MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- This is the beginning of the end, at least for the seniors.

That is the way West Virginia nose tackle Chris Neild looks at things.

As far as he is concerned, that is the way the Mountaineers' seniors have to look at things, the only way to survey the landscape.

"I know that this is the first of all the lasts," Neild said of the game today between the Mountaineers and Coastal Carolina. "It won't set in until we are about to run out there and that smoke is coming out of the tunnel and I run through it. I know this is my last go-round, I understand that and have to embrace every minute of this season and start with running out on the field in this opener.

"I don't want to be here in December and January, looking back like I have something to regret."

Ensuring the regrets won't be there begins with a test against Division I-AA Coastal Carolina.

The opponent, whether it is from the Big South Conference or one of college football's Division I powerhouse leagues, is just one component to opening day for West Virginia senior receiver Jock Sanders. For him, this is a time when his stomach turns, his head lightens, he gets the shakes a little bit -- and everything in his pregame routine seems a bit foreign.

"I don't get the jitters in any game but this one, on opening day, and I'm especially going to get them with this being my last opening day in Morgantown," Sanders said. "I'm not nervous, it isn't nerves. I'm just excited. I just want to run, just let loose, have that feeling of 60,000-plus [fans] come over me and be out there for me, cheering me and my teammates. I haven't run out of that tunnel in so long. When I do it this time on opening day, knowing it will be my last, it will be special."

Same for senior linebacker J.T. Thomas.

The realization for him will hit in pregame warm-ups. Until today, Thomas always was on the outside of the circle for stretching drills, always under command of seniors in the middle of it.

Now, all the players will get their orders from him and the other seniors, then, when stretching is over, Thomas will bark an order for the circle to close; the entire team will envelope him. He understands the enormity of that moment.

"I won't know what to think until I bring the guys in, until I'm in that middle and the circle closes up," Thomas said. "That's something, when you are on the outside, you always want to be on the inside."

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