Alric Arnett News

Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium was a cold place to be Friday night. But with the turkey and trimmings all long-since consumed - and a representative of the Gator Bowl in the press box - the facility heated up very quickly.

The 102nd Backyard Brawl Friday night is not only a rivalry and a big game as far as the Big East Conference goes, but the annual West Virginia-Pitt tussle also marks the final game at Milan Puskar Stadium for 23 WVU seniors.

In some circles, much has been made of West Virginia having a chance to do to Pitt this week what the Panthers did to the Mountaineers two years ago - ruin their season.

Injuries have slowed QB Jarrett Brown. MORGANTOWN - Where, oh where has West Virginia's high-powered offense gone? The numbers are fairly well known by now, but for the sake of clarity and as an update, chew on this: In the first five games of the season, the Mountaineers averaged 33.4 points and 449.2 total yards.

Bill Stewart, as West Virginia's coach, knows college football's instant replay rule.

Talk is cheap. Tickets to tonight's game between West Virginia University and Cincinnati are not.

Thanks much for your participation in the West Virginia football Q&A. It is your job to ask the questions; my job to answer them -- so keep them rolling in.

MORGANTOWN Cincinnati has only committed four turnovers in its nine games this season, all of which were interceptions, and West Virginia defensive back Robert Sands said that total needs to drastically increase if the Mountaineers hope to have any type of success Friday night.

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett In the first five games of this season, West Virginia looked like it would challenge school records for offensive production, which is saying something for a program that has always liked to get up and down the field.

On a brilliant, postcard day at Mountaineer Field, West Virginia overcame a leisurely start against a Louisville team that has struggled this season to eventually wrangle control and earn a 17-9 victory in front of 55,334 fans.

Looking for a specific disturbing trend involving West Virginia this season? Never mind the 2-minute offense, which often produces, what about the 30-second defense, which rarely does? At least as that pertains to the first half of games.

Early in the week, Louisville Coach Steve Kragthorpe joked that he had a quarterback controversy.

Boo! That was the word being uttered by fans around West Virginia a half hour or so after the final play was run in the Mountaineers' football game at South Florida Friday night, and it had nothing to do with Halloween.

It's a given that any time West Virginia plays in Florida, there will be connections made.

For the second week in a row, West Virginia found itself trailing at halftime. The answer for what ailed the Mountaineers: a healthy dose of Noel Devine.

Because of our early deadlines, this is tough to call. If it were a betting line, I'd label it "OFF.'' With Jarrett Brown behind center, West Virginia is the easy winner.

Andy Warhol once told us that everyone has 15 minutes of fame, which would have a whole lot more meaning if he hadn't also told us a couple of years later that he was bored with that line and was changing it to "in 15 minutes everybody will famous." See there was a lot of truth in that original 15 minutes of fame line, but it might be best to put ...

Mid-terms in engineering school at West Virginia wereA not a day at the beach.A First, the classes were impossible, with subjects like advancedA compressible fluid dynamics and intermediate heat transfer.A And, whatever possessed me to sign up with the most sadistic professors who taught them is beyond reason.

Thanks much for your participation in the West Virginia football Q&A. It is your job to ask the questions; my job to answer them -- so keep them rolling in.

One West Virginia quarterback got knocked into next week. Another came in and gave Mountaineers fans a glimpse of what things will look like for the next few years.