Published: August 24, 2008 12:27 am      

COLUMN: Perfect season unlikely to happen

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University has swept through a regular season without a defeat just twice in its 115 years of intercollegiate football competition.

The Mountaineers finished 11-0 in 1988 and then lost to Notre Dame 34-21 in a showdown for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 1989, at Tempe, Ariz. Then just five years later, the 1993 team went 11-0 before being blown out by Florida 41-7 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994, in New Orleans.

In case anyone is interested, I always thought the 1988 team was clearly the better of those two all-winning clubs coached by retired Hall of Famer Don Nehlen. The 1993 team had more close calls along the way and, in my opinion, was more lucky than good.

That talented ’88 team wound up No. 5 in the final rankings, just as did Rich Rodriguez’s 2005 team that capped an 11-1 campaign with the memorable 38-35 upset of No. 8-ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 at Atlanta.

I’m bringing up these history-making performances because there has been a lot of talk about West Virginia being great enough to win the national title this go-round. To do that, of course, this 2008 team not only must be great but also lucky and, yes, stay healthy.

My thought is that it won’t happen. I hope I’m wrong for the sake of Bill Stewart & Co. But the firm feeling herein is that the Mountaineers could have difficulty winning the Big East championship, much less the win all 12 regular-season games.

Have you ever thought how many times West Virginia went 7-0 in conference play? Try twice in the football league’s 17-year history. The first time was in 1993 and the second in 2005.

Of the Big East’s eight teams, three are ranked in the preseason Top 25 and four others received votes among the also-rans. That in itself certainly says a lot about the league’s strength from top to bottom.

South Florida is ranked 19th by The Associated Press panel and 21st by USA Today. And Pitt, WVU’s oldest rival, is 25th in The AP balloting.

Cincinnati, Rutgers, Connecticut and Louisville of the Big East also received votes and, of course, are on the Mountaineers’ schedule.

So are 10th ranked Auburn and Colorado, an also-ran in the USA Today poll. Neither of those two Thursday night contests on national TV will be easy, Auburn in Morgantown and Colorado on the road.

What’s more, East Carolina well could be a sleeper prepared to spring the unexpected when the Mountaineers visit Greenville, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Twenty years ago the legendary Beano Cook of ESPN was the only guy who predicted that WVU would go undefeated and play Notre Dame for the national championship. So I decided to pop the question to him on Saturday.

“Forget it,” the longtime Pittsburgh friend replied. “No, not this year. They should win the Big East championship, though. If they do go undefeated this year, it will be a bigger feat than the one in 1988.”

I certainly agree with Beano’s thinking.

My prediction is that West Virginia will go 11-1 or 10-2 this season, then win a fourth consecutive postseason bowl game for the first time in its history.