Live Game Day thread - Liberty
By Colin Dunlap | 12:01 a.m. Saturday
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- It is here ... game day!
Game: West Virginia (0-0) hosts Liberty (0-0)
Place: Mountaineer Field
Time: Noon
Forecast for kickoff: 77 degrees, sunny
TV: The Big East Network. Markets carrying the game include: New York (SNY), Philadelphia (WFMZ), Washington, D.C. (WJAL), Tampa (Brighthouse), Cleveland (FSN-Ohio), Denver (Altitude), Pittsburgh (WPCW), Baltimore (MASN), Milwaukee (TW-WI), Louisville (WHAS), Providence (Cox-NE), New Orleans (Cox-NO), Charleston, W.Va. (WCHS), Roanoke, Va. (WSET), Bluefield, W.Va. (WOAY), Wheeling, W.Va. (WTOV), Clarksburg, W.Va. (WVFX), Parkersburg, W.Va. (WTAP).
Announcers: John Sanders and Rene Nadeau
*UPDATE 8:40 a.m. -- Made it here to Morgantown. Am sitting in the press box right now. Wanted to provide you a link to the story that ran in this morning's Post-Gazette. Well, it was more of a "quote gather" as I asked various members of the Mountaineers family what goes through their mind on that opening kickoff of the season.
Splendid day down here, by the way. Absolutely perfect. Below is a photo I just snapped of the West Virginia band, The Pride of West Virginia warming up on the field.
9:35 a.m.: Just went and walked around the stadium. Again, absolutely perfect day. And, to be truthful, it is a perfect day to embibe a little beforehand (if that is your thing and you are not on the clock, like me). I snapped this photo of the RV section of the parking lot which is about full:
That is a photo I took, but we also got our first submission of the year on 'Eers to the Ground. This photo was sent in by a guy named Joe from Washington, Pa. He explained that he doesn't know the man in the photo, but couldn't resist snapping it. A solid shirt if I do say so myself:
10 a.m.: Liberty is on the field, milling around for its pregame walk thru. They just all gathered in the end zone away from the big scoreboard here in a circle to talk about something. Maybe it was what they are going to do against Jarrett Brown. Maybe it was how they plan to stop Noel Devine. Maybe it was how breakfast was. Maybe it was the budget crisis. Maybe it was H1N1. Who knows? Anyhow, here is photographic evidence of said gathering:
10:31 a.m.: Apparently a man punched another man in a college football game Thursday night. There is a television within an eyeshot of my seat here in the pressbox and ESPN College GameDay has only shown the clip, oh, I don't know, 413,348,348,437,019 times since I sat down.
10:58 a.m.: Confirmed by WVU media relations guru Mike Montoro -- the Mountaineers and Flames will participate in one of those pregame handshakes the American Football Coaches Association sportsmanship initiative is pushing. So, that said, they are not going all Georgia-Oklahoma State on people.
11:44 a.m.: 15 minutes before kickoff. The student section, as is evidence by this photo, is beginning to fill up.
11:59 a.m.: Just got a submitted photo from a gentleman named James who is in the stadium. Here is his view of The Pride of West Virginia performance just before kickoff:
12:05 p.m.: Kickoff. Tavon Austin and Mark Rodgers deep. Here we go ...
1:18 p.m.: With about 2 minutes left before halftime, and WVU leading 20-10, here is a photo just submitted from the stands of former Mountaineer Terry Voithofer:
