--West Virginia could have easily rolled over in this one multiple times after going down 17-0 and then 35-17 to start the second half, but this team kept picking itself up off the mat. It doesn't matter in the end because they lost the football game but the fight was encouraging. Unfortunately, many of the same issues that have plagued this team all year continued into this one and they couldn't string together any form of complementary football for large stretches of this game. I felt that if West Virginia could get two stops in this game in the second half they'd have a chance but when they got the second there was just 51 seconds left and no timeouts. Some of that was on the defense for not getting off the field, but time management on the drive before that was a major issue as the Mountaineers ate up three minutes to get the ball in from 15-yards out down two scores. The defense simply didn't make enough plays in this one and the secondary continued to struggle in key situations. Anytime there was momentum the defense wasn't able to help the offense out for large stretches of the second half and the Tigers made it look easy several times rolling up 474 yards.
--It's a frustrating end, to a frustrating season in a frustrating era. The Mountaineers are now 37-36 over the last six years and didn't beat a single team with a winning record this season. The opportunity was certainly there and I'm not taking anything away from the effort to battle back but for a season that started with so much promise this ended fittingly.
--West Virginia had a lot of success after they opened it up on offense and I felt like that took a little too long to happen. Memphis has struggled with pass coverage all year and the Mountaineers were intent on running the football early. Once they did, the offense was rolling with six straight scoring drives, five touchdowns, to make it a one score game but it was too little too late. The offense rolled up 534 yards, 37 points and 25 first downs and still lost this football game.
--The defense did get some stops in the red zone in this game which kept it within ear shot early, but overall it just wasn't good enough on that side of the ball. The Mountaineers struggled in coverage and had issues trying to stop Henigan when he ran with the football. There were several instances in this game where West Virginia had favorable down and distance on third down and the Tigers just lofted the ball down the field for big chunks of yards. Memphis had six passing plays of 15+ yards, but that included an 89-yarder, a 48-yarder and a 39-yarder. That isn't winning football especially when you also allow 180 yards on the ground.
--West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene played his heart out in this one. It wasn't perfect, but he gave the Mountaineers a chance throwing for a career high 328 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for 95 more yards and a score. Greene made a number of great throws, but the decision to slide short with no timeouts ended up really hurt as the Mountaineers then had to hurry to the line and he threw the game sealing interception. You take the good with the bad, but Greene definitely played incredibly hard and led the Mountaineers on six consecutive scoring drives coming back down 17 on two different occasions but couldn't get the last drive.
--CJ Donaldson started this game rocky with a pair of fumbles and one lost, but really played well without little in the way of help in terms of getting spelled after Jahiem White went down. His effort on the last touchdown run not once, but twice was what you want to see. He finished with 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground on 22 carries and had two catches for 11 yards.
--Redshirt sophomore Hudson Clement had one major mistake on the dropped touchdown ball but he made play after play in this game. He had 11 catches for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns and was the focal point of the passing game all night long. His one catch for the first touchdown was as good as you can do it.
--Memphis averaged 8.3 yards per play and outside a few instances were really not able to make Seth Henigan uncomfortable.
--Onto the next one. It's a big off-season of change here as Rich Rodriguez will onboard and bring in a new staff, players, etc. After six years, I think everybody would agree it's time for something new and the Mountaineers will have just that.
--It's a frustrating end, to a frustrating season in a frustrating era. The Mountaineers are now 37-36 over the last six years and didn't beat a single team with a winning record this season. The opportunity was certainly there and I'm not taking anything away from the effort to battle back but for a season that started with so much promise this ended fittingly.
--West Virginia had a lot of success after they opened it up on offense and I felt like that took a little too long to happen. Memphis has struggled with pass coverage all year and the Mountaineers were intent on running the football early. Once they did, the offense was rolling with six straight scoring drives, five touchdowns, to make it a one score game but it was too little too late. The offense rolled up 534 yards, 37 points and 25 first downs and still lost this football game.
--The defense did get some stops in the red zone in this game which kept it within ear shot early, but overall it just wasn't good enough on that side of the ball. The Mountaineers struggled in coverage and had issues trying to stop Henigan when he ran with the football. There were several instances in this game where West Virginia had favorable down and distance on third down and the Tigers just lofted the ball down the field for big chunks of yards. Memphis had six passing plays of 15+ yards, but that included an 89-yarder, a 48-yarder and a 39-yarder. That isn't winning football especially when you also allow 180 yards on the ground.
--West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene played his heart out in this one. It wasn't perfect, but he gave the Mountaineers a chance throwing for a career high 328 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for 95 more yards and a score. Greene made a number of great throws, but the decision to slide short with no timeouts ended up really hurt as the Mountaineers then had to hurry to the line and he threw the game sealing interception. You take the good with the bad, but Greene definitely played incredibly hard and led the Mountaineers on six consecutive scoring drives coming back down 17 on two different occasions but couldn't get the last drive.
--CJ Donaldson started this game rocky with a pair of fumbles and one lost, but really played well without little in the way of help in terms of getting spelled after Jahiem White went down. His effort on the last touchdown run not once, but twice was what you want to see. He finished with 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground on 22 carries and had two catches for 11 yards.
--Redshirt sophomore Hudson Clement had one major mistake on the dropped touchdown ball but he made play after play in this game. He had 11 catches for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns and was the focal point of the passing game all night long. His one catch for the first touchdown was as good as you can do it.
--Memphis averaged 8.3 yards per play and outside a few instances were really not able to make Seth Henigan uncomfortable.
--Onto the next one. It's a big off-season of change here as Rich Rodriguez will onboard and bring in a new staff, players, etc. After six years, I think everybody would agree it's time for something new and the Mountaineers will have just that.
