Chip Shots

This will be short and sweet since yours truly is still in Austin and will be trying to do this column without my trusty laptop. Needless to say Saturday night was a special one for West Virginia University football fans. It wasn't too many years ago just playing in Austin, Texas would have been a big deal. The WVU program has reached a level, for at least one night, where the Mountaineers did actually go into to Texas and beat the Texas Longhorns in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a game in Darrell K. Royal Stadium.

So, it was fun to be a Mountaineer on Saturday. It was also fun on Friday night. In Austin, blocks upon blocks of 6th Street are lined with night spots and watering holes. Much like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but cleaner. Friday night and Saturday leading up to the game that street was lined in gold.

Yeah, there was burnt orange among the crowd, but it doesn't stand out like gold. A local bartender tweeted that he had never seen an opposing fan base come in and take over sixth street like the West Virginia fans did.

In a 48-45 shoot out that came down to a final on sides kick attempt, you can become easily stressed. Last week 70 points against Baylor was almost not enough points. Ditto 48 points this week. This is crazy and it is likely to continue. This new league West Virginia is in has a bunch of good teams that will continue to press WVU and that will provide the explosive offense plenty of opportunity to shine. We'll skip the next part of that equation.

I'll repeat, a record crowd, several published accounts of how West Virginia made their presence felt in Austin, and that the game on Fox had the highest rated viewership for a prime time game so far this season.

This is big time college football. Enjoy.