 "Photo: File Photo")
Chris Neild remembers the 2008 Fiesta Bowl almost like it happened yesterday.
He remembers his two tackles, the celebratory locker room and then interim head coach Bill Stewart's now-famous pregame speech.
As a redshirt freshman, he backed up starter Keilen Dykes at nose tackle and played in West Virginia's upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Me being a part of that defense as a backup nose guard and getting a view of defense move around was a sight to see," Neild said. "That was a real good defense. It's going to be hard to match what they did."
That was the last year the Mountaineers played in a BCS bowl and won a Big East Conference Championship. Since then, WVU has gone through two-consecutive 9-4 seasons.
Players like Neild and fellow senior defender J.T. Thomas have said another 9-4 season is unacceptable in 2010.
This year, Neild, who is now a senior, and his fellow senior class members want to go back in time and rekindle the magic from 2007.
"We've been working toward that, and I think it's going to get there," Neild said.
Receiver Jock Sanders said bringing the team together in a similar fashion to the 2007 season was a team goal heading into summer camp. He sees the potential for this year's team to be just as successful.
"We've got the ability to do it. We've just got to go out and do it," Sanders said. "We have the same caliber of players that the 2007 team had. I feel we're pretty special on the offensive side like the 2007 team, so we can make it happen."
Neild said it's hard to compare this year's team to the 2007 season until it plays an entire season. He admitted the Mountaineers have bonded quicker and better than in the last two seasons, though.
Sanders believes a subtle change to this year's routine has made for a closer team. He said WVU head coach Bill Stewart has made his team turn off iPods and music players to get to know teammates better.
"That's the thing that's been getting to us. We've been chatting with each other. We've been around each other so much that we're starting to figure each other out," Sanders said.
Stewart has seen his team grow since last January. He called his team a "band of brothers" earlier this year.
For the first time in the 2010 season, those brothers will be tested. The No. 25 Mountaineers open the season Saturday against FCS foe Coastal Carolina in Morgantown.
"I feel good that our team has bonded in a positive manner. We are a family," Stewart said. "There is a trust in the Mountaineer family. I know how we're bonding. I know we're living right, we're doing right, and good things are on the horizon.
"What can help that is coming out on the right foot Saturday."
To Sanders, good chemistry can make this season memorable.
"You can always have a good team, but go 6-6. You can always have a bad team with some chemistry and go to a BCS bowl," Sanders said. "It's all about us getting together and bonding as a team. That's what it's going to take to get us to a BCS bowl game and a national championship game."
Despite the strong team chemistry the players say WVU has cultivated in 2010, Neild said there's more to winning games than how well a team comes together.
"We've all got to work hard, and we've all got to put in the extra effort during the season," he said. "We did a good job of putting the work in the offseason. We have to continue that good work."
Starting running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Noel Devine has led the charge by trying to keep players accountable.
He wants to finish off his career the way he started it as a true freshman – with a BCS bowl victory.
"This is my year, and I refuse to go out with something other than a bang," Devine said.