MORGANTOWN-Rich Rodriguez defined his offensive and defensive depth and play in his Tuesday press conference with about 12 writers and five television cameras whirring.

He said that were the season to begin on Tuesday that Damien Crissey would start at left tackle, moving Ryan Stanchek back to his old left guard spot. He also "relented" a bit on the challenges he has offered the D-line.

His "media challenge" to the nicked up D-line had more to do with the existing players making individual plays on the line and in the Marshall backfield, rather than blaming the 3-man front vs. five-man Marshall O-line as an excuse.

Both Rodriguez and associated athletic director Mike Parsons talked about the new Big East-ESPN football/men's/women's basketball deal announced earlier at the ESPNZone in Manhattan.

Parsons said the beauty of the new contract which runs through the 2013 football and 2012-13 basketball season is that every men's basketball game within the Big East Conference will be televised on one of the Disney/ABC/ESPN conglomerate networks. This may be precedent setting.

Rodriguez said that 17 guaranteed football exposures on one of the networks, including Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, was fair for an eight-team league. He also said the financial package was "lucrative."



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