WVU inside receivers coach Shannon Dawson, a veteran of Dana Holgorsen’s offense and philosophy as both player and coach, was innocently invited into a discussion about the superlatives Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin and Ivan McCartney had thus far produced this season.

Dawson then recited many of the things we in the media had thus far written relative to those superlatives — more 100-yard games already than in any other season, multiple players on track to break multiple school records, so on and so forth — and veered unexpectedly off the road.

Surely aware people will expect WVU to just roll the ball out onto the field at the Carrier Dome and watch the receivers have their way with one of the country’s worst pass defenses to date, Dawson offered “about average” and then later “embarrassing” in a detailed and open assessment of the group.

“What most people look at and say is, ‘OK, that game Saturday, he threw for 450 yards,'” Dawson said. “Well, if we don’t drop eight balls, we might throw for 700 yards. You’ve had a lot of guys throw for 400 yards. Have you had a lot of guys throw for 700? No. If you want to get to the supernatural from the really good, you don’t drop eight balls. That’s my point.”