Published: November 02, 2009 02:02 am      

Tough to take

Stewart not pleased with WVU defense, kickers in loss

MORGANTOWN — Losses do not agree with Bill Stewart.

Given a day to think about and recover from Friday night’s 30-19 loss at South Florida that turned the race for a Big East championship into a trip up Pike’s Peak with a 60-pound pack on West Virginia’s back, Stewart had a bit of an edge on for his Sunday press conference.

Let’s just say, in no particular order, he wasn’t happy with the play of his defense, the officials from Friday night’s game and with his kickers.

While cornerback Keith Tandy took most of the heat after being beat at least twice for big plays on Friday, Stewart wasn’t going to throw him to the wolves, although don’t look for him to be named one of this week’s champions, either.

“First of all, we’re going to show them film, tell them the absolute truth and the whole truth. I want to show them our contain problems and I’m not going to stand there and finger point at little No. 8, I can assure that. That’s not the way I operate, nor do my coaches.

“That ball game did not rest on that little guy, because there are 10 other guys out there that can be getting better pressure, break on the ball. It’s frustrating and it hurts you sometimes when they have a fast guy who can run by you. We’re playing the best 11; I don’t play favorites, I play the best 11 at all times and that’s our best.”

The problem is this was not a one-game thing, the Mountaineers’ pass defense has not been good, period, recently.

Connecticut threw for 378 yards on the Mountaineers the previous week, before South Florida scorched them with a number of big plays through the air.

And, if you look at what’s left, you have Cincinnati ahead, one of the nation’s top passing teams, and a Pitt team that has really blossomed through the air, as well as a Rutgers team that threw for 236 yards and three TDs against Connecticut on Saturday.

“Now what can we do? We can coach harder, play harder, get a little bit more and that’s what I told them after the game. You can go zero, cover zero and blitz. You can roll up and cover two, you can go quarters, you can play three-deep.

“All the stuff we’re trying to do and did in that game to help against some athletic youngsters, we try to do. We have to get better and continue to mix it up and maybe we’ll get a break and have a tipped ball or batted ball. It was just a long night for a couple of youngsters, one in particular, and we’ll do the best we can to shore that problem up.”

Now what South Florida did to the Mountaineer pass defense may not be as worrisome as it would seem as it in an unconventional attack that relied on quarterback B.J. Daniels ability to avoid the rush and improvise, putting a great pressure on defensive backs to make a decision whether to come up and try and tackle him or stay with a receiver.

His tendency before Friday night was to run rather than throw but against the Mountaineers he changed that tendency.

The pass defense wasn’t Stewart’s only problem. He was unhappy with his kicking game.

On Saturday night, after Josh Leider’s first kickoff went out of bounds, he changed kickoff men, using Tyler Bitancurt the rest of the way.

And then there was a late game decision made by Stewart to punt on fourth and 8 at the USF 33 with 2:26 left in the third quarter when trailing, 27-19. This was a play second-guessed on the message boards across the Mountaineer nation, especially when punter Scott Kozlowski punted the ball into the end zone.

That infuriated Stewart, who had words for Kozlowski on the sideline after the punt, having instructed him to kick a coffin corner punt, an instruction Kozlowski seemed to ignore.

“I’m going to tell you right now you’re going to see some more interchangeable parts. There is nothing wrong with kickers and punters competing. We compete at every other position, this is not some sacred cow on sacred ground,” Stewart said.

“I punted from the 33-yard line, because I don’t want to turn it over with 67 yards to go, because our defense is struggling. When our defense is struggling, I want to pin the ball back in the 5 or 10-yard line. Kick the ball in the corner and that’s what I want to see and I didn’t see it and I’m not very happy about that.”

As for the officiating, Stewart made clear his displeasure at the end of the game when he waved his team from the field with 6 seconds left.

“I’ve been a gentleman,” Stewart said. “Do you want me to get on the officials and get reprimanded like in the SEC? I know how the game works. At that point, I was done. I was not going to watch any more of what I had to watch.”



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INJURIES: Middle linebacker Reed Williams has banged up and Stewart says he will not be an 80-play a game player for the rest of this year, used only in situations … Safety Nate Sowers missed the game after being kicked in the calf earlier in the week and having it stiffen up on him … Nose guard Chris Nield injured his back when triple teamed in a short yardage situation, bending him backwards.

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