Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Tonkery's Fourth-Down Stop Keys Blowout Win
September 23, 2018 09:15 AM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – They say football is oftentimes a game of inches. Well, a matter of 6 inches is what ended up turning yesterday's Kansas State game upside down.
The Wildcats' inability to advance the football a half-foot is what ultimately turned a 7-0 football game into a 35-6 rout.
With less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter and K-State keeping the game close – an 82-yard Marcus Simms touchdown catch being the only score – Kansas State had three cracks to make a first down at its own 43.
Toyous Avery Jr. and Derrek Pitts Jr. snuffed out the first try by Dalvin Warmack.
That forced K-State to call timeout to come up with something different.
When play resumed, quarterback Skylar Thompson tried a sneak up the middle, but outside linebacker JoVanni Stewart was right there to meet him head-on at the line of scrimmage and keep him from reaching the 44.
That made it fourth and inches and Kansas State chose to roll the dice and go for it instead of punting the football back to West Virginia.
In the six prior games against the Mountaineers, Kansas State's brute strength usually won out. It's a team that has always prided itself on getting the tough yards and keeping the other team from getting the tough yards.
Do you remember Skyler Howard's quarterback-power run on fourth and 1 late in the 2015 game out in Manhattan that ended up going backwards?
Against West Virginia, Kansas State has usually gotten the tough yards when it needed them.
"I can't coach a team that can't get 6 inches on a play," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder admitted afterward.
So, probably based off of those prior experiences, Snyder opted to keep his offense out on the field because he didn't want West Virginia's offense back out there. There are only so many times you can stop Will Grier before he's finally going to get you.
K-State came out in the same formation they used on Thompson's unsuccessful third down run. This time, Thompson checked to an option run and every single player on West Virginia's defense saw him do it.
"The play before that, same formation, the quarterback walked up and we didn't really get down to start penetrating gaps and the D-linemen stopped that play," linebacker Dylan Tonkery explained. "The next play they were doing the same thing so me and Dave (Long Jr.) started cheating down.
"(Thompson) checked and turned around and looked at the running back so I was like, 'Hmm, I doubt they are running the same play.' I'm thinking option here so I scooted back and then scooted out and that's exactly what they ran," Tonkery said.
"At first they were going to run a quarterback draw, but they saw that we adjusted to it so when they checked (Dylan) moved out a little bit and made the play," Long Jr. said.
"Once I saw the formation, I assumed it was going to be option and Coach Gibby always says attack the quarterback so we can play it like it's a toss," added Stewart. "I got the quarterback to where he had to pitch it and we chased them down."
When Tony Gibson saw Thompson check to running back Alex Barnes he knew his guys were going to stop it because this is the fastest group of defensive players he has ever put on the field at WVU.
"They thought we were in a Bear front and checked option, and it wasn't good," West Virginia's defensive coordinator said. "I actually thought they were going to run quarterback sneak again and we moved our inside guys down and made a call to get that to just try and cause a pile and force them out to the perimeter. But I'll take that any day with our kids because we can run."
That play changed everything, including Kansas State's plan coming in of trying to knock West Virginia's defense off the ball and run the football down its throat and control the game by limiting West Virginia's offensive possessions.
Kansas State couldn't do it between the tackles, it certainly wasn't going to do it on the perimeter, and the Wildcats don't have an offense equipped to throw it 40 times a game.
What could they do after that? Kick a couple of meaningless second-half field goals, it turns out.
Following Tonkery's big fourth-down stop, West Virginia scored the next four times it had the football and the only thing in question was the final score.
"That just turned everybody else up because the offense really needed that boost," Avery Jr. said.
"That's playing off each other and playing together," added Grier, who threw four of his five touchdown passes after Tonkery's fourth-down stop. "We talk about that a lot. We got excited and we played up to what they did."
Playing off each other is something Coach Dana Holgorsen has been consistently preaching to his team since the start of fall training camp.
On Saturday, it showed up in all three phases of play.
"I'm really proud of our coaches and players, offensively, defensively and kicking game," Holgorsen said.
Simms' 82-yard touchdown may have woke up West Virginia's sideline, but it was Tonkery's big stop that ignited it.
"That was a key point," Holgorsen said. "We stopped them on fourth down, we scored, then we stopped them, then we had a two-minute drive down and scored again. Then we came out and continued playing well in the third quarter. We didn't do that last year."
Or the year before, or the year before, or the year before, or the year before, or the year before.
But they did today, and in the process the Mountaineers administered a rare blowout loss to a Kansas State program that's not used to these.
"Kansas State, they don't lose like that," Holgorsen said. "It's hard to beat those guys like that."
We know.
Briefly:
* Gibson said his plan going into Saturday's game against Kansas State was to use more four-man fronts in response to the Wildcat's inside power running game. But he stuck primarily to his normal three-man fronts because K-State struggled to block it.
"I thought we were going to need it and we didn't need it so I liked keeping the three fresh guys," Gibson said. "When you get four, and if you are going to stay in four-down, you are going to be burning a lot of snaps with those D-linemen."
* Saturday's game was the first time Kansas State has failed to score a touchdown against West Virginia's defense since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 in 2012. It was also the first time the defense kept an opposing team out of the end zone since Nov. 28, 2015 when the Mountaineers defeated Iowa State, 30-6, following a 49-0 victory over Kansas the week prior.
* Tonkery was credited with five tackles and 2 ½ tackles for losses Saturday against Kansas State after coming off a zero-tackle performance two weeks ago against Youngstown State, which prompted a little motivational talk from Gibson.
"I've never heard of a mike linebacker playing a whole football game without getting a single tackle," Gibson said.
The Mountaineer defense, which came into Saturday's game ranked second in the Big 12 with 21 tackles for losses, got 10 more against the Wildcats on Saturday upping their total to 31.
Seven different players were involved in those 10 TFLs, including a pair of sacks from Long Jr., who finished the game with a team-best nine tackles.
"I can't blitz every single snap and there was a point today where I called about eight straight blitzes," Gibson said.
* Perhaps the most impressive defensive play of the game occurred in the second half when backup nose guard Darius Stills nearly ran down quarterback Alex Delton to the sideline.
Stills is 88 pounds heavier than 205-pound Delton!
"He was moving," Gibson said. "Darius came over and he was breathing hard and he said, 'Coach I thought I had him.' I said, 'Me, too.' That was a fun game."
* One area Gibson said he is still concerned about with his defense is coverage in the backend. "We've got to get better there," he admitted.
Gibson said this before Texas Tech freshman quarterback Alan Bowman passed for 397 yards and two touchdowns in the Red Raiders' 41-17 blowout victory at Oklahoma State Saturday night.
Of course, the 3-1 Red Raiders are looming next Saturday for West Virginia in what now looks like the game of the week in the Big 12.
The network choice for the conference is Baylor's game at Oklahoma airing on ABC at 3:30 p.m.
West Virginia's matchup at Texas Tech is airing on ESPN2 at noon, which means an 11 a.m. kick out in Lubbock.
The Wildcats' inability to advance the football a half-foot is what ultimately turned a 7-0 football game into a 35-6 rout.
With less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter and K-State keeping the game close – an 82-yard Marcus Simms touchdown catch being the only score – Kansas State had three cracks to make a first down at its own 43.
Toyous Avery Jr. and Derrek Pitts Jr. snuffed out the first try by Dalvin Warmack.
That forced K-State to call timeout to come up with something different.
When play resumed, quarterback Skylar Thompson tried a sneak up the middle, but outside linebacker JoVanni Stewart was right there to meet him head-on at the line of scrimmage and keep him from reaching the 44.
That made it fourth and inches and Kansas State chose to roll the dice and go for it instead of punting the football back to West Virginia.
In the six prior games against the Mountaineers, Kansas State's brute strength usually won out. It's a team that has always prided itself on getting the tough yards and keeping the other team from getting the tough yards.
Do you remember Skyler Howard's quarterback-power run on fourth and 1 late in the 2015 game out in Manhattan that ended up going backwards?
Against West Virginia, Kansas State has usually gotten the tough yards when it needed them.
"I can't coach a team that can't get 6 inches on a play," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder admitted afterward.
So, probably based off of those prior experiences, Snyder opted to keep his offense out on the field because he didn't want West Virginia's offense back out there. There are only so many times you can stop Will Grier before he's finally going to get you.
K-State came out in the same formation they used on Thompson's unsuccessful third down run. This time, Thompson checked to an option run and every single player on West Virginia's defense saw him do it.
"The play before that, same formation, the quarterback walked up and we didn't really get down to start penetrating gaps and the D-linemen stopped that play," linebacker Dylan Tonkery explained. "The next play they were doing the same thing so me and Dave (Long Jr.) started cheating down.
"(Thompson) checked and turned around and looked at the running back so I was like, 'Hmm, I doubt they are running the same play.' I'm thinking option here so I scooted back and then scooted out and that's exactly what they ran," Tonkery said."At first they were going to run a quarterback draw, but they saw that we adjusted to it so when they checked (Dylan) moved out a little bit and made the play," Long Jr. said.
"Once I saw the formation, I assumed it was going to be option and Coach Gibby always says attack the quarterback so we can play it like it's a toss," added Stewart. "I got the quarterback to where he had to pitch it and we chased them down."
When Tony Gibson saw Thompson check to running back Alex Barnes he knew his guys were going to stop it because this is the fastest group of defensive players he has ever put on the field at WVU.
"They thought we were in a Bear front and checked option, and it wasn't good," West Virginia's defensive coordinator said. "I actually thought they were going to run quarterback sneak again and we moved our inside guys down and made a call to get that to just try and cause a pile and force them out to the perimeter. But I'll take that any day with our kids because we can run."
That play changed everything, including Kansas State's plan coming in of trying to knock West Virginia's defense off the ball and run the football down its throat and control the game by limiting West Virginia's offensive possessions.
Kansas State couldn't do it between the tackles, it certainly wasn't going to do it on the perimeter, and the Wildcats don't have an offense equipped to throw it 40 times a game.
What could they do after that? Kick a couple of meaningless second-half field goals, it turns out.
Following Tonkery's big fourth-down stop, West Virginia scored the next four times it had the football and the only thing in question was the final score.
"That just turned everybody else up because the offense really needed that boost," Avery Jr. said.
"That's playing off each other and playing together," added Grier, who threw four of his five touchdown passes after Tonkery's fourth-down stop. "We talk about that a lot. We got excited and we played up to what they did."
Playing off each other is something Coach Dana Holgorsen has been consistently preaching to his team since the start of fall training camp.
On Saturday, it showed up in all three phases of play.
"I'm really proud of our coaches and players, offensively, defensively and kicking game," Holgorsen said.
Simms' 82-yard touchdown may have woke up West Virginia's sideline, but it was Tonkery's big stop that ignited it.
"That was a key point," Holgorsen said. "We stopped them on fourth down, we scored, then we stopped them, then we had a two-minute drive down and scored again. Then we came out and continued playing well in the third quarter. We didn't do that last year."
Or the year before, or the year before, or the year before, or the year before, or the year before.
But they did today, and in the process the Mountaineers administered a rare blowout loss to a Kansas State program that's not used to these.
"Kansas State, they don't lose like that," Holgorsen said. "It's hard to beat those guys like that."
We know.
Briefly:
* Gibson said his plan going into Saturday's game against Kansas State was to use more four-man fronts in response to the Wildcat's inside power running game. But he stuck primarily to his normal three-man fronts because K-State struggled to block it.
"I thought we were going to need it and we didn't need it so I liked keeping the three fresh guys," Gibson said. "When you get four, and if you are going to stay in four-down, you are going to be burning a lot of snaps with those D-linemen."
* Saturday's game was the first time Kansas State has failed to score a touchdown against West Virginia's defense since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 in 2012. It was also the first time the defense kept an opposing team out of the end zone since Nov. 28, 2015 when the Mountaineers defeated Iowa State, 30-6, following a 49-0 victory over Kansas the week prior.
* Tonkery was credited with five tackles and 2 ½ tackles for losses Saturday against Kansas State after coming off a zero-tackle performance two weeks ago against Youngstown State, which prompted a little motivational talk from Gibson.
"I've never heard of a mike linebacker playing a whole football game without getting a single tackle," Gibson said.
The Mountaineer defense, which came into Saturday's game ranked second in the Big 12 with 21 tackles for losses, got 10 more against the Wildcats on Saturday upping their total to 31.
Seven different players were involved in those 10 TFLs, including a pair of sacks from Long Jr., who finished the game with a team-best nine tackles.
"I can't blitz every single snap and there was a point today where I called about eight straight blitzes," Gibson said.
* Perhaps the most impressive defensive play of the game occurred in the second half when backup nose guard Darius Stills nearly ran down quarterback Alex Delton to the sideline.
Stills is 88 pounds heavier than 205-pound Delton!
"He was moving," Gibson said. "Darius came over and he was breathing hard and he said, 'Coach I thought I had him.' I said, 'Me, too.' That was a fun game."
* One area Gibson said he is still concerned about with his defense is coverage in the backend. "We've got to get better there," he admitted.
Gibson said this before Texas Tech freshman quarterback Alan Bowman passed for 397 yards and two touchdowns in the Red Raiders' 41-17 blowout victory at Oklahoma State Saturday night.
Of course, the 3-1 Red Raiders are looming next Saturday for West Virginia in what now looks like the game of the week in the Big 12.
The network choice for the conference is Baylor's game at Oklahoma airing on ABC at 3:30 p.m.
West Virginia's matchup at Texas Tech is airing on ESPN2 at noon, which means an 11 a.m. kick out in Lubbock.
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