WVU Starts Off In Spotlight; Opener vs. Penn State Set For Big Noon Kickoff
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MORGANTOWN - Last winter, West Virginia basketball fans felt they needed to have a subscription to ESPN+ to follow their Mountaineers.
Now it's football season, and from the way it is beginning on television, it appears you won't be able to follow your Mountaineers without an ocean of suntan lotion.
As hinted at for some time now, the much-anticipated August 31 opener against Penn State at Milan Puskar Stadium will not be a made for prime time special, even though if ever there was a WVU opener with all the bells and whistles that call for a night game it's this one.
Instead, the game will be carried by Fox as its Big Noon Saturday game.
Mountaineer fans have been voicing their objections to this for some time on social media, considering that it is the most valued home ticket of the season.
What's more, with new black uniforms honoring the coal industry available to be debuted at the game, it was thought that it would carry far more meaning as "black out" game, introducing the Mountaineers in a darkened stadium with all fans dressed in black until the lights suddenly went on as the players rushed the field.
The only chance for this to happen now would be a second once-in-a-lifetime eclipse in two months.
Whether WVU will debut those new black uniforms at this game now becomes questionable, rather than saving it for a night game … if WVU ever does have one.
Night football in Morgantown is always a special occasion for football hungry fans, who turn the city inside out as they tailgate the day away and then hope to celebrate what's left of the night, especially should they be able to pull off an upset of Penn State, a rival that has displayed total dominance over WVU.
The Nittany Lions hold a 49-9-2 in the long Eastern rivalry.
WVU has won only three times in Morgantown in 35 tries, the last coming in 1988, a season in which the Mountaineers went through an undefeated regular season before losing to Notre Dame in a game for the national championship.
With hopes running high this season after Neal Brown's team bounced back from an opening loss at Penn State to put together a 9-4 record, the opener had all the makings of a nighttime classic at Mountaineer Field.
There is a good side to the noon opening. Fox does not have a Saturday night game the first weekend, and the network's Noon Kickoff pregame show will be live from Morgantown.
The pregame show will be broadcast live from the Almost Heaven Village, located between the Blue and Teal lots beginning at 10 a.m.
Rob Stone serves as anchor and is joined by Mark Ingram II, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn and three-time national champion coach Urban Meyer. Also on the show are Chris 'The Bear' Fallica and reporters Bruce Feldman and Tom Rinaldi.
WVU jumps back to ESPN+ for Game 2 against Albany at 6 p.m Saturday, September 7 in Mountaineer Field while the third game on Saturday, September 14, is the 107th renewal of the Backyard Brawl from Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on ESPN or ESPN2.
Bring sunglasses, though. It starts at 3:30 p.m.
Starting with the Sept. 21 game against Kansas at Milan Puskar Stadium, the Big 12 Conference game times and network partners will be released on either a 12-day or six-day window prior to the date of the game.