This thing was very long. So, I thought I'd capture some "nuggets" in a new weekly series entitled... Gold & Blue Nuggets.

I actually got to ask Bobby Petrino something
I asked him what some of the questions were heading into fall camp, and if he thinks he answered them.

His response... "I'm not going to tell you that. We've got an opening game on Sunday. We're not going to talk anything about questions we have. We're excited to get started. We're going to go out and work hard this week in practice, and try to improve in all areas and phases and then kick it off Sunday night."

Great. My first official question in the weekly Big East Conference Call, and I get a "I'm not going to tell you that."

Bring on Rich Rod
(On Doug Slavonic's (DT) status)
"The trainers think he's still a couple weeks away. Now how many is it, is it the 3rd game? We're not sure. He's actually moving around now without the boot. There's no question he's out this week, and he's probably out next week as well."

"Those high ankle spains are really tough to deal with."

(On the fact WVU pulled Pat White from SEC territory and MLB)
"Why is West Virginia down there? Specifically because of Rick Trickett. He's recruited that area for many, many years. He went to high school in that area, so he knows all the coaches and he's got a great relationship with all the coaches of the schools down there."

(Is WVU ready to handle the expectations?)
"We've tried to, ever since that game was over, to stay focused on what we had to do each day. Not even looking forward to the season, but each day how to get better. From the winter workouts to the summer workouts when they were here by themselves. I think our guys have done that. There are always going to be those high expectations, the hype you have of a successful team coming back. But, we've always been more interested in process, and I think we've tried to stick to that process."

(Has he had to keep the players grounded with all the hype?)
"I really haven't. We mentioned it early several times back in the spring. And we mentioned it briefly when camp started. I thought maybe I'd have to do more of it, but I really haven't. As I've told the team and some of our local beat writers many times, the high expectations and hype really doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't change who we are or how we work. And from what I've seen, it hasn't."

(On the maturity of the young players)
"I thought one of the keys to our success last year was they acted more maturely than you'd think a young player would. They acted like experienced veterans. Again, they're still very young. A lot of our guys are still just sophomores and some of them juniors, so I'm relying on that same maturity that they showed last year. So far they've shown that."

(Any panic attacks of opening like they did versus Syracuse last year?)
"That's the one thing you worry about in coaching. Can we just go out and execute and not drop the ball on the ground and fumble around a little bit? We did that last year. We were fortunate our defense bailed the game out for us. You worry about that, not having a pre-season game or exhibition game. That first game there's a lot of jitters, and there's a lot of things that come up... when you first go live against somebody else in a different color jersey... that you don't expect. So, we're hoping to avoid a lot of those mistakes we had last year."

It's not just the football team that's a little behind...
Someone from the Syracuse Daily Orange asked... "How important is it getting that passing game involved, particularly with Brandon Barrett?"

I chuckled a little, and was half-hoping Coach Rod would bark "Um, he's not here anymore". But, he was very tactful in just mentioning and crediting the guys who are here.

Aha! My second official question was answered.
I asked Mark Dantonio, the head coach of Cincinnati, if he viewed it as an advantage or disadvantage in playing a top half Big East team the 2nd week of the season...

"I think it's an advantage for us to play Pitt the second game of the year. They lost some players as well. It's a Friday night game. It's a national TV game, so it gives us added exposure. Plus, I like the fact that we find out exactly where we're at.. the second game of the year. It's a Big East team. It's an opportunity to go 1-0 in the Big East and take a step forward towards our goals, which is to win a championship. So, I think all of that is a very positive thing for us right now, and we're excited about the opportunity."

Based on how Pitt looked in the first few games last year, I'd have to agree with him.

Same time next week.