Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz has experienced much sunshine in his career.
Except, that is, for lately.
"We've had a lot of rain," Fritz said Monday. "We've had to switch our practice schedule around."
The larger cloudburst, however, came when Fritz's starting quarterback was ruled ineligible for two games.
That's significant for West Virginia's Mountaineers, who host the Eagles to start the football season Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. See, dual-threat Kevin Ellison has been a standout in Southern's move into FBS competition. Despite some injuries, he was a second-team All-Sun Belt selection last season.
Now, though, backup Favian Upshaw, a 6-1, 170-pound redshirt junior, will handle the starting chores against WVU and Western Michigan.
Note Upshaw's weight. Understand that GSU runs an option attack. Also understand Upshaw will need help from his backup, Vegas Harley, to get through games. So, yes, Mountaineer defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is getting a bit of a break here.
But WVU fans should also know the incoming visitors from Statesboro, Georgia, are used to success. The program has six FCS national titles to its credit. In their first season in the Sun Belt, the Eagles won the conference championship. (They were ineligible for a bowl because it was only the second season in FBS. They are eligible this season.)
Also, these guys aren't skeered. Georgia Southern plays WVU and then, on Nov. 21, Georgia.
"We try to play two Power 5 teams each season," Fritz said. "In the future we have Auburn, Clemson and LSU."
Last year, GSU lost 24-23 in North Carolina State's opener, 42-38 at Georgia Tech before, oddly, getting hammered 52-19 at Navy.
"We didn't play well on either side of the ball that game," Fritz said.
It's a new season though. For GSU. For WVU. Excitement is in the air. And Fritz said his team is almost ready to go.
"We're really excited," he said. "We want to take advantage of the next two weeks. Defensively, we have a lot of experience back. We had 12 guys who have started at least one game. Offensively, we have guys back but we need to step up along our line."
Ah, that offense. It will be the story heading into WVU's Game 1. The Eagles' coaches started with the triple option and tweaked the heck out of it.
"It's a spread option," Fritz said. "We'll go one back, two backs, three backs. And we're not under center very often."
It's different than, say, your father's Navy team. GSU will be in shotgun and pistol formations and rely on zone blocking rather than fire-off-the-ball linemen.
Last season, GSU rushed for 4,573 yards and passed for 1,286. WVU's Dana Holgorsen would pull his remaining hair out running such an attack. Of 797 offensive plays, the Eagles passed the ball but 155 times, 19.4 percent. They averaged 39 points a game.
Also, get used to hearing the name of Matt Brieda as the game nears. The running back, a 5-10, 189-pound junior, led the nation at 8.7 yards per carry last season and was a Doak Walker Award semifinalist.
"We led the nation in rushing," Fritz said. "But we have to throw the ball more effectively and beat man coverage."
That will be more of a challenge the first couple of games, although Upshaw was 19-of-27 passing last season for 285 yards.
"West Virginia is not afraid to pressure you," Fritz said. "I think it will be interesting to see how they play us because teams that usually pressure don't as much against us. They have to play assignment football."
On the flip side, Fritz sees "really nice balance" from WVU's offense.
"They have good backs," he said. "The quarterback [Skyler Howard] got some experience at the end of last season. I know they lost some receivers, but their offensive line is really big. It's a tall line."
Fritz's gameplan has been to run the ball and stop other teams from doing so. Last season he once said his teams won 91 percent of their games when gaining just a single rushing yard more than the opponent.
This season, Georgia Southern has four new offensive linemen, although weighing in at an average 300 pounds.
It should be a nice opening test for West Virginia. There's a tradition of excellence at GSU, with just a sprinkling of misfortune added this summer.