Published: October 07, 2008 11:44 pm         

History has a way of repeating

MORGANTOWN — History, they say, has a way of repeating itself, which may explain something to all those diehard Chicago Cubs fans out there.

If this is true, and Bill Stewart is something of a student of history, it could mean that Pat White’s bid for a Heisman Trophy may not be dead and, because of that, West Virginia’s bid for national recognition, a Big East title and a BCS bowl bid may also have more life in them than anyone thinks.

There is a connection, you see, between the two, that being White and West Virginia University’s football success.

Five games into this season WVU’s 3-2 won-lost record is hardly where this team expected to be, where it was predicted to be and, to be quite honest about it, it is not where it should be. Recently the spin that has come out of the Puskar Center has been that inexperience has held back the Mountaineers, which may be a true statement, but it is being placed in the wrong area.

It isn’t the players’ inexperience, but instead the inexperience surrounding the WVU offensive coaching staff, which is in need of that immediate history lesson.

The lesson is that despite the success it has had with Jarrett Brown carrying the football on third down, if this team is to reach its potential it must get on Pat White’s back and ride him into the sunset of his career.

History tells us so.

Because of history’s penchant for repeating itself, researching the past often is the best predictor of the future, and so it was that we looked backward this week and were somewhat astonished at what we found.

While we have been under the impression that White had been badly misused through the season’s first five games, especially by emphasizing his passing ability in an effort to lessen his number of carries as a runner, we found that has not occurred this season.

Let us compare White’s first five games this year to his first five games last year.

Here are the numbers:

Pass Comp Att Yds TD

2008 75 103 590 9

2007 73 87 619 6

Rushing Att Yds TD

2008 70 428 2

2007 55 322 6

Take a look at that for a moment. White has rushed the ball more often this year by three carries a game but has thrown only two more completions in this the season when he was supposed to become a passing quarterback.

Our minds play tricks on us sometimes, and this is one of those times, for White was not really a major force in the offense running the ball early in the season, although he did manage to get into the end zone once in every 9 carries while this year it is once every 35 carries.

But that figures, considering that WVU has an unimaginable four rushing touchdowns in five games this year after collecting 21 in the first five games last season … eight of them in the first game.

By now you’re wondering what the big lesson to be learned from history is.

The time has come to turn the offense over to White.

The later it gets in the season, the better White gets. His freshman year he rushed for 111 or more yards three of the final four games. His sophomore year he rushed for 100 or more yards zero times in the first five games, five times in the last seven including two times over 200 yards and once just missing 100 with 96 on just 10 carries.

And last year, after running for 100 or more yards only once in the first seven games, White closed up with five games of 147 or more yards in the last six and would have had six in seven had he not rushed just five times against Mississippi State for 89 yards.

It Patrick White’s head is clear, it’s time the coaches cleared their heads and began to realize that eight in the box, 10 in the box, 11 and all the referees in the box, Patrick White is the most dangerous weapon they have and the player who must succeed on the ground if the team is to succeed on the ground.

If anyone wants to put a finger on the biggest change from last year it is an emphasis this year on the one thing this team is not built to do and that’s play ball-control football that seems to be offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen’s game.

When asked why there have been fewer breakaways this year, White simply said, “I guess Coach Mullen’s philosophy is every down is third-and-four.”

It wasn’t said critically, simply analytically. First- and second-down plays which were always called with an eye on breaking something long under the previous coaching regime are now called thinking more in terms of gaining at least 4 yards.

Well, let’s just say you don’t ask Manny Ramirez to bunt and you don’t ask Pat White to march up and down the field, especially in the second half of a season when he’s at his best.

Oh, White can be stopped, make no doubt about that, but if he is stopped it figures to open things up for Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and the passing game. Turning him loose against Syracuse, a team he once rushed for 247 yards against on 15 carries, four of them for touchdowns including one of 69 yards, would certain influence what Auburn will do in a crucial game the following week.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

     

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