A long-time Mountaineer fan emailed me after WVU’s 34-10 victory over TCU Saturday. He wrote simply, “Wow!”
WVU fans are now searching for the appropriate adjectives to describe the 6-0 Mountaineers following their dominating victories over Texas Tech and TCU. Those wins were unlike the victories over Kansas State and BYU, where the word “luck” had to be part of the conversation.
Doubts about the 2016 Mountaineers are being snuffed out with every stand by Tony Gibson’s surprising defense.
The current standard for college football relevance is to be “part of the conversation.” The national dialog wastes little time with teams that A) Are not part of the title chase; B) Have no chance to win a league title; C) Have no intriguing storyline.
The Mountaineers have now become relevant in all three.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, who staffed Saturday’s game in Morgantown, wrote, “It’s time for America to recognize what’s happening at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are 6-0 for the first time since 2006, when Rich Rodriguez had WVU among the top teams in the nation. This WVU team, like that one, is no fluke.”
Chip Patterson of CBSSports.com wrote, “It’s time to consider Dana Holgorsen’s Mountaineers as a Big 12 title and College Football Playoff contender.”
The ESPN crew that announced the game on television used the time when the game got out of hand to opine about the Mountaineers playoff chances, including a discussion about the awkward circumstance that Holgorsen started the season on thin ice and without a contract extension (i.e. interesting storyline).
This is some rarefied air, though the head coach is not breathing it… at least not publicly. After the game he repeated the well-worn coaching dictum: “You’re only as good as your next one. You can’t get too excited about it, can’t feel too good about it.”
But that’s the language inside the locker room. Mountaineer Nation can feel damn good about the season so far and fantasize about the possibilities. If you can’t indulge, what’s the point of being a fan at all?
But, back to how to describe the season so far. For fans, I would call it serendipitous—a fortunate happenstance or a pleasant surprise, based on the fact that hardly anyone expected the Mountaineers to be in the national championship discussion.
Those who have studied serendipity say a pleasant surprise is a powerful emotional trigger. “Serendipity… is that moment of clarity when you discover that you are where you need to be,” wrote psychologist Keith Hillman. The resulting feeling is one of euphoria.
The downside of serendipity is that it eventually passes. The peaceful sense of place will ultimately be challenged by changing circumstance, so caution is advised.
However, Mountaineer fans, who have suffering in their DNA, should enjoy the moment.