Liberty Bowl Notebook

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In the days leading up to the 2014 AutoZone Liberty Bowl, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen preached the importance of his guys being excited to play in a bowl game.

Judging from the 20 points the Mountaineers put on the scoreboard in the first quarter, his team clearly got the message.

The problem was remaining excited after halftime. West Virginia hit the wall in the third quarter, going three and out twice, producing one first down and completing just 1 of 11 passes for the quarter and that’s where the Mountaineers lost the game to Texas A&M.

“The third quarter was atrocious offensively,” said Holgorsen. “We lost by eight (45-37) and the thing that stands out is the field goals. We had too many stalled drives. I don’t know how many field goals we attempted, but too many stalled drives. You play a game where you have to score 46 points to win it and you can’t settle for that many field goals.”

Josh Lambert was successful on all three of his field goal tries against A&M, but unfortunately, while Lambert was kicking field goals Texas A&M freshman quarterback Kyle Allen was leading the Aggies into the end zone.

Allen completed 22 of his 35 passes attempts for 294 yards, but it was his feet that really gave West Virginia’s defense problems. Several times Allen was able to escape pressure and keep plays alive to find open receivers running downfield. Also, his 14-yard touchdown run near the end of the first half was impressive to watch – no matter what sideline you were standing on.

Allen was boxed in to his right, spun around and took off to his left where he found open field before diving to the pylon to give A&M a momentum-swinging score right before the end of the first half.

That touchdown run put A&M back in the lead, 28-27, and was the catalyst for the Aggies scoring 17 of the game’s next 20 points in the third quarter to take control of the game.

“He looked comfortable to me,” said Holgorsen of Allen. “He’s going to be a heck of a player. He was throwing the ball well; ran the ball more than I anticipated. He’s athletic and he’s a good football player.”

West Virginia’s young quarterback, Skyler Howard, also played well at times while at other times he struggled to complete passes to wide-open players.

Howard completed less than half of his pass attempts for 346 yards and three touchdowns and had his most success throwing the ball down the field to Kevin White, Jordan Thompson and Shelton Gibson.

Where Howard struggled was completing the intermediate passes, his throws often sailing high of their intended target.

“He was off a little bit,” said Holgorsen. “He kind of threw some high balls, but the way he operated, the way he communicated and the way he ran the offense, I saw improvement.”

Howard’s four-game totals this year showed 56-of-110 passing for 829 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran the ball 22 times for 140 yards – his running and playmaking skills are two areas the coaching staff can clearly build upon in the spring.

But Howard’s No. 1 objective this spring will have to be improving his throwing accuracy, especially in Holgorsen’s offense where efficient quarterback play is essential, because a 50.9 percent passer just won’t cut it in this offense.

“I’d give Skyler a B,” said departing senior wide receiver Kevin White. “I thought we were all a little bit nervous or too edgy when the game started. We just calmed down and made the catches we usually make. I thought Skyler played great. The receivers didn’t make many plays.”

Speaking of wide receiver that is clearly an area that will have to be addressed before the team returns to the field in the spring.

In White and Mario Alford, the Mountaineers must replace 174 catches for 2,392 yards and 21 touchdowns and it is unknown if that kind of production exists among the players returning for 2015.

Jordan Thompson had a fine junior season as the team’s No. 3 receiver, catching 49 passes for 598 yards and two touchdowns, but is he capable of becoming the No. 1 guy? Or Daikiel Shorts, who failed to catch a pass yesterday, or Shelton Gibson, who made a pretty 47-yard grab late in the game?

We’ll see.

The offense must also develop two interior offensive linemen capable of replacing seniors Quinton Spain and Mark Glowinski, the latter an all-Big 12 performer in 2014, and continue to become more consistent with a ground game that was very good at times and non-existent at other times.

Rushel Shell and Wendell Smallwood got the bulk of the carries this year, but look for true freshman Dontae Thomas-Williams to make his presence felt this spring as well.

On the other side of the ball, the defense returns virtually intact with the exception of senior outside linebacker Wes Tonkery and pass-rushing specialist Shaq Riddick – the team’s two biggest losses on defense.

The return of senior Jared Barber to middle linebacker will allow the Mountaineers to move Nick Kwiatkoski back outside to Tonkery’s spot and the addition mid-semester signee Larry Jefferson could offset the departure of Riddick.

All four starters in the secondary are expected to be back, and the Mountaineers will also have several key players up front returning, most notably Kyle Rose, Noble Nwachukwu and Christian Brown.

Nwachukwu was in on a couple of sacks yesterday and finished the season with a pair of sacks and eight tackles for losses. Adding another 10-15 pounds of muscle in the weight room would be beneficial for Nwachukwu in 2015.

And the kicking game should also be strong once again in 2015 with record-setting kicker Josh Lambert and punter Nick O’Toole returning.

Overall, Holgorsen is encouraged with the progress his team made in 2014, going from four wins in 2013 to seven wins this season. He’s also encouraged with the group of guys he has returning for 2015.

“I think we showed some improvement,” he said. “We just got to keep getting better. I got a lot of guys coming back, so we should be a little bit better next year.”

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