It's that time again, folks:  the WVU Mountaineers are coming calling.

The last time WVU rolled into Lane Stadium in 1996, they brought with them the nation's top defense, but it was canceled out by a putrid WVU offense.  The Hokies blasted the Mountaineers 31-14, as Cornell Brown reprised his role of personal demon to WVU quarterback Chad Johnston, sacking him three times (CB took it easy on him that game).

The 1996 game is most memorable for a play that saw Brown burst through the line and into the WVU backfield so quickly that he intercepted a lateral from Johnston to the WVU running back.

Last year's game is memorable for the play that wrecked Al Clark's knee for nearly a full year.  The game also saw a talented Mountaineer offense capitalize on the weaknesses that the Miami of Ohio Redhawks had exposed two games earlier.  WVU used the short passing game to perfection, cutting the Hokies up with surgical precision on their way to a 24-point second quarter and a 30-17 victory that wasn't nearly that close.

Now, it's 1998, and WVU brings a team to Blacksburg that is the very antithesis of their 1996 team.  This year's version of the 'Eers boasts one of the top offenses in the country, but unlike 1996, one of the worst defenses in the country ... statistically, anyway.

WVU's Offense Versus Tech's Defense

WVU returns almost the entire offense that smoked the Hokies in Morgantown last year, and then some.  Receiver David Saunders, who missed last season due to injury, returns and joins Shawn Foreman, who filled in for him last year and had a banner year.  The running game features Amos Zereoue, of course, and quarterback Marc Bulger, who makes Chad Johnston look like Cam Young (bad shoulder and all), returns to hound the Hokies once again.

The matchup of WVU's offense versus the Tech defense is a matchup of strength against strength, but the problem is, the Mountaineers can negate the Hokie D's strength with the same game plan they used last year.

The backbone of the Hokie defense is its defensive line, which, when it can bring pressure on a quarterback, can completely control the game.  Last year, WVU emasculated the Hokie D by running quick slant patterns with a three-step drop by the quarterback, which totally took the Hokie defensive line out of the game and turned the matchup into the WVU receivers versus the Tech DB's.

WVU won that matchup.  Bulger had the best day I saw him have all last year in the game against Tech, and after completing a zillion passes in front of the Hokie defensive backs, he sent Shawn Foreman on a hitch and go and lobbed a perfect strike to him for a 46-yard TD.  Dink, dink, dink, boom.  That was the first of three second-quarter TD's by the Mountaineers, and at halftime, WVU led, 27-7.

The Hokie D looked confused and outmatched all day long, and WVU hopes to do more of the same this year, in the same fashion.  The difference is, the Hokie defense is one year older and smarter, and this time, the game is at The Rock, Lane Stadium.

Watch for WVU to simply repeat their offensive game plan of last year, and WVU Coach Don Nehlen said as much in his radio show this week.  He's got a lot of confidence that when he lines up four wide receivers, at least one of them will get open against Tech's defensive backs.  Watch for WVU to pick on Loren Johnson relentlessly, all game long.

But Bulger better get the ball off quickly, or he'll get a chance to meet John "Silent but Violent" Engelberger, and Corey "Mister" Moore face-to-face.  No dink, dink, dink there, just boom.

I don't think the Hokies will blitz much at all in this game.  I look for them to drop the linebackers into coverage, and Hokie defensive coordinator Bud Foster may even pull something crazy like have Engelberger drop back into coverage to cut off the quick slant across the middle.  Corey Moore is still slightly slowed by a thigh bruise, but come game time, Mister Moore wouldn't notice if you cut his leg completely off.  It certainly didn't seem to slow him down against UAB.

WVU's Defense Versus Tech's Offense

WVU's defensive problems have been well-documented.  Ranked 105th against the run and 91st overall (or thereabouts - I don't have time to check my figures and get them exactly right), the Mountaineers don't put up nearly the same resistance that they put up as recently as two years ago.

Linebacker Gary Stills, the defensive leader, suffered a cracked kneecap in the season opener against Ohio State, and although he returned to play against Miami last week, most observers say that he wasn't nearly a hundred percent.

Tech will start Al Clark for the first time since we were 3-0 and on top of the world, and it's not so much Clark's contribution on the field that matters, as it is his contribution to the team morale.  In the most recent on-line articles (some of which are linked below), Tech players speak in glowing terms of the spark that Clark's return has brought to the team.

In the game of college football, confidence and attitude count for a great deal, and if Clark brings that to the Hokies, then his return is a good thing.

Look for the Hokies to line up and try to cram it down WVU's throat, behind an improving offensive line and the running of a blistering-hot Lamont Pegues, who has racked up well over 100 yards a game in his last three outings.  I think the Hokies, with a gimpy Al Clark and a thin receiving corps, will play ball-control offense and will try to win with the running game, defense, and the kicking game.  It's a gamble (actually, it's the exact opposite), and we'll find out on Saturday if it will work.

The Prediction:

My dream scenario:  the defense holds, the crowd controls, and the game unfolds in a Hokie victory.  The cherry on top would be a long TD catch by Ricky Hall, Angelo Harrison, or (best of all) freshman Emmett Johnson.

My nightmare scenario:  cue up the tape and replay last year's game.

My prediction:  Tech 24, WVU 21.

What, you think I'm going to pick the Mountaineers to win?  No way!

See you Saturday at The Rock!

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