Sam Wilkinson said:

Here’s an idea – run a big guy out there, and give him the ball on third and one, and get the friggin first down. It’s the Refrigerator Perry play, but for god’s sake, we don’t have a player that can get that one yard right now.

I’ve probably flip-flopped on this one issue a billion times now. On one hand, it makes so much sense. I’ll take my chances with, um, Scooter Berry (high school fullback) plunging ahead for two yards when WVU needs one. I’d roll the dice with, uh, Selvish Capers (converted tight end not playing right tackle) lined up as a fullback and hope Jock Sanders can find the room he needs to move the chains. Hell, I’ve even wondered if, I don’t know, Doug Slavonic (6-foot-7, 265 pounds) or Robert Sands (6-6, 205) could execute a QB sneak.

Yet on the other hand, I’ve talked myself out of those things. I could rattle off the explanations, but in essence it made too much sense and always seemed to me the coaches knew what they were doing and that the offense was best handled by offensive players. If the coaches had a fix, they’d fix it. I still believe that, but not as much as I did earlier in the season.

After all this time, the problem — can’t get short yards — and the justification — WVU doesn’t have the needed players — remain the same. Now that’s the problem.

No one denies WVU misses Owen Schmitt and Steve Slaton. That remains a good explanation of the issue, but that point was at its strongest early in the season. There’s been plenty of time to address that problem. Jarrett Brown seemed like a solution, but he got hurt and there’s been no answer since.

Yes, fullback Will Johnson is a 215-pound converted receiver and not a skilled blocker in the backfield. Yes, Tyler Urban is a true freshman tight end, though he played fullback in high school. Yes, Ricky Kovatch is a true-freshman walk-on fullback who’s only come on in the past few games. No, none of those three are today who they will be in the future.

That explains, but does not solve the problem. WVU was 3-for-10 on third downs on which it needed three or fewer yards Saturday and was throwing quick passes and screens during one inexcusable sequence when the offense gained no yards on first-and-goal from the Cincinnati 2-yard line before turning the ball over on downs in the fourth quarter.

For the season now, WVU is 24-for-43 (55.8 percent) on third and three-or-fewer: 2-for-6 on passes and 22-for-37 on runs. Again, two weeks to prepare for the next game and solve this problem that has directly contributed to two of the three losses (Colorado and Cincinnati).