After yet another loss last week to Oklahoma State, the Mountaineers head back to Morgantown to take on the Sooners. Coming into this season West Virginia was hot while Oklahoma was struggling. Now the roles have been reversed, and West Virginia will have to come out with guns blazing if they want to avoid dropping to .500.
Last week, Geno Smith seemed to be the only one trying. He was 36/54 for 364 yards and two touchdowns. Smith led the Mountaineers on several successful drives, but the running
backs and receivers couldn’t make the big plays, and the Mountaineers were forced to punt often. Smith seemed to be back to his old self, the only difference being that West Virginia did not win. He will have to continue to play hard even if the rest of his team doesn’t want to. Smith will have his work cut out for him as the Sooners’ defense is only giving up 170 yards this year to opposing quarterbacks. If there is one thing he is good at, it’s picking apart opposing defenses and increasing those averages after every game.
When it came to offense last week, it was the running game that struggled the most. Anyone who carried the ball was stopped in their tracks. The entire running game was only able to amass a measly 78 yards. Most of those yards came from Andrew Buie, who had 15 carries for 53 yards. If the Mountaineers want to get back to the way things were before their losing streak, they need to establish a running game. If they can do this, it will break down defenses and open up the passing game as well.
The only person running the ball who had a touchdown against the Cowboys was Geno Smith. Granted it was from one yard out, but if your running backs aren’t doing the job, then why not let the QB try? Some good news for the running game though is that Oklahoma has struggled against the run so far this season, giving up 155 yards a game and 14 touchdowns. So if the Mountaineers want to win this one they will have to run the ball more efficiently, especially if they want to take advantage of this weakness in the Oklahoma defense.
While the Mountaineers' running game had problems getting going, the passing game was able to explode. Stedman Bailey was the top receiver in the game racking up 14 catches for 225 yards and one touchdown. The one thing that does limit Bailey is the amount of targets he gets. So far this season he has 75 catches compared to Tavon Austin who has 96. While both receivers are versatile and aggressive, if West Virginia wants to get within at least field goal range, Bailey will have to get the ball more. Despite hitting the 1,000 yard mark this year, opposing teams seem to be paying more attention to Austin than to Bailey.
Austin didn't have a bad game either; he had 11 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Austin has had some very good games throughout the season, but as of right now he seems to be most effective on special teams. (Although after the Oklahoma State game, some Mountaineer fans may beg to differ). While the Sooner defense is quite good against the pass, still expect to see a big game from either Bailey or Austin, since one thing they have to their advantage is their breakaway speed which will allow them to burn the corners or the safeties. This week the Mountaineers will also be without receiver Ivan McCartney. McCartney left the teams earlier this week for personal reasons and Head Coach Dana Holgorsen has yet to comment on the situation. If it had something to do with the way the Mountaineers have played lately, then they could end up losing more players as time goes on.
Once again the Mountaineers' defense struggled, as they allowed Oklahoma State quarterback Clint Chelf to put up four touchdowns on them. West Virginia was only able to sack him once. The defensive line has to do a better job of breaking away from blockers to get to the quarterback. The front line also had problems slowing down the running game; which racked up 151 yards and two touchdowns against the Mountaineers. Typically, they’ve done a very good job at stopping the run, but they just couldn’t get it together last week. The Sooners’ running backs are racking up 176 yards on the ground per game and combined they have scored 26 touchdowns. The defensive line and linebackers have to do a better job of plugging up holes and dropping the backs for losses or short gains.
West Virginia's secondary woes continued last week as they allowed a total of 292 receiving yards. Most of those were accumulated by wide receiver Josh Stewart, who had 172 yards and two touchdowns. The biggest problem the secondary has faced all season is leaving receivers wide open, and then they end up burning the cornerbacks and safeties for touchdowns or big yards. At times it also seems like they just don’t want to be out there. They seem sluggish as they game goes on, and opposing quarterbacks have taken notice of this and are exploiting it.
The secondary was thought to have lost top cornerback Pat Miller this week after reports came out that he too left the team. However these reports were false and Miller is still on the roster. While Miller has struggled this year, he is one of the few secondary players who seem to give it his all each and every play. The secondary must come fully prepared to deal with Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones. Jones had a slow start to the season, but in recent weeks he has exploded, and if he can continue this trend he will put up big numbers against West Virginia. He is now averaging 309 yards a game, and he has 18 touchdowns on the season. One area the Mountaineers have to be able to take advantage of is interceptions. Landry has thrown seven this season. If West Virginia can make him turn it over at least twice, then they might have a small chance of pulling off the upset.
The biggest threat the Mountaineers have to shut down is wide receiver Kenny Stills. Stills leads the Sooners with 54 catches for 682 yards and six touchdowns. He has been explosive when it comes to the pass, as he is averaging 12.6 yards a catch. And more surprising is the fact that he doesn’t lead the wide receivers in that category. The secondary will definitely have their work cut out for them as they try to slow Stills down as much as possible. Although the way they have been playing all year, expect Stills’ stats to increase significantly after this game.
The special teams have played much better this year than last, but against Oklahoma State they looked to be back to their old ways. First off, they had two turnovers, one on a kick return and one on a punt return. Both of these turnovers were on Tavon Austin, who has played excellent this year on special teams. First, he just couldn’t get a handle on a kick return after it bounced off Andrew Buie’s helmet. The second turnover came when he backed out of the way of the ball. It took a weird bounce, hit his leg and the Cowboys recovered it. While it may have been bad luck, or just not playing heads up, the special teams’ problems didn’t end there. Right after the Mountaineers closed the gap, with a 37 yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Paul Millard to Stedman Bailey, West Virginia kicks it off and allows the return man to take it back 96 yards for a touchdown. They have to do a better job of avoiding blockers and swarming the return man.
It seems like all the Mountaineers can do in this one is play as hard as they can to avoid a blowout, since many fans doubt they will win this game. This game has been designated as the Gold Rush game. If the Mountaineers can get support from the crowd and the remaining students, then it is possible they could pull off the upset. This is also the first time these two teams have played each other since the 2008 Fiesta Bowl. Both teams have changed drastically since then and Oklahoma will definitely be looking for some payback. Kickoff for this game will be at 7 PM and can be seen on Fox.
Prediction: WVU-35 Oklahoma-60
WVU Player of the Game: Geno Smith 35/50 265 yards 3TDs 2INTs
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