Wofford Preview
September 07, 2005 02:18 PM | General
September 7, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez knows Wofford coach Mike Ayers well, having once been on the bad side of a 45-0 loss against Ayers back when Rodriguez was a rookie coach at Salem in 1988.
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| WVU quarterback Pat White gets yardage during last Sunday's 15-7 win against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
AP photo |
“He beat me to death in the last game of Salem football history,” Rodriguez chuckled. “At the time we were NAIA and they were Division II moving up to I-AA.”
This Saturday the two will be reunited under entirely different circumstances: Rodriguez coaching the favored team and Ayers bringing in the heavy underdog.
West Virginia (1-0) is coming off a 15-7 win at Syracuse last Sunday and is facing a I-AA Wofford team that beat NAIA Georgetown (Ky.) College 34-24 last Saturday. The West Virginia game will be Wofford’s ninth against a I-A school in the history of the program.
“They’re accustomed to (playing Division I teams),” Rodriguez said. “I remember watching them playing Maryland pretty tough. They lost to Marshall in a close game in 1998 when they had Randy Moss and Chad Pennington. We’ve got to play and we’ve got to get ready for a unique style.”
Getting Rodriguez’ attention is Wofford’s wishbone offense that has given many teams problems in the past. The coach says it’s much more advanced than the wishbone offense college football fans remember watching Oklahoma run in the 1970s and early 1980s.
“You didn’t know who was going to carry it but you knew who the personnel were that were starting in it,” said Rodriguez of Oklahoma’s wishbone. “Now the wishbone teams take the tailbacks, put them in the slots and move them out wider. They’ll run some perimeter sweeps and still run some of the wishbone option principles by motioning guys in the backfield. They’ll do a lot of reverses and a lot of misdirections so there is a lot more multiplicity than there was in the old Oklahoma wishbone days.”
Consequently, Rodriguez says his defense will have a lot of crash-coursing this week in order to try and stop it.
“Our defensive coaches have to get a plan together because we didn’t do much with them because all of our focus was on trying to get ready for the unknowns with Syracuse,” Rodriguez said.
“It’s hard particularly because we have less than a week,” he added. “It is assignment football and you don’t see it much nowadays. The few schools that do it are consistent with it year in and year out and recruit for it. They know it’s an advantage for them in a space of a week to prepare for it particularly if you don’t see it much.”
Of particular interest Saturday is how West Virginia’s unique 3-3 stack defense matches up against a wishbone offense.
“When you run a different offense and defense like we do you’re not going to get a whole lot of teams running things similar to compare against,” Rodriguez mentioned. “The odd stack is a little bit different to go against anything whether it’s the wishbone, spread, West Coast or whatever.”
In order to run the wishbone a team must have smaller, faster players along the offensive line to get out and make blocks. Rodriguez says Wofford’s offensive line suits this style well and they like to cut block and get down on defenders’ knees.
Wofford’s trio of running backs Corey Dunn, Michael Hobbs and Gabriel Jackson aren’t very big but are effective carrying the football. Dunn was the team’s player of the week against Georgetown, running for 94 yards and scoring twice. Hobbs and Jackson both reached the 100-yard mark against Georgetown to help the Terriers to 413 total yards on the ground.
Wofford quarterback Josh Collier completed just 4 of 17 passes for 35 yards against Georgetown. Collier is obviously more a threat to run the football.
“He’s always a threat to run in this offense as is the fullback,” said Rodriguez. “They run the fullback dive and the fullback trap … the inside belly play with the fullback first.
“The tailbacks are all good players and they know the system. These guys have been doing this for as long as Mike has been there,” Rodriguez said.
Some of Rodriguez’ anxiety about playing a I-AA team is balanced by the fact that his team is playing its home opener in front of what is expected to be a big crowd.
“I like the fact that it’s our home opener and our guys are anxious to play in front of the home crowd,” he said. “But there are also more distractions. They’ve got to worry about the tickets and making sure how to handle all of the families coming to visit them. We’ll have to talk to them about it.”
Rodriguez said the team came out of last Sunday’s game against Syracuse in pretty good shape health wise. Slot receiver Darius Reynaud suffered a slightly sprained shoulder but should be available for the Wofford game. Everyone else is okay, according to the coach.
Briefly:
“The guys from last year know that James Madison came after us a little bit and knocked us around some and got our attention. Wofford will do the same,” Rodriguez said.
“I said, ‘What the heck is this?’ It’s almost like you’re inviting them to rush the punter. They were one of the leading punt teams in I-AA that year so I said maybe there is something to it?” Rodriguez explained. “We had a little problem with Maryland and Steve Suter so I was looking for anything and everything to have success against them.”
Today, Rodriguez says many other programs are using that scheme including Clemson, Texas A&M and Bowling Green.
“The more people that go to it means the more people that will know how to go against it,” he said.
“You still have possession of the ball. You hate to punt but you have to view it as a play that can gain yards for you,” he said.
Quarterback Adam Bednarik was effective with both of his punts against Syracuse, pinning both inside the 20. Rodriguez says backup quarterback Pat White’s punting is still a work in progress.
“I’m afraid he’ll miss the ball -- he’ll Charlie Brown it,” Coach Rod laughed. “We’ve got to work on his punting. Plus he’s right-footed so we have to figure out what to do when we’re on the right hash.”
West Virginia’s number three quarterback JR House throws right-handed and punts left-footed.
“He’s ambidextrous,” said Rodriguez. “As one of our guys said he’s amphibious. I guess that means he can kick under water.”
“That may have been the best it has ever been preparing and getting after our defense since I’ve been here,” he said. “It makes a big difference when your guys have to work each week in practice getting ready.”
“I know the deal and the players know the deal and that’s all that really matters,” he shrugged.
