WVU's RB Depth Showed Up at Maryland
September 16, 2014 04:00 PM | General
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| Junior Dustin Garrison was the fifth tailback to play on Saturday against Maryland and he ended up making the biggest play of the game. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
As West Virginia was about to run its 101st play of the game, the guy in there carrying the football was running back No. 5, junior Dustin Garrison – the same Dustin Garrison who helped West Virginia to a 2011 Big East regular season title and an Orange Bowl appearance against Clemson before going down with a knee injury.
That’s a pretty good luxury to have when the other team is sucking air and trying to keep from giving up a big play to lose the game.
“It was huge,” admitted running backs coach JaJuan Seider. “Even before that, Dreamius (Smith) was in there and gave us about 20 yards (to get out of a deep hole). Then for Dustin to be able to make that play under those circumstances on third and eight …”
Really, for the first time since Holgorsen’s first year here in 2011, the Mountaineers were once again able to dish out some of the same fourth quarter medicine that they have been receiving, especially last year when they got into a bad habit of blowing late leads.
The script read like a broken record: play hard, make some plays, get a lead and then watch the other team’s depth wear you down. It happened against Texas Tech. It happened against Kansas State and it happened against Texas. Even Iowa State was able to outlast the Mountaineers down the stretch at the finish line.
And it looked like the same thing was going to happen last Saturday against the Terps, who stormed back from 22 points down in the second quarter to tie the game midway through the fourth.
Then, with the momentum clearly on Maryland’s side, Seider chose to go with the well-rested Dreamius Smith at tailback to begin what turned out to be West Virginia’s game-winning drive.
Rushel Shell, who gained a team-high 98 yards but got dinged up during an earlier possession, was lobbying Seider to go back into the game. Wendell Smallwood, sick for most of the week and battling cramps throughout the game, was also available. But Seider went with his gut.
So in goes Smith and immediately he picks up 16 critical yards to move the football out to the 21-yard line. Holgorsen’s playbook was now at least 16 yards bigger.
“I knew where we were at in the game and I knew what we were doing,” said Seider. “I knew we were going to play fast. I knew tempo was going to be huge. I went with the idea of going with guys who can be in the slot and in the backfield at the same time, where if we go trips from one side to the other I don’t have to worrying about flopping him. That is what was on my mind at the time.”
Also on Seider’s mind were those two high safeties taking away the intermediate pass down the field.
“They played hard and they really got after your passer so we knew we had a chance to get that screen play off because of how they were playing,” said Seider. “It’s two minutes, so what are you protecting? Don’t get beat deep. In our minds we knew we had enough time and we can continue to run the ball.”
West Virginia also had enough fresh running backs to do it. After Smith did his job, in came Garrison to give West Virginia more of a run-pass threat out in space.
Garrison ended up making the game’s biggest play at the WVU 22 when he converted a third and eight that kept the sticks moving. If he only gets seven, West Virginia is then punting the ball back to a team with two timeouts and to a guy whose last return went 69 yards to the house.
Garrison ended up getting 13, and three plays after that ran for 10 more to move the ball to the Terrapin 39.
It was just like another Tuesday practice.
“We always put our kids in that situation during the week and Rushel commented afterward, ‘Man, that was just like we practiced it. We threw the ball here, we ran here and here, we threw another pass, centered the ball, and kicked the field goal.’ It’s good that these kids are taking notice of what we’re doing,” said Seider.
Because of it, they are now learning how to win tough football games that they weren’t winning last year.
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