--West Virginia got it done on the road for the second consecutive time and did it under pressure beating Arizona 31-26. The Mountaineers made it interesting and almost fell apart late in the second half, but this team was able to do just enough to get it done and and beat the Wildcats on the road. This game got way closer than it probably should have but there is no question that the Mountaineers are a very beat up football team on both sides of the ball and were able to get this done. Still at 4-4 this isn't anywhere close to where anybody wanted this to be and the fact that this game even got as close as it did is one of the issues that people have had over the past six years with this regime. Leading 31-13 with 13:31 left shouldn't have to come down to hitting a pass to ice the game and not give the football back in the final two minutes. But it did. Still, this team did get it done and that beats the alternative.
--First of all tip of the hat to redshirt sophomore Nicco Marchiol. He didn't play a perfect game by any means but made some critical plays in this one. He completed 18-22 passes for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for 39 more yards. Marchiol made some big time throws in this game including the one to Hudson Clement in the back of the end zone, the deep ball to Traylon Ray and of course the throw to end the game to Jaylen Anderson. He really had some nice touch on his throws and while I'm not sure there is a quarterback controversy Marchiol definitely did what he was asked and made some nice plays at times. He looked confident out there and was at his best when the Mountaineers really needed him to be.
--Marchiol completed passes to 9 different wide receivers and there was some creativity in the offense this week. Jaylen Anderson didn't even touch the ball until the final play of the game and came up with a big catch to ice things.
--First the most part really liked how West Virginia used the playbook on offense in this game. The Mountaineers had some great calls in critical situations and even with a different starter continued to be aggressive. The Mountaineers were 4-4 on fourth down and 7-16 on third down. The longest play of the season was 52-yards coming into this game and the Mountaineers had a play of 55 yards and another at 54-yards in this contest.
--Hudson Clement had only 2 catches for 20 yards but they were massive. The first was a three-yard touchdown grab on fourth and goal where he was able to win and get open in the back of the end zone to get his foot down and the other was a 17-yard grab on third and 9 to keep the clock moving in the fourth quarter.
--West Virginia had 203 yards rushing. They've now hit at least 140 in 23 of the last 24 games which doesn't seem like a lot but when this team struggled to get 50 in year one it's quite the leap.
--Let me state this first this is a beaten and battered defense that lost even more players in this game, but the unit was really struggling down the stretch and if Arizona gets the ball back it's fair to wonder if they don't complete the comeback. The Mountaineers tried to play cover two late in this game and Arizona was able to take advantage of that with two huge passing plays to Tetairoa McMillan down the field matched up against Trey Lathan. But for stretches this unit played really well as the Wildcats only had 13 points and 238 yards through three quarters but exploded in the fourth with 148 yards and 13 points in the fourth quarter. This group needs to get healthy, but the passing defense simply hasn't gotten it done this year. It isn't good enough. They talked about the plan all week that they had for McMillan well that certainly wasn't it.
--West Virginia did get a turnover though on a fumble and that proved to be the difference as the offense would score 7 points off it.
--TJ Jackson is the best pass rusher that West Virginia has by far. Even injured he was able to get after Fifita and even recorded a sack.
--This wasn't a clean game at all. West Virginia didn't turn the ball over, but did have 7 penalties for 48 yards and some of those were drive killing mistakes. The offense also again had issues with snaps and it threw the timing off again. This can't continue to happen although Marchiol handled it well.
--The Mountaineers only had 3 more plays than Arizona but 10:08 time of possession advantage. Really this game was in control at 31-13 and it's sort of amazing that it came down to getting a third down to ice this thing. West Virginia was 3-3 in the red zone and scored touchdowns on each.
--Special teams were strong in this one outside of one mishit punt. But credit to the field goal team and Leighton Bechdel for scoring on that fake field goal. That proved to be quite critical.
--It's time for a bye week and this team desperately needs it. West Virginia will then have @Cincinnati, Baylor, UCF and @Texas Tech to close the season with a chance to make a little run if they can get healthy down the stretch. This team hasn't beaten any great teams this year, but it also hasn't lost to a team that isn't good at this point as the combined record of those teams is 28-1. I think there are clear concerns here and it's fair to wonder about the product overall, but a win is a win and this team got on the road and got it done. That’s a good sign for where the team is at mentally despite the struggles.
