Something Wicked
September 18, 2014 03:16 PM | General
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| Clint Trickett's 511 yards passing against Maryland last Saturday were the most ever posted in a road game by a Mountaineer quarterback. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Radio sideline reporter Jed Drenning is providing periodic commentary on the Mountaineer football program for WVUsports.com. For more from Jed, you can follow him on Twitter @TheSignalCaller
It was equal parts track meet and grudge match.
It was a game that offered up more trippy twists than a Quentin Tarantino flick, but when the mist finally lifted over Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium last Saturday, West Virginia had outlasted Maryland 40-37 and along the way had defied half a century of history. The win, which came 12 months after WVU’s 37-0 meltdown against the Terrapins in Baltimore, marked the first time since 1961 that the Mountaineers had lost to a team by so large a margin then rebounded to beat that same team a season later.
But history didn’t go down without a fight. It hurled in WVU’s path three turnovers, three failed red-zone opportunities, a pair of 70-plus yard touchdowns by the Terps, a blocked field goal attempt and a 69-yard punt return for a score that capped a 22-point Maryland comeback.
For West Virginia to escape College Park with a win, it took a school-record 108 offensive snaps, 35 first downs and a 511-yard passing performance by Clint Trickett (the highest total ever by a WVU quarterback on the road). It took a blocked punt for a safety and a defensive effort that saw the Mountaineers force the Terps off the field on each of Maryland’s final nine third down attempts of the afternoon.
In short, it took every ounce of fuel the Mountaineers had in their tank.
But that tank needs to be refilled with some high-test for what’s heading into Milan Puskar Stadium under the lights this Saturday night. Something wicked this way comes and that something is the front seven of the Oklahoma Sooners.
No. 4 ranked OU is powered by a defense that is indeed the stuff of which nightmares are made. With eight returning starters on that side of the football and a heap of depth behind them, the Sooners are athletic, explosive and nasty. Through three games the Crimson and Cream have yielded just four touchdowns (zero on the ground). They’ve already forced eight turnovers, including six interceptions, and have allowed a paltry 2.7 yards per rush.
In last week’s 34-10 win over Tennessee, the Oklahoma front seven reached a fever pitch. Volunteer quarterback Justin Worley dropped to throw 49 times and on 13 of those pass drops (27 percent) the Sooners either sacked or hurried him. That collective figure represents the highest total recorded by a Sooners defense since a 2011 win over Texas.
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But this didn’t happen overnight. The road Oklahoma followed to restore its reputation as a defensive force with which to be reckoned was a long and winding one.
After years of defensive domination with big-bodied war daddies like Tommie Harris and Gerald McCoy patrolling the trenches, the Sooner mystique had eroded. The first dent in the armor surfaced in 2010 when OU slipped to 58th in the country against the run, snapping a remarkable string of 10 consecutive seasons in which the Sooners finished in the top 25 in that category. A season later in 2011, Texas Tech bombarded Oklahoma, RGIII shredded them and Oklahoma State ambushed them by five touchdowns in Bedlam. OU allowed an average of 43 points and 561 yards in those three losses.
The tipping point came down the stretch a year later when the Sooners surrendered a woefully un-OU-like 535 yards per game in their final five contests of 2012. Did Tavon Austin just score again?
Things like this weren’t supposed to happen in Norman, Oklahoma. Not at the alma mater of Rod Shoate, Jimbo Elrod and the Selmon brothers. Not at the birthplace of the 5-2 defense. Bud Wilkinson was spinning in his grave.
Drastic times call for drastic measures and, at that point, the Stoops brain trust cried “No mas!” and jettisoned their longtime security blanket, the 4-3 defense, in favor of an odd front. Oklahoma’s roster is teeming with explosive second and third level players of all types – pass rushers, run stoppers, coverage specialists – and the change in defenses afforded coordinator Mike Stoops the opportunity to get more of those playmakers on the field. Another benefit came up front on the three-man defensive line where the Stoops brothers recognized that the new scheme, which requires relatively the same technique by all positions, would allow for interchangeable personnel.
The transformation of course didn’t move the needle immediately. There were some defensive bumps in the road last year, including a 41-12 meltdown at Baylor and a 36-20 loss in the Red River Rivalry in which Texas ran for 255 yards. The hits, however, outweighed the misses and OU ultimately regained its perch atop the Big 12 in total defense, allowing a shade more than 350 yards per game. By the time the Sooners teed it up in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl the college football world had no idea what OU was about to unleash on Alabama. Seven sacks and five forced turnovers later, Boomer Sooner had its swagger back.
That momentum has spilled over into an impressive start in 2014 by a Sooners defense that hits you from all angles. Simply put, Oklahoma sets out to reduce your offense to one dimension then channels its considerable resources toward disrupting -- or destroying -- that dimension.
One of the primary catalysts behind their success is an unruly force of nature wearing a No. 19 jersey on his back. He’s 250 pounds of linebacker stuffed into a 221-pound frame.
His name is Eric Striker . . . but what’s in a name? A lot, sometimes. Striker’s name might lack the drag pipes of Georgia Southern safety Vegas Harley and it might not inspire the same level of whimsy as New Mexico running back (no kidding) Crusoe Gongbay, but throw in the game tape and you’ll see that Eric “Striker” might be the most appropriately named player in college football.
Strike you he does. With an explosiveness that jumps off the screen.
Striker’s uncanny burst was showcased many times over in the Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. With less than a minute remaining, the Crimson Tide trailed by seven with the ball at their own 18-yard line. Bama offered up a 4-receiver set and the Sooners countered with two down linemen and multiple linebackers. From his “Jack” linebacker spot on the left side of Alabama’s formation, Striker crept up to the line of scrimmage. There was no pretense here. Striker was blitzing and every soul in the Superdome knew it, including Crimson Tide signal caller A.J. McCarron and All-SEC left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio.
That knowledge didn't help them once the ball was snapped.
To the right, Oklahoma came with a stunt as OU’s Charles Tapper looped inside of Sooner’s tackle Geneo Grissom. To the left, however, there was no trickery. To that side of the Sooners defense it was nothing but pure pass rushing – mano y mano – in its most primal form. OU defensive tackle Chuka Ndulue engaged Alabama’s left guard and drew the attention of center Ryan Kelly – leaving Striker one on one with Kouandjio, a future second round draft pick.
Striker exploded with a quick jab step to the inside then – in one seamless surge – redirected upfield like he was tied to a rocket bearing down on McCarron’s blindside. Kouandjio tried to reach for him but, even with the tackle’s considerable wingspan, he was unable to do so. Striker ran the hump around Kouandjio eight yards deep in the backfield and, just like that, he was all over the Alabama quarterback for his third (that’s right – third) sack of the night. The whole ordeal -- from snap to contact – spanned three rapid heartbeats. For this particular takedown, Striker added a perfectly executed “arm-over” strip of the football. McCarron coughed up the pigskin, which Grissom promptly scooped up and rumbled into the end zone for a Sooners touchdown that sealed the win.
This season, Striker has been transplanted from the weak side “Jack” position in OU’s defense to the strong side “Sam.” The switch mitigates to some extent Striker’s one-on-one pass rush duties but potentially throws him into the middle of more overall action.
The move has also helped show us he’s not just a one-trick pony. Yes, Striker is a dynamic force off the edge in passing situations but he’s also blessed with a unique blend of athleticism that allows him to play in space. Watch him diagnose routes in Oklahoma’s 52-7 win over Tulsa – easily smothering crossing patterns by nimble slot receivers -- and this becomes apparent.
Moreover, Striker is an every-down player who can knife through blocks in the open field and make downhill tackles. A perfect example came on a flare screen against Tennessee when he blasted through an attempted block on the perimeter to body slam Vols receiver Josh Smith for a three-yard loss.
Striker’s skill set is the straw that stirs defensive coordinator Mike Stoops’ multiple, odd-front scheme and his every down presence arms the Sooners with a versatility that few defenses can claim. With Striker on the field, Oklahoma – without swapping out personnel – in effect wields the coverage assets of a heavy nickel package while also enjoying the pass rushing and run stopping benefits of a four linebacker set.
The biggest beneficiary of the consistent pressure applied by Striker and company is OU cornerback Zach Sanchez, a Freshman All-American last fall. Sanchez has already picked off three passes this year and – dating back to OU’s win over Kansas State last November – he’s intercepted five in a span of six games. Why, you might be wondering, do teams keep throwing his way? Because the Oklahoma front seven is among the best in the country at forcing the issue and, when it does, quarterbacks under duress make poor decisions.
Here are a few more points to ponder as West Virginia tries to knock off its highest ranked opponent since beating another No. 4 ranked version of these Sooners in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.
1) SIR TREVOR
When Trevor Knight lines up to take Oklahoma’s first snap against West Virginia Saturday night he might look the same as he did a year ago when the Mountaineers visited Norman, but he isn’t.
The eyes of the world were on Knight when he engineered his most acclaimed performance to date – a 348-yard, 4 TD gem in OU’s Sugar Bowl win over Alabama – but his initial coming out party was actually five weeks prior to that in front of a tough crowd in Manhattan, Kansas. In a critical Big 12 road test, Knight completed 70 percent of his throws for 171 yards and added another 82 yards on the ground to help the Sooners hand Kansas State the only loss the Wildcats suffered in their final seven games of 2013. That day in The Little Apple, Knight took his first step toward becoming the undisputed leader of the Sooners offense.
Through three games this season, his numbers won’t blow you away (4 TD passes, 2 interceptions and 2 rushing TDs) but Knight’s growth as a quarterback is hard to argue. Twelve months ago he was an athletic but disoriented newcomer with a penchant for depending on his legs more than his mind. Now, when Knight vacates the pocket to extend a play, he does so not looking first to tuck the football and go but instead with his eyes trained downfield, looking to make a play with his arm.
It’s true that Knight is a more advanced passer these days but it’s also true that some old habits do die hard. Sometimes the Knight of early 2013 resurfaces, misfiring to open receivers and/or putting the ball in harm’s way. In one instance against Tulsa, he forced an ill-advised throw right into the teeth of a rolled up corner, nearly getting his slot receiver de-cleated and barely escaping disaster along the way. On the next snap he connected with Sterling Shepard for a 40-yard strike. With the bad comes the good.
Knight is far more polished than he was a year ago, but he’s still not a finished product. Nor does he need to be. The Oklahoma offense that WVU will face isn’t the pass happy Landry Jones-led attack that descended on Mountaineer Field two years ago. In part to fit their personnel, the Sooners reinvented themselves offensively a year ago, averaging more than 200 yards per game on the ground for the first time since 2004. But this is an offense that can dribble with both hands. In fact, Oklahoma is the definition of balance this year with its offensive play selection split precisely down the middle at 105 runs and 105 pass attempts.
2) THE BATTLE OF THE CHAINS
It just wouldn’t feel like a West Virginia-Oklahoma game without addressing the critical nature of third downs in this match-up. The Sooners have lost two games since the start of last year. In those two losses OU converted only 20 percent of its third-down tries (compared to 42 percent in the 14 games it’s won during that span). Might that be good news for a West Virginia defense that’s been trending decidedly up in this category?
Trying to contain athletic quarterbacks like Trevor Knight can present a special brand of trouble on third down but since allowing Alabama to convert 7 of 9 attempts in the first half in Atlanta, Tony Gibson’s defense has tightened its belt. In the Mountaineers last 10 quarters of play the WVU defense has stopped the opposition 73 percent of the time on third down. Continuing a similar level of success against Trevor Knight and the Sooners could be critical.
Offensively, West Virginia is second in the Big 12 – and 20th in the country – with a lofty third-down success rate of just above 50 percent. That’s a healthy step up from the 32 percent the Mountaineers converted last year. Rest assured there will be three or four profoundly critical third-down scenarios for each offense Saturday night. Which quarterback will have the upper hand in those situations?
3) RED ZONE REDEMPTION
West Virginia wants sixes instead of threes, but let’s start with “anythings” instead of “nothings.” The good news is only three teams in all of major college football have ventured into the red zone more frequently this season than the 19 trips made by WVU. The bad news is six of those trips have seen the Mountaineers walk away empty-handed, placing WVU 111th nationally in Red Zone Scoring. There are many factors that have influenced these results – including some near misses in the short yardage play-action passing game (see: Alabama and Towson) -- but none leap out more visibly than turnovers and an inability to run the football when the field shrinks.
Inside the opponents’ 20-yard line the Mountaineers have averaged a mere 1.5 yards per rush attempt. The best scoring zone offenses in the country typically boast an average that’s at (or north of) three yards per carry in this area of the field. Trying to get things cranking in this department against brutish 334-pound nose guard Jordan Phillips and an unyielding Sooners front seven will certainly be a stiff task, but Saturday night’s outcome might hang on the ability of Quinton Spain, Mark Glowinski and the WVU offensive line to pull it off.
It's worth recalling that a year ago in Norman the Mountaineers forced not two, not three but four Oklahoma turnovers with the Sooners marching inside the WVU 30-yard line. West Virginia returned the favor in part by coughing up a fumble inside the OU 15-yard line. Miscues like that -- and like those suffered in the scoring zone last week at Maryland -- won't cut it this week for the Mountaineers. When you’re trading blows with the highest scoring program in the history of college football, you can’t leave any points on the table.
4) COME OUT SWINGING
During its 3-0 start, Oklahoma has leapt from its corner throwing haymakers at the sound of the first bell. The Sooners have outscored the opposition 55-0 in the first quarter en route to halftime leads of 31-3 (Louisiana Tech), 31-0 (Tulsa) and 20-7 (Tennessee). Oklahoma will launch an early salvo, of that much we can be sure. How West Virginia withstands it -- and how the Mountaineers respond -- will be key.
This could easily shape up as the type of game in which an early lead dictates everything else that unfolds. If Oklahoma jumps out to a double-digit advantage, Clint Trickett and the Mountaineer offense -- forced to play catch up -- would be placed squarely in the crosshairs of Eric Striker and the Sooners relentless pass rush.
On the flipside, if West Virginia secures an early lead and builds on it, Trevor Knight and the OU offense would be thrust headlong into the trail position. That’s a role the Sooners aren’t built to play nor accustomed to being cast. With a frenzy building in the night air, the WVU defense would feed off the energy of the home crowd. A pressing Oklahoma offense would feel the tension mount with each failed third-down attempt and – ultimately – mistakes would follow.
Unranked West Virginia has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Now let’s go out and gain it.
I’ll see you at the 50.
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