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WVU Ground Attack Marches on to Kansas
November 18, 2015 01:30 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Now nine games into the season, we are discovering the true identity of this year’s West Virginia University football team – run and possess the ball, play good, sound special teams, create turnovers on defense, value field position and make on-field decisions with all of those things in mind.
If that means punting on fourth and two on your side of the 50, then punt the ball. If it means dialing back the number of blitzes and reducing the risks you are taking on defense, then dial back the blitzes and make the other guys drive the length of the field without screwing up to score points.
It means appreciating an outstanding kicking game that is pinning opponents deep in their own territory and celebrating the guys who are busting tail getting downfield on kickoffs to make tackles inside the 25.
Synergy is a word often overused or misunderstood in football, but in this instance, synergy is the best word to describe what is happening in all three phases of play for the 5-4 Mountaineers right now.
The offense is playing to the defense’s strengths, the defense is playing to the offense’s strengths, special teams are complementing both very well, and a great deal of the credit has to go to coach Dana Holgorsen and his staff for modifying what they are doing to match the strengths of their football team.
This isn’t always an easy thing to do, especially for a guy who once threw the football 76 times in a game when he was calling plays at Houston. The way things are going, Holgorsen may not throw it 76 times the rest of the season.
During last Saturday’s 38-20 win against Texas, Holgorsen tried just 12 passes, and he has yet to throw more than 39 passes in a single game this year.
When Holgorsen came here in 2011, his quarterbacks were chucking it 42 times per game, including 65 in a loss to LSU. That number was even much higher at Houston.
There are two ways you can view this - you can look pretty and lose, or you can do what fits your personnel and put your team in the best possible position to win.
Dana Holgorsen obviously wants to win football games.
Statistical Comparison
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“The right way (to call plays) is whatever you did in order to get the win,” Holgorsen said earlier this week. “Whatever you have to do to win. That’s what I’ve resigned to do. I could have been worried about stats and done something to screw the game up pretty easily – for the last two weeks I could have done that pretty easily.”
Think back to the TCU game when a holding penalty on Jovon Durante’s kickoff return right before the end of first half moved the football back to the nine-yard line.
At the time, TCU was leading by 10 – not an unmanageable deficit by any means – and the clock was down to about a minute left in the half.
Instead of running out the clock and going into the locker room trailing by 10, West Virginia went hunting for points and the result was a three-and-out possession, a punt from its own end zone, which led to great field position for the Horned Frogs. TCU, with timeouts still remaining, had more than enough time to get close enough for Jaden Oberkrom to kick a 57-yard field goal before the first half ended.
Oberkrom’s kick gave TCU a momentum-changing, 13-point lead. Then the Horned Frogs got the ball to start the second half, marched the length of the field to score a touchdown and a once manageable deficit was no longer manageable.
Now, hit the fast forward button to 16 days later following hard-earned victories over Texas Tech and Texas. In both instances, West Virginia used every single tool in its tool box to win those football games.
That meant running the football 51 times and only throwing it 12, that meant holding on to the ball for 27 minutes and having its defense defend 73 plays instead of 88 as it did against TCU or the 84 it faced against Baylor.
That meant pinning the Longhorns inside their own 20 several times on punts and a kickoff team that consistently tackled Longhorn returners before they reached the 25.
And that meant an entire football team – offensive, defensive and special teams players - hoisting their football coach up over their heads to do a little body surfing in the locker room following last Saturday’s victory over Texas.
“I think our offensive coaches are doing a good job of coming up with a game plan that fits our personnel,” Holgorsen said. “Whether it’s getting these guys to understand that what we need to do to move the ball, get first downs, get enough points to win and manage the game the appropriate way – go fast, go slow, huddle, don’t huddle – whatever we have to do to finish the game to add one victory into the win category.”
Holgorsen’s older players are clearly getting the message. Senior linebacker Jared Barber made a couple references to the starting field position the defense had on each possession during last Saturday’s Texas win.
“It’s a lot easier defending from the 25 when you know they need more than 30, 40 yards to get into field goal range,” Barber pointed out.
Backup will linebacker Sean Walters, usually one of the first guys down field making tackles on kickoffs, certainly understands the value of what they’re doing to the overall success of the team.
“It’s preparing out there like it’s your only play on defense, so you go out there flying around with tremendous effort just trying to make plays,” he said of the coverage unit’s success this year. “If we can back somebody up to the minus-20 that’s perfect for the defense to go out there and find a way to stop the other team.”
It’s also resonating with Holgorsen’s coaches, too, not only in how they are preparing for each game now, but also how they are preparing their players for the games as well.
“When you’re having success that usually means everything is working together, and we’ve seen that, especially the last couple of weeks,” offensive line coach Ron Crook noted. “Whether it’s team chemistry, as people call it, or just guys believing in each other more or the work that they’ve put in finally paying off and things coming together a little bit, we’re just focused on continuing to get the same results and improving.”
Kansas Statistical Leaders
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#13 Ryan Willis 6-4 | 211 | Fr. | QB Passing: 132-of-244, 1,377 Yards, 7 TDs, 7 INTs |
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#22 Ke'aun Kinner 5-9 | 186 | Jr. | RB Rushing: 125 Att., 537 Yards, 4.3 Avg., 5 TDs |
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#11 Tre' Parmalee 5-10 | 171 | Sr. | WR Receiving: 32 Rec., 485 Yards, 15.2 Avg., 2 TDs |
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#9 Fish Smithson 5-11 | 190 | Jr. | S Tackles: 100 Total, 78 Solo Interceptions: 2, 3 Pass Breakups |
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#10 Ben Goodman, Jr. 6-3 | 253 | Sr. | DE Tackles for Loss: 9.5 Total, 5.5 Sacks |
So, if it’s a little windy and cold out in Lawrence, Kansas - as it normally is this time of the year – West Virginia can get behind its big offensive line and give the football to emerging tailback Wendell Smallwood, who has 1,119 yards rushing with three regular season games still remaining.
It can also give the ball to Rushel Shell, who ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns two weeks ago against Texas Tech and is poised to eclipse 500 yards rushing this weekend.
It can have quarterback Skyler Howard run the ball 30 times and get into the end zone twice, as he’s done during the last two games against Texas Tech and Texas.
The Mountaineers can rely on their special teams to pin back the Jayhawks deep in their own territory and put their disruptive defense back out onto the field to try and add to the 22 turnovers it has already caused so far this year.
Or, West Virginia can utilize Howard’s timely passing as it did in victories earlier this year against Maryland, Liberty and Georgia Southern. Throwing the football is still part of West Virginia’s offensive package, as Holgorsen reminded us Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve been on the other side, too, where we’ve thrown the ball 50, 60 times and won,” Holgorsen noted. “That’s what it took to win, and that’s what we did.”
Kickoff for Saturday’s Kansas game is set for noon ET. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Network and will air locally on ROOT Sports.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into regular game coverage at 11 a.m. on affiliates throughout the Mountain State and online through leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
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