Published: December 01, 2009 12:14 am      

Much to play for

Important game with Rutgers looms

MORGANTOWN — Last weekend West Virginia played a game filled with emotion built out of a long and storied rivalry, edging Pittsburgh, 19-16, in the Backyard Brawl.

This weekend the Mountaineers play a game that requires just as much emotion, maybe even more as it is on the road, against a team with which it has a long and not-so-storied rivalry, Rutgers.

You have to go all the way back to 1916 for the first game, a game in which the teams set football back another hundred years as they played to a 0-0 tie. It has been a terribly one-sided rivalry, West Virginia having won 30, lost only 4 and tied two games — the first two, following that 0-0 game with another 7-7 borathon.

In recent days, however, WVU has beaten Rutgers like a red-headed stepchild, no offense meant for either red-heads or stepchildren. The Mountaineers have won the last 14 games in a row, outscoring Rutgers by an outlandish 372 points, and have never lost a Big East game to Rutgers.

Included in the mix was a 40-0 victory in 2002, an 80-7 (there is no typo there, WVU did score 80 points against Rutgers as one of its three victories that year) the previous year, 52-16 in 1999, 48-0 in 1997, 55-14 in 1996 and 59-33 in 1993.

Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano is aware of the history, all too well aware for he was in his first season when Rich Rodriguez beat him, 80-7, and did so without trying to run up the score.

Schiano, however, isn’t into reading history. He’s into making it and he can turn what at first appeared to be a disappointing 2009 season into a huge success with a victory at home over WVU on ESPN at noon Saturday.

“It’s more about 2009 than all those games previously played,” Schiano said Monday during the Big East Conference coaches’ call. “We need to win this game for a lot of reasons, but the past isn’t one of them.”

Indeed, there’s not a thing that 80-7 victory or any of the other one-sided whippings can do to help the Mountaineers when they get off the bus Saturday and walk into that sea of red in Piscataway, N.J. All the players who played in that game are long gone and the Rutgers team that lost that game is no longer being kicked around in the Big East.

Quite the contrary.

Schiano inherited a terrible mess at Rutgers and went 12-34 before his program began to take effect. Since then, Rutgers has strung together five straight winning seasons, including this one in which it stands 8-3, and has won 42 and lost 20 over that span.

What’s more, a victory over West Virginia would give Rutgers a solid bowl to attend and a chance at a 10-victory season, the second during Schiano’s reconstruction of the program.

Certainly, no one saw this coming from Rutgers in a conference where it did not look on paper as if it would be competitive. The opener did nothing to change anyone’s mind as Cincinnati went in there and took the Scarlet Knights apart, 47-13.

That left Schiano in a tough situation, building confidence in his team, something he achieved by waltzing through a “bum of the week” schedule that included Howard, Florida International, a truly miserable Maryland team, Texas Southern and Army.

Pitt escaped Rutgers with a 24-17 victory, but the game that took any potential luster off the season was a dismal 31-13 loss to Syracuse.

That, however, has done nothing to detract from WVU’s acknowledgement that Rutgers is a solid team that is getting better, having dismantled both South Florida and Louisville, one a team that beat WVU and the other that played them tough at Mountaineer Field.

“This Rutgers team and staff always has had and always will have our attention,” WVU Coach Bill Stewart said.

With a potential Gator Bowl date awaiting West Virginia and a 5-2 conference season available, Stewart sees this game as the most important of the season.

“This is going to be the biggest game of the year for us. I hope we give that effort we gave at Cincinnati. If not, we’ll get beat. I hope we can go on the road, play our game and not turn the ball over.”

All of the Mountaineers’ losses have come on the road and Rutgers is no pushover at home.

“We love playing at Rutgers Stadium,” Schiano said. “I think there’s a definite advantage to playing at home, but once you kick off it is still football.”

NOTES: WVU placekicker Tyler Bitancurt was honored as the Big East’s Special Team Player of the Week after kicking four field goals, including a 43-yard game winner as the clock ran out in the 19-16 victory over Pitt … Safety Robert Sands was also honored by the Big East as Defensive Player of the Week after making seven tackles, grabbing an interception and breaking up three passes in the Pitt win … Running back Noel Devine was on the conference’s weekly honor roll for his 134 yards on 17 carries that included a crucial 88-yard touchdown run.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com