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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Sept. 6, 2008, was not a good day to be a Mountaineer.
The largest crowd in East Carolina football history assembled in Greenville, N.C., to welcome then-No. 8 ranked West Virginia.
Some welcoming party. East Carolina slammed the Mountaineers, 24-3, breaking West Virginia's 14-game non-conference win streak and handing coach Bill Stewart his first loss as head man of the program.
• Game: : West Virginia (1-0) vs. East Carolina (1-0), 3:30 p.m. today, Mountaineer Field, Morgantown, W.Va. West Virginia is favored by 6 1/2 points.
• Radio, Internet: WWVA-AM (1170) and Mountaineer Sports Network, ESPN360.com.
• East Carolina: Is the defending Conference USA champion and beat Appalachian State, 29-24, last week. ... Has nine starters back on offense and eight on defense from the team that slammed West Virginia, 24-3, a year ago in Greenville, N.C., in one of the school's biggest wins in history. ... Has been to three consecutive bowl games.
• West Virginia: Is coming off a 33-20 victory against Liberty in which quarterback Jarrett Brown went 19 for 26 passing and also ran for 69 yards and a touchdown ... Is 50-3 since '02 when winning the turnover battle. ... Has outrushed 44 of its past 47 opponents. ... Running back Noel Devine surpassed the 2,000-yard mark for a career in the Liberty game, rushing for 112 yards on 17 carries. He now has 2,028 yards for his career; 15th in school history.
• Hidden stat: In the loss a year ago to East Carolina, WVU allowed the Pirates to tackle them 11 times for a loss for minus-32 yards.
Stewart was asked earlier this week about the plane ride home after the loss, and if the reality of what just happened began to sink in somewhere around 30,000 feet.
"On the plane? No, I saw it on the field, I saw it happen. I'm not that slow," Stewart said. "I saw it right off the get-go and I was not pleased. The players were not pleased. I went in there and talked to the players about [the fact that] you have to do more than just put the Old Gold and Blue on, you have to want to play in it. You have to block and tackle.
"That was not a very nice trip home."
Not often does life present second chances. At 3:30 p.m. today, however, one presents itself for the Mountaineers, when East Carolina -- which like West Virginia is 1-0 this season -- visits Mountaineer Field in a non-conference game.
Motivation is a tricky thing, so one would think there would have been countless times during practice this week that Stewart and the staff would have alluded to the loss last year against the Pirates, right?
There had to have been some T-shirts printed up, with some hokey saying, about how the Mountaineers were going to get back at East Carolina, make them walk the plank this time or something of the sort, right?
No.
"I don't have to say anything," Stewart said earlier this week. "I'm not going to get on a water tower somewhere and be waving a banner.
"Our guys know what they have to do."
Paramount in what West Virginia has to do is limit the play of quarterback Patrick Pinkney, who was granted a sixth year this season by the NCAA after battling shoulder injuries and missing all 2005.
Pinkney, at 6 feet, 205 pounds, is the type of multidimensional quarterback who gives coordinators fits and is the Pirates' undeniable leader.
He rarely makes a poor throw and, in 19 starts, has thrown for 25 touchdowns.
"What I see in them is speed, athleticism, and guys who try to follow their plan," Stewart said. "East Carolina is solid, they are going to be tough, and it should be a hard-fought football game."
One Stewart envisions with a much different result from last year.
