Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Monday Mountaineer Football Notebook
October 05, 2020 04:30 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Neal Brown said a lot of his focus during the open week will be on the offensive side of the football.
The Mountaineer offense generated 27 points in last Saturday's six-point, double-overtime victory of Baylor, but 13 of those came during overtime and large chunks of the game resulted in empty drives.
WVU had a 15-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on the opening possession of the game and didn't get into the end zone again until 1:38 left in the third quarter.
"Offensively, we've been able to run the football in all three games, but our pass game has got to get way better," Brown said.
Quarterback Jarret Doege completed 30-of-42 passes for 211 yards, but his longest pass play was only 14 yards to Sam James. Almost every pass he completed was near the line of scrimmage, which is going to make it difficult to run the ball in the future if that doesn't improve.
West Virginia was only 5-of-18 on third down and once again struggled to generate explosive plays. Running back Alec Sinkfield's 25-yard run in the third quarter was the Mountaineers' longest play from scrimmage on Saturday against Baylor's defense.
In last week's Baylor game notes, West Virginia listed 11 plays of 20 yards or longer from scrimmage leading into last Saturday's game. WVU added just one to that total against Baylor.
But in reality, a 20-yard play doesn't really grab a defense's attention quite like a 50-yard play, which has been lacking so far this year for WVU. Only Winston Wright Jr.'s 70-yard touchdown reception against Oklahoma State fits into that category.
An old baseball coach once told me the hardest thing to do in baseball is string together three straight hits to score a run. The easiest way to score is by hitting the ball out of the ballpark.
The same thing applies in football.
Consistently stringing together 10-, 15-play drives to get into the end zone is nearly impossible to do.
Eventually, someone is going to have to take the top off defenses to keep them honest.
Monday Mountaineer Notes
* Senior defensive tackle Darius Stills was named Big 12 co-defensive player of the week following his 2 ½-sack, 3 ½-TFL performance against Baylor. In the last two games against the Bears, Stills has produced 5 ½ sacks, 6 ½ TFLs and 14 total tackles.
* It will be another noon kickoff for West Virginia when it faces Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The game will be televised nationally by FS1 and for the first time this year, a limited number of fans will be allowed to attend the game.
University, local and state health officials will permit 25% capacity, meaning a cap of approximately 15,000 fans. Only family members and essential game personnel have been admitted into the stadium for West Virginia's first two games of the season against Eastern Kentucky and Baylor. In both instances, fewer than 1,000 fans were listed in the official attendance.
* Brown said Monday the plan for this week is to go light and do more conditioning work.
"We've got some things, for sure, we've got to work on and there are going to be some points of emphasis, but we'll focus on short, concise practices and we'll still continue to keep our conditioning up," he said. "I think that's one area we've done a nice job of and that's a credit to our strength and conditioning staff, but it probably won't be as physical as it was during the first one."
Brown said he gave his players and coaches Sunday off and didn't require them to be in the Puskar Center until noon on Monday.
"That was a long game and while I will say we haven't played very well offensively, we've played a lot of plays … almost 180 snaps with the penalties on offense over the last two games," he explained. "Defensively, we don't have a whole lot of depth so we need to take care of our guys this week."
* The strategically planned open weeks were put in place this fall to help teams manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This is already West Virginia's second so far, and the Mountaineers will hit the pause button once more during the third week of November.
Brown said his staff is trying to use these open weeks to their advantage to deal with the virus.
"We've tried to mitigate as much as we possibly can," he said. "We had a positive test result (before Saturday's game), which I think has been publicized. Since Saturday postgame, we've tried to stay apart. We'll continue to do that. We tested yesterday. At the facility, we've done a really good job of mask wearing and all that kind of stuff – social distancing, cleaning surfaces and all of the things we can possibly do as far as anytime they're indoors.
"We are using our indoor (facility) a lot for meals and team meetings and keeping our guys spread out," he added. "We are keeping the doors open with fresh air. Since the game until really Tuesday, we won't get together until late Tuesday afternoon.
"There is nothing about the last seven or eight months that has been easy, nothing," he said.
* Brown was extremely complimentary of his defense during Monday's teleconference with Big 12 media. The Mountaineers limited Baylor to just 27 net rushing yards on 33 attempts and held Baylor to just 3.6 yards per play.
The Bears were only 4 of 16 on third down.
"I thought defensively we played at a really high level," he said. "I thought we flew around, and I thought our defensive line was dominant at times. We had several tackles for a loss, sacks and hits on the quarterback. I thought our tackling and forcing some takeaways (was good), and we were really good down in the red zone."
The coach said special teams were just "okay" on Saturday.
He commended the coverage units and he termed field goal block "exceptional," but thought the two return units were not up to expectations.
* Brown was asked what he thought was the difference between the play of his defense against Oklahoma State two weeks ago and versus Baylor last Saturday.
He pointed to Oklahoma State's success running the ball as a big factor.
"Oklahoma State didn't drop back and pass it that many times because they were having success on early downs running the football," he said. "They slowed it down and ran the ball with two really good running backs, just like Baylor does.
"We played a different box," he continued. "We played a reduced box versus Oklahoma State, and we did not do that as much against Baylor. We just played better against the run. We did not fit very well against Oklahoma State with missed fits, missed assignments, and we played more assignment-sound football. Baylor got in some long-down distances when they had to throw the ball, which anybody calling plays would have done, and we won some one-on-one matchups."
* While the coach doesn't think his team has yet developed an identity offensively, it is beginning to develop one on the other side of the ball.
"I think we are getting to where we want to be defensively, but I think the other two phases of our team have got to get better," he said. "I wouldn't say we're playing poorly on special teams, but we're not changing the game."
* Brown had an interesting take on his team's high number of penalties so far this year. West Virginia was flagged 12 times for 102 yards against Baylor, which is four yards fewer than the 106 yards in penalties West Virginia had two weeks ago at Oklahoma State.
In the opener against Eastern Kentucky, WVU was flagged eight times for 85 yards.
Brown believes the penalties are a product of the players not being together all summer.
"You are forming the discipline of your football team during the offseason and nobody had an offseason. Nobody had a summer," he explained. "Your team chemistry is not good because your guys couldn't spend the time they need around each other, and I think it is showing across college football."
Brown said it also applies to officiating as well.
"It is almost an impossible job right now because they didn't get to work scrimmages, they didn't get to have their clinic where they get to work with each other," he said. They're not working in crews so that's an impossible task, too."
* Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to former Mountaineer coach Bobby Bowden, who revealed earlier today that he has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Bowden, 90, coached the Mountaineers from 1970-75 before moving on to Florida State where he won two national championships with the Seminoles in 1993 and 1999.
Bowden was 42-26 during his six seasons at West Virginia.
The Mountaineer offense generated 27 points in last Saturday's six-point, double-overtime victory of Baylor, but 13 of those came during overtime and large chunks of the game resulted in empty drives.
WVU had a 15-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on the opening possession of the game and didn't get into the end zone again until 1:38 left in the third quarter.
"Offensively, we've been able to run the football in all three games, but our pass game has got to get way better," Brown said.
Quarterback Jarret Doege completed 30-of-42 passes for 211 yards, but his longest pass play was only 14 yards to Sam James. Almost every pass he completed was near the line of scrimmage, which is going to make it difficult to run the ball in the future if that doesn't improve.
West Virginia was only 5-of-18 on third down and once again struggled to generate explosive plays. Running back Alec Sinkfield's 25-yard run in the third quarter was the Mountaineers' longest play from scrimmage on Saturday against Baylor's defense.
In last week's Baylor game notes, West Virginia listed 11 plays of 20 yards or longer from scrimmage leading into last Saturday's game. WVU added just one to that total against Baylor.
But in reality, a 20-yard play doesn't really grab a defense's attention quite like a 50-yard play, which has been lacking so far this year for WVU. Only Winston Wright Jr.'s 70-yard touchdown reception against Oklahoma State fits into that category.
An old baseball coach once told me the hardest thing to do in baseball is string together three straight hits to score a run. The easiest way to score is by hitting the ball out of the ballpark.
The same thing applies in football.
Consistently stringing together 10-, 15-play drives to get into the end zone is nearly impossible to do.
Eventually, someone is going to have to take the top off defenses to keep them honest.
Monday Mountaineer Notes
* Senior defensive tackle Darius Stills was named Big 12 co-defensive player of the week following his 2 ½-sack, 3 ½-TFL performance against Baylor. In the last two games against the Bears, Stills has produced 5 ½ sacks, 6 ½ TFLs and 14 total tackles.
* It will be another noon kickoff for West Virginia when it faces Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The game will be televised nationally by FS1 and for the first time this year, a limited number of fans will be allowed to attend the game.
University, local and state health officials will permit 25% capacity, meaning a cap of approximately 15,000 fans. Only family members and essential game personnel have been admitted into the stadium for West Virginia's first two games of the season against Eastern Kentucky and Baylor. In both instances, fewer than 1,000 fans were listed in the official attendance.
* Brown said Monday the plan for this week is to go light and do more conditioning work.
"We've got some things, for sure, we've got to work on and there are going to be some points of emphasis, but we'll focus on short, concise practices and we'll still continue to keep our conditioning up," he said. "I think that's one area we've done a nice job of and that's a credit to our strength and conditioning staff, but it probably won't be as physical as it was during the first one."
Brown said he gave his players and coaches Sunday off and didn't require them to be in the Puskar Center until noon on Monday.
"That was a long game and while I will say we haven't played very well offensively, we've played a lot of plays … almost 180 snaps with the penalties on offense over the last two games," he explained. "Defensively, we don't have a whole lot of depth so we need to take care of our guys this week."
* The strategically planned open weeks were put in place this fall to help teams manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This is already West Virginia's second so far, and the Mountaineers will hit the pause button once more during the third week of November.
Brown said his staff is trying to use these open weeks to their advantage to deal with the virus.
"We've tried to mitigate as much as we possibly can," he said. "We had a positive test result (before Saturday's game), which I think has been publicized. Since Saturday postgame, we've tried to stay apart. We'll continue to do that. We tested yesterday. At the facility, we've done a really good job of mask wearing and all that kind of stuff – social distancing, cleaning surfaces and all of the things we can possibly do as far as anytime they're indoors.
"We are using our indoor (facility) a lot for meals and team meetings and keeping our guys spread out," he added. "We are keeping the doors open with fresh air. Since the game until really Tuesday, we won't get together until late Tuesday afternoon.
"There is nothing about the last seven or eight months that has been easy, nothing," he said.
* Brown was extremely complimentary of his defense during Monday's teleconference with Big 12 media. The Mountaineers limited Baylor to just 27 net rushing yards on 33 attempts and held Baylor to just 3.6 yards per play.
The Bears were only 4 of 16 on third down.
"I thought defensively we played at a really high level," he said. "I thought we flew around, and I thought our defensive line was dominant at times. We had several tackles for a loss, sacks and hits on the quarterback. I thought our tackling and forcing some takeaways (was good), and we were really good down in the red zone."
The coach said special teams were just "okay" on Saturday.
He commended the coverage units and he termed field goal block "exceptional," but thought the two return units were not up to expectations.* Brown was asked what he thought was the difference between the play of his defense against Oklahoma State two weeks ago and versus Baylor last Saturday.
He pointed to Oklahoma State's success running the ball as a big factor.
"Oklahoma State didn't drop back and pass it that many times because they were having success on early downs running the football," he said. "They slowed it down and ran the ball with two really good running backs, just like Baylor does.
"We played a different box," he continued. "We played a reduced box versus Oklahoma State, and we did not do that as much against Baylor. We just played better against the run. We did not fit very well against Oklahoma State with missed fits, missed assignments, and we played more assignment-sound football. Baylor got in some long-down distances when they had to throw the ball, which anybody calling plays would have done, and we won some one-on-one matchups."
* While the coach doesn't think his team has yet developed an identity offensively, it is beginning to develop one on the other side of the ball.
"I think we are getting to where we want to be defensively, but I think the other two phases of our team have got to get better," he said. "I wouldn't say we're playing poorly on special teams, but we're not changing the game."
* Brown had an interesting take on his team's high number of penalties so far this year. West Virginia was flagged 12 times for 102 yards against Baylor, which is four yards fewer than the 106 yards in penalties West Virginia had two weeks ago at Oklahoma State.
In the opener against Eastern Kentucky, WVU was flagged eight times for 85 yards.
Brown believes the penalties are a product of the players not being together all summer.
"You are forming the discipline of your football team during the offseason and nobody had an offseason. Nobody had a summer," he explained. "Your team chemistry is not good because your guys couldn't spend the time they need around each other, and I think it is showing across college football."
Brown said it also applies to officiating as well.
"It is almost an impossible job right now because they didn't get to work scrimmages, they didn't get to have their clinic where they get to work with each other," he said. They're not working in crews so that's an impossible task, too."
* Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to former Mountaineer coach Bobby Bowden, who revealed earlier today that he has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Bowden, 90, coached the Mountaineers from 1970-75 before moving on to Florida State where he won two national championships with the Seminoles in 1993 and 1999.
Bowden was 42-26 during his six seasons at West Virginia.
Players Mentioned
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WR
/ FootballTV Highlights: WVU 74, UCF 67
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Ross Hodge | UCF Postgame
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