Simulating it at practice, however, has been a much different story because one of the Mountaineers’ greatest assets — and Wannstedt’s biggest fear — is their team speed. He said watching West Virginia on film and breaking down its plays is one thing — trying to get scout-team players and backups to provide the starters with an idea of how fast they are is another.
“They are as fast as anybody we’ve played at almost every position,” Wannstedt said. “Their running back, their cornerback makes as many big plays as anybody we got. They’ve got speed at receivers, they have speed on the defensive side of the ball, they’ve got speed everywhere.
“That ties in with Rich Rodriguez’s whole philosophy. The things they do on offense are predicated on making big plays, and they have the athletes and speed to do it. That makes it tough because you try to simulate that in practice and it’s very difficult but that’s the only way you can halfway get our guys prepared.”
To simulate the Mountaineers’ speed, Wannstedt has used a number of players at different positions on the scout team .
“We really emphasized to those [scout-team] guys in practice the speed thing,” Wannstedt said. “It is what we’re going to try and see at practice. We have some guys who are fast enough that I think we’ll get a good picture but we’ll have to be ready early.
“The first series or two is always important from the standpoint of setting a tempo and not going out there and being fooled by the pace of the game.”
Wannstedt said the Mountaineers’ talent is evident in the way they’ve been able to attack teams on offense and defense. They are very aggressive on both sides of the ball, and even if they make a mistake, they are able to compensate for it with their quickness.
Pitt has had trouble with team speed, well, for a couple of years. Nothing that can be changed right away.
What might work to slow WVU down a little may be some nasty weather.
“We’ll see how the game unfolds,” Wannstedt said. “We’ll see what the conditions are. They’re talking about bad weather, some snow, some wind, sleet, whatever. I think you have to be aware of that in advance and talk about it, which we have, and be ready to make some adjustments.”
Though, the nasty weather would appear to be hitting tomorrow and only into the AM in Morgantown. It means, their astroturf should be fine.
