My Halloween Fiver on WVU's victory over UCF at the Bounce House on Saturday afternoon...
First, here is the definitive list of top ten Halloween candies:
1. Reese's pieces
2. Snickers
3. Milky Way
4. Reese's peanut butter cups
5. York peppermint patty
6. Twix
7. Kit Kat
8. Peanut M&Ms
9. Three Musketeers
10. Butterfinger
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1. Garrett Greene coming into his own. Yes, GG is missing on some open throws - most notably a 3rd down pass early in the game where he had Kole Taylor running wide open down the middle of the field, and he just made a poor throw. But, overall, Greene is becoming what we really need him to be>>>a major PIA for our opponents. 11 carries for 55 yards & three TDs Saturday, and now up to 72 totes for 404 yards - 5.6 ypc - and 8 TDs on the season. We gotta keep him healthy. But, Greene has now led this offense to 1,500 yards and 104 points over our past 3 games. You get the sense that we're hitting our stride, offensively, and now we get Hudson Clement back Saturday to bolster our WR corps. It's amazing that I'm about to type this, but...we're going to be able to put up points.
2. Defensively, it appeared that we embraced a "Bend but don't break" philosophy Saturday and, by and large, it worked. UCF wants to live by the big play, and we essentially took it away from them. So, John Rhys Plumlee began to force throws which led to game changing WVU INTs. Also, kudos to Lee Kpogba for a huge hit on the sack which forced a JRP lost fumble. We still gave up too many chunk plays, and allowed 5.7 ypc, but thank goodness that Gus Malzahn essentially abandoned the run in the 2nd half, and our D also did a better job shedding blocks.
3. Jahiem White is just different. It's a different speed than our other backs and an absolutely perfect compliment to CJ Donaldson, who had a great day. You put Garrett Greene out there at QB, with Jahiem White and/or CJ Donaldson, with Devin Carter outside and now the potential of Rodney Gallagher on jet sweeps....you have a whole lot for opposing DCs to chew on. Hence 50 rushes for 286 yards at 5.7 ypc, even taking into consideration we lost three yards in Victory Formation at the end. Great day for our backs and OL.
4. Michael Hayes is a damn fine kicker and it makes a huge difference when we're forcing teams to start each drive at their own 25. If we can force BYU to traverse 75 yards, we'll have them right where we want them. Field position will be big Saturday, as it always is, and this kicker and Ollie Straw both are excellent weapons - Houston game aside- at winning the field position battle.
5. So, where are we with Bean Ball? 5-3, 3-2 in the conference. Chances are that preseason, if I told you we were 5-3 through 8, you'd probably say it sounds a bit better than expected. However, the Hail Mary still stings, the fourth quarter defensive walkout/strike vs. OSU on our home field still leaves an awful taste, and I would not say that Bean Ball is out of the woods yet at all. I'm very happy with Saturday's win over the pretenders from UCF. But, you can't come home and lose to BYU. BYU is good enough to go on the road and beat Arkansas. And their defense gave Texas fits at times last week. They are not a pushover - they're better than Houston, that's for certain. But, they are offensively challenged and absolutely cannot run the ball - 129th in the country at 81 yards per game. That is 2019 WVU bad. Their defense is good enough to keep this game closer than it needs to be for a while. But, this is a game WVU should win, and must win if Neal Brown wants to have any chance of returning as WVU's head football coach. It's time to regain that stunted momentum we lost during the bye week and head into Norman, Oklahoma with a head of steam and a QB who is already 1-0 vs. the Sooners.
First, here is the definitive list of top ten Halloween candies:
1. Reese's pieces
2. Snickers
3. Milky Way
4. Reese's peanut butter cups
5. York peppermint patty
6. Twix
7. Kit Kat
8. Peanut M&Ms
9. Three Musketeers
10. Butterfinger
==================================================
1. Garrett Greene coming into his own. Yes, GG is missing on some open throws - most notably a 3rd down pass early in the game where he had Kole Taylor running wide open down the middle of the field, and he just made a poor throw. But, overall, Greene is becoming what we really need him to be>>>a major PIA for our opponents. 11 carries for 55 yards & three TDs Saturday, and now up to 72 totes for 404 yards - 5.6 ypc - and 8 TDs on the season. We gotta keep him healthy. But, Greene has now led this offense to 1,500 yards and 104 points over our past 3 games. You get the sense that we're hitting our stride, offensively, and now we get Hudson Clement back Saturday to bolster our WR corps. It's amazing that I'm about to type this, but...we're going to be able to put up points.
2. Defensively, it appeared that we embraced a "Bend but don't break" philosophy Saturday and, by and large, it worked. UCF wants to live by the big play, and we essentially took it away from them. So, John Rhys Plumlee began to force throws which led to game changing WVU INTs. Also, kudos to Lee Kpogba for a huge hit on the sack which forced a JRP lost fumble. We still gave up too many chunk plays, and allowed 5.7 ypc, but thank goodness that Gus Malzahn essentially abandoned the run in the 2nd half, and our D also did a better job shedding blocks.
3. Jahiem White is just different. It's a different speed than our other backs and an absolutely perfect compliment to CJ Donaldson, who had a great day. You put Garrett Greene out there at QB, with Jahiem White and/or CJ Donaldson, with Devin Carter outside and now the potential of Rodney Gallagher on jet sweeps....you have a whole lot for opposing DCs to chew on. Hence 50 rushes for 286 yards at 5.7 ypc, even taking into consideration we lost three yards in Victory Formation at the end. Great day for our backs and OL.
4. Michael Hayes is a damn fine kicker and it makes a huge difference when we're forcing teams to start each drive at their own 25. If we can force BYU to traverse 75 yards, we'll have them right where we want them. Field position will be big Saturday, as it always is, and this kicker and Ollie Straw both are excellent weapons - Houston game aside- at winning the field position battle.
5. So, where are we with Bean Ball? 5-3, 3-2 in the conference. Chances are that preseason, if I told you we were 5-3 through 8, you'd probably say it sounds a bit better than expected. However, the Hail Mary still stings, the fourth quarter defensive walkout/strike vs. OSU on our home field still leaves an awful taste, and I would not say that Bean Ball is out of the woods yet at all. I'm very happy with Saturday's win over the pretenders from UCF. But, you can't come home and lose to BYU. BYU is good enough to go on the road and beat Arkansas. And their defense gave Texas fits at times last week. They are not a pushover - they're better than Houston, that's for certain. But, they are offensively challenged and absolutely cannot run the ball - 129th in the country at 81 yards per game. That is 2019 WVU bad. Their defense is good enough to keep this game closer than it needs to be for a while. But, this is a game WVU should win, and must win if Neal Brown wants to have any chance of returning as WVU's head football coach. It's time to regain that stunted momentum we lost during the bye week and head into Norman, Oklahoma with a head of steam and a QB who is already 1-0 vs. the Sooners.
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