Football Notebook
September 14, 2007 07:56 PM | General
September 14, 2007
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| Rich Rodriguez |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia ran for 353 yards against a Maryland defense that came into the game ranked seventh in the country. Despite that West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez saw long runs that could have been even longer.
“After watching the film I was really disappointed in how we played at times offensively especially in the first half. We missed blocks, we missed reads and we weren’t sharp at all,” Rodriguez said. “Pat (White) wasn’t his usual sharp self; he dropped a couple of snaps and we were just messing around for a good bit. But we still won the game so I guess that’s encouraging to do that.
“I know we can play a lot better than we did.”
It’s nice to have a pair of tailbacks finish the game rushing for 273 yards and three touchdowns. Steve Slaton once again tortured the Terps running for 137 yards and scoring three touchdowns (Slaton has eight rushing TDs in three games so far). True freshman Noel Devine continued his rapid ascension by rushing for 136 yards including runs of 76 and 31 yards on Thursday night.
“They’re both fast guys. Steve is a little bit bigger and stronger because he’s been in the weight room a little longer. They both have the ability to hit a crease and make you take poor angles when you’re chasing them,” Rodriguez said of his two big-time tailbacks. “Devine has got great hips and Steve’s got good moves also.”
Some have already termed Devine as Slaton’s perfect compliment but Rodriguez actually still considers the Ft. Myers, Fla., resident more as a supplement to Slaton.
“I don’t think it’s complimenting as much as it is you take one fast guy out and you put another fast guy in,” Rodriguez said. “It presents the same issues for defenses as far as chasing them down.”
One of the most impressive facets of Devine’s game is his ability to fall forward and get extra yards despite standing 5-feet-8 inches and weighing just 170 pounds.
“He runs behind his pads and he’s got great lean,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a small guy but he’s not a weak guy. He’s strong in the weight room and he’s got good upper body strength and good leg drive. For being a young guy he knows how to fall forward.”
Rodriguez said Friday that his team will have two days off before beginning preparation for East Carolina on Sunday. The coaching staff will meet on Saturday to finish up the Maryland game, talk a little about recruiting and get a head start on East Carolina.
“The Thursday night games are kind of a pain for the coaches but if you can win it it’s good to kind of relax for a day and kind of get your senses back,” Rodriguez said. “I think the players enjoy it because they like playing games and not practicing. There are a lot of games in the month of September. We’re playing five games in one month and it’s a quick turnaround on the guy’s body and I think those two days of rest are going to help them.”
Briefly:
“I think we’re just playing a little smarter at times,” Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of penalties at times last year that really frustrated us. It’s been a point of emphasis but it was a point of emphasis last year, too. We’re not killing ourselves even though yesterday we had a couple of penalties that hurt us.”
“They caught a couple of passes with the tight ends. I think part of the key was getting a little more pressure on the quarterback not giving him that much time to try and find the tight end,” Rodriguez said. “There were a couple of times they were open but he didn’t have time to get the ball to them. We changed some coverages up, too, and that played a factor in it.”
“The key for our running game is our down-field blocking and I didn’t think it was that good last night with the exception of a couple of blocks by Jalloh. He had a couple of big blocks,” Rodriguez said.
“That’s a pretty heavy fine,” Rodriguez said.
The coach explained that the college game doesn’t have the resources to dedicate to something as sophisticated as what the Patriots were caught doing.
“The college systems are so different,” Rodriguez explained. “Some people use signals like us. Some people shuttle players in. Other ones will have wrist bands. I don’t think it goes on that much in college. You can look over there and try and get a read on them by watching them but it’s hard to translate that information so quickly.
“We don’t have the headset where you can communicate to the quarterback telling them this is the play and this is what’s coming up,” Rodriguez said. “You’d have to figure out their signals and relay the information out on the field to your players in a pretty quick fashion and that’s pretty hard to do.”
