01:04 Pit, last week, and their schedule release, if you haven't checked it out,
01:08 we put an article up on it for those that follow us closely on Mountaineers Now.
01:14 That when Pit did their schedule release last week,
01:19 they did a little video with a couple of players.
01:24 They go to John Eagle and Rock the Panther at the end.
01:30 They put another picture and it was Rock the Panther holding a receipt
01:36 from his grocery store trip.
01:40 And on there is the schedule.
01:45 When you go to West Virginia, West Virginia set the play pit on September 14th.
01:53 Right on a very, very small, small wording, or very small font,
02:00 you'll see discount minus 0.01.
02:06 And it took me a minute to get it because you knock it down to 913 and I get it.
02:16 But in the sports world, okay?
02:20 You say the winning team and their number first.
02:27 That's just how it goes.
02:28 So when Pit constantly talks about the 2007 win over West Virginia,
02:34 they typically say 13-9, right?
02:38 That's how it's referenced.
02:41 But I get what they're trying to do, but it's just in reverse, 9-13.
02:47 So it was somewhat clever, but in some ways, a little bit try too hard.
02:58 But I don't mind, I think it was kind of funny.
03:01 I think it was also funny that same day, we talked about this before too.
03:08 There was a couple of Pit basketball players, they had media availability,
03:11 I think it was on Thursday.
03:13 It was during an off day.
03:15 It was the day that the brawl got extended.
03:18 And they were asked point blank, hey,
03:21 what do you think about the backyard brawl being extended?
03:25 And what was it like playing down there?
03:29 Their response was something of like, yeah, I like it, sounds great.
03:34 Can't wait to go back down there.
03:35 It's fun, like winning there.
03:38 And the one kid said, it's like second home to us.
03:43 So I thought that was funny as well.
03:47 Because if you look back, obviously West Virginia
03:51 owns the basketball series over Pit, especially of late.
03:57 That was Pit's first win since the two broke out of the Big East.
04:04 And they've really dominated ever since.
04:09 I mean, they've won every game, but they've won most of those games.
04:13 Pretty convincing.
04:17 It took a coaching change.
04:20 It took many transfers.
04:22 It took eligibility issues.
04:25 It took suspensions and a seven man rotation, really a six man rotation.
04:33 Seven man, I guess if you count a cook, a cook making his first game back.
04:39 For Pit to beat West Virginia, that's what it took.
04:43 All that to happen.
04:46 Now, if the Mountaineers had the full boat,
04:49 it's probably a little different.
04:51 At least I'd venture to say so.
04:54 But this is what I love about college sports.
04:58 Like you can't get this in the NFL.
05:02 You can't get it in the NBA.
05:03 You can't get it in the NHL.
05:05 I mean, you may get it here and there in certain spots.
05:09 But it's never to this level.
05:11 It's never this level of hatred, this level of mutual disinterest
05:16 in one another.
05:20 And it's not just about winning.
05:23 It's more about losing.
05:26 The fear of losing to your rival.
05:30 There's nothing that you want to do more than to beat the team you hate most.
05:37 And for years, you'll hear people say, I don't care if West Virginia goes 1 and
05:43 11, as long as they beat Pit.
05:46 Well, I mean, if we're being honest, I mean, 1 and 11 around Pit's parts,
05:51 that's a pretty damn good season.
05:53 But in all honesty, you're not getting this in any other sport.
06:02 Sure, Steelers fans hate the Ravens, vice versa.
06:05 Yankees and Red Sox, they hate each other.
06:09 But they play each other how many times every year?
06:12 I mean, I don't know the baseball scheduling matrix off the top of my head.
06:17 But I'm sure they probably play each other somewhere around 15 times
06:22 every single season.
06:25 And same can be said about other professional sports, really.
06:32 West Virginia and Pit, I mean, it's college sports.
06:34 You get them once a year in football and once a year in basketball.
06:41 There is no return game.
06:43 You have to wait another year, and
06:44 you have to wait every other year for a home game in football.
06:46 And the atmosphere that was at a mountain near a field last fall,
06:54 last September, when Pit came into town for
06:58 the first time since, well, geez, 2012, 2011,
07:04 whatever, my years are mixed up, but their last year in the Big East.
07:07 So it would have been 2011.
07:12 Unbelievable, un-freaking-believable.
07:16 I've never, ever seen an atmosphere like that at Mountain near Field.
07:23 I wasn't there for the LSU game, so
07:26 I can only go off of what people tell me for that one.
07:30 And just, I mean, you can just see by all the videos that were posted on YouTube
07:34 back in the day, how crazy that place was, and I'm sure it was.
07:39 I mean, number two team in the country, you got College Game Day there.
07:42 You're in the Big East.
07:44 At that time, it's like you're still trying to really prove yourself.
07:48 It's high-flying offense, Geno Smith, Tavon Austin.
07:52 But that was different.
07:57 There was two, I would imagine at least, because like I said,
08:00 I wasn't there, there was a different type of an atmosphere.
08:05 They can both very well be a hype electric atmosphere, but
08:10 the one with Pitt, it means a little bit more.
08:14 Really not just a little bit more, held longer.
08:18 I mean, go to the, what was it, the fourth quarter when West Virginia's up,
08:28 two scores, and everyone's feeling good already as it is.
08:34 Pitt can't do a damn thing offensively.
08:37 You're winning with your backup quarterback, redshirt freshman that is.
08:43 And all of a sudden, you hear, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,
08:49 and everybody just rises to their feet like they're in church and
08:53 we're all about the same.
08:55 And that was just a really cool sight to see.
08:58 That, that right there is what you won't get in the NFL or anywhere else.
09:08 And that is why I'm coming here today to talk about, and
09:16 it took me a while to get there, but it's just, hey,
09:19 you gotta talk about the backyard brawl like this.
09:22 But let's scrap the Alabama game.
09:27 I mean, I really don't understand the value of playing it.
09:32 Even when Nick Saban was there, I guess understand the appeal.
09:39 Shane Lyons was the one that scheduled it.
09:41 He had the Alabama ties.
09:43 I'm sure he wanted to get butts in seats for a big non-conference game like he did,
09:49 or like he saw with LSU and some other schools over the years.
09:55 And Alabama, getting your chance,
09:57 not very many teams can say they get to host Alabama.
10:00 At least in years past, it's something that they've kind of changed.
10:05 They went to South Florida this year.
10:08 But in years past, when they made this deal,
10:10 that was not something that was considered normal.
10:14 So to get a home and home with Alabama at the time was pretty special.
10:19 A lot of fans were excited about it.
10:23 But with Nick no longer being there, it kind of changes things.
10:29 At least for me, he's a West Virginia guy.
10:35 You get a chance to beat the greatest coach in college football history.
10:40 You get a chance to beat one of the, arguably,
10:43 the best college football program ever in your home stadium.
10:49 That place would be electric, and it still would, even with Kaelin DeBoer.
10:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:56 But it's hard for me to get there with keeping the game on the docket.
11:01 Because Nick's gone, you wipe that out.
11:07 And from what I saw at the Backyard Brawl in 2022 and
11:15 23, you gotta have that damn game on the schedule, man.
11:20 There's just no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
11:22 You've got to find a way to get that game on the schedule every single year.
11:28 There's no reason why that game should not be played.
11:32 And it just so happens that that little time frame is when
11:39 West Virginia and Pitt don't play.
11:44 In 2026, they have Alabama, Tennessee, Martin, and East Carolina.
11:49 Now, technically, you could probably get rid of Tennessee, Martin.
11:53 Not have to pay them, you could play Pitt.
11:55 27, you got Bama, VMI, Ohio, you could do the same thing with VMI.
11:59 But then again, you're making it tougher on yourself.
12:03 And as we've seen over the years, scheduling doesn't matter.
12:11 It really, really doesn't.
12:13 How many years have they told schools and
12:17 stuff like the selection committee that is, that you gotta schedule tough.
12:22 You gotta get the hardest schedule out there because when it comes down to it,
12:25 the college football playoff, your strength of schedule,
12:28 your strength of record will matter.
12:30 And how many years have we seen that that's not the damn case at all?
12:34 We've seen it several occasions where teams have stronger schedules and
12:41 get left out than teams that have a cakewalk.
12:44 Everyone's schedule's easy now, everyone does it.
12:49 If most SEC teams, when they have their four non-conference,
12:55 they're playing maybe one, maybe one power five.
13:00 The other three are group of five and an FCS, or
13:08 a group of five and two FCS.
13:13 That's just the way they operate.
13:15 They do things the easy way.
13:17 So if they're doing things the easy way, why shouldn't everybody else?
13:21 I'm not saying it's the right thing, because in my personal opinion,
13:27 FCS schools have no business playing power five schools or power four schools.
13:34 I get that it's a great thing for their financial situation,
13:39 because they get a check that they otherwise wouldn't get.
13:43 But if you wanna have those games, great, give them the payday,
13:48 put the game in the second or third week of August.
13:53 Use that as your preseason scrimmage game or exhibition, like the NFL does.
13:58 You get your little preseason game.
14:00 And I think a lot of coaches are probably actually like this,
14:04 because you don't know what you have going into that true first game.
14:08 And I'm not saying you need to play your starters all four quarters, but
14:13 that's something you can get them out there, get them against live competition.
14:18 That's not yourself for the first time.
14:20 See what you have to work with instead of just going out there and
14:23 playing frickin Penn State in game one.
14:26 I mean, what are we doing?
14:28 So I think you've got to have that little ramp up,
14:33 that little bit of a runway to understand who you are.
14:36 And I think a preseason game with an FCS makes a lot of sense.
14:40 Counting a win against an FCS school is just ridiculous.
14:43 And you could even maybe even say a group of five is kind of ridiculous.
14:49 I mean, if we're gonna do this the way that every other sports league is
14:55 structured, you're gonna play the best of the best in your league.
15:00 The NFL, they don't go down and play someone in the UFL or
15:06 the CFL or the USFL or whatever hell league is out there.
15:11 The NBA doesn't play the G League.
15:13 The NHL doesn't play the AHL, the ECHL.
15:15 The major league baseball teams don't go and play triple and
15:19 double A teams, they stay in their league.
15:23 So playing 12 power four games is probably how it should be.
15:29 It will never be like that.
15:30 But you got to get rid of the FCS.
15:35 But anyways, I'm getting off track here.
15:37 The Alabama games are 26 and 27.
15:40 You have an opportunity to scrap those.
15:43 Ren Baker's been very open about this and saying like, hey,
15:46 we're gonna look to making some tweaks with the schedule.
15:50 And we're gonna make sure that we get as many home games as possible and
15:54 set ourselves up for success.
15:56 Well, I'm telling you now, home and home against Alabama is no easy chore.
16:00 And I think everybody that's watching this video understands that.
16:05 So my proposal is, the hell with the Alabama series, scrap it and add Pitt.
16:16 And for those that are saying, don't back out,
16:19 that just shows that you're scared.
16:21 No, no, it's not about being scared.
16:23 It's about scheduling smartly.
16:25 Because at the end of the day, no one's gonna care.
16:29 No one's gonna remember, if West Virginia goes 10 and
16:35 two or 11 and one in 2026, theoretically speaking.
16:41 No one's gonna be like, man, they really lucked out by having an easy
16:46 schedule, but boy, if they didn't cancel that Alabama game,
16:49 they didn't cancel that game, they probably would have lost.
16:52 We gotta hold that against them.
16:55 No one's gonna say that, no one.
16:58 Everyone's gonna forget it by the end of the week.
17:01 It's the way the attention spans work nowadays.
17:04 So I don't agree with that at all.
17:07 And the second thing is, look, again, if everyone's doing it, why not you?
17:13 And thirdly, the SEC is gonna be going to nine conference games sooner than later.
17:17 It's gonna happen.
17:18 When the SEC goes to nine conference games,
17:23 everybody's gonna have to chop off an agreement with somebody.
17:28 And if West Virginia is already hinting, hey, we'd like to really just get rid of
17:31 you and that pit, our rival, because it makes sense.
17:35 Well, that'll give you two years freed up.
17:38 What do you say?
17:42 >> It's hard for me to think that Alabama would say no.
17:44 I just think it makes more sense to play pit in those two years than does Bama.
17:51 I don't think it really does you a whole lot of good.
17:52 Because if not, you're basically in the same situation that you are,
17:55 kinda now, you're not playing two power fives in those years.
18:00 But you're playing a,
18:02 I would say playing Bama is the equivalent to playing two power fives.
18:08 And it just it doesn't make sense to go and do that to yourself,
18:11 especially not right out of the gate.
18:13 I think you gotta give yourself a chance to compete nationally for something.
18:18 And the only way you're gonna do that is if you schedule somewhat favorably or
18:22 maybe not even favorably, just something that gives you a chance.
18:26 Going to Tuscaloosa?
18:28 [LAUGH] Good luck.
18:31 You think just cuz Nick Saban is gone that this thing is gonna go downhill.
18:34 I hate to tell you, it's probably not.
18:38 Alabama is Alabama.
18:40 So let me know your thoughts in the comment section here if you're watching
18:44 on YouTube.
18:45 If not, make your way over to YouTube and drop a comment here on our channel.
18:49 At Mountaineers Now, hit that subscribe button, give us a like as well.
18:52 And follow us on X at the same handle.
18:55 We will be back tomorrow breaking down the 2024 West Virginia football schedule.
19:02 Give our thoughts, our predictions.
19:04 Yes, it's way too early for that stuff.
19:06 I get it, but we gotta do it.
19:08 Everyone else wants to do it.
19:09 So we're gonna do it.
19:10 We're gonna break down our way too early season predictions
19:14 right here on Between the Years.
19:17 So hit that subscribe button so you get notified when the video drops, and
19:21 we'll be back here tomorrow morning.
19:23 Take care.
19:23 [MUSIC]