The Mountaineers Found Their Coach

And he was on their sideline the whole time. Yes, West Virginia erased the "interim" tag from Bill Stewart's title on Thursday morning as they made him their new head coach. With last night's destruction of the Sooners on a big time national stage we all got to see what Stewart is capable of. A number of fans/analysts/"experts" believed that the turmoil surrounding the program would prove to be too much, but it was obvious from the opening kickoff that the Mountaineers were ready to whoop some ass. Stewart knew what to do to win, and it paid off in a huge way. Check out this quick comparison.

Before
Steve Slaton: 9 carries, 11 yards, 0TD's
Noel Devine: 7 carries, 11 yards, 0TD's

After
Steve Slaton: 1 carry, 0 yards, 0TD's
Noel Devine: 13 carries, 108 yards, 2TD's

Yes, Slaton did get hurt against Oklahoma, and that's why he ended the game basically statless. However, in the Pittsburgh game Pat Whiet got hurt, and the whole offense fell apart. Yes, losing your starting quarterback is a huge blow, but Stewart knew what type of weapons he had and did his best to keep them involved. Rich Rodriguez saw his quarterback go down, and acted like he noone else to get the ball to. And that's why West Virginia lost their shot at playing for a BCS title, but dismantled OU in the Fiesta Bowl.