West Virginia will look to take the Big East crown this year and after seeing Pitt named as the preseason favorite, the Mountaineers are readying themselves to knock off the Panthers:
“We’re definitely starting to get our swagger back,” Sanders said. “We feel like we should have been No. 1 since we beat Pitt last year. But that’s all right. We’ll find out at the end of the year.”
Seemingly lost in all the love for Pitt is the simple fact that WVU did indeed win last year’s game. The Pitt/WVU game could very well decide the conference champion and Pitt may need to avenge last year’s defeat if the school wants to reach a BCS game. Panther fans can point to the fact that this year’s game will be played at Heinz Field, but so was last year’s defeat at the hands of Cincinnati for the conference crown.
Meanwhlie, WVU has had two consecutive nine-win seasons, but is looking for double digit victories this year:
“That’s not the kind of team we want to be,” linebacker J.T. Thomas said. “We want to be a 10-, 11- or 12-win kind of team.”