Thoughts on the weekend, Strong presser, Big 12, the usual...

Conference shennanigans have me so mixed up I was as big a Mountaineer fan you can be on Saturday while still sitting on a couch come Monday. WVU got routed, of course, by the LSU Tigers who look every bit the next national champion, but the game was actually much closer than the final score indicated. WVU cut the lead to 6 heading into the 4th quarter and was riding a wave of momentum until giving up a 99-yard kickoff return. Sails de-winded. Step hopless. Game over.

Still, the Mountaineers moved the ball as well as anyone against LSU, they just shot themselves in the foot at crucial times so continually eventually I had to calm myself down and remember that I actually hate our moonshine-soaked, couch burnin', cousin kissn' neighbors. Still though, WVU is a quality team.

* Charlie Strong speaking about the conference uncertainty: "We have whatever we need to be competitive wherever we go. You just gotta go recruit."

* On the importance of still being in a BCS conference: "For recruits, yea, that's all they want to hear."

* For those tingling over the possibility of Louisville joining the Big 12, there was a good article on ESPN today on the circumstances of Texas AM's departure.

You gotta at least know what you're walking into. Apparently AM could no longer stomach co-existing in the same conference as Texas, who's greed and sole self-interest was the prime mover for the entire shifting of college tectonics. The Longhorns are still there. And they're still the same sanctimonious and selfish prigs, they have just been stifled for the moment.

For all intents and purposes, the Big 12 should be and always should have been a football powerhouse almost on par with the SEC, one of the last conferences you'd expect to dissolve. So in that regard I'm not surprised that many if not most Louisville fans are drooling over a football schedule featuring some of those old school, cornbred powers.

But in the words of Aldo the Apache, if somethin' sounds too good to be true, it ain't. You gotta ask why proud programs like Nebraska, Texas AM, Missouri, and Colarado are all so eager to get away from the Longhorns. It's because the Texas Longhorns appear as unstable as Rick Perry.

So my biggest concern would be joining a conference still poised to fall apart. At least in the Big East I think the Cards can maintain some continuity, and a tad more control over our fate, whatever that may be in the coming years.

* Charlie wants a featured back to emerge from the Anderson/Wright/Brown trio.

* Will Stein has been out of practice since the injury "and could not play today" if he had to. But he's not been ruled out for Saturday.

* Strong said he was glad for the bye week, not only to get healthy, but to avoid overlooking the next opponent while still basking in a big win.

* Some other interesting scores from the weekend. Mighty Syracuse beats Toledo in overtime by a field goal. ACC blueblood Maryland gets trounced by potential Big East target, Temple, 38-7. Our next opponent, Marshall, hung with Va. Tech but lost 30-10. The Hokies did not score in the second half. Also worth noting, Va. Tech, the flagship ACC football program, squeaked by East Carolina 17-10 earlier this season. ECU, of course, is the C-USA school that's currently getting the cold shoulder from the Big East about perspective membership.

If you can't tell, Mr. Red's a tad befuddled and angry over the ACC's undisputed worth to college football, while the Big East is struggling to defend its very existence.

* Greg Scruggs, who you can go ahead and call the official spokesman for the Louisville squad, was entertaining as always in his presser segment. He has absolute confidence in Teddy Bridegewater because of his unflappability. Said that Teddy actually was the one calming him down before the UK game.

Scruggs must have used the word "calm" and "humble" about 12 times when speaking about Teddy Bridgewater.

* Reporter (joking): I don't suspect there's much talking back to Coach Hurtt.

GS: "Nobody talks back to any coach around here. First one that does will be the first kicked off this team.

Q: But especially Coach Hurtt?

GS: I don't say a peep.

* Can't wait till Saturday. When you've got that innate feeling, something's going right.