What did we learn from the Mountaineers’ convincing win over the Wildcats on Saturday? Three main things.
A) Pat White is a polished passer
Against a scrappy I-AA team. The offensive line gave him plenty of time to throw, his receivers got open, and Joe Montana couldn’t have put those passes more on the spot. We will see how he continues to develop against tougher defenses.
B) All hail Jeff Mullen
Fans didn’t see everything the transplanted Wake Forest offensive coordinator has put in place, but what they saw, they liked. The second touchdown pass to Alric Arnett was a perfect pro play-action.
White has always been adept at the ball-fake—how often have you seen him fake out a TV cameraman? On this play, he faked the handoff perfectly, forcing the safeties to bite on the run and allowing Arnett to run right by his single cover man. Five offensive touchdowns, all through the air.
Trivia: When was the last time WVU won without scoring a rushing touchdown? Our friend Mark DeVault at WVUStats.com answers: the 2005 victory over East Carolina.
- B/R Ticket Guide
C) The defense needs work
First, let’s point out that it gave up only two meaningful touchdowns. It also forced and recovered a fumble and ran back an interception for a touchdown. The big plays were nice. But a I-AA team (scrappy as it may be) still got 399 yards of total offense.
Villanova averaged only 2.7 yards per run—good—but 7.2 yards per pass—not so good, and more than WVU’s six yards per pass. Villanova’s offense was designed to keep WVU off the field, and it did, winning the time of possession.
Don’t worry too much about Villanova outgaining WVU—WVU got all the yards it could when it was on the field. McAfee only punted twice.
Worry about WVU giving up 399 yards to a highly unambitious—and that’s not an insult—offense that was content to chew up yards and clock in five- and seven-yard chunks. They never went for the home run but just kept moving the chains. That’s something WVU needs to work to stop.
Other observations
- Cornerback/punt returner Ellis Lankster is going to return one for a touchdown this year. Either an interception or a punt. Or both.
- Pat McAfee’s punting is getting better and better.
- Mortty Ivy got a nice start on the monster season I have predicted for him.
- With his 6'4" height, long and muscular frame, and dreadlocks flowing out of the back of his helmet—not to mention his nasty demeanor toward opposing ball carriers—freshman safety Robert Sands looks like the Predator from the excellent Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
- It’s just a hunch, but I don’t think Reed Williams is going to see a field this year.
- Don’t worry about Noel Devine getting only 47 yards. He only had nine carries—it’s still a 5.2 per yard average. Wait until teams realize they can’t put eight or nine men at the line anymore. Then fans will see a 200-yard game.
- Where’s Terence Kerns? What does one have to do to get in coach Bill Stewart’s doghouse? Kerns didn’t even dress. At some point this season, Pat White will need a battering ram behind him.
- Will Johnson will be the most important non-running back, non-wide receiver offensive player since Mark Raugh.
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3 months ago
What kind of sets did WVU run? I'm still confused on this offense. Are they moving away from the spread, tinkering with it, or merging it/modifying it with the Wake Forest system?
3 months ago
Jeff, good question. My sense is that they are modifying it with the ake Forest system. Maybe more slatnted towards Wake's. To me this is somewhat of a problem. Its not like we haven't been successful with our system. I expected and hoped or tinkering. What we got is full Wake. From my memory we've been a little more successful than Wake.
Also the 30+ passes concern me. Our philosophy is a dominating run game. I hope we can turn it on when we need to. My guess is that will be tougher than most expect.
3 months ago
The reason for the 30+ passes is that Nova had nine in the box, yeah not 8 but 9. So Wvu just passed the whole game. They could have lined up and played smash mouth, but they wanted to prove a point. You can't load the box against WVU any more.
3 months ago
Remember the words of Coach Stew: "I hated to throw the ball at the end, but they wouldn’t take nine men out of the box."
It's called "take what the defense will give you." If teams are gonna park 9 guys in the box, this is what yer gonna see. If they go into a more traditional defensive set, you'll get full-bore Devine and White.
The defense came out much stronger in the 2nd half: 223 yds in the first half, 126 in the second -- with 2 INTs -- until the subs came in and allowed the last-second TD.
The conventional wisdom is that defenses improve the most between the 1st and 2nd games. We saw improvement between the 1st and 2nd halves of the game. If Casteel gets after 'em like I'm sure he will, the D will get even more better!
3 months ago
To Kev - I wouldn't be too worried that White, Devine, or that stellar Offensive line will forget how to run the football. And while Stewart admits that he is no master mind, he is smart enough to pass when the defense doesn't match-up against the pass, and run when the defense backs out of the box.
To Frank - I do think the defense needs some tweaks, but most young players improve a great deal between weeks one and two because they know what a real game is like. I actually thought the defense did a pretty good job but they perhaps played a little too conservative which helped Villanova's brilliant gameplan of throwing underneath to eat up the clock.
3 months ago
By the way Frank - Great Article, I think people that actually watched the game like you and I are seeing things quite differently than those who merely read the recap and looked at the stats. It was one of those games where the stats didn't really tell the whole story.
3 months ago
Kev et al., it's still a spread offense. By definition the spread offense tries to stretch the defense, forcing them to cover more of the field and to defend playmakers 1 on 1 in space. The WVU version of the spread over the past 3 years has emphasized wide line splits and running the ball on zone reads & misdirection. But the system itself evolved out of the Mouse Davis Run-n-Shoot where offenses tried to stretch the field both horizontally and vertically.
The "previous administration" has been roundly criticized for being too run focused and therefore one-dimensional. (I'm not willing to go quite that far, in the two games that WVU lost last year the problem wasn't necessarily 9 in the box; it was that South Florida and Pittsburgh defenders won the 1-on-1 contests. E.g., the system did what it was designed to do, but the WVU players despite their talent lost the battles). I'm not convinced that WVU would have won either game last year with more passing. (But then again, what do I know?)
What is clear is that the "new administration" in Morgantown has committed to stretching the field both vertically and horizontally. They were effective against Villanova. East Carolina should be a much better test of Pat White's passing ability; I'm fairly certain there will be a stronger pass rush and better coverage this Saturday than last.
Frank.... I love your writing, keep it coming man.
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