After beating JMU at FedEx Field last week the Mountaineers return to Morgantown to take on the Maryland Terrapins. Both teams are quite familiar with each other and they will look to take advantage of each other’s weaknesses.
One player for the Mountaineers who is by no definition of weak is quarterback Geno Smith. Smith is having an incredible year and there is already speculation that he could
possibly win the Heisman trophy. Just last week he broke Marc Bulger’s school passing record and he has set his sights on breaking some more. Smith has improved greatly over last year and he has been unstoppable at picking apart defenses so far. Since, the Terrapins are much better than the Thundering Herd and the Dukes, Smith will have to step his game up a little bit. With Smith having two incredible games, Head Coach Dana Holgorsen might want to consider getting Paul Millard more reps in at practice.
One player who has improved a great deal from last year is running back Andrew Buie. So far this year Buie has 111 yards on 13 carries with just one touchdown. While he does only have one touchdown, Buie is excellent at picking up yards and getting first downs. Not only has he run for over 100 yards he also has over a 100 yards receiving. With these two factors, Buie can be a great dual threat back in the future. As of right now though, Shawne Alston is the main running back for the Mountaineers. So far, Alston has accumulated 185 yards on 30 carries with three touchdowns. With Alston and Buie leading the ground game, they have broken down Marshall’s and JMU’s defenses which has allowed West Virginia’s wide receivers to get huge yards. Maryland’s defense is allowing opposing running back to gain an average of 134 yards in their past three and it should be noted that neither one of those teams stack up to West Virginia’s running backs’ talent.
This year so far Stedman Bailey has been Smith's go to guy. Bailey has racked up 22 catches for 277 yards and five touchdowns. He is explosive when he gets into the open field and is averaging 12.6 yards a catch. If he can keep on this track he will hit 1,000 yards no problem. Another dynamic receiver is Tavon Austin, who has 21 catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns. While receiving is Austin’s main feature he can also hit opposing defenses in the running game. On the ground Austin has hit 80 yards on just four carries and from the looks of it he may hit over 200 yards rushing by the end of the season. In their last three games the Terrapins’ defense has allowed an average of 124 yards and none of those quarterbacks are even on the same level as Geno Smith. So expect a big day from everyone on offense.
Switching over to the defense, this is one area the Mountaineers have particularly struggled with this year. While they are allowing an average of 23 points per game through the two games, their main problem seems to be in attacking the opposing teams rushing attack. They’ve aloud running backs in the past two games to rush for an average of 160 yards. The Mountaineers have to fix this and fast otherwise teams will see it on film and exploit it. The defense has also allowed an average of 263 yards and most of those yards came from Marshall which was the first game the defense got to test out their new 3-4 scheme. The defense has to get much better or else they will get burned by very talented teams when they begin Big 12 play.
The Mountaineers' special teams has improved a lot from last year and they haven't even gotten on the field all that much since the offense scores a ton. However, their punt and kick coverage has gotten much better and they haven’t allowed the return men to chew off huge yardage. Punter Corey Smith has to work on his punting more since Smith and the offense can’t always get touchdowns and he seemed to struggle a little bit in the last game.
One player the Mountaineers have to shutdown is wide receiver Marcus Leak. Leak has nine catches for 162 and only one touchdown. While that one touchdown may not be impressive, he is averaging 18 yards per catch and the Mountaineers’ defense has had trouble with the Terrapins’ wide receivers in the past. Leak is all the more reason why the defense has to get its act together fast. If the defense can limit his catches then they should have no problem causing Maryland’s quarterback Perry Hills to throw the ball away since he does have more interceptions than touchdowns.
This will be West Virginia's last nonconference game before they kick off their Big 12 career with a matchup against Baylor. The Mountaineers have to remain focused and continue to dominate on offense in order to keep the offense on the sidelines and tire out the defense. Also no word on if the Terrapins will wear those horrible jerseys from last year for this game. Kick off is set for noon.
Prediction: WVU-52 Maryland-27
Player of the Game: Geno Smith 39/44 430 yards 4TDs
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