Is the Gator Bowl a bad thing?

Thanks much for your participation in the West Virginia football Q&A.

It is your job to ask the questions; my job to answer them -- so keep them rolling in. I will answer them as I get them each day throughout the season and through whatever bowl game the Mountaineers go to, as well as through signing day in February. Please remember to include your last name in submissions.

You can follow the Mountaineers daily here and at 'Eers to the Ground, a blog devoted to West Virginia football.

Also, take time each week to find your way into my live chat, it is each Thursday at 2 p.m.

Q: If the Mountaineers are able to take care of business and beat Rutgers on Saturday, and Cincinnati takes care of Pitt, WVU will finish 2nd in the Big East and likely receive a bid to the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1st. Would this be considered a successful season for WVU? Or should the program accept nothing less than the Big East Championship?

Andrew, Upper St. Clair

DUNLAP: This is the easiest question I have ever faced in the Q&A. If you think going to the Gator Bowl is something bad, in that scenario you outlined, ask the players from Pitt, Rutgers, South Florida, Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse if they'd like to be there -- you know, if they'd like to trade place with the Mountaineers.

Q: All this Stew bashing and talk about "signature wins" forced me to think about how many big games RichRod won at WVU. If you classify "signature" or big games as important games against equal or superior opponents, then it wasn't that many. I wouldn't classify many of Rod's wins as "signature" other than Va Tech twice, Georgia, and Louisville in 2005 (3OT). In two seasons, Stew was won two bowl games and beat two top 10 teams. RichRod coached for seven years to accomplish those same feats. In terms of wins and losses, who has really done the better job? I know which I'd pick.

Robert Fisher, Erie

DUNLAP: You would be lying to yourself to totally discount what Rich did with the program, though. As much as people hate the way he left, he helped elevate a program into the national spotlight. Again, as much as you might hate him now, that much cannot be argued. And, yes, I agree with you, what Bill has done has been vastly under appreciated. I have written it many times. Had West Virginia beaten Cincinnati this season -- and they came darn close -- people would be looking at Bill Stewart entirely different. Just imagine that? Just imagine how they would be looking at him? This guy has all these critics and he beat one top-10 team (Pitt) and it could be argued a bad call (against Cincinnati) stopped him from beating another. Not bad for a guy some knucklehead fans keep wanting to run out of Morgantown.

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First published on December 2, 2009 at 3:01 pm