This game had been hyped for months. Number 1 Ohio State was opening its season in the hostile confines of Morgantown, West Virginia against the 11th ranked Mountaineers. Some simply saw the game as the "Amos and Andy" show between Heisman candidates Amos Zereoue of WVU and Andy Katzenmoyer of OSU. But the knowledgeable football fans knew this was bigger than just two players. OSU was returning 18 starters while WVU returned some very experienced talent and was on year 5 of its "5 year plan"!

     Going in, Mountaineer fans knew it would take an almost perfect game to defeat the Buckeyes, something Mountaineer fans hadn't seen in many years. But their spirits were high and the team was confident they could meet the task. Ohio State, on the other hand, regularly played down the hostile environment of Moutaineer Field and looked upon this game as just another difficult game they would be ready to play.

     Being an 8pm game on national television made this a national event. The game had been sold out for months. Scalpers were asking $3-400 for seats! Before the game, the fans were busy tailgating as the smells of food and drink filled the air while fans from both schools listened to numerous live bands outside the stadium. Inside, the fans started showing up two hours before the game.

     It was a display so impressive that West Virginia coach Don Nehlen could only shudder. "I hope that team is No. 1," he said while shaking his head moments after top-ranked Ohio State slammed the door on Nehlen's 11th-ranked Mountaineers, 34-17.

     Stepping out after two years as backups, Joe Germaine passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Wiley ran for 140 yards and another score. On defense, cornerback Antoine Winfield, linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer and crew throttled the high-powered West Virginia attack, limiting it to just 78 yards on the ground and 310 overall.

     Germaine, a senior who had lost his only previous start, completed 18-of-32 passes without an interception, doing his best to quiet a rowdy crowd of 68,409.

    "I'm a happy football coach," Ohio State's John Cooper said after his 11th straight opening-game victory. "We walked into a great hostile crowd and we won the game."

    Wiley, a fill-in for Pepe Pearson the past two seasons, carried 17 times for 140 yards and upstaged West Virginia's Amos Zereoue in the tailback showdown. Zereoue, 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting last season, finished with 77 yards on 20 attempts, but had minus-3 yards on his seven second-half carries. He set a Mountaineers career rushing record, but it was Ohio State's offense which dictated the game.

     This was the largest opening day crowd (68,409), the second largest being 68,041 against Pitt in 1991. Overall, this was the 3rd largest crowd in Mountaineer Field history.

     With 4:05 remaining in the first quarter, Junior RB Amos Zereoue became West Virginia University's all time leading rusher. It was his his 5th carry of the game and it broke Artie Owen's 32 year old record of 2,648 yards.

     Jay Taylor's 410 punting yards was a new Mountaineer Field record; the old mark was held by Curt Carion with 394 yards versus Penn State in 1980.

    Senior wide receiver David Saunders is now within six catches of setting the WVU record for career receptions, held by Rahsaan Vanterpool with 126. Saunders had seven catches Saturday. His teammate Shawn Foreman had six catches and is now fourth in career receptions with 112.

     We're not going to make any excuses, the best team won. Ohio State's speed just plained killed the Mountaineers. They had the better talent and the better game plan to use that talent. We think that if you played this game 10 times over that Ohio State would easily win 8 or 9 times, but WVU is capable of playing them a lot closer than they did. We also guess that Ohio State is capable of making the score much worse than the 34-17 score of this game.

     Whenever you lose it's hard to find a lot of positive things. Let's face it, if things were positive you would have won the game! But we did like the play of some of some players and overall we still think this is a very good Mountaineer team that is capable of winning the Big East.

     Our player of the game would go to Jay Taylor who had an outstanding game. He punted 9 times for a 45.6 average with good hang times. He hit one field goal from the 47 and hit both of his PAT's. If we had more players with that kind of consistancy this team would be hard to stop.

     On defense, we think that Barrett Green had an outstanding ballgame, especially when you consider this was his first game at linebacker. No, not just his first start but playing a single down as a D-1 linebacker. He ended with 12 tackles (10 solo) and lead all players of both teams in that department. Way to go Barrett!

     We liked the "overall" play of Amos Zereoue. Sure his running stats were down but look at the tape and you'll see he generally was met at the line by 2 and 3 defenders. What really impressed us was his blocking. A couple of times the "little guy" went head to head with "the big Kat" and stood him straight up. We may have missed one, but we watched the game tape three times and didn't see a single block that he missed. Good job AZ.

     The first Mountaineer series was very good as they took the opening kickoff and moved down the field. They had Ohio State on their heals but unfortunately could not keep them there. This is the kind of play we're expecting the rest of the year. Passes, runs, quick scores. The offense MUST use clock time and keep the defense off the field.

     The biggest problem was we played Ohio State! Are they number 1? Time will tell but we agree with Coach Nehlen that we hope so as that was a very good team on that field. Still, we don't think the Mountaineers played the kind of ball they are capable of playing. We believe, at worst, this should be a team that should keep the score within 7 and the outcome always in question. Such was not the case Saturday night.

     Before we jump in, let's first talk about attitude. From what we've read, both before and after the game, we think this team needs to get their collective heads screwed on right. Games aren't won by words and we sure had too much to say before this game. After the game it was very disappointing to hear so many players brush off this game and the loss as "nothing". It matters not that Ohio State isn't in our conference or they were number one. A loss to anyone is a loss and you don't like to lose if you're competitive. When you have a "suspect" schedule you should "die" for a chance to show how you can match up with the "big boys". In short, the post game remarks by some key players bothered us almost as much as their lack of play during the game.

     On offense, our front line did not play 60 minutes. If you ever want to see a contrast in style just look at the way that line played the first 5 minutes versus any other 5 minute period in the game. They litterally BLEW Ohio State off the ball on that drive and that is what they are capable of doing. These guys have been playing together for 3-4 years now and should be a dominant force. Pass protection was adequate as evidenced by only 1 sack but the run blocking was not consistant. Ohio State's defensive line is NOT as good as we made them appear.

     There were some dumb mistakes made that bothered us. The procedure calls, the unrecovered fumbles, the dropped passes all show lack of concentration. If this were a 7-4 team you'd expect this. But this is a veteran team and should do better than that. You win big games by doing everything right and taking advantage of every opportunity. We missed the boat here.

     Again, we liked the play of Barrett Green and think the others who occupied new positions did "OK" but far from good enough. Particularly bad was the play of Mark Plants who just seemed to be lost. He doesn't appear to have the ability to read blocks yet and hopefully that will come with some experience. We're not doubting his effort but he needs to play more of a cerebral game than he played. And while Kyle Kayden did somewhat better in backup he still needs improvement.

     We're going to nail John Thornton, who we know and highly respect. But John we ask you to cut the cheap talk and produce on the field. We know John can play better than he did. He's supposed to be a leader and get the "impossible" done. He's going to be double teamed all year and if the best we can get from him is 4 tackles per game then we're in trouble.

    The defensive secondary played about as poorly as we expected, although Gary Thompkins played much better than we expected. Granted, they faced some great receivers Saturday but what's not to say they won't be faced with receivers like that again. We need to improve the total pass protection package and that includes getting pressure on the quarterback. This is going to be a great concern with the injuries we sustained.

    Third and 3 Perlo! ( If it's third down then go to number 3.) We've come to the conclusion that Perlo's problem is in his head....or in the coaches' heads for letting him play. We don't think he'd be out there if he didn't have talent in practice but in the games the guy just seems to be lost. Last we heard you don't get a thing for running stride for stride with a defender and letting him catch the ball. Get your hands up and do some damage Perlo.

    Play calling. Don Nehlen and his staff DID NOT lose this game. Ohio State had the better talent. Ohio State also had the better game plan from their coaches. We really think West Virginia had the right idea but just didn't do enough to spread out the Buckeye defense. The OSU players even remarked that they expected more deep passes. You just had to do something to get the pressure off Amos, even if it meant running an occasional deep route and throwing it over their head. As for Amos, we would have liked to see him used more on sweeps and flair passes like they did early. Anything to get him outside.

     Initially, it appeared that the only serious injury in the game was to Ricky Sherrod, backup FS. Sherrod sustained a knee injury and it appears to be to the ACL which could cost him the season. This is going to hurt as he was really pushing Jerry Porter for the starting position. David Lightcap will fill in for him.

     On Tuesday the news was released that Gary Stills had possibly fractured his kneecap again and could be lost for six weeks. Apparently Gary broke the same kneecap and once again played the entire second half of the game. This same scenario happened against Notre Dame.

     It's also been reported that starting Defensive Tackle Charlton Forbes has some kind of a gall bladder problem and may require surgery. The news on Sherrod, Stills and Forbes is not the kind of news this defense needs. They already lack depth and experience. Look for some position changes to be made in this off week.

     Finally, on a lesser note, SR OT Brock Holland suffered a sprained ankle during the game. We're just guessing but he should be fine by the Maryland game.

     For further injury details and updates, see Kevin Kinder's Football Injury Report page.

     Win or lose, there's nothing like watching a football game at Mountaineer Field. We had an opportunity to right a bunch of wrongs but didn't meet up to the task. That's not to say we were embarassed or played poorly. If we had to grade the play on the day it would be "average" and 9 out of 10 times an "average" performance against a number 1 team is going to get you in trouble!

     Like most Mountaineer fans we're doggone proud of the Pride of West Virginia, the Mountaineer Marching Band. When they break out of that formation while playing Simple Gifts it always sends chills down our spine. But folks, you "ain't heard nothin'" till you sit in the middle of that group and hear them play that song! Yes, we're privileged to be seated beside them all year. Just hope our ears (not EERS!) last the season.

     The Mountaineers have a week off but can't rest. First off there are several positions that need filled because of injuries. There are a couple positions that need to be re-evaluated because of "suspect" play. Granted, we've got some easy games coming up but that's all the more reason to practice hard and play well. It is absolutely imperative that we quickly get the next four games to a point where our reserves get considerable game experience. If we are using our first team in the 4th quarter of any of these games it is going to be a LONG season for the Mountaineers.