MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Of Will Grier's many great attributes, perhaps the most important one to West Virginia's success on Saturday afternoon against Kansas State is going to be his eyes.
 
What Grier sees is going to be the difference between the Mountaineers moving the football on a consistent basis or punting it back to the Wildcats on a consistent basis, as they did during last year's 28-23 WVU victory.
 
Or its 17-16 victory in 2016, or its one-point loss in Manhattan in 2015, or the six-point defeat in Morgantown in 2014 and the two blowout losses in 2012 and '13.
 
West Virginia's 28 points were the most it has ever scored against K-State since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 seven years ago, but when you go back and take a closer look at that game, those four touchdowns came during a 17-minute flurry that began late in the first quarter and ended at halftime.
 
One touchdown was a 75-yard Grier pass to Ka'Raun White, another was set up by Grier's 43-yard throw to David Sills V, and the final one, when the game clock read zero, was Grier's 30-yard prayer into the end zone that White answered.
 
That's it. The Mountaineers didn't score in the second half but still held on for a hard-fought victory.
 
The old Silver Fox standing on the other side of the field in his 20-year-old coaching gear had a lot to do with West Virginia's inability to move the football. Of course, the Silver Fox is none other than Bill Snyder, who can kill you with kindness.
 
He's also been West Virginia's grandfatherly, smiling assassin.
 
Snyder's teams have given West Virginia fits every time they've played, and it wasn't until two years ago when the Mountaineers finally snapped the K-State hex with their 17-16 victory at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
West Virginia was trailing, 16-3, heading into the fourth quarter before rallying to score two late touchdowns to knock off the Wildcats.
 
Before that, Kansas State had won four straight including a 55-14 victory in Morgantown in 2012 and a 35-12 triumph in Manhattan in 2013.
 
The last four WVU-K-State games have been decided by a mere 13 points, the widest margin being the Wildcats' six-point victory here in 2014.
 
No Big 12 team West Virginia has faced, including Oklahoma, has been more frustrating to score touchdowns against than Snyder's Kansas State defense.
 
Why?
 
Because they usually don't make killer mistakes, and they wait for the other team to screw up. 
 
And when they do, K-State almost always takes advantage of it.
 
It's like going out in the backyard and boxing your neighbor who has much longer arms. You're swinging away while he's holding you at bay. Once you get tired, that's when he strikes.
 
That's basically what K-State has done to West Virginia.
 
"Field position has been critical," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen explained. "That's what they do. Typically, they win the field position and typically they win the turnover battle and try to limit their mistakes.
 
"They shorten the game, and they believe they can win it at the end," he said.
 
And they usually do, 66 percent of the time on Snyder's watch.
 
And it almost happened the two times Kansas State has lost to West Virginia. 
 
Two years ago, K-State missed a go-ahead field goal with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter and West Virginia ran out the clock. Last year, the Wildcats also had a couple of cracks at crossing the goal line late in game.
 
"I don't know if I've ever had a bigger headache than what two years ago was," Holgorsen admitted. "I don't know how we won that game. I don't know how we won the last two games. We turned it over way too many times."
 
Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said last year's performance at Kansas State sparked some offseason discussions about efficiency and taking the higher-percentage plays when they are available.
 
Last year, the Silver Fox rolled coverages late or sometimes snuck an extra defender in the box right before the snap that caused problems for the Mountaineers in the run game.
 
Consequently, sometimes Grier was running into a heavy box or throwing into tight coverage. 
 
That's where his eyes have to be much better this year.
 
"I think they caught us in a few things last year when we had the run game called and they shot a blitz into a box that was outmanned," Spavital explained. "We just didn't get into any audibles."
 
"Yeah, they mixed a lot of things up," Grier said. "They were doing a lot of different stuff. There weren't a whole lot of tendencies we could grasp onto, and they got us sometimes. I've got to do a better job this year of taking what they give me, seeing it and reacting to it. 
 
"This year it's about being smart and being high percentage."
 
That could mean going deeper into the play clock to make sure they are in the right play or getting the play to Grier a little bit earlier so he has time to see what's going on in front of him.
 
Then he's got to make sure what he's seeing out there aren't ghosts.
 
"Spav does a great job of getting us the play early so I have time, and then it's going to be on me to take what they give us and get us into the right play with what they are doing," Grier said. "It's something we continue to practice and it's going to be important this week."
 
Senior wide receiver David Sills V agrees.
 
"We have to be on our game and be precise with all of our routes and throws and not make mental errors," he said. "They were disguising their coverages well and rolling into different coverages so that's one thing we've taken a big note of this year. Seeing when the safety is going to roll or the corner is going to press or bail. I think we've done a good job of game planning this year."
 
Holgorsen said what's he's seen on film from Kansas State (2-1) so far this year is a little bit different than in the past. The Wildcats are pressing the issue a little bit more with blitzes and playing a little more man coverage in the secondary behind it.
 
That's more in line with what Tennessee did in the opener instead of playing back the way Youngstown State did two weeks ago.
 
"That's what we've seen on video, so I'm not expecting them to do anything different," Holgorsen said.
 
That could mean the opportunity is there for some big plays if West Virginia can capitalize.
 
The Mountaineers were able to make just enough of them last year to beat the Wildcats, even when the Silver Fox was at his deceptive best.
 
"If they're giving us something different and it ends up being a bad play, Will usually finds a way to make it a good play anyway," Sills V concluded.
 
A crowd of about 58,000 is expected for Saturday's game, which will kick off at 3:30 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.
 
ESPN (Clay Matvick, Dan Orlovsky and Paul Carcaterra) will televise the contest nationally.
 
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's pregame coverage begins with the Go-Mart Mountaineer Tailgate Show (Dan Zangrilli, Dale Wolfley and Jed Drenning) at noon leading into regular game coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Drenning at 2:30 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
 
Prior to Saturday's game, West Virginia University will be inducting its 28^thHall of Fame class inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility at 12:30 p.m.
 
The headliners in this year's group include football standouts Pat White, Steve Slaton, Avon Cobourne, Tom Keane and Larry Krutko.
 
The ceremony is open to the general public and is free of charge.

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