West Virginia
West Virginia vs. Penn State is Most Important Game for New Big 12
It’s a new world for the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma and Texas left the Big 12 for the SEC this week. It was three years in the making and it’s now official. Meantime, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are set to join the Big 12 in August.
It’s a critical year in college football as the powers try to create a Power 2, rather than a Power 4, with the Big 12 and ACC excluded from the SEC and the Big Ten. So for the Big 12, it will be imperative to get some impressive wins in 2024 to put to bed the narrative that the Big 12 can’t compete with the top two conferences in college football.
There are going to be opportunities for the Big 12, such as Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas and UCF vs. Florida, plus Iowa State vs. Iowa and Colorado vs. Nebraska. But the biggest game for the Big 12 will come in Week 1, when the West Virginia Mountaineers host the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Why Penn State
The Nittany Lions enter the 2024 season as the team best positioned to challenge the top trio in the Big Ten of Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon. Big 12 fans will recall that James Franklin hired Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki to boost a passing game that ranked 80th in the FBS with 215 yards per game.
The two teams met last year when West Virginia lost 38-15 to Penn State, but that final score does not do the game justice. WVU trailed by a touchdown at halftime, and had it a two-score game entering the fourth quarter before things began to unravel for the Mountaineers.
Penn State finished the regular season 10-2 with their only losses coming against Michigan and Ohio State.
For the Mountaineers
So now these two teams meet for a second-straight season, this time in Morgantown for Week 1. West Virginia is a projected middle-of-the-pack team in the Big 12 preseason poll, despite a nine-win campaign in 2024. So they likely won’t be in the preseason Top 25, while Penn State will likely find itself in the Top 15, if not higher.
For a Big 12 that is being perceived as competitive, but weak at the top, a West Virginia win over a highly-ranked Penn State program immediately gives credibility to the new Big 12 and helps change the conversation from where the national media narrative wants it to be.
National media talking heads want to promote a “Power 2”, because that’s what their overlords at ESPN, FOX, etc. prefer. They want that narrative as the consolidation is good for their college football business.
The Big 12’s Non-Con
At the start of every season I discuss how Big 12 fans should root for every Big 12 team in non-conference play. It’s good for the league to win as many games as possible before conference play, and then when your team plays its conference games, every win is more valuable, if the perception of the league is high. Just ask the SEC about this. That conference has mastered that perception, whether fair or not, and that’s how they get away with eight league games and multiple FCS games, with no questions asked!
So for Big 12 fans, this is the most critical non-conference slate in Big 12 history. It will set the tone for the future of college football.
Will it truly become a Power 2? Or can the Big 12 win the right games to justify conversations around a Power 3 or Power 4 with the ACC?
Regardless, it all begins Week 1 in Morgantown, West Virginia with a 12:00 p.m. EST start on FOX.
West Virginia
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West Virginia
West Virginia coal miner dies on the job; leaves behind wife, 3 kids
A West Virginia coal miner died on the job on Friday, according to Gov. Jim Justice.
The miner has been identified as Colton Walls, 34, of Bruceton Mills, NBC affiliate WSAZ reports. He leaves behind a wife and three children.
Walls worked as a longwall electrician at the Arch Coal, Leer Mining Complex in Taylor County, which is less than two hours from Pittsburgh.
“Our miners are the backbone of West Virginia, and every loss we experience hits us to our deepest cores,” Gov. Justice said. “The heart and soul of West Virginia are found in our coal miners, and today, we grieve the loss of one of our own. I’m told that Mr. Walls was truly dedicated, hardworking, and brave, and I know he’ll be dearly missed by many. It’s moments like these that remind us of the incredible sacrifices made by those who have the courage to be a miner. So, please hold his family and loved ones close in your hearts tonight. Cathy and I will continue to keep him and all our other miners in our prayers.”
The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety, and Training and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are handling the investigation.
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West Virginia
West Virginia Academy hosts 3rd Annual Fall Fest
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) -Friday afternoon Morgantown’s West Virginia Academy will be throwing it’s Third Annual Fall Fest. The event will take place at the Mon County Event Center, located at Mylan Park. For an event that officially marks the conclusion of the school year’s first term. WVA is the state’s first public charter school and has been recognized for their excellence both locally and nationally; and this afternoon they look forward to giving back to the community that’s helped establish them as one of the best schools throughout the wild and wonderful. The event will feature plenty of fall festivities such as games, pumpkin carvings, and even a scarecrow contest. Leaving school officials like, Heidi Treu, hoping to not only help celebrate the fall season, but also showcase their students in a big way.
” The biggest thing is that we want community members to see what we learn throughout the term. This is a chance for the students to show off . They create games of everything that they’ve learned from science to history, to even math stuff is in there. We like them to show off, but also to have some fun. We’ve got some Scarecrow’s; we’ve got some food. We’ve got some activities obviously, our Book Fair, everything like that. So, it’s really exciting.”
Although this afternoon’s event is completely free, there’s still ways to give back to the educators that put so much in to students everyday.
” Everybody knows that teaching is hard and it is day in, day out, really working hard. This is kind of their reward at the end of the term to get excited to see the kids in a new light. To have fun with the students at the very end of a long term. So, all of the proceeds go directly to our teachers. It goes to our Faculty Senate and just teachers. It’s not for administration or anything else and this is all their idea. They brought it in and anything that you see here when you purchase; it goes directly back into their pockets and in the classrooms.”
Apart of what makes fall fest special for those at WVA is the chance is gives to celebrate their students. Showing them how much they are appreciated and admired.
” It’s the growth of the students, we really have seen our students step up as leaders not only in the community, but in the school. It’s been wonderful to see them grow for these past three years and we can’t wait to see our first graduating class next year and see what they become. It has been really rewarding for me. We have had scarecrows in different areas of the building. Students have been opening doors and getting scared because the older kids like to put them on for the younger kids and scare them. So, I think they’re just excited to see the whole event and come and play. Last year it was very successful, lots of treats, lots of fun activities; and we expecting the same this year.”
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