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Big 12 teams have feasted often on West Virginias defense since the Mountaineers entered the league in 2012, and this season could spell another long one for a unit that must find nine new starters.In a pivotal year for embattled coach Dana Holgorsen, the Mountaineers return plenty of playmakers on offense, leaving it up to defensive coordinator Tony Gibson to keep that side of the ball from becoming the teams weak spot.The challenge got a lot tougher when junior safety Dravon Askew-Henry, the lone returnee among the top six tacklers, was lost for the season with an injury to his left knee sustained during practice Wednesday. Askew-Henry had started all 26 career games.This is a tremendous loss for our football team, Holgorsen said in a statement Friday. Without a doubt Dravon was one of our leaders on and off the field.All three linebackers and four of the five starters in the secondary are gone. Senior Nana Kyeremeh is the most experienced returning cornerback with one career start.The good news is the backups from a year ago were part of a 3-3-5 formation that came up with some stops after the Mountaineers got knocked around in their first three seasons in the Big 12. Despite allowing an average of 45 points over a four-game conference losing streak, West Virginia allowed the fewest touchdowns (33) and had the most interceptions (23) among Big 12 teams in 2015.Last year there was a lot of optimism because of what we had coming back defensively, Holgorsen said. This year there is not quite as much optimism but we have equally as much coming back offensively. That kind of made us mad offensively last year and it makes us mad defensively this year. I think there is a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and we are anxious to put in the work to get us to game day.West Virginia has shored up the secondary with four junior college transfers along with Iowa graduate transfer Maurice Fleming and Miami transfer Antonio Crawford, both at cornerback.One defender looking for a breakout season is third-year starting lineman Noble Nwachukwu, who recorded team highs in sacks (8.5) and tackles for loss (13).When he gets one on one with anybody in the country I think he is good enough to beat them, Gibson said.On offense, quarterback Skyler Howard will have a veteran line and wide receivers to try to feed off the momentum of last years Cactus Bowl, when he threw for a bowl-record 532 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-42 win over Arizona State.Other things to know as West Virginia battles for respectability in the Big 12:RUN IF YOU CAN: Gone is Big 12 rushing leader Wendell Smallwood, leaving most of the running responsibilities to senior Rushel Shell, who will look to reach 1,000 yards for the first time since transferring from Pittsburgh after his freshman season. Holgorsen will also have to lean on freshman Kennedy McKoy and junior college transfer Justin Crawford.NEW BLOOD: The Mountaineers made wholesale changes among their coaching staff. The newcomers are former Texas assistant Joe Wickline as offensive coordinator; wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier, an offensive graduate assistant at Baylor last year; ex-Miami Dolphins assistant Blue Adams at cornerbacks; and former Arizona assistant Matt Caponi with the safeties. Former standout wide receiver Stedman Bailey is joining the team as a student assistant coach.KEY GAMES: Among West Virginias seven home games are dates with perennial league contenders TCU on Oct. 22, Oklahoma on Nov. 19 and Baylor on Dec. 3. The season could hinge, though, on an Oct. 29 visit to Oklahoma State.PREDICTION: The Mountaineers arent expected to challenge for the Big 12 title but might have to make some noise in order to save the job of Holgorsen, who is 36-28 in five seasons. WVU could ride a solid start over the first five games and hope to become bowl eligible for a fifth time under Holgorsen. A 7-5 finish sounds about right.SEASON OPENER: Missouri, Sept. 3, in Morgantown. The Tigers beat the Mountaineers 34-31 the last time the teams met in the 1998 Insight.com Bowl. The Mountaineers have lost five straight against Southeastern Conference opponents. Cheap College Jerseys Free Shipping .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. College Jerseys Cheap . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. http://www.jerseyscheapncaa.com/ . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Discount College Jerseys . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. NCAA Jerseys China . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2.PITTSBURGH -- As the Pittsburgh Penguins embark on an off-season that figures to include significant changes, coach Dan Bylsma insists the goalie position wont be one of them. Bylsma called Marc-Andre Fleury "a franchise goalie . . . this franchises goalie" on Sunday, one month to the day after Tomas Vokoun made his Penguins post-season debut in place of Fleury as Pittsburghs starter. Fleury started every playoff game the Penguins played since being taken with the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2003 until Bylsma opted to go with Vokoun for Game 5 of a first-round series against the New York Islanders. Fleury played just 43 minutes the remainder of the playoffs, fueling speculation he might be traded or bought out of his contract this summer. Not so, Bylsma said Sunday. "Marc-Andre Fleury, Im not sure the definition of franchise goalie, (but) hes our No. 1 goalie," Bylsma said two days after the Boston Bruins completed a stunning sweep of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals. "Hes a No. 1 goalie for this franchise and he will be going forward. "We were in a situation where Tomas Vokoun went into net and won the third and fourth games of a series for us and continued to play in our net. But Marc-Andre Fleury is a guy whos going to come back to our team and hes going to be the No. 1 goalie. Hes going to be the franchise goalie. Hes going to be this franchises goalie." The 28-year-old Fleury has two years and $10 million left on a seven-year contract extension he signed with Pittsburgh after leading the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008. He backstopped them to the Stanley Cup title a year later, going a combined 30-14 with a 2.31 goals-against average and .920 save percentage over those two post-season runs. Since, though, its been a much different story. Over the past four postseasons, Fleury is 14-16. He hasnt posted a save percentage of .900 or better or a goals-against average of 2.50 or better in a playoff year since. Last year, in a first-round series defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers, Fleury allowed 26 goals in six games. He gave up 17 in the equivalent of less than five full games this season -- including 14 in a three-game stretch before losing his job. "I didnt change anything from Game 1 when I had a shutout to Game 2 when I had four goals against," Fleury said Sunday. "I dont think there was a technical problem; I think there were a few bad bounces, hit a skate, there was something every game that went in -- and then its a four-goal game instead of a two-goal game, and that made everything worse. "Sometimes you start thinking a little more. You want to win and you want to do good for your team. Its disappointing at the end of the night those four are in the net." Vokoun turns 37 in three weeks, so he was never going to be the long-term answer in net for the Penguins. Still, there has been widespread speculation general manager Ray Shero would trade Fleury this off-season to allow Vokoun to be the unquestioned No. 1 in 2013-14. Another option is a compliance buyout, a mechanism under the new collective bargaining agreement that allows teams to pay a player two-thirds of his remaining salary to remove his salary-cap hit from the ledger.dddddddddddd Teams are given up to two of these buyouts to use either this off-season or in 2014. "I like it a lot here and dont want to go anywhere else," Fleury said. "I like the guys in the room here, and feel every year we have a chance at the Stanley Cup. So Im hoping I can be back." That sentiment was echoed by several Penguins during their final appearance as a group. Pittsburghs roster includes seven unrestricted and three restricted free agents, plus 12 players about to enter the final year of their contracts. Only five players are signed beyond next season. "Management and the coaching staff, theyre going to have to make some decisions, we all know that," defenceman Kris Letang said. Letang said "of course" he wants to sign an extension with the team that drafted him in 2005 and with whom he blossomed into a Norris Trophy finalist this season. But an inconsistent post-season has left his future in doubt. He and reigning NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin each are entering the final year of contracts and are due extensions. "I want to be here," Letang said. "From hearing all the other players, this is the best organization in the league." Winger Pascal Dupuis acknowledged he took a so-called "hometown discount" to stay with the Penguins the previous time his contract expired. A pending unrestricted free agent, he said Sunday he wants to stay. Trade-deadline "rental player" acquisitions Brenden Morrow, Jarome Iginla and Douglas Murray also expressed a desire to re-sign with Pittsburgh, as did restricted free-agent-to-be winger Tyler Kennedy. "For a guy who hadnt been to the playoffs in five years to get back there, and knowing that the players they have coming back next year theyre probably going to have the same opportunity they had this year," Morrow said, "theyre going to be a heck of a team for a long time." Bylsma said Sunday he has not yet discussed his future with Shero. Bylsma led the Penguins to the best record in the Eastern Conference this season (36-12), but has been at the helm during playoff losses to lower-seeded teams four consecutive years since guiding the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 2009. Captain Sidney Crosby was one of many players supporting the coach, saying "we were well-prepared" and "we appreciate everything our coaches do for us." But even Crosby acknowledged that change of some sort is inevitable on the heels of a two-goals-in-four-games performance by the high-flying Penguins in a conference final sweep. "You know what, theres a lot of things that can happen when you dont meet the expectations," Crosby said. "And theyre pretty high for us. But I dont think theres anything (the coaches) could have done differently. We were put in a situation to be successful." ' ' '