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WVU vs Marshall Spring Game

Mike Gwinn

I'd rather be fishing.
Feb 26, 2002
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Beckley, WV
How A Spring Game Could Work Between WVU & Marshall
By Christopher Humphrey@_CBH_ on Apr 23, 2015, 5:03p 1

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Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

With improvements being suggested for annual spring games, WVU could improve the annual Gold-Blue Game by doing away with the split squad format, and playing the Mountain State's other FBS program, Marshall, for in-state bragging rights each April.

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The West Virginia football team closes out the spring practice season with the annual Gold-Blue game at Milan Puskar Stadium Saturday, the last chance Mountaineer fans will be able to see their team in pseudo-action until the 2015 season opener against Georgia Southern on September 5.

Already being a fan favorite event each year, Director of Athletics Shane Lyons could make a change to the Gold-Blue game that would make it ‘can't miss' like most regular season games in the fall.

In place of playing the classic split squad encounter between the Gold and Blue teams each year, WVU could get a better sense of the team's talent level and who will be key playmakers for the upcoming season by playing another college football program. It would give the Gold-Blue game more importance, and certainly bring more people to Morgantown for the game.

That idea has been gaining traction with other college coaches elsewhere in recent days...

SmokingMusket.com
 
This deal is out of the talking heads on Sirius XM's college channel morning show. They have 24 hours to fill and, being know-nothings about baseball or other spring sports (or about recruiting or really sports generally) have to talk about something. They have 24 hours a day to fill. Other columnists and talking heads have picked up on it. Nothing will come of it. It is a dumb idea.

If Bill King were still on the air at SXM, this foolishness would have never been brought up.
 
Actually, the idea of playing a Division I Spring Game vs another school is not a new concept but has been brought to the forefront this year by Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze.

The concept is simple enough and makes a lot of sense for most programs. Truthfully, most FINAL spring games are little more than glorified exhibition games anyway. Spring workouts generally take a physical toll on scholarship players, especially those programs who had large graduating classes. Unless your program has a large number of early season enrollees, most Division I programs must wait until August to welcome new bodies to the practice regimens. That's why the FINAL spring game is often a mixture of general drills, mixed in with a few live scrimmage plays.

Freeze's Ole Miss squad has been bitten by the injury bug this year. Fielding two competitive teams would be difficult but he has enough players to scrimmage another team from a different school. The benefits are clear:
1) Players are tired of scrimmaging each other. A different squad elevates the motivation to perform for his team.
2) Players with injuries can be rested and the risk of further aggravation is eliminated.
3) Scheduling a game with a different opponent gives fans and alums something to get excited about and should bolster attendance--unless you are Ohio State or Alabama.

Freeze suggested that Division I programs could schedule smaller schools and generate enough ticket sales to help fund athletic departments of non-Power 5 schools. The idea has piqued interest among other football coaches and will be on the agenda of the committee that is chaired by Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. This is not something generated by talking heads on satellite radio as suggested by Sam C. They have reported on Freeze's idea and talked about the spring game concept and if you didn't know about the discussions occurring around the country, you might make the mistake of thinking this is a nonsensical opinion of talking heads on satellite radio as was previously suggested.

Now, the idea of a Marshall/WVU spring game was apparently a wild hair idea by a writer for the Smoking Musket and I have no idea if athletic departments of either school have even discussed this concept. This is a completely different topic and merits being discussed separately.

But the idea to play a spring game against a different opponent has some level of support among Power 5 football coaches and NCAA approval may be easier to obtain with the autonomy granted to the Power 5 leagues. And my guess would be that if other Division I schools would not be interested in this arrangement, there would be plenty of FCS schools that would jump at the opportunity to play the game and grab a check.
 
I hear MLB is going to play a three game series in mid-December, the NBA is going to play a game in August, and the NFL is going to play a game in May, too.

This is a stupid idea. No coach worth a damn is going to play a game that sort of counts, but sort of doesn't, with three-fourths of a team (seniors gone, freshmen not there yet, redshirts ???? ). What if they lose. Does that figure into the (secret) playoff formula? Does ESPN list them as 0-1 or 1-0? Fundamentally a stupid idea.

Spring games are about hype. Hype up the coming fall season. Show up or don't. It is a glorified practice and pep rally. We aren't going to play Concord, and WVU isn't going to play us. Nor is Ole Miss going to play Jackson State. Green is going to "play" While, Blue, Gold. Orange, Maroon. Scarlet, Grey.

Talk radio, BS.
 
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