Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook - Bye Weekend Prep
October 17, 2018 12:21 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Did I hear somebody say college football is unpredictable?
Who would have ever thought undefeated West Virginia would go out to Ames, Iowa, and get handled as easily as it did by the 2-3 Cyclones, a team that had won only once against Mountaineers and had never beaten them in Ames?
Certainly not Dana Holgorsen.
"You know what's weird is I felt like we were ready to play," he said Tuesday afternoon during his weekly meeting with the media at the Milan Puskar Center. "Our energy was good, the locker room before the game was great, our prep was normal, the guys' attitude at the hotel was on point and they were engaged.
"The pregame, although it appeared to me like it was a circus – there was a buzz, and they played that up big as we all knew they were going to. Our guys had a good warm up, then the locker room was good and then they hit the field and were ready to play."
During the game, Holgorsen thought the players remained engaged on the sidelines. There weren't any noticeable loafs nor a lack of effort.
But the game itself, that was another story.
"We got whooped, there's no way around it," Holgorsen said. "We got our butt beat."
Naturally, the No. 1 question from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan, all points in between and beyond is how?
How could a team that moved the football seemingly at will against the likes of Tennessee, Kansas State and Texas Tech all of a sudden not be able to string together more than one first down against the Cyclones?
Forty-two total snaps, nine first downs and 152 total yards from an offense with a quarterback the caliber of Will Grier is just unfathomable.
You can understand, to a degree, last year's Utah performance with backup Chris Chugunov behind center, or the 2013 Maryland game when the Mountaineers were trying to break in freshman Ford Childress, but last Saturday night was beyond bizarre.
Actually, it's probably unprecedented in the long history of West Virginia football. There have been other instances when backups, replacements or young quarterbacks have struggled in games.
In 1967, during Jim Carlen's second year at WVU with Bobby Bowden as his offensive coordinator and Tom Digon as his quarterback, West Virginia managed only 61 total yards and eight first downs on 49 snaps in a 23-6 loss at Syracuse.
Afterward, Bowden humorously remarked that the Mountaineers didn't leave Syracuse but instead were "evacuated."
In 1981, with senior Oliver Luck under center, West Virginia managed just seven first downs and 138 total yards on 56 offensive snaps against fourth-ranked Pitt in a 17-0 loss in Morgantown.
I can recall another Don Nehlen squad in 1995 struggling mightily to move the football against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome with Chad Johnston quarterbacking the team. The Mountaineers that day managed just 178 yards and 10 first downs, but they did have 65 offensive plays.
Rich Rodriguez saw his young offense get dominated in a 35-0 loss to Virginia Tech in 2001, and he also watched a better offense produce just 156 yards and 11 first downs on 51 snaps in a 34-7 defeat at Maryland in 2003. Rasheed Marshall was the quarterback that afternoon, and while he did enjoy success as a sophomore in 2002, he wasn't regarded as a Heisman Trophy contender that season.
The only instance I can recall coming remotely close to what we witnessed last Saturday night was West Virginia's meager offensive showing at East Carolina in 2008 with senior Pat White behind center.
The Mountaineers that afternoon managed 251 total yards, but got just 12 first downs on 54 total snaps in a 24-3 Pirate victory. White accounted for 169 of those yards running and passing.
Before Saturday, West Virginia's worst offensive performance with Grier on the field was 347 yards and 19 first downs in last year's 11-point loss to Oklahoma State. But the Mountaineers scored 39 points that afternoon and lost the game because it couldn't stop Mason Rudolph, not because the offense couldn't move the football.
Was Iowa State's defense that good? The Cyclones played terrific last Saturday, no question, but were they better than some of those Miami defenses West Virginia faced in the 1990s and early 2000s?
Were they as good as some of Joe Paterno's Penn State defenses the Mountaineers went up against, or the Pitt defenses under Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill?
No, so what happened last Saturday is mysterious, for sure, just like those games against Maryland, Utah and East Carolina.
"There's been plenty of times when we'd get whipped and I'm like, 'Guys, you didn't play hard. You didn't play with effort. You didn't respect the game. You didn't prepare the right way.' There have been a lot of those situations," Holgorsen said. "This wasn't it.
"We simply couldn't sustain blocks, we couldn't get off coverage. Defensively, we were stuck on blocks and we missed a lot of tackles," he added. "That's a good, old-fashioned butt kicking when it comes to blocking and tackling."
So, it's back to the basics of blocking and tackling this week as West Virginia gets a couple of extra days to prepare for what now looms as a very big Thursday night game at Milan Puskar Stadium against Baylor on Oct. 25.
These Bears are not the same Bears that won only one game last year and finished near the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
Baylor has already defeated Kansas State and Kansas this year and last Saturday took Texas down to the game's final play before losing 23-17 in Austin.
"College football, it's hard to win and you have to be ready to go every single week," Holgorsen mentioned. "We've been pretty good at that around here, so let's not forget that. You're not going to see panic out of me or our program. This is going to motivate us more than it's going to discourage us, I can guarantee you that.
"So yeah, it will be back to the basics and go out and practice hard for a couple of days."
Holgorsen said the players are scheduled to practice again today and Thursday, will have Friday off and then some light work on Saturday while the coaching staff goes recruiting before resuming normal game-week prep for Baylor on Sunday.
Who would have ever thought undefeated West Virginia would go out to Ames, Iowa, and get handled as easily as it did by the 2-3 Cyclones, a team that had won only once against Mountaineers and had never beaten them in Ames?
Certainly not Dana Holgorsen.
"You know what's weird is I felt like we were ready to play," he said Tuesday afternoon during his weekly meeting with the media at the Milan Puskar Center. "Our energy was good, the locker room before the game was great, our prep was normal, the guys' attitude at the hotel was on point and they were engaged.
"The pregame, although it appeared to me like it was a circus – there was a buzz, and they played that up big as we all knew they were going to. Our guys had a good warm up, then the locker room was good and then they hit the field and were ready to play."
During the game, Holgorsen thought the players remained engaged on the sidelines. There weren't any noticeable loafs nor a lack of effort.
But the game itself, that was another story.
"We got whooped, there's no way around it," Holgorsen said. "We got our butt beat."
Naturally, the No. 1 question from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan, all points in between and beyond is how?
How could a team that moved the football seemingly at will against the likes of Tennessee, Kansas State and Texas Tech all of a sudden not be able to string together more than one first down against the Cyclones?
Forty-two total snaps, nine first downs and 152 total yards from an offense with a quarterback the caliber of Will Grier is just unfathomable.
You can understand, to a degree, last year's Utah performance with backup Chris Chugunov behind center, or the 2013 Maryland game when the Mountaineers were trying to break in freshman Ford Childress, but last Saturday night was beyond bizarre.
Actually, it's probably unprecedented in the long history of West Virginia football. There have been other instances when backups, replacements or young quarterbacks have struggled in games.
In 1967, during Jim Carlen's second year at WVU with Bobby Bowden as his offensive coordinator and Tom Digon as his quarterback, West Virginia managed only 61 total yards and eight first downs on 49 snaps in a 23-6 loss at Syracuse.
Afterward, Bowden humorously remarked that the Mountaineers didn't leave Syracuse but instead were "evacuated."
In 1981, with senior Oliver Luck under center, West Virginia managed just seven first downs and 138 total yards on 56 offensive snaps against fourth-ranked Pitt in a 17-0 loss in Morgantown.
I can recall another Don Nehlen squad in 1995 struggling mightily to move the football against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome with Chad Johnston quarterbacking the team. The Mountaineers that day managed just 178 yards and 10 first downs, but they did have 65 offensive plays.
Rich Rodriguez saw his young offense get dominated in a 35-0 loss to Virginia Tech in 2001, and he also watched a better offense produce just 156 yards and 11 first downs on 51 snaps in a 34-7 defeat at Maryland in 2003. Rasheed Marshall was the quarterback that afternoon, and while he did enjoy success as a sophomore in 2002, he wasn't regarded as a Heisman Trophy contender that season.
The only instance I can recall coming remotely close to what we witnessed last Saturday night was West Virginia's meager offensive showing at East Carolina in 2008 with senior Pat White behind center.
The Mountaineers that afternoon managed 251 total yards, but got just 12 first downs on 54 total snaps in a 24-3 Pirate victory. White accounted for 169 of those yards running and passing.
Before Saturday, West Virginia's worst offensive performance with Grier on the field was 347 yards and 19 first downs in last year's 11-point loss to Oklahoma State. But the Mountaineers scored 39 points that afternoon and lost the game because it couldn't stop Mason Rudolph, not because the offense couldn't move the football.
Was Iowa State's defense that good? The Cyclones played terrific last Saturday, no question, but were they better than some of those Miami defenses West Virginia faced in the 1990s and early 2000s?
Were they as good as some of Joe Paterno's Penn State defenses the Mountaineers went up against, or the Pitt defenses under Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill?
No, so what happened last Saturday is mysterious, for sure, just like those games against Maryland, Utah and East Carolina.
"There's been plenty of times when we'd get whipped and I'm like, 'Guys, you didn't play hard. You didn't play with effort. You didn't respect the game. You didn't prepare the right way.' There have been a lot of those situations," Holgorsen said. "This wasn't it.
"We simply couldn't sustain blocks, we couldn't get off coverage. Defensively, we were stuck on blocks and we missed a lot of tackles," he added. "That's a good, old-fashioned butt kicking when it comes to blocking and tackling."
So, it's back to the basics of blocking and tackling this week as West Virginia gets a couple of extra days to prepare for what now looms as a very big Thursday night game at Milan Puskar Stadium against Baylor on Oct. 25.
These Bears are not the same Bears that won only one game last year and finished near the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
Baylor has already defeated Kansas State and Kansas this year and last Saturday took Texas down to the game's final play before losing 23-17 in Austin.
"College football, it's hard to win and you have to be ready to go every single week," Holgorsen mentioned. "We've been pretty good at that around here, so let's not forget that. You're not going to see panic out of me or our program. This is going to motivate us more than it's going to discourage us, I can guarantee you that.
"So yeah, it will be back to the basics and go out and practice hard for a couple of days."
Holgorsen said the players are scheduled to practice again today and Thursday, will have Friday off and then some light work on Saturday while the coaching staff goes recruiting before resuming normal game-week prep for Baylor on Sunday.
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