WVU ran 11 more plays and had the ball about 10 more minutes Saturday than it’d been averaging the first three games and the explanation is pretty simple — 8-for-13 on third down. That’s five more wins in the same number of attempts than the Mountaineers had against Colorado and the solution was to add space to the formations.

“We changed our personnel a little bit, but basically ran the same plays,” Mullen said. “We weren’t bunched up as much because we ran different sets and spread it out a little bit.”

WVU went away from plays that started under center or with extra linemen and/or tight ends.

“We still have it,” Mullen said. “We repped it and had it in the game plan. We just chose not to use it today.”

Remember that failed QB sneak against Colorado? So did the Mountaineers. Jarrett Brown single-winged it on a few third downs when he simply took a snap and strode through the defense. Easy enough.

Brown’s bigger than White and obviously better suited to handle those runs, especially if there are a few of them during a game, but it’s not solely a third-down set and WVU must accept different results. Brown is the thunder to White’s is lightning and the defenses will accept five yards over 50.

Asked after Saturday’s loss whether he’d rather see White or Brown with the ball against the Herd defense, Coach Mark Snyder said, “Running? … I’d rather see (Brown) with the ball. Yes, I don’t think there’s any question about that.”