Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Monday Football Notebook
October 29, 2018 01:25 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As long as they still tackle, blocking and tackling will always be the two basic tenets of success in this great game of college football.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen admitted Monday that his team's blocking and tackling were far better last Thursday night in the Mountaineers' surprisingly easy 58-14 victory over Baylor, which took Texas down to the game's final play in Austin 16 days ago.
Offensively, WVU had its highest total yardage output in a Big 12 game so far this year against the Bears, and its second-best performance of the season.
Quarterback Will Grier was his usual explosive self, averaging 13 yards per pass attempt and nearly 21 yards on his 17 completions, while the run game generated 172 yards for its third-highest total of the season.
WVU even got a couple of big plays from the run game, one coming on a 79-yard tote by Tevin Bush and the other by Martell Pettaway on a 33-yard touchdown burst late in the second quarter.
Both of those were the result of great blocking up front and great blocking on the perimeter.
"It's not just the five guys up front," Holgorsen explained Monday during his weekly teleconference with the media. "I think, collectively, the five guys up front played about as good as they have all year, but (Trevon) Wesco at the tight end spot blocked well. Why he was our player of the game was because of how well he blocked.
"Our perimeter blocking was the best it's been all year, too," he continued. "T.J. Simmons and Dom Maiden, those two guys in particular, were blocking people all over the field and out of bounds as well. That helps lead to explosive plays, not only in the pass game but the run game as well. I'm happy with where it's at and that's just the way it's got to be for us to be successful."
The Mountaineers' ability to block will once again be tested greatly this Saturday at Texas. WVU faces a Longhorn defense that ranks third in the Big 12 against the run, third in scoring defense and fourth in total defense.
Monday Notebook
* Dana Holgorsen was asked about fielding one of the smallest linebacker corps in college football. He noted the strong performance of West Virginia's defensive line has contributed to the success the linebackers have had this year, including Big 12 defensive player of the year contender David Long Jr., who is having a terrific season.
Long Jr., with four regular season games remaining and possibly two more after that, is just seven tackles for loss away from breaking the school single-season record for TFLs. He averages nearly two TFLs per game this year and also leads the team with 68 total tackles.
"With a guy like David Long, when I was coaching against him on scout team we couldn't block this guy. His pad level is so good, he runs underneath blocks, he runs around blocks and he's so quick, and JoVanni Stewart has been doing the same thing as far as just working around blocks, getting to the ball and being sure tacklers," Holgorsen mentioned. "They're both extremely, extremely tough individuals so that makes up for a lack of size. Shea Campbell is not a small person and Dylan Tonkery is not a small person. They're more along the lines of what Nick Kwiatkoski was at the linebacker spot – who does happen to play middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears. There was a big one who has got some size.
"Clearly, they have to play like that every week for us to be successful in the Big 12, no matter who we are playing," Holgorsen said.
Holgorsen said the 3-3 stack scheme defensive coordinator Tony Gibson utilizes also enables West Virginia to compensate for a lack of size at some of the linebacker positions.
"It's what this 3-3 stack is all about," he said. "I give our D-line a ton of credit where we're doing a great job of holding gaps and doing a good job of holding double teams. We are even being disruptive in the backfield from the D-line and we've got about eight of them that I've been happy with. It allows linebackers to be able to run free and make plays."
Holgorsen also counts safeties Dravon Askew-Henry and Toyous Avery Jr. as linebackers in certain alignments.
"Those guys are considered outside linebackers a lot with what we do with our scheme so that's five second-level guys getting to the ball and tackling well, but also getting off of blocks and making plays as well," he said.
"We don't really worry too much about size and it all starts up front," Holgorsen concluded.
* Holgorsen was asked Monday about Grier's performance against Baylor, contrasting that to the difficulty he encountered 16 days ago at Iowa State.
"That's part of being the starting quarterback," Holgorsen explained. "He wasn't the only one who didn't play very good against Iowa State. There were 10 other guys on the field who didn't block or get open as well. He leads us and we're going to feed off of him and the finger is always going to get pointed at him, or me, if things don't go as well as they can.
"We've got people blocking for him and getting open that makes his job a whole lot easier," the coach added.
* According to the Big 12, 60 percent of the conference is ranked among the nation's top 32 in ESPN's FPI rankings – second-best among autonomy conference this week.
Also, four Big 12 teams rank among the nation's top 15 in total offense – No. 4 Oklahoma (548.3), No. 7 Texas Tech (528.3), No. 11 Oklahoma State (494.1) and No. 15 West Virginia (479.1).
And, two of college football's three most efficient passers this week play in the Big 12 – Oklahoma's Kyler Murray with a 227.3 passer rating and West Virginia's Will Grier with a 188.7 mark.
* Senior wide receiver David Sills V is the only Mountaineer player to lead a Big 12 statistical category this week – he's the league's top scorer, averaging 7.7 points per game. He has now caught 27 touchdown passes from Grier in the last two seasons, nine more than any other current QB-WR combo in the FBS.
* It will be interesting to see where West Virginia sits when the first college football playoff rankings are announced Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The initial top four is expected to be Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and LSU in some variation of that order.
Yahoo's Pat Forde lists his 12 teams that are still in contention for the four spots as November looms with West Virginia being one of the 12: https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-dash-12-teams-still-contention-college-football-playoff-033134155.html
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen admitted Monday that his team's blocking and tackling were far better last Thursday night in the Mountaineers' surprisingly easy 58-14 victory over Baylor, which took Texas down to the game's final play in Austin 16 days ago.
Offensively, WVU had its highest total yardage output in a Big 12 game so far this year against the Bears, and its second-best performance of the season.
Quarterback Will Grier was his usual explosive self, averaging 13 yards per pass attempt and nearly 21 yards on his 17 completions, while the run game generated 172 yards for its third-highest total of the season.
WVU even got a couple of big plays from the run game, one coming on a 79-yard tote by Tevin Bush and the other by Martell Pettaway on a 33-yard touchdown burst late in the second quarter.
Both of those were the result of great blocking up front and great blocking on the perimeter.
"It's not just the five guys up front," Holgorsen explained Monday during his weekly teleconference with the media. "I think, collectively, the five guys up front played about as good as they have all year, but (Trevon) Wesco at the tight end spot blocked well. Why he was our player of the game was because of how well he blocked.
"Our perimeter blocking was the best it's been all year, too," he continued. "T.J. Simmons and Dom Maiden, those two guys in particular, were blocking people all over the field and out of bounds as well. That helps lead to explosive plays, not only in the pass game but the run game as well. I'm happy with where it's at and that's just the way it's got to be for us to be successful."
The Mountaineers' ability to block will once again be tested greatly this Saturday at Texas. WVU faces a Longhorn defense that ranks third in the Big 12 against the run, third in scoring defense and fourth in total defense.
Monday Notebook
* Dana Holgorsen was asked about fielding one of the smallest linebacker corps in college football. He noted the strong performance of West Virginia's defensive line has contributed to the success the linebackers have had this year, including Big 12 defensive player of the year contender David Long Jr., who is having a terrific season.
Long Jr., with four regular season games remaining and possibly two more after that, is just seven tackles for loss away from breaking the school single-season record for TFLs. He averages nearly two TFLs per game this year and also leads the team with 68 total tackles.
"With a guy like David Long, when I was coaching against him on scout team we couldn't block this guy. His pad level is so good, he runs underneath blocks, he runs around blocks and he's so quick, and JoVanni Stewart has been doing the same thing as far as just working around blocks, getting to the ball and being sure tacklers," Holgorsen mentioned. "They're both extremely, extremely tough individuals so that makes up for a lack of size. Shea Campbell is not a small person and Dylan Tonkery is not a small person. They're more along the lines of what Nick Kwiatkoski was at the linebacker spot – who does happen to play middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears. There was a big one who has got some size.
"Clearly, they have to play like that every week for us to be successful in the Big 12, no matter who we are playing," Holgorsen said.
Holgorsen said the 3-3 stack scheme defensive coordinator Tony Gibson utilizes also enables West Virginia to compensate for a lack of size at some of the linebacker positions.
"It's what this 3-3 stack is all about," he said. "I give our D-line a ton of credit where we're doing a great job of holding gaps and doing a good job of holding double teams. We are even being disruptive in the backfield from the D-line and we've got about eight of them that I've been happy with. It allows linebackers to be able to run free and make plays."
Holgorsen also counts safeties Dravon Askew-Henry and Toyous Avery Jr. as linebackers in certain alignments.
"Those guys are considered outside linebackers a lot with what we do with our scheme so that's five second-level guys getting to the ball and tackling well, but also getting off of blocks and making plays as well," he said.
"We don't really worry too much about size and it all starts up front," Holgorsen concluded.
* Holgorsen was asked Monday about Grier's performance against Baylor, contrasting that to the difficulty he encountered 16 days ago at Iowa State.
"That's part of being the starting quarterback," Holgorsen explained. "He wasn't the only one who didn't play very good against Iowa State. There were 10 other guys on the field who didn't block or get open as well. He leads us and we're going to feed off of him and the finger is always going to get pointed at him, or me, if things don't go as well as they can.
"We've got people blocking for him and getting open that makes his job a whole lot easier," the coach added.
* According to the Big 12, 60 percent of the conference is ranked among the nation's top 32 in ESPN's FPI rankings – second-best among autonomy conference this week.
Also, four Big 12 teams rank among the nation's top 15 in total offense – No. 4 Oklahoma (548.3), No. 7 Texas Tech (528.3), No. 11 Oklahoma State (494.1) and No. 15 West Virginia (479.1).
And, two of college football's three most efficient passers this week play in the Big 12 – Oklahoma's Kyler Murray with a 227.3 passer rating and West Virginia's Will Grier with a 188.7 mark.
* Senior wide receiver David Sills V is the only Mountaineer player to lead a Big 12 statistical category this week – he's the league's top scorer, averaging 7.7 points per game. He has now caught 27 touchdown passes from Grier in the last two seasons, nine more than any other current QB-WR combo in the FBS.
* It will be interesting to see where West Virginia sits when the first college football playoff rankings are announced Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The initial top four is expected to be Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and LSU in some variation of that order.
Yahoo's Pat Forde lists his 12 teams that are still in contention for the four spots as November looms with West Virginia being one of the 12: https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-dash-12-teams-still-contention-college-football-playoff-033134155.html
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