Photo by: Caleb Saunders
Monday Mountaineer Football Notebook
November 23, 2020 04:45 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Put your finger over Oklahoma's 6-2 record and look at how the Sooners are playing right now; they have the look of a College Football Playoff team to me.
The Sooners had Oklahoma State down 21 points right out of the gate and cruised to a 41-13 victory last Saturday night in Norman, Oklahoma.
Freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler's development this season has had a lot to do with OU's about-face following back-to-back losses to Iowa State and Kansas State. The nation's No. 1-rated quarterback recruit two seasons ago has thrown 12 touchdown passes with only two interceptions during OU's current five-game winning streak.
What he's done is obvious to all.
Neal Brown said there are two other big factors to Oklahoma's turnaround - Rhamondre Stevenson and Ronnie Perkins.
Stevenson, a 246-pound bulldozer of a running back, and Perkins, OU's best pass-rushing defensive lineman, are back in the fold after serving early-season suspensions.
Stevenson ran 26 times for 141 yards while Perkins had a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss in the Oklahoma State victory. Perkins earned defensive player of the week honors for his performance.
"They are definitely playing their best football here in the last month. Some of that is Spencer Rattler maturing. A freshman quarterback with the talent he has he is going to improve and he definitely has," Brown said earlier today. "The other thing that hasn't gotten talked about is they got the Stevenson kid and Perkins back. They've been a different football team with both of those guys in the lineup."
The equivalent would be the Mountaineers starting the season without running back Leddie Brown and defensive tackle Darius Stills. Can you imagine where WVU would be without having those two for the entire season?
Two weeks ago, Brown said Texas had the best defensive front his team has faced this year. The Longhorns completely controlled the line of scrimmage against WVU, forcing the Mountaineers basically to abandon the inside run game in the second half.
After studying Oklahoma's recent blowout wins against TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas and Oklahoma State, Neal Brown thinks OU's defensive front is even better.
"Their front four is imposing. I think they are probably the best front four in our league," he admitted. "Ronnie Perkins, on Saturday night, played at an elite level. Perrion Winfrey, the junior college transfer, we recruited really hard and you can see him getting better. He's explosive and he has length you don't see a whole lot in this league. I think (defensive tackle) Isaiah Thomas has played extremely well all year and at their rush (Nic Bonitto) is tough in one-on-one situations.
"If you look at the teams that are at the top of the rankings right now, they all have the ability to rush the passer without blitzing and really clog you up in the run game and they're no different," Brown added. "They've only had their full front for a couple of games. Those guys keep getting better and better."
Getting hats on those four guys up front is going to be imperative for West Virginia on Saturday night.
Briefly:
* Leave it to a coach to mention a coach's son. Neal Brown said Monday the player who has really caught his eye is Y-receiver Drake Stoops, the son of OU coaching legend Bob Stoops.
The common theme to all of Oklahoma's explosive plays in the passing game against Oklahoma State was Stoops' perimeter blocking, according to Brown.
"Those screens they are throwing to their backs and receivers were sprung because of his blocks," he said.
* The one Oklahoma statistic that has really caught Brown's attention is first-quarter scoring. In eight games this year, the Sooners are outscoring their opponents 124-17 in the opening frame.
What that basically means is teams are down by two touchdowns to the Sooners right out of the gate!
"It's crazy," Brown said. "I don't know if I've ever seen that. They seem to get explosive plays early. Their speed is at a different level than some other teams that you play, and I think teams sometimes take a little bit of time to adjust to it."
Think back to the 2016 West Virginia-Oklahoma game here when a pretty good Dana Holgorsen team ranked 10th in the country got behind by 21 right off the bat and was trailing 34-7 at halftime.
West Virginia fans didn't leave that game at halftime – they evacuated!
Two years ago, Oklahoma had 14 by the end of the first quarter, but West Virginia was able to match it.
Last year, the Sooners got 14 right out of the gate and WVU was unable to duplicate it.
* Neal Brown said Monday that injured outside linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo is closer to being ready to return. Chandler-Semedo sustained an undisclosed lower body injury in the Texas loss back on No. 7 and sat out the TCU win.
"He ran last week and he's going to practice early this week," Brown said. "We're not ready to say he is ready to go, but we're hopeful."
* I don't know what this means for Saturday's attendance, but my daughter, a WVU student, asked about the availability of tickets for this weekend's Oklahoma game. It's the first time during the COVID year that she has asked about football tickets.
For those interested, tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
* Finally, director of football communications Mike Montoro came up with a chart in this week's game notes to illustrate the improvement West Virginia has made from Year One to Year Two under Neal Brown.
In the 17 different categories Montoro compared, this year's team is performing better than last year's in every single area.
The biggest improvements are in touchdowns allowed (14 fewer), total defense (163.6 ypg. improvement), pass defense (121 ypg. improvement), total offense (77.3 ypg. improvement), rushing offense (56.6 improvement) and red zone scoring (24% improvement).
However, the two biggest challenges for the Mountaineers are on the horizon: this Saturday against 14th-ranked Oklahoma and at 15th-ranked Iowa State on Dec. 5 to conclude the regular season.
The Sooners had Oklahoma State down 21 points right out of the gate and cruised to a 41-13 victory last Saturday night in Norman, Oklahoma.
Freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler's development this season has had a lot to do with OU's about-face following back-to-back losses to Iowa State and Kansas State. The nation's No. 1-rated quarterback recruit two seasons ago has thrown 12 touchdown passes with only two interceptions during OU's current five-game winning streak.
What he's done is obvious to all.
Neal Brown said there are two other big factors to Oklahoma's turnaround - Rhamondre Stevenson and Ronnie Perkins.
Stevenson, a 246-pound bulldozer of a running back, and Perkins, OU's best pass-rushing defensive lineman, are back in the fold after serving early-season suspensions.
Stevenson ran 26 times for 141 yards while Perkins had a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss in the Oklahoma State victory. Perkins earned defensive player of the week honors for his performance.
"They are definitely playing their best football here in the last month. Some of that is Spencer Rattler maturing. A freshman quarterback with the talent he has he is going to improve and he definitely has," Brown said earlier today. "The other thing that hasn't gotten talked about is they got the Stevenson kid and Perkins back. They've been a different football team with both of those guys in the lineup."
The equivalent would be the Mountaineers starting the season without running back Leddie Brown and defensive tackle Darius Stills. Can you imagine where WVU would be without having those two for the entire season?
Two weeks ago, Brown said Texas had the best defensive front his team has faced this year. The Longhorns completely controlled the line of scrimmage against WVU, forcing the Mountaineers basically to abandon the inside run game in the second half.
After studying Oklahoma's recent blowout wins against TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas and Oklahoma State, Neal Brown thinks OU's defensive front is even better.
"Their front four is imposing. I think they are probably the best front four in our league," he admitted. "Ronnie Perkins, on Saturday night, played at an elite level. Perrion Winfrey, the junior college transfer, we recruited really hard and you can see him getting better. He's explosive and he has length you don't see a whole lot in this league. I think (defensive tackle) Isaiah Thomas has played extremely well all year and at their rush (Nic Bonitto) is tough in one-on-one situations.
"If you look at the teams that are at the top of the rankings right now, they all have the ability to rush the passer without blitzing and really clog you up in the run game and they're no different," Brown added. "They've only had their full front for a couple of games. Those guys keep getting better and better."
Getting hats on those four guys up front is going to be imperative for West Virginia on Saturday night.
Briefly:
* Leave it to a coach to mention a coach's son. Neal Brown said Monday the player who has really caught his eye is Y-receiver Drake Stoops, the son of OU coaching legend Bob Stoops.
The common theme to all of Oklahoma's explosive plays in the passing game against Oklahoma State was Stoops' perimeter blocking, according to Brown.
"Those screens they are throwing to their backs and receivers were sprung because of his blocks," he said.
* The one Oklahoma statistic that has really caught Brown's attention is first-quarter scoring. In eight games this year, the Sooners are outscoring their opponents 124-17 in the opening frame.
What that basically means is teams are down by two touchdowns to the Sooners right out of the gate!
"It's crazy," Brown said. "I don't know if I've ever seen that. They seem to get explosive plays early. Their speed is at a different level than some other teams that you play, and I think teams sometimes take a little bit of time to adjust to it."
Think back to the 2016 West Virginia-Oklahoma game here when a pretty good Dana Holgorsen team ranked 10th in the country got behind by 21 right off the bat and was trailing 34-7 at halftime.
West Virginia fans didn't leave that game at halftime – they evacuated!
Two years ago, Oklahoma had 14 by the end of the first quarter, but West Virginia was able to match it.
Last year, the Sooners got 14 right out of the gate and WVU was unable to duplicate it.
* Neal Brown said Monday that injured outside linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo is closer to being ready to return. Chandler-Semedo sustained an undisclosed lower body injury in the Texas loss back on No. 7 and sat out the TCU win.
"He ran last week and he's going to practice early this week," Brown said. "We're not ready to say he is ready to go, but we're hopeful."
* I don't know what this means for Saturday's attendance, but my daughter, a WVU student, asked about the availability of tickets for this weekend's Oklahoma game. It's the first time during the COVID year that she has asked about football tickets.
For those interested, tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
* Finally, director of football communications Mike Montoro came up with a chart in this week's game notes to illustrate the improvement West Virginia has made from Year One to Year Two under Neal Brown.
In the 17 different categories Montoro compared, this year's team is performing better than last year's in every single area.
The biggest improvements are in touchdowns allowed (14 fewer), total defense (163.6 ypg. improvement), pass defense (121 ypg. improvement), total offense (77.3 ypg. improvement), rushing offense (56.6 improvement) and red zone scoring (24% improvement).
However, the two biggest challenges for the Mountaineers are on the horizon: this Saturday against 14th-ranked Oklahoma and at 15th-ranked Iowa State on Dec. 5 to conclude the regular season.
Players Mentioned
Rich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
