It's Gameweek! Week 4 Primer

Matchup: (16) West Virginia vs (2) LSU

When: Saturday, 8pm, ABC

Line: LSU -5.5

WVU Players to Watch:
Geno Smith, QB: 1,008 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT
Tavon Austin, WR: 20 rec, 236 yards, 1 TD, 1 return TD
Ivan McCartney, WR: 17 rec, 211, 2 TD
Darwin Cook, S: 22 Total tackles, 1 INT

LSU Players to Watch:
Spencer Ware, RB: 226 yards, 3 TD
Mike Ford, RB: 218 yards, 4 TD
Tyrann Mathieu, CB: 24 tackles, 3 TFL, .5 sacks, 3 PD, 1 FF, 1 FR
Bennie Logan, DT: 12 tackles, 3.5 tfl, .5 sacks,

Storylines

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions. Some are good, some are pretty damn awful. The good? ESPN will be on campus this weekend for "Gameday", so the college football world will have its eyes on Morgantown. The bad? Trying to figure out what the future of WVU will be. The conference shuffle took another wild turn this week, when the Big East was essentially declared dead with Syracuse and Pitt leaving, and Rutgers, UConn, Villanova, and WVU looking elsewhere. How will the players deal with all of this? Good question. I guess we will find out at 8pm on Saturday.

So, how good is this WVU team? This should be the best test. LSU is defensively legit, and the offense has been efficient. However, it's not a very scary offense. The young WVU defense will have to play better, but should be able to keep the Mountaineers in the game. This will be on Geno Smith and the offense to find a way to break the tight defense. I imagine that Holgorsen has a few tricks in the playbook we haven't seen yet.

The Fans will be in the spotlight Saturday night. The game will be televised on ABC, so hide your "West F***ing Virginia" shirts! The game is sold out, fans will have a whole day to get primed up, and should be nice and rowdy by kickoff. LSU hasn't played a lot of non-conference night road games over the years, so we'll see how the Tigers react to what should be a wild crowd.

Will a decision of the future of the program be made by the end of the week? It's doubtful, but you never know. Who would have had Pitt and Syracuse in the ACC this quickly? The uncertainty is very scary, but most believe Oliver Luck is the right man to have running the athletic department at this time of need. I'm sure a win over LSU will help whatever cause he is fighting at this time.

WVU 19th in ESPN Preseason Power Rankings

West Virginia did make one preseason poll...of course it doesn't count for anything. The Mountaineers are ranked 19th on ESPN's Preseason power Rankings list, sandwiched by Georgia at 20, and number 18 Ohio State.

The Mountaineers are the Big East favorite this season, with some believing they could be a dark horse for the National Championship. Bottom-line is the pressure will be on heavy for first-year coach Dana Holgorsen.

The 19-ranking is interesting, considering the Mountaineers couldn't crack the Coaches' Poll. It seems that WVU and the Big East get a little bit more respect from the ESPN pundits. Or maybe the pundits are just looking at how weak the Big East is, and how WVU should easily get to 10+ wins. Whatever the case is, it seems that the 19-ranking is more legit than being out of the top-25 to start the season. You would think a team picked to win a super-six conference should get a little bit more recognition than they have been getting. But, that's just life in the Big East.