When Mountain East Conference commissioner Reid Amos looked out from the ESPN3 /MetroNews perch atop the press box at University of Charleston Stadium, he couldn’t help but smile at a parking lot filled with cars that hauled UC and Concord fans to Thursday night’s game between the Mountain Lions and Golden Eagles.
The three-year old conference was among those this season featured as an ESPN3 Division II game of the week. It helped to secure that spotlight that the MEC already staked a large presence on Thursday nights. The conference will play 14 Thursday night games, and ESPN was looking for contests to place in its expanded Division II coverage.
“That means more conferences are getting more opportunity for exposure,” he said. “So Thursday night was very attractive to the NCAA as well.”
Amos, the fans in the UC Stadium stands, as well as many college football fans watching on ESPN’s online streaming service were able to see an exciting 29-21 Golden Eagles win. Amos hopes that game will keep the door open for future ESPN3 broadcasts for Mountain East teams. As close as the teams are in the conference, there will be plenty of Thursday night MEC games for ESPN to choose.
“When you have that component of being able to make a trip and play a game and be able to go home in Division II, that makes a lot of sense on a lot of fronts,” Amos said. “You get more people in the stands. You’re not competing as much, media-wise, with all the football games you’d see on Saturdays. It creates a little niche for us. We’ve got some built-in advantages that we’re trying to take advantage of in the Mountain East Conference.”
nnn
The West Virginia State football team’s tale of two halves — State found itself in a four-touchdown, first-quarter deficit but rallied for a 52-45 win at the University of Virginia College at Wise — can be broken down into the tale of its turnovers.
The Yellow Jackets suffered three interceptions and a punt block in the first half of Saturday’s game. One of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown. Another led to a touchdown after a two-play drive, and the punt block was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
In the second half, State didn’t commit a single turnover and four of its 10 second-half drives ended in touchdowns and another ended in a field goal. On the other hand, the Cavaliers threw just one first-half interception and, during State’s rally, threw two picks and lost a fumble.
State coach Jon Anderson said the players displayed a lot of faith in each other as the team started chipping away at UVa-Wise’s lead.
“I don’t know if it was necessarily anything we talked about at halftime,” Anderson said. “Our kids just settled down and just played. We didn’t hang our heads. We knew we put ourselves in that situation with some miscues. They had a lot of resolve to get out of that hole.”
All that added up to the Yellow Jackets’ third 50-plus-point finish in its first five games. State has scored 199 points this season so far. The Yellow Jackets haven’t scored that many points in an entire season since finishing the 2010 campaign with 211 points.
nnn
Among the areas where UC’s defense had sought to improve as the season progressed, turnover production was high on the list. The Golden Eagles entered Thursday’s game the owner of just one interception. But Charleston quadrupled that total after a three-interception night against Concord.
The Golden Eagles’ three picks of Concord quarterback Brian Novak all came in the first half. Safety John Knox grabbed one and Zaire Lewis intercepted two.
UC coach Pat Kirkland said the Golden Eagles defense installed some new coverages during the week to give junior quarterback Novak an unfamiliar look.
“I was a little bit nervous about it, but I felt we needed to show an experienced quarterback something he hadn’t seen on film,” Kirkland said.
Knox said much of UC’s success against the Concord passing game came through some mystery. The defense disguised many of its coverages to keep the Mountain Lions off balance.
“We were showing pre-snap reads and, late, we were getting into our defense,” Knox said. “That got our players in the right position to make plays”
Among the biggest plays was Knox’s breakup of a fake field-goal pass that looked like it could have been a touchdown. But Knox sprinted from the left hash mark to bat down the throw in the end zone and save a potential game-tying score. That play earned some kudos from ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt, who featured it on his midnight “Sportscenter” broadcast.
“He’s a good football player,” Kirkland said of Knox. “That’s something I thought we were going to see up in the box. He recognized it, did a great job and made a big play, and I’d definitely say that had a big affect on winning the football game.”