My fiver on WVU's big win over the Hokies in Morgantown on Saturday >>>
1. Doege, Greene, the dual-QB system & moving forward: Start with Doege...for three quarters, I thought he played just fine. Really bummed that he missed Winston Wright on that deep ball. That play was there. Otherwise, Doege made some great throws, including a hell of a TD pass to Bryce Ford-Wheaton as he took a huge hit. His RPO pass to Sean Ryan for 18 yards was on point. Then, the fourth quarter happened and he was our worst nightmare. Going all the way back to Marc Bulger, WVU’s QBs have embraced the strip sack as a rite of passage. Skyler Howard perfected the art. Will Grier broke it out at the worst times, and Doege has fully been indoctrinated into this rich Mountaineer tradition. On his INT: The play itself never should’ve been called. Bad call, terrible result. It appears that we’re looking at a dual-QB system moving forward. Kelchner-Studstill Part II, if you will. Play to their strengths, but sooner or later, Garrett Greene is going to pull the ball and let one fly downfield. My guess is that you’ll see that Saturday. Happy we have Greene’s wheels on tape – OU will be ready, but the play-action freeze deep ball will be there. We can win with Doege & Greene splitting, IF...we stop giving the ball to the other team. Huge "IF".
2. Negative plays are killing our momentum on offense. We don't need to be perfect, but we need to stop going backwards so damn often.
(a) On our only 3 & out of the first half, 2nd & 7, Leddie picks up 5. So, 3rd & 2 - very doable. Instead, a flag flies, illegal motion on WVU, now it is 2nd & 12. After an incomplete pass by Doege, Leddie picks up 11 on a screen, and we punt on 4th & 1.
(b) On the end-of-half sequence from our 2, we botch the snap on the first down play (which was a called run), then VT overplays Leddie on a @$#@!$ing zone read on 2nd down (Why WHY are we running zone read with Doege??? Put Greene in there for zone-read plays, or get in the damn I-formation from the 2). We lost 2 yards in two plays, and end up setting for 3 there. That was a gut punch.
(c) Opening drive of 2nd half, we're moving the ball. Just pick up a 4th down, and it's 1st and 10 from the VT 29. Then, Doege is sacked for a 7-yard loss. We run twice, and settle for a 46-yard FG.
(d) Next WVU drive, 2nd and 9 from the WVU 43. Leddie picks up 8. So, it's 3rd & 1. Flag flies - HOLDING WVU. Now, instead it's 2nd and 19. We get behind the sticks again, and it's 3 & out.
(e) Next WVU drive, 3rd and 4 from the VT 46, and we get hit with the strip sack. disaster.
I would also include the terrible halfback pass call where we lost 7 yards, but we overcame that to get a first down two plays later, luckily. Need to cut out these penalties and negative plays/sacks. The way we're built, we need to be highly efficient, offensively.
3. Our Defense can win WVU games - including Saturday in Norman - if our offense makes the other team earn it. Midway through the third quarter this past Saturday, I sent a text that said: "I'm happy that we're making VT earn everything today". And, then we gave them the ball twice in the fourth, as Murphy's Law dictates. But, if we play VT straight up -- make them drive the field, make them earn every point with tough 3rd down conversions, fourth down attempts, hard yards -- they can't beat us. Our D is too good. However, if we give them the ball continually, as we did during the final quarter Saturday, and let VT just play on our side of the field, we're going to be in for a fight. Kudos to our D - the red zone stops, the fourth down stops, Burmeister's 11 yards on 16 carries...they won this game. And, turning the page, we can win this week if the Offense just keeps the ball in our hands, lives to punt on fourth down if that is the situation, and doesn't do the horrific things we tend to do in big games on the road (strip sack, muffed punt, INTs).
4. Jared Bartlett is a spaz. That's the best way I can describe him. He reminds me of Bobby Boucher from "The Waterboy", playing LB and see his Momma's head on the opposing QB mouthing "fooseball is the devil!". Last season, he would often spaz right by the running lanes and completely whiff on the opposing QB and RB. The irony about Saturday is that VanDarius Cowan was having issues keeping contain on Burmeister, so Bartlett came in to shore that up...which made we wince. But, then Bartlett went HAM. 3 sacks, and a fly-by on a sack given to Jordan Jefferson where Bartlett pummeled the VT OT into the QB and right by him. If Bartlett keeps this up, he's going to be a huge, huge factor Saturday when we are chasing Spencer Rattler around.
5. Neal Brown, playcalling, the Climb. Must give credit where credit is due -- Leddie Brown running for 161 on 19 carries, with 3 catches for 45 yards, was huge. That is a great pitch count for Leddie, and keeping feeding him. However, the play calling still is being questioned, and rightfully so. The end-of-half sequence where we had first & goal from the 2 was just a disaster. Leddie had just gashed VT right up the gut for 11. This reminded me a lot of last year at Texas when we had a third & 1 from the Texas 17, and had to burn a time out. We then tried two consecutive pass plays and turned it over on downs. Sometimes, NB is just suffering from paralysis by analysis. You're at the 2, VT's on their heels, get to the line, get in the power-I, and run up the gut. And, we have a legit all-conference type of weapon in Winston Wright, and he just has one touch? How is that possible? We won the game, and I'm thrilled. But, I'm not yet 100% sold that we are legit. I want to see WVU come out this weekend, and just leave it on the field...but don't give Oklahoma any gifts. I'd like to see Wright get his touches, get Greene in there to do his thing - try a deep RPO freeze, and keep Doege's uniform clean. If we do that, this is a game we can win, and all of the sudden, we're going places.
1. Doege, Greene, the dual-QB system & moving forward: Start with Doege...for three quarters, I thought he played just fine. Really bummed that he missed Winston Wright on that deep ball. That play was there. Otherwise, Doege made some great throws, including a hell of a TD pass to Bryce Ford-Wheaton as he took a huge hit. His RPO pass to Sean Ryan for 18 yards was on point. Then, the fourth quarter happened and he was our worst nightmare. Going all the way back to Marc Bulger, WVU’s QBs have embraced the strip sack as a rite of passage. Skyler Howard perfected the art. Will Grier broke it out at the worst times, and Doege has fully been indoctrinated into this rich Mountaineer tradition. On his INT: The play itself never should’ve been called. Bad call, terrible result. It appears that we’re looking at a dual-QB system moving forward. Kelchner-Studstill Part II, if you will. Play to their strengths, but sooner or later, Garrett Greene is going to pull the ball and let one fly downfield. My guess is that you’ll see that Saturday. Happy we have Greene’s wheels on tape – OU will be ready, but the play-action freeze deep ball will be there. We can win with Doege & Greene splitting, IF...we stop giving the ball to the other team. Huge "IF".
2. Negative plays are killing our momentum on offense. We don't need to be perfect, but we need to stop going backwards so damn often.
(a) On our only 3 & out of the first half, 2nd & 7, Leddie picks up 5. So, 3rd & 2 - very doable. Instead, a flag flies, illegal motion on WVU, now it is 2nd & 12. After an incomplete pass by Doege, Leddie picks up 11 on a screen, and we punt on 4th & 1.
(b) On the end-of-half sequence from our 2, we botch the snap on the first down play (which was a called run), then VT overplays Leddie on a @$#@!$ing zone read on 2nd down (Why WHY are we running zone read with Doege??? Put Greene in there for zone-read plays, or get in the damn I-formation from the 2). We lost 2 yards in two plays, and end up setting for 3 there. That was a gut punch.
(c) Opening drive of 2nd half, we're moving the ball. Just pick up a 4th down, and it's 1st and 10 from the VT 29. Then, Doege is sacked for a 7-yard loss. We run twice, and settle for a 46-yard FG.
(d) Next WVU drive, 2nd and 9 from the WVU 43. Leddie picks up 8. So, it's 3rd & 1. Flag flies - HOLDING WVU. Now, instead it's 2nd and 19. We get behind the sticks again, and it's 3 & out.
(e) Next WVU drive, 3rd and 4 from the VT 46, and we get hit with the strip sack. disaster.
I would also include the terrible halfback pass call where we lost 7 yards, but we overcame that to get a first down two plays later, luckily. Need to cut out these penalties and negative plays/sacks. The way we're built, we need to be highly efficient, offensively.
3. Our Defense can win WVU games - including Saturday in Norman - if our offense makes the other team earn it. Midway through the third quarter this past Saturday, I sent a text that said: "I'm happy that we're making VT earn everything today". And, then we gave them the ball twice in the fourth, as Murphy's Law dictates. But, if we play VT straight up -- make them drive the field, make them earn every point with tough 3rd down conversions, fourth down attempts, hard yards -- they can't beat us. Our D is too good. However, if we give them the ball continually, as we did during the final quarter Saturday, and let VT just play on our side of the field, we're going to be in for a fight. Kudos to our D - the red zone stops, the fourth down stops, Burmeister's 11 yards on 16 carries...they won this game. And, turning the page, we can win this week if the Offense just keeps the ball in our hands, lives to punt on fourth down if that is the situation, and doesn't do the horrific things we tend to do in big games on the road (strip sack, muffed punt, INTs).
4. Jared Bartlett is a spaz. That's the best way I can describe him. He reminds me of Bobby Boucher from "The Waterboy", playing LB and see his Momma's head on the opposing QB mouthing "fooseball is the devil!". Last season, he would often spaz right by the running lanes and completely whiff on the opposing QB and RB. The irony about Saturday is that VanDarius Cowan was having issues keeping contain on Burmeister, so Bartlett came in to shore that up...which made we wince. But, then Bartlett went HAM. 3 sacks, and a fly-by on a sack given to Jordan Jefferson where Bartlett pummeled the VT OT into the QB and right by him. If Bartlett keeps this up, he's going to be a huge, huge factor Saturday when we are chasing Spencer Rattler around.
5. Neal Brown, playcalling, the Climb. Must give credit where credit is due -- Leddie Brown running for 161 on 19 carries, with 3 catches for 45 yards, was huge. That is a great pitch count for Leddie, and keeping feeding him. However, the play calling still is being questioned, and rightfully so. The end-of-half sequence where we had first & goal from the 2 was just a disaster. Leddie had just gashed VT right up the gut for 11. This reminded me a lot of last year at Texas when we had a third & 1 from the Texas 17, and had to burn a time out. We then tried two consecutive pass plays and turned it over on downs. Sometimes, NB is just suffering from paralysis by analysis. You're at the 2, VT's on their heels, get to the line, get in the power-I, and run up the gut. And, we have a legit all-conference type of weapon in Winston Wright, and he just has one touch? How is that possible? We won the game, and I'm thrilled. But, I'm not yet 100% sold that we are legit. I want to see WVU come out this weekend, and just leave it on the field...but don't give Oklahoma any gifts. I'd like to see Wright get his touches, get Greene in there to do his thing - try a deep RPO freeze, and keep Doege's uniform clean. If we do that, this is a game we can win, and all of the sudden, we're going places.
