As the final seconds ticked off the clock inside the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., back on March 22, 2008, the West Virginia Mountaineers figured they’d gone up against Greg Paulus for the first and final time. That day, the WVU men‘s basketball team, a No. 7 seed, bounced No. 2 seed Duke out of the NCAA tournament with a 73-67 victory, propelling the Mountaineers into the Sweet 16.

Paulus played point guard for the Blue Devils for four years and in the second round NCAA loss against WVU, he registered 32 minutes, netting 13 points. The Syracuse, NY native played another year under Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski before a tug of the heart called Paulus to return home.

After graduating from Duke and using up four years of NCAA eligibility playing on the hardwood, Paulus enrolled in a graduate program offered by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse and began resurrection of his football career. Saturday, when WVU (3-1) travels to Syracuse (2-3, 0-1 BIG EAST) for its second road game of the season and first Big East conference game, Paulus will get his second shot at the Mountaineers, this time on the gridiron.

First year Syracuse coach Doug Marrone offered Paulus, a heralded prep quarterback from Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse, NY), the chance to compete for the starting job, which he won midway through August.

The Orange originally recruited Paulus for football and basketball back in 2004, before he headed south to Tobacco Road for Duke.  Reportedly, Paulus garnered attention from the likes of Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame for his football exploits, while playing in high school.

Paulus and Co. are leading Marrone’s revitalization of Syracuse football a year removed from former coach Greg Robinson, who was fired after leading the Orange to a 10-37 mark over four seasons. Marrone, a Syracuse graduate, left his position as offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, to jump start the Orange football program.

WVU head coach Bill Stewart is complimentary of all of WVU’s opponents, but has been particularly impressed with what he’s seen out of Paulus.

“He is a tenacious player,” said Stewart. “He thinks he can get it done, which every quarterback should think, and he is doing a good job. I see a four-year basketball player from Duke and that is pretty special.”

Stewart joked, “I just wish he would have waited till about their seventh game to come back.”

Through five games this season, Paulus has completed 103 of 160 pass attempts for more than 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns. However, he has also thrown nine interceptions and has been sacked 12 times. Paulus ranks third among Big East quarterbacks in passing behind WVU’s Jarrett Brown, who trails Cincinnati’s Tony Pike.

“How do you stop a playmaker?” Stewart asked about Paulus. “You don’t. You try to defend the guys around him.”

Brown, a dual-sport athlete who played a year for the WVU basketball team that beat Paulus and Duke, was a little less politically correct than was Stewart. 

“Who is Greg?” he asked to inquisitive media Tuesday night inside the Puskar Center. After the reminder, Brown said, “Oh, that guy.”

Brown earned just one minute of playing time against the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament game and this Saturday, he won’t have a chance to physically go up against Paulus.

But Keith Tandy, a starting defensive back for WVU, will.

“He hasn’t really played football in four years, so he makes a couple mistakes,” said Tandy. “He keeps a lot of plays alive and creates a lot of plays and he takes chances -- that’s why he has a lot of interceptions.”

Mike Williams, a 6-foot-2, 211-pound senior wide receiver, has been one of Paulus’ go-to targets. He has already caught 41 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns. Williams ranks fifth nationally with 124 receiving yards a game. He also leads the Big East in receptions per game, slightly more than eight per outing. 

Those gaudy numbers against WVU’s No. 94-ranked pass defense that is giving up 244 passing yards on average, present a stiff challenge for the Mountaineers. 

“He’ll definitely be the best receiver we’ve faced this year, thus far,” said Tandy. “He might possibly be the best one we face all year, so we’re going to have out work cut out for us.”

“Obviously we have to know where Mike Williams is,” said David Lockwood, WVU defensive backs coach. “You got to bring your ‘A’ game.

“He is a big guy and he’s strong.”

Williams missed the 2008 season because of academic issues, but has returned to college football this year and done so with marked determination.

“He’s hungry,” Lockwood said.

Stewart said of Williams, “I do not know how we are going to stop him; I only hope we can contain him at this time. We are going to have to get some double help.”

In an effort to remedy the ills of the pass defense, Tandy explained the unit’s progression in practice and return to sound execution of fundamentals. Going up against Williams will be an immediate measuring stick of how the Mountaineer secondary has improved.

“We have a lot of different things we’re going to try and throw out their way,” said Tandy. “We threw in a couple wrinkles, but the main thing is getting back to our fundamentals.

“At first, we were really getting tried in the passing game. You kind of relax a little bit. Now we’re going back to the fundamentals and fix the fundamentals.”

Lockwood oversees the defensive backs throughout practice and likes the players he has to work with, but admitted he hopes to see improvement during games.

“I’d like for us to be more productive. We got to get better,” he said, adding the fact that Tandy has only started four games in his career at WVU.

“Brandon [Hogan] is starting to be the Brandon he used to be,” said Lockwood.

Tandy said, “We just work on basically the same thing everyday and try to be perfect at what we do and just don’t take anything for granted.”

Lockwood has taken notice of the efforts in practice.

“They respond well,” he said. “They always have.”