Much grief was given to WVU’s short-yardage woes last season — and for good reason — and much concern is being given to that area now. A lot of the questions being asked to and around the football team involve third-and-short and getting seven points in the red zone rather than three.

A lot of the answers should probably come from the running game. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but we’re getting a look at some possibilities in practice.

WVU has tinkered with personnel packages for short-yardage and has even featured a big I-formation with 6-foot, 230-pound Ryan Clark as the tailback, 6-2, 240-pound Ricky Kovatch as the fullback and 6-2, 230-pound Will Johnson and 6-5, 245-pound Tyler Urban as tight ends in practice. The distribution of run and pass has looked fairly even.

They call that the Bubba package.

Look, if we can be certain of one thing at this time of the year, when so much is premature, speculative and uncertain, it is this: The Mountaineers are determined to find the right packages for the right moment and have the right personnel in those packages.

Robert Sands and Wes Lyons blocking field goals? Yes. A cornerback (Guesly Dervil) playing safety on third down? Necessary. Two tight ends on the line and a fullback blocking for another fullback? So be it. I-formation to get a few more of those third-and-shorts? That’s the way they go.

To do the latter two requires some finesse, though. They can’t just bust out the I-formation in obvious situations. For it to be effective there, it must be called upon and successful in other spots, which is no problem for Bill Stewart.

The I-formation comes back, too, because West Virginia has something it did not have last year in Stewart’s first season but did have for that Fiesta Bowl game — a fullback.

“We want to get the fullback into the game a little bit more this year,” Stewart said. “We have not had a fullback here at WVU for a long time. We had a good one in Owen Schmitt, but usually he was a split back (in the spread with Steve Slaton).