Oct. 2—MORGANTOWN — On Thursday, West Virginia gets on the plane and travels 1, 738 miles to Provo, Utah, for its sixth game, and its third road game of the season. It’s by far the farthest WVU’s traveled this season, with the other road games being at Ohio and at Kansas.
There’s a significant time change, and with the game at 8:30 p.m. local time, it’ll actually feel like 10:30 p.m. for the players. It’s going to be an adjustment.
Advertisement
Then, there’s the crowd of LaVell Edwards Stadium. The stadium holds 63, 470, which is the largest in the Big 12. For reference, Milan Puskar Stadium is fourth and holds 60, 000.
“The biggest challenge on the road is, this is going to be the first true crowd noise test for our guys, I think from that standpoint, ” Rich Rodriguez said. ‘We have to prepare for that. We’ll be working on crowd noise every day. We did some yesterday, and we’ll do it today, tomorrow.”
The fans might not be as rowdy as Mountaineer fans because most don’t drink alcohol, but the BYU fans have made an impact and provide an advantage for their team. The Cougars are 343-150-6 at home, which is almost a 70 % win percentage. BYU was 6-1 last season at home and is undefeated this year.
“Supposedly, they’re into the game, ” Rodriguez said. “They’re loud. Crowd noise is a problem. You gotta make sure you communicate. You gotta be disciplined. You’re not gonna be able to hear coaches yell adjustments or something out there. You gotta make sure you’re well prepared for anything that’s gonna happen to you. Then you gotta tune it out as well. You gotta hope, maybe use it as a motivator. The louder you’re making them be, maybe the better off you’re playing.”
Advertisement
Playing at altitude is another factor in the game. BYU is at 4, 553 feet compared to WVU’s 961 feet. It’s harder to breathe at elevation, and you need to hydrate more. Rodriguez is no stranger to playing at elevation. Rodriguez coached in the Pac-12 at Arizona for six years and played Utah pretty regularly. The Utes are just under an hour drive from Provo.
Rodriguez hasn’t seen the elevation affect his players.
“I’ve never even thought, ” Rodriguez said. “The first time I thought about that was just now. I’ve never really thought there’s much difference. I’ve played out there, played in Colorado, played in Utah, many times, I never sense anything from our players.”
The biggest way to silence the crowd is to play well. The crowd will be loud to start, but nothing shuts up the crowd like a long drive or a big play early on, setting the tone for the rest of the game. WVU hasn’t done that.
Advertisement
When WVU opens the game with a long drive, like against Robert Morris and Pitt, it wins. In the three losses, WVU’s opening drive was a punt. On the road, it’s even more important to start quickly.
“I think always the momentum part of it helps and the confidence part of it, ” Rodriguez said. “When we’re getting first downs consistently, obviously, you got a chance to control the tempo. In the last game, we couldn’t do that, and then we couldn’t stop them. It was a combination of both. It’s not like we’re not trying. We’ve got to do a better job of coming out of the gates.”
West Virginia native and college football coaching legend Nick Saban always said, “The fans don’t make plays in the game.” He’s right. It’s up to the players and coaches to let the crowd affect them. It sounds like WVU is keeping that in mind when it travels to BYU.
“I don’t really know much about Utah, ” wide receiver Justin Smith-Brown said. “But what I do know is that football is football, so regardless of where we are or what it is, we just have to go out there and play.”
