Morgantown, West Virginia – “The Voice of the Mountaineers”, long-time play-by-play announcer for West Virginia University, Tony Caridi, spoke at length today on MetroNews about West Virginia’s humiliating loss at home to Texas Tech.
Caridi, who typically remains calm, composed and even-tempered while dripping with professionalism, sounded particularly disappointed in the way that the Mountaineers played on Saturday.
“The biggest thing I take away from this game is the inability to show up in the first half. I was absolutely stunned. If I had to bet anything, I would have said that West Virginia is going to start hard and fast because that was the theme the entire week based on what had happened to them the two previous years against Texas Tech.
This left me absolutely shaking my head. I can’t to this moment understand it. I’ve been trying to think like, why? And basically what I can come up with at this point is that this team is incapable of understanding what it takes week in and week out, that was quite obvious, and this team does not have the talent to not do everything extremely well. They have no margin for error.”
When pressed about whether Garrett Greene should be playing right now or if he’s ready to step in and play, Caridi said the following: “My answer is that the coaching staff doesn’t think so. Otherwise, as you well know, the coach is going to play the guy that they think is going to give them the best chance to win. If you look at Doege’s numbers on Saturday, especially in the second half, but yet, at that crucial moment, where you need a big play on that second to last possession, he was unable to put the ball in the endzone for a touchdown, which ultimately led to a field goal and then it leads to another loss.”
Caridi closed by saying, “This team has to show something. At this point, the team lacks leadership. What do you characterize this team as right now, especially on the offensive side of the ball? We’re almost halfway through the season and West Virginia doesn’t have an alpha dog. Who is the alpha dog that the team can rally itself around and the guy who is consistently going to make plays? There isn’t one and that’s the scary thing, especially when you are going out on the road.”
