Can the Pokes pull it off ?
- Thread starter wvu-depot
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Nope.
Five TO's and a KR for 7 will get you beat every single time. This OSU team is really frustrating. They're obviously very talented, but they play like a bunch of freshmen. I guess that should be expected when you are in fact playing a bunch of freshmen. I can't decide if what they did tonight was impressive considering how much better they looked against Kansas State than West Virginia or Texas Tech did or pathetic considering they were in (or nearly in) this game most of the night and kept kicking themselves as if playing on the road against the #2 team in the country wasn't hard enough all on it's own.
Five TO's and a KR for 7 will get you beat every single time. This OSU team is really frustrating. They're obviously very talented, but they play like a bunch of freshmen. I guess that should be expected when you are in fact playing a bunch of freshmen. I can't decide if what they did tonight was impressive considering how much better they looked against Kansas State than West Virginia or Texas Tech did or pathetic considering they were in (or nearly in) this game most of the night and kept kicking themselves as if playing on the road against the #2 team in the country wasn't hard enough all on it's own.
Don't worry. You will be able to follow up that disappointing loss with a 3-4 TD win (or more) on Saturday. WVU is toast. They have completely lost their offense (which is the only thing we had going early on) & the defense & special teams have been a disaster all season. OSU will cruise Saturday. I'll be shocked if they don't cover.
Maybe... I certainly am more comfortable with where my team is right now, both this week and long term, than I would be if I was a West Virginia fan, but this game still makes me nervous. You'll probably see your coach's best effort this week. There are three former OSU assistants on your staff, and one GA that I know of. DH and JD might even switch to water for a week... Ok, that's not happening, but maybe a higher percentage of Red Bull. They're familiar with the things Bill Young's defense will use to try to stop them, they're familiar with the personnel on defense for sure (the offense is younger, and JD only coached the ones that were on ST units), this is probably a good week for your kids to get out of town to refocus and you'll probably get to face QB3 Clint Chelf.
Right now I think we're three scores better than West Virginia, but the QB situation is getting down right silly, and even though this isn't a rivalry game yet it's going to be a grudge match for coaches on both sides. There is no love lost between Holgorsen and the OSU staff, but especially between him and Gundy. Our defense has been pretty good this year, but it's weakest against the pass. The idea of Austin returning kicks makes we want to vomit right now. Our KO coverage unit might actually be worse since JD left. If Sharp doesn't kick them all out of the end zone I think there's a good chance he gets another KRTD this week.
Right now I think we're three scores better than West Virginia, but the QB situation is getting down right silly, and even though this isn't a rivalry game yet it's going to be a grudge match for coaches on both sides. There is no love lost between Holgorsen and the OSU staff, but especially between him and Gundy. Our defense has been pretty good this year, but it's weakest against the pass. The idea of Austin returning kicks makes we want to vomit right now. Our KO coverage unit might actually be worse since JD left. If Sharp doesn't kick them all out of the end zone I think there's a good chance he gets another KRTD this week.
On the flip side of the Gundy/Holgs rivalry OSU will know EXACTLY what Holgs wants to do on offense as well. And OSU has a MUCH better equipped defense to handle a struggling offense right now. WVU's defensive production was much better on Saturday (they only gave up 292 total yards prior to the idiotic 94 yard TD they gave up with 1:28 left in regulation & no timeouts left for the Horned Frogs - TCU had only scored 17 points on offense at that point - the other TD was a muffed punt returned for a TD). However, how much of that was the inteptness of TCU's offense with a running back playing QB??
The most baffling thing for WVU has been the complete 180 on offense. After WVU took a 24-14 lead on Saturday, they only mustered 42 yards on the last six possessions of regulation. The final TD came on a Tavon Austin punt return. Most of it is on Geno. Something has happened to him since the Texas Tech game & no one can get a handle on it. Some of our 'premium guys' that have access to film said Geno had plenty of time all day to throw the ball, but he just doesn't have it anymore. He just holds onto the ball for long periods of time & then forces it into coverage for some inexplicable reason. No one can explain it. The bottom line is that we couldn't afford for our offense to go into the tank. Not with our defense struggling so badly & our special teams being a joke (we were 1-5 on FG's Saturday & the aforementioned muffed punt for a TD for TCU).
I was pleased with Chelf's effort and his decision making prior to his pick in the red zone when we had a chance to cut the lead back to 7. He wasn't facing the same K-State defense Lunt did though, and even if he was he doesn't have the same ability to launh the home run shot that Lunt does. He had a couple of nice runs, but he also lacks the running ability of JW Walsh (who is out for another 3-4 weeks at least). He can pick up first downs with his legs, but there's not a 50 yard scramble in those legs like Walsh hit Texas with. He's kind of a cross between the two of them, with more time in the system. I think his experience showed in how quick he made reads in that game, but like I said, I think the coverage was softer to prevent the long ball and force him to eat some clock. He did well enough he probably made you guys a little nervous though huh?
At this point it's hard to say either of the other two give us a better shot to win the next two games than Chelf does, but neither of them has had the time to develop this season as we expected Lunt would have before his first injury against ULL. He's a quality guy to have around. There was very little separation between the three when Gundy and Monken named Lunt the starter, but Lunt still had a lot of room to grow. Chelf is probably close to maxing his potential. Still, I think I like him as much right now as Tech's QB1 maybe.
What's the word on Klien? I thought he hurt his wrist watching the game. Now I've heard he might have had a concussion as well?
Congrats on the win BTW. That's a good football team, that may play even better than it's talent level. Very well coached.
At this point it's hard to say either of the other two give us a better shot to win the next two games than Chelf does, but neither of them has had the time to develop this season as we expected Lunt would have before his first injury against ULL. He's a quality guy to have around. There was very little separation between the three when Gundy and Monken named Lunt the starter, but Lunt still had a lot of room to grow. Chelf is probably close to maxing his potential. Still, I think I like him as much right now as Tech's QB1 maybe.
What's the word on Klien? I thought he hurt his wrist watching the game. Now I've heard he might have had a concussion as well?
Congrats on the win BTW. That's a good football team, that may play even better than it's talent level. Very well coached.
Amath - I agree this game looks like a contest between two teams headed in opposite directions the last thee-four weeks. I think there are outside factors that make it as difficult to get a read on as a rivalry game though. You are right that the familiarity goes both ways other than Gundy and company have never coached West Virginia's players. If this game was with a Texas Tech team facing similar issues I'd already chalk it up as a win in my mind (like I did Iowa State last year).
Regarding your kicker, was it a fluke game or too many kicks to a guy that struggles/is inconsistent normally?
For what it's worth I think Holgorsen is a fantastic QB coach. I can't believe a guy with Geno's talent and the coaching available will continue to struggle for long. TCU isn't a great team right now, but their D is still pretty salty. They forced us to kick multiple times as well, but we converted them for 9 points in the first half and 6 more in the second.
Regarding your kicker, was it a fluke game or too many kicks to a guy that struggles/is inconsistent normally?
For what it's worth I think Holgorsen is a fantastic QB coach. I can't believe a guy with Geno's talent and the coaching available will continue to struggle for long. TCU isn't a great team right now, but their D is still pretty salty. They forced us to kick multiple times as well, but we converted them for 9 points in the first half and 6 more in the second.
Our kicker (Tyler Bitancurt) had a couple of game winners (Pitt in 2009 & USF in 2011), but overall he is pretty average. He is 33-47 for his career. He has a penchant for getting kicks blocked as well because he has such a low trajectory on his kicks. I don't have any confidence in him at all once he gets outside of 35 yards. So far this season he is 4-10. He's 2-3 from 0-39 yards & then he's 2-7 beyond 40 yards. I'm not even sure why Holgorsen attempts FG's beyond 40 yards anymore. His 36 yard FG attempt on Saturday in overtime was blocked, which would have won the game. I think Holgs should go for it on 4th down anytime WVU is between the 20 yard line & 40 yard line of the opponent. It doesn't make much sense to attempt a FG or punt considering our punter is awful as well.
As for Geno, I just don't have any answers. The guy went from an over 200 QB rating in his first 5 games to a 106 QB rating in his past 3 games (thanks to 17-14 for that stat info). That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I don't care how much better the defenses were at that point. Holgorsen has never had a QB struggle this much no matter where he has been. And Geno was a 4 star recruit out of Miami, FL so it's not like he's some low rent recruit that Holgs was stuck with when he got here. I will admit that part of the problem stems from a lack of a running game, but we didn't really run the ball all that well against Baylor & he threw for 600+ yards & 8 TD's in that game. Granted it was Baylor, but I don't think it's a lack of a running game that shot us off a cliff. And it's not the offensive line either. He had plenty of time to throw the ball most of the day against TCU. He just hasn't been going through his progressions well (holding the ball way too long until he sees his primary receiver break open) and he refuses to run with the football when there is open field. Even though he was doing that earlier in the season & was killing teams with it. It's frustrating to watch as a fan. I'm sure this slump has to be frustrating to him & the coaching staff as well.
This post was edited on 11/5 4:16 PM by bobhertzel'ssweatpants
Not much more frustrating in this sport than watching a kicker that's struggling. I always feel bad for them. Pitt's kicker was good against Notre Dame the other day, but still missed one that would have won the game in the first over time. I'm not sure OSU fans realize how great they've had things the last several years with Baily and Sharp, and even they missed a big field goal every now and then (Iowa State!! - assuming that ball really did sail wide of the upright anyway).
Funny things happen with senior-lead teams sometimes when the season doesn't go the way they wanted it to. Maybe Smith needs to be reminded West Virginia sill has an outside shot at a BCS game and a clear(ish) path to the Cotton Bowl? The Cotton Bowl is going to give whichever team gets there a pretty prominent spotlight with the third or fourth best SEC team I think. Right now I imagine they're drooling over the idea of A&M against Texas or OU, but that one is still wide open with regards to who can get in. RGIII won the Heisman last year despite a loss and K-State and Baylor getting destroyed at A&M and OSU, so that's not completely off the table if he finds the form he had a month ago again.
Thank you. This is the most mature and disciplined team I have ever seen at KState.
The word on Klien is that he had a slight concussion. Didn't remember the score on that drive so the trainer took his helmet. We are hearing that he will most likely play vs TCU which is good. If not then we will see a match up of the 2 fastest quarterbacks in the big 12. I want Klein to play but if Sams has to I hope Snyder gives him more playbook. I love Klein but Sams is going to be a dangerous QB in this league.
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