My fiver on WVU's loss to Texas Tech on Saturday...
1. The timeout from Hell. 1st & goal from the 4, and you don't have a play. You simply cannot burn a timeout there. Neal Brown did the same thing last year in Austin, when we were driving for a score, had Texas on their heels, 2nd & 1 from the Texas 14 and he didn't have a play. He burned a timeout and gave Texas's "D" a nice break. We play close games in this conference. That's just what we do. And, we can't throw timeouts in the trash. If we had our timeouts on the final drive, we probably force OT, or maybe even win. Instead, we burn them at just stupid times. It's 1st & goal, you just checked in Garrett Greene. I don't care if we don't have the right personnel. Just tell him to snap the damn ball and take off. Every time we burn a timeout during the 2nd half for no reason, Neal Brown should be forced to chug a warm can of Schlitz beer. Take the delay of game. Keep the time out.
2. Jarrett Doege, Garrett Greene, QB overall. This site now has a staff writer openly calling for our coach to bench a starting QB who just went 25 of 33, 318 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Interesting M.O. and timing. I'm not going to pretend to have the answers. But, I believe we did briefly see what our offense could look like when Doege plays within his ability (and is given time by our OL to scan the field) -- one very nice deep shot to Sam James, and a beautifully thrown deep ball to Isaiah Esdale, hit right in stride. He even took off for a couple nice runs when Texas Tech dropped 7 or 8 into coverage. For the 2nd week in a row, the inability for Doege to connect on a key 3rd down inside the opponent's 10-yard line was just lethal. Have to be able to deliver there. As for #6: Greene had a nice drive - our run game is clearly better with him out there. I'm still shocked we have not attempted an option freeze deep ball with him at QB. The film is out there on #6. Teams are going to load up the box to stop the run when he is out there. That deep ball will be there. Greene had it 3rd & 1 in TT territory, and then Doug Nester twitches before the snap and costs us 5 yards. Then, TT holds us on 4th and 2. Terrible penalty there. Unlike most, I'm not on the "bench Doege, Greene is the Savior" wagon. Doege can pass. Greene can run. Once I see that Greene can stand behind the line, make progressions, hit a few intermediate and perhaps even deep balls, I'll be sold. But, for some reason, Greene is not being given those play sets.
3. Isaiah Esdale is a warrior. Making that TD grab and hanging on to the ball was gritty as hell. He took a serious shot - which I thought was legal. That targeting call being overturned was the right call. 6 catches, 113 yards and a TD for #9. We need to keep feeding Esdale and Winston Wright early and often.
4. Premature to hang Neal Brown in effigy. In my lifetime, I cannot recall the unbridled vitriol toward a WVU football head coach like we're seeing now. I recall the "Nehlen Must Go" banner flown at Mountaineer field in 1999. I recall the "We hired a WVIAC coach who can't handle a major college football program" posts about Rich Rod in '01, and the questioning of our offense under Rich after the '03 losses to Maryland and Cincinnati. I recall the anger at a squinting Bill Stewart in '08, and the questioning of our wacky, zany new head coach after his 2012 team took a nosedive and then lost at Kansas in 2013. But, what I'm seeing now takes it to a new level. I mean, there is straight up anger towards this guy. Am I happy with the trajectory of this season? Of course not. More on that. But, our recruiting is at a high level. Our defense is playing well enough to win, so long as the offense gives it enough rope. I am all ears if you want to talk about Neal Brown hiring an OC. Not sure who that would be, but he should strongly consider it -- at the very least so that he can manage the game better (i.e. conserve our time outs). Neal Brown did not accidentally win 30 games in 3 seasons at Troy. He can be successful. I do think he is conscientious. But, he seemed to have very effective QB play at Troy, and that served him well. That obviously has not been the case here from his first game to now. We are going through a dearth of QB talent, and it's the difference between a "W" and an "L" in all 3 games this year. And, it's not just Doege - it's all 3. We just don't have a dynamic difference-maker on the roster right now, or else I am sure he would be playing. I hope we continue our recruiting success, because that will bear fruit - and hopefully that difference-maker at QB. And, perhaps this off-season, Brown will consider making what many consider to be a necessary and helpful change in his day-to-day duties and responsibilities by hiring an OC.
5. We're a proud bunch and losses like this are gut-punches. Mountaineer fans are a proud bunch, and we should be. We've lived as underdogs and we've surprassed expectations time and time again, to play for national championships, to go undefeated, to crack the top ten in multiple years over multiple decades, even being a national darling and top 5 teams for a few years from '05 through '07. We've been huge underdogs in 3 BCS bowl games, and won them all. More than most fanbases, I would say, we wear our pride with a badge of honor. And, when we lose three straight to Texas Tech, it rightfully pisses us off. It should. We're a better football program, period. We're a better football program than Maryland. Demonstrably so. Losing those two games this year is unacceptable. While I do not believe the "Season is Lost" (Good Lord) or that Neal Brown should be canned, I do believe this staff should be embarrassed and should approach the rest of this year with reckless abandon. We've lost 2 games we never should've lost. It's not world-ending stuff, but at the same time, the fan base is turning quickly and could be lost soon. It seems like we came out this past Saturday with a "Kill the headlights and put it in neutral" approach, offensively and defensively. On offense, we were just kinda there. On defense, we were giving 10-yard cushions on 3rd and 5. F all that. What I want to see Saturday in Waco is a team who comes out, takes deep shots, blitzes the hell out of Baylor's QB, and takes a devil-may-care attitude toward it all. Kinda what we saw during most of the 2nd half Saturday. The goal ought not to be to win, but to win big.
But, more to the point...It's time to win, now.
1. The timeout from Hell. 1st & goal from the 4, and you don't have a play. You simply cannot burn a timeout there. Neal Brown did the same thing last year in Austin, when we were driving for a score, had Texas on their heels, 2nd & 1 from the Texas 14 and he didn't have a play. He burned a timeout and gave Texas's "D" a nice break. We play close games in this conference. That's just what we do. And, we can't throw timeouts in the trash. If we had our timeouts on the final drive, we probably force OT, or maybe even win. Instead, we burn them at just stupid times. It's 1st & goal, you just checked in Garrett Greene. I don't care if we don't have the right personnel. Just tell him to snap the damn ball and take off. Every time we burn a timeout during the 2nd half for no reason, Neal Brown should be forced to chug a warm can of Schlitz beer. Take the delay of game. Keep the time out.
2. Jarrett Doege, Garrett Greene, QB overall. This site now has a staff writer openly calling for our coach to bench a starting QB who just went 25 of 33, 318 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Interesting M.O. and timing. I'm not going to pretend to have the answers. But, I believe we did briefly see what our offense could look like when Doege plays within his ability (and is given time by our OL to scan the field) -- one very nice deep shot to Sam James, and a beautifully thrown deep ball to Isaiah Esdale, hit right in stride. He even took off for a couple nice runs when Texas Tech dropped 7 or 8 into coverage. For the 2nd week in a row, the inability for Doege to connect on a key 3rd down inside the opponent's 10-yard line was just lethal. Have to be able to deliver there. As for #6: Greene had a nice drive - our run game is clearly better with him out there. I'm still shocked we have not attempted an option freeze deep ball with him at QB. The film is out there on #6. Teams are going to load up the box to stop the run when he is out there. That deep ball will be there. Greene had it 3rd & 1 in TT territory, and then Doug Nester twitches before the snap and costs us 5 yards. Then, TT holds us on 4th and 2. Terrible penalty there. Unlike most, I'm not on the "bench Doege, Greene is the Savior" wagon. Doege can pass. Greene can run. Once I see that Greene can stand behind the line, make progressions, hit a few intermediate and perhaps even deep balls, I'll be sold. But, for some reason, Greene is not being given those play sets.
3. Isaiah Esdale is a warrior. Making that TD grab and hanging on to the ball was gritty as hell. He took a serious shot - which I thought was legal. That targeting call being overturned was the right call. 6 catches, 113 yards and a TD for #9. We need to keep feeding Esdale and Winston Wright early and often.
4. Premature to hang Neal Brown in effigy. In my lifetime, I cannot recall the unbridled vitriol toward a WVU football head coach like we're seeing now. I recall the "Nehlen Must Go" banner flown at Mountaineer field in 1999. I recall the "We hired a WVIAC coach who can't handle a major college football program" posts about Rich Rod in '01, and the questioning of our offense under Rich after the '03 losses to Maryland and Cincinnati. I recall the anger at a squinting Bill Stewart in '08, and the questioning of our wacky, zany new head coach after his 2012 team took a nosedive and then lost at Kansas in 2013. But, what I'm seeing now takes it to a new level. I mean, there is straight up anger towards this guy. Am I happy with the trajectory of this season? Of course not. More on that. But, our recruiting is at a high level. Our defense is playing well enough to win, so long as the offense gives it enough rope. I am all ears if you want to talk about Neal Brown hiring an OC. Not sure who that would be, but he should strongly consider it -- at the very least so that he can manage the game better (i.e. conserve our time outs). Neal Brown did not accidentally win 30 games in 3 seasons at Troy. He can be successful. I do think he is conscientious. But, he seemed to have very effective QB play at Troy, and that served him well. That obviously has not been the case here from his first game to now. We are going through a dearth of QB talent, and it's the difference between a "W" and an "L" in all 3 games this year. And, it's not just Doege - it's all 3. We just don't have a dynamic difference-maker on the roster right now, or else I am sure he would be playing. I hope we continue our recruiting success, because that will bear fruit - and hopefully that difference-maker at QB. And, perhaps this off-season, Brown will consider making what many consider to be a necessary and helpful change in his day-to-day duties and responsibilities by hiring an OC.
5. We're a proud bunch and losses like this are gut-punches. Mountaineer fans are a proud bunch, and we should be. We've lived as underdogs and we've surprassed expectations time and time again, to play for national championships, to go undefeated, to crack the top ten in multiple years over multiple decades, even being a national darling and top 5 teams for a few years from '05 through '07. We've been huge underdogs in 3 BCS bowl games, and won them all. More than most fanbases, I would say, we wear our pride with a badge of honor. And, when we lose three straight to Texas Tech, it rightfully pisses us off. It should. We're a better football program, period. We're a better football program than Maryland. Demonstrably so. Losing those two games this year is unacceptable. While I do not believe the "Season is Lost" (Good Lord) or that Neal Brown should be canned, I do believe this staff should be embarrassed and should approach the rest of this year with reckless abandon. We've lost 2 games we never should've lost. It's not world-ending stuff, but at the same time, the fan base is turning quickly and could be lost soon. It seems like we came out this past Saturday with a "Kill the headlights and put it in neutral" approach, offensively and defensively. On offense, we were just kinda there. On defense, we were giving 10-yard cushions on 3rd and 5. F all that. What I want to see Saturday in Waco is a team who comes out, takes deep shots, blitzes the hell out of Baylor's QB, and takes a devil-may-care attitude toward it all. Kinda what we saw during most of the 2nd half Saturday. The goal ought not to be to win, but to win big.
But, more to the point...It's time to win, now.
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