Football Notebook
October 25, 2009 10:22 AM | General
October 25, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Have you ever seen a team come to Milan Puskar Stadium and play as hard as Connecticut did on Saturday?
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| Bill Stewart shouts encouragement to his team during Saturday's game against Connecticut.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Here is how hard the Huskies played: No. 29 Marcus Easley, a one-time walk-on - the guy who caught the 88-yard touchdown pass to put the Huskies ahead, 24-21, with 3:50 left in the game - he was also the guy who chased down Kent Richardson 50 yards all the way to the 10 where he was able to knock the football free during Richardson's interception return.
Connecticut recovered the fumble that set up Easley's remarkable touchdown catch and run.
Time and again Connecticut receivers broke tackles in the open field to get extra yardage. Jordan Todman ran hard between the tackles. Fullback Anthony Sherman, No. 49, looked like Owen Schmitt running around out there. Cody Endres stood tall in the pocket, holding the ball until the last possible second before finding a receiver that finally got open. Lindsey Witten, No. 9, was in West Virginia's backfield almost as much as Noel Devine was. And Greg Lloyd, Jr.? Well, he looked more like Greg Lloyd, Sr.
That's called leaving it all out on the football field.
It actually started before the game when Randy Edsall scrapped a plan that has served him well for the 11 years he's coached at Connecticut. Instead of sitting back and playing good, sound, fundamental defense and waiting for the offense to make mistakes, he took it right to West Virginia.
Connecticut brought blitzers from every angle imaginable on every play, catching the Mountaineers completely off guard. It wasn't until halftime that Bill Stewart and his offensive coaches were able to regroup.
"I've done this a long time and I've done it pretty damned good and I was totally out of whack because for the 11 years that I've studied Randy Edsall and UConn what they did to us defensively was totally out of character," Stewart said. "They blitzed every down of every snap in every situation they could. I would have done exactly what they did because they were helping their young corners and doing what they had to do."
Stewart decided to counter the blitz with a little trick that has worked well in the past for the Mountaineers when they had Steve Slaton in the backfield - run right at it.
"We put the tight end into the ballgame, put twins to the field so we could get three over two. It's just basic football. We started running the ball to the tight end in the boundary. Did you see the last play that scored?" Stewart said with a wink and a nod.
Of course Stewart was referring to Devine's game-winning 56-yard touchdown run.
Connecticut had emotion, spirit and a cause on Saturday. The difference in the game was West Virginia had Devine, and the Mountaineers were patient enough to keep using him even when it looked hopeless in the first half when seven yards was all that he could manage for his 10 carries.
The last two or three weeks Stewart has been preaching about getting the ball into Devine's hands more often. Noel got 23 carries against Connecticut on Saturday and 118 of his game-high 178 yards came on two running plays. Devine now has seven runs this year of at least 30 yards, including five of more than 50. That was why Stewart was so willing to watch Devine's other 21 carries net just 60 yards on Saturday.
"Sometimes you get booed for not throwing in a two-minute drill. How many times have you seen with Mountaineer football in recent years us run the ball when everyone thinks you should be in two-minute offense and it goes to the house? It's pretty special," said Stewart.
Noel Devine is pretty special, too.
Briefly:
Yet an argument can be made that Devine has done more with less carries than any other back in school history. In 32 career games, the junior is averaging 6.8 yards per rush while averaging just 13 carries per game (416 attempts in 32 career games).
All-time leading rusher Avon Cobourne averaged 23.9 carries per game for his career (4.9 yards per rush), while Amos Zereoue toted the ball an average of 23.8 times per game (5.2 yards per rush) in 33 career games.
Slaton averaged 18.4 carries in 36 career games. Even quarterback Patrick White averaged more carries per game (13.9 in 49 career games) than Devine has so far.
However, the good news is Devine is beginning to get the ball more frequently as the games have gotten tougher.
"When it gets tight No. 7 is getting the ball," said offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen. "He was our security blanket today."
Devine had just one career 20-carry game (26 at Colorado) heading into this season. Including Saturday's season-high 23 totes against UConn, Devine has had at least 20 carries in three out of West Virginia's last four games. During that span, he has run for 592 yards and scored five touchdowns - all Mountaineer victories.
"That was a fine football team that had Pitt on the ropes and lost it just like this," Stewart noted.
"Resiliency is a word that needs to be included on our wall because we were resilient," he said. "The Mountaineers never quit believing in each other, nor did they ever quit believing in their coaches.
"Two games in a row we've been down. Do you know what someone is going to tell me? 'Why don't you hit No. 17 (Richardson) in the head with a ball bat? He makes an interception, runs 50 yards, why doesn't he get down?' What should I tell a guy like that when he's giving great effort? Do you know what I did? I went and hugged him. I told him, 'Just tuck the ball. You're sharp - you know that. You made a great play. Just finish the play.'"
"We go through this old world and a very nice pastor friend of mine who married my mother and dad, Charles Pugh out of Parkersburg who used to be in New Martinsville, he sent me a quote today. It said kind of like this, 'You can teach a hundred years to young people to win, to be victorious, but if you don't spend just one part of your day talking about human decency then you're not a very good football coach.'
"This was one of the toughest weeks in my life and I can only imagine what Randy Edsall … what a class, class man. I am one of his true admirers. I don't know how they got them ready, but they did."
Sorry to Nate for missing that one and thanks to Mike Montoro for researching that great note.
