MORGANTOWN — It’s a little hotter than usual, but college football is in the air.
West Virginia hosts No. 8 Penn State on Saturday in the most-anticipated season-opener in Morgantown in over 20 years. The game between one-time rivals has not only drawn major local interest but national interest as well.
The game is being broadcast nationally as the noon game on FOX and the network’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show will be broadcasting live from the Teal Lot two hours before kickoff.
“When we found out we were having this game, I think we were all pretty excited,” said former UCS quarterback Matt Leinart, one of the show’s co-hosts. “College football’s back and what a way to start in Morgantown.”
Leinart and his co-hosts, former Nation Championship-winning coach Urban Meyer, former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, former Alabama running back Mark Ingram and sportscaster Rob Stone held rehearsal on set Friday afternoon in preparation for their first show of the college football season.
“These are the kinds of places I love coming to,” Stone said. “I’m a college nerd, I love Universities and what they stand for, I love the passion and the energy around them. When you’re lucky enough to come to a place like West Virginia where this is the show, there’s nothing like it.”
On Big Noon Kickoff, which will go on air at 10 a.m., the hosts will preview games around the nation, capped off with West Virginia and Penn State. They will also have several guests, including WVU president Gordon E. Gee and former WVU receiver Tavon Austin.
This is the third time Morgantown has hosted a national pregame show with ESPN’s College Gameday coming to town in 2011 and 2014.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be here numerous times covering college football, so I know what to expect,” Stone said. “I know what this crowd is like, I know the feverous rate these people run at, I know the pride that is in this program.”
Leinart, who had never been to Morgantown before this week, thinks the wide interest in the game goes beyond just the matchup.
“It all kind of goes, big picture, to the 12-team playoff,” he said. “Penn State would’ve been in the playoff a bunch (with 12 teams). When you look at West Virginia, the way they finished the second half of the season last year…the Big 12 has so many good teams, West Virginia has as good a shot as anybody. There’s a lot around this game.”
“I think this game is different,” Stone added. “Not just this rivalry, but this game. I think there’s a lot on the line, particularly for West Virginia and for the conference. If you were to talk to (Big 12 commissioner) Brett Yormack, he’s going to say this game can kind of set the tone for the new-look Big 12. All people want to talk about is the loss of Texas and Oklahoma, rather than the expansion of four really good programs.”
WVU is the only Big 12 team that will play a ranked opponent in week one. TCU taking on Stanford late Friday is the only other game against a Power 4 opponent and there are only three other games against FBS competition.
“People want to talk about how good the Big 12 is in basketball, but West Virginia is a major component in making sure this conference is good, strong and stable in football,” Stone said. “I think the West Virginia faithful know what’s at stake. It’s a regional rivalry and it’s an opportunity to prove their mettle against a top-10 team in week one and keep that momentum going off of how strong they were able to conclude last season.”
Five Big 12 teams were ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll, led by newcomer Utah at No. 12. West Virginia was right on the edge of being ranked, receiving 17 votes in the poll.
“They’re kind of flying under the radar going into this year, but that’s okay,” Stone said. “It’s almost better that way, I’m sure Coach (Neal) Brown likes that. What a statement West Virginia can make if they knock off a preseason top-10 team.
“When you’re in front of a national television audience, particularly on Labor Day weekend where so many people are just dying to watch college football, and you put on a big-time show and you do it against a top-10 team in Penn State, that is a recipe for moving up big time.”
Both Leinart and Stone said they’re expecting a big, impassioned crowd at both their show in the morning and inside Milan Puskar Stadium for kickoff.
“It’s college football, it’s the best,” Leinart said. “It’s the best sport in the world and these kids get a chance to play in towns like this where there’s just so much passion. That’s the best.”
