My Fiver on WVU's loss to the Gophers of gold on late Tuesday night on the rain-slickened desert fields of Phoenix...
1. Game plan. This game was over before it began. First, we're down our starting TE, and then our four-star backup leaves. We lose our best overall player - and more to the point - our best overall blocking back and Jarrett Doege's lifeline in Leddie Brown. It would be interesting to have someone run the tape on the year and determine how many Doege sacks where thwarted by Leddie blowing up a DL or LB. Minnesota and PJ Fleck aren't stupid. They know well - heat up Doege and he's shaky, at best. At worst, he's a detriment to our cause. So, Minnesota began the game in press coverage and launched a variety of exotic blitzes at Doege. And, we did not have any TE in the game. Further, our RBs struggled to pick up or find blitzers. Our OL were confused, as blitzes were coming from different places on different plays. Then, Minnesota starting getting heat by rushing three and dropping 8 into zone coverage. There were no open receivers and Doege was under fire. We took punch after punch, and we had no counter-punch. I was hopeful that Neal Brown would get Charles Finley and Viktor Wikstrom ready for this game, and would try to play some smash-mouth with a fired up Tony Mathis at RB. But, that's not Brown's identity. Air Raid til we die. This was a bad matchup, and simply put, we were beat by the better team.
2. Field position. One thing these Air Raid Disciples seem to just throw to the wind is the importance of field position. Ergo, many of the Air Raid Sith Warriors treat special teams as something of a bother. Recall the days with Dana where fielding a punt was a moral victory. Giving up monster kickoff returns was almost expected. Not much has changed, has it? I've about had it with our inability to kick a football into an end zone. It doesn't need to be a touchback each time, but for God's sake, can we at least find a kid out there who can kick a football, keep it in the field of play, and perhaps get it to the goal line? We start the game with a dipsy-doo dunkaroo reverse kickoff return all of the way to our own 11. Then, we traverse 2 yards in three plays. Now, Minnesota's dominant field position would be established for essentially the entire first half, save one WVU drive. Then, we do score, and we proceed to kick the ball out of bounds, giving the Gophers the ball at the 35. And, the cherry on top of the shi# sundae was starting half #2 with a delay of game before the kickoff. We may as well just kick it onsides.
3. Jarrett Doege. That was his last game in a WVU uniform. I take my hat off to the kid.. He took an absolute beating this year. Not just the sacks. He got off a lot of throws under duress, took a huge hit, and kept getting up. He never complained and he's taken a beating on social media. No, he's not ever going to be remembered as a great, or even good, WVU QB. He'll be lumped together with the likes of Paul Millard, Brad Lewis. Not quite as bad as Mike Timko. Not quite as good as Chad Johnston. But, stick a fork in him - he's done.
4. Free agent market. This offseason will be critically important. This coaching staff is going to need to hit the free agent market, and be good at it. We can't have any more Deshawn Stevens type of whiffs. We need more of the Lance Dixon or Doug Nester type of pickups. In particular, we're going to need to bring in an LB, a WR, a safety/spear type, and possibly, maybe, even a QB. There's lots out there.
5. Next season. Start at QB - Nicco Marchiol will be here in Jan. The QB battle between Nicco, Garrett Greene and Will Crowder will be intense. Nicco is the fan favorite. But, it is very, very difficult to step into college football at this level, start, and perform as a true freshman QB. Perhaps Nicco has the chops. A more reasoned approach would be pulling for Crowder, as he at least will have two full seasons/off-seasons under the system if he starts at Pitt. Looking at our roster, looking at the QB question, it's hard to fathom that we're much better in 2022 without some changes with our offensive coaching staff and pickups in free agency. However, you can't fire Neal Brown now, you can't fire him next year. That's lunacy to pay someone that much money to go away. Instead, you have to work to make it better. In today's social-media-infused instant gratification world, there's no patience for this. We actually have fans - and I know them - who would happily pay Neal Brown $24 million of our University's funds to go away right now. That would cripple the ability to land a better coach and staff, but it would actually make this sect of our fanbase happy.
Well, it's not happening. Barring an absolute collapse in '22, you are going to see Neal Brown roaming our sidelines for at least two more seasons as we transition away from Doege, and to what comes next. What will come next? My sincere hope is an offseason spent revising our offensive philosophy to find a way to be a danger running the ball. That would be huge for our program, and we have the horses at RB to do it. Furthermore, Pitt won't expect it next year. There is a chance that, with this commitment to running the ball - as Art Briles made after a few tough seasons at Baylor - and with key pickups in free agency - we could be a good team in '22. That Pitt game will be tough. We could start 0-1, but should be 2-1 going into Blacksburg. The VT game next season will be enormous for Neal Brown.
Until then, it's going to be a soap opera of an offseason.
1. Game plan. This game was over before it began. First, we're down our starting TE, and then our four-star backup leaves. We lose our best overall player - and more to the point - our best overall blocking back and Jarrett Doege's lifeline in Leddie Brown. It would be interesting to have someone run the tape on the year and determine how many Doege sacks where thwarted by Leddie blowing up a DL or LB. Minnesota and PJ Fleck aren't stupid. They know well - heat up Doege and he's shaky, at best. At worst, he's a detriment to our cause. So, Minnesota began the game in press coverage and launched a variety of exotic blitzes at Doege. And, we did not have any TE in the game. Further, our RBs struggled to pick up or find blitzers. Our OL were confused, as blitzes were coming from different places on different plays. Then, Minnesota starting getting heat by rushing three and dropping 8 into zone coverage. There were no open receivers and Doege was under fire. We took punch after punch, and we had no counter-punch. I was hopeful that Neal Brown would get Charles Finley and Viktor Wikstrom ready for this game, and would try to play some smash-mouth with a fired up Tony Mathis at RB. But, that's not Brown's identity. Air Raid til we die. This was a bad matchup, and simply put, we were beat by the better team.
2. Field position. One thing these Air Raid Disciples seem to just throw to the wind is the importance of field position. Ergo, many of the Air Raid Sith Warriors treat special teams as something of a bother. Recall the days with Dana where fielding a punt was a moral victory. Giving up monster kickoff returns was almost expected. Not much has changed, has it? I've about had it with our inability to kick a football into an end zone. It doesn't need to be a touchback each time, but for God's sake, can we at least find a kid out there who can kick a football, keep it in the field of play, and perhaps get it to the goal line? We start the game with a dipsy-doo dunkaroo reverse kickoff return all of the way to our own 11. Then, we traverse 2 yards in three plays. Now, Minnesota's dominant field position would be established for essentially the entire first half, save one WVU drive. Then, we do score, and we proceed to kick the ball out of bounds, giving the Gophers the ball at the 35. And, the cherry on top of the shi# sundae was starting half #2 with a delay of game before the kickoff. We may as well just kick it onsides.
3. Jarrett Doege. That was his last game in a WVU uniform. I take my hat off to the kid.. He took an absolute beating this year. Not just the sacks. He got off a lot of throws under duress, took a huge hit, and kept getting up. He never complained and he's taken a beating on social media. No, he's not ever going to be remembered as a great, or even good, WVU QB. He'll be lumped together with the likes of Paul Millard, Brad Lewis. Not quite as bad as Mike Timko. Not quite as good as Chad Johnston. But, stick a fork in him - he's done.
4. Free agent market. This offseason will be critically important. This coaching staff is going to need to hit the free agent market, and be good at it. We can't have any more Deshawn Stevens type of whiffs. We need more of the Lance Dixon or Doug Nester type of pickups. In particular, we're going to need to bring in an LB, a WR, a safety/spear type, and possibly, maybe, even a QB. There's lots out there.
5. Next season. Start at QB - Nicco Marchiol will be here in Jan. The QB battle between Nicco, Garrett Greene and Will Crowder will be intense. Nicco is the fan favorite. But, it is very, very difficult to step into college football at this level, start, and perform as a true freshman QB. Perhaps Nicco has the chops. A more reasoned approach would be pulling for Crowder, as he at least will have two full seasons/off-seasons under the system if he starts at Pitt. Looking at our roster, looking at the QB question, it's hard to fathom that we're much better in 2022 without some changes with our offensive coaching staff and pickups in free agency. However, you can't fire Neal Brown now, you can't fire him next year. That's lunacy to pay someone that much money to go away. Instead, you have to work to make it better. In today's social-media-infused instant gratification world, there's no patience for this. We actually have fans - and I know them - who would happily pay Neal Brown $24 million of our University's funds to go away right now. That would cripple the ability to land a better coach and staff, but it would actually make this sect of our fanbase happy.
Well, it's not happening. Barring an absolute collapse in '22, you are going to see Neal Brown roaming our sidelines for at least two more seasons as we transition away from Doege, and to what comes next. What will come next? My sincere hope is an offseason spent revising our offensive philosophy to find a way to be a danger running the ball. That would be huge for our program, and we have the horses at RB to do it. Furthermore, Pitt won't expect it next year. There is a chance that, with this commitment to running the ball - as Art Briles made after a few tough seasons at Baylor - and with key pickups in free agency - we could be a good team in '22. That Pitt game will be tough. We could start 0-1, but should be 2-1 going into Blacksburg. The VT game next season will be enormous for Neal Brown.
Until then, it's going to be a soap opera of an offseason.
