Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which has had an indiscernible stance from as far back as the Pop Warner days. You’ll never know what’s coming here.

We didn’t give ourselves a chance to really touch on Chris Spielman touching up poor Quinton Spain, so let’s circle back for just a moment because there are a few thing to discuss and consider.

I actually like Chris Spielman (Cleveland Browns, 1999). It feels like a guy who knows football is talking to you about football, as opposed to lecturing you or reciting the replay rules to you. I don’t even have a problem with what he did — it’s not his fault he picked up on something and it’s an analysts job to report that. I had to laugh when he’d break off a sentence to call out a play. West Virginia’s not doing the job on th– run — third down so far. It needs to keep it’s def– yep — it’s defense on the sideline for a while.

All of that said, I’m not sure it was … correct? For starters, a lot of WVU’s plays have run/pass options where not even the linemen know what the quarterback will do. Second, when I watched, it looked like Spain’s left foot was back on run plays as Spielman was predicting run. Even McDonough said as much. Third, I’d bet you Spielman could do that on most Saturday’s in the fall. It’s not uncommon.

I’m not even sure it had an impact on the game apart from just looking bad. Linebackers and defensive ends weren’t pointing at Spain’s feet, rising out of their stance, calling out pass or run and reacting appropriately. There was some communication along the line when Spain looked inside, and that would have to be fixed, but I can’t believe the defenders tried harder and made more plays when and because Spain looked inside on run plays.

Now, credit where credit is due. Spielman, a very good linebacker at Ohio State and in the NFL, nailed it every time, so I’d have to think McDonough and I were mistaken, or that we were misreading Spielman’s cues. But there is something curious about all of this: Why in the world did Spielman do this? I’ve seen him do a number of games and I’d never caught that before, but he was right on top of Spain. Was he tipped? Did Texas Tech’s coaches, in their meetings with McDonough and Spielman, somehow get around to this?

West Virginia’s got this tackle, this Spain fella, who is just enormous. Tough to get around. What we’ve seen on tape is he drops that left foot way back when they’re passing and he stays about even when it’s a run. We’re telling our guys to read that and to use that to get around that guy. He’s just huge and he’s been pretty solid, so we need all the help we can get there.

That would not be unusual — and it wouldn’t be treasonous by Spielman or unsportsmanlike by Texas Tech, to be clear — but it’s perhaps a bad sign for WVU. This is an offense that’s been so successful that it’s really forced opponents to take a close look. That can produce things like this and the Mountaineers, who keep things very uniform before their snaps, don’t want to start giving out clues.

“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot,” Holgorsen said. “I know a lot has been made about of it because of the commentary, but it’s something we’ve been aware of since we got here and started coaching offense and trying to make sure stances and signals don’t give anything away.”

There’s another part of success that has to be considered, too. Sometimes things come easy and you lose grasp of the things you had to do to make it feel so easy. If there was a thread weaved through the entire Texas Tech debacle, it was that the Mountaineers wanted to do it the easy way, and they paid dearly for that. At best, Spain’s transparency is a lesson for him and for everyone else to revisit the stuff that was taken for granted.

As for tomorrow? The Mountaineers will perform better. They’re not as bad as what you saw in Lubbock, Texas, and Dana’s been good about making something out of losses to LSU (“Hey, we took it to them…can’t turn it over like that, though!”), Syracuse (“Hey, we’re not as good as you think we are!”) and Louisville (“Hey, our energy sucked!”) and it would seem there are ample opportunities to draw something out of the latest defeat.

Kansas State is in a tricky spot, too. The Wildcats just played a really tough game on the road at Iowa State and now it’s time for a trip to Morgantown and quite likely a fired up opponent in a night game. The Wildcats could use a break, like WVU wanted a break last week, and maybe the most dangerous thing WVU presents is that it was obliterated last week and looks a lot more susceptible than it really is.

Yet Kansas State is a really smart, consistent, disciplined and physical team that’s already won its way on the road against a top opponent this season. That’s not a team that is likely to beat itself with a lousy attitude.

Lose this one and it’s going to be a long open week, especially if it follows the recent script.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, get a good breakfast.

ConservativeMountaineer said:

We used to play ‘No blood. No foul.’ Of course, that was on a concrete court with a chain-link fence surrounding it. I had to go to the hospital once for stitches above an eye. Was known for taking the charge. I was sorta young (mid 20s). I was also somewhat stupid.

I’m just going to let this one go, because it’s marvelous, time capsule stuff. Ready?

Gordo said:

Who takes charges in a pickup game?

The 25314 said:

Is conservative mountaineer the one that went to Duke? Because if so, taking charges in a pick-up game would be deliciously apropos

ConservativeMountaineer said:

@25314.. Yeeeep!!!

So good. So very good.

Mack said:

Officiating will never change because it seems like the people who want to be officials are the same people who want to show everyone that they are smarter than everyone’s common sense. I’d be in favor of throwing out every single rule and simply have one page that says:

USE YOUR COMMON SENSE. IF YOUR COMMON SENSE SAYS FOUL, THEN CALL A FOUL. IF YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO SOMEONE WHY IT WAS A FOUL, THEN IT’S NOT A FOUL.

I’d certainly like this to be applied to pass interference and the dreaded “Was it a catch?” situations that only happen about once every 10 seconds of every football game. How the Baylor catch-and-fumble got called an incomplete pass is still beyond me.

If only it were so simple. Football officiating doesn’t bother me that much — at least it hasn’t this year. Last year was some of the worst work I’d seen either in person or on television, but even that Baylor call seemed acceptable to me when I was watching it. Basketball is a totally different game that asks a lot from officials who seem to give less. I’m not ready to think about it yet. I’m still not over Competent Curtis Shaw, either.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Does playing the true freshman in game 6 officially declare the Ivan McCartney experiment a failure??? A 6-2 junior in his second season in the offense has a whopping 5 catches in 6 games…..

I hate to say this, but does he become the current generation Wes Lyons — all the hype and apparent abillity in the world who cant seem to find his way in the WVU offense.

Every time I think of him, I remember the comment he made while still in High School that WVU’s receivers had no “swagger” and that he would bring his to WVU.

Hope I’m wrong, but a can’t miss prospect nearly 75 percent through the program has been a big miss so far.

Well, seeing as if Copeland is an inside receiver and McCartney is an outside receiver and McCartney was first to replace Bailey before Copeland broke his redshirt and played outside receiver, I’d say yes, the experiment is over. Smart kid, lots of talent, not enough glue to keep it all together.

Mack said:

Wait… Did Lyons have ability? I think fans just saw a guy who was eight-and-a-half feet tall and looked good in his uniform and thought, “How bad can this guy be?” He never actually did anything.

I-MAC is just a product of the recruiting web sites. I’m sure he has a ton of ability, but he never really has done anything either. Seems like he might have had one good game, but I might just be making that up.

And, off the top of my head, I feel like Thompson and Geno haven’t seemed to be on the same page all season. I feel like a disproportionate amount of Geno’s incompletions (pre-Texas Tech) might have been thrown to Thompson. I also don’t recall Copeland doing anything in the last game though apparently, “he played.”

It seems like football, like basketball, is a sport where in the first couple games of the season you say, “We’ve got eight different weapons.” But then halfway through the season you say, “Ok, it’s Geno, Stedman, and Tavon. If they don’t dominate, we’re screwed.”

We forget, but McCartney was pretty good the first half of last season. Not sure what happened, or why, but he spiraled right after his best game. I don’t want to exhume Lyons to shovel dirt on him, but McCartney is far more talented. Lyons was big, but the knock on him was he didn’t practice hard enough or want it badly enough. You hear the same things about McCartney now. WVU’s second inside receiver, whoever it’s been, hasn’t done much all season and I’m not sure Geno’s been inspired to look his way. I asked about this earlier in the season and got the quizzical “Connor Arlia isn’t a playmaker” reply. Thompson gets pushed and covered a lot and, to me, doesn’t play as fast as he needs to. We don’t know much about Copeland other than he caught a five-yard pass and played, like, four snaps last week.

ClarenceOveur said:

I would hope that Woods and Copeland may contribute a few receptions to keep the K-State defense honest. Just doing that should be enough to provide some space for Bailey and Austin in the passing game, and for the run game with Buie.

As disciplined as KSU is, they can only cover so many players at a given time, and if WVU’s secondary receivers prove reliable and demand attention from Wildcat defenders, then Holgo and Co. undoubtedly have something to take advantage of.

One of the things that makes this offense so difficult to defend is the existence of so many skill players that can actually make plays, so long as they actually do so and warrant being accounted for. We saw it with Clemson: Smith and the offense utilized Devon Brown, Willie Milhouse and Buie in the passing game (combined 12 catches), forcing the Tigers to account for them and break away from doubling up Bailey and/or Austin.

If Copeland and Woods make a few plays, watch how much more often Bailey and Austin will seemingly be open for big gains due to drawing one-on-one coverage. One problem against Texas Tech was that the offense seemed to deviate from “taking what they give you” once the score was 21-7. If they stay within themselves and distribute the ball to several targets, K-State has no choice but to keep honest.

Exactly. WVU really thought it had mismatches inside against Clemson and whatever linebacker or safety or nickelback it would assign to Milhouse/Brown. Haven’t seen those advantages this season, but those guys, you would think, would have opportunities. I don’t for a second believe Geno is missing opportunities. I just don’t think Thompson, or whoever else, has made the most of them — though there was an effort against Texas Tech, no doubt because the focus was so strong and effective on Stedman and Tavon.

Jeff in Akron said:

Does it bother anybody else that the biggest roster moves in the week after the defense falls to 119 in the FBS in pass efficiency defense, and 118 in pass defense is to tweek the wide receivers. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of #teamgoforit, I’d like to be a fan of #teamthreeandout too.

Holgorsen’s team is ranked 6th in total offense, 114th in total defense, and 115th in net punting. By the way isn’t _eForest supposed to coach-up and improve the kickers too. To borrow from one of Mike’s tweets earlier in the week, *face palm*.

… or does it bother you that there really aren’t any moves to make that help? I think that’s the reality of the situation. There just aren’t many replacements out there. Here’s a good way to look at the problem on defense: Ickey Banks was the team’s third cornerback and he played against Maryland. He’s been a safety ever since because of Travis Bell’s injury — which did more damage than people realize … WVU can’t uses the pass/third-down package that was fairly effective the first three games. WVU is basically using a third corner as a second-string safety and a fourth-string corner to start in place of Brodrick Jenkins. Yikes. The good news? You have an adjective to describe the defense: Ickey.

JP said:

I predict our defense will be Benny Hillified when trying to tackle Klein

Bold.

rekterx said:

Benny Hill is our DC? Is that what I am hearing?

Things are finally beginning to make sense.

Wait! Boots Randolph coaches the kickers, too. Where have we been on this?

Down South said:

I won’t be scared if Tim Tebow comes running out of the tunnel Saturday night. Now, if Tim Tebow comes running out of the tunnel accompanied by the Pouncey twins and Aaron Hernandez and Jeff Demps and Louis Murphy and Chris Rainey and Brandon Spikes and Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins and Percy Harvin, I may get scared a little.

Slight difference in the accompanying talent, yes?

Mack said:

One last thing regarding defense, which I know everyone else has already noticed… Casteel’s Arizona defense gave up 54 points against Stanford. The most points Stanford has scored in any other game is 20 against San Jose State. Otherwise, Stanford hasn’t broken 17.

I really think its possible our defense was this bad in previous years, but was covered up by the Big East opposition.

I highly doubt that’s the last thing about the defense, but it’s a good point and one Joe DeForest tries to make … and probably when, I think, he’s trying to stifle the urge to say he just doesn’t have much talent and experience to work with in his first season. When you lack talent and experience — and, hell, let’s throw depth in there, too — you can’t do things you want to do, you have to do things you might not like and you do things that might get exposed against really good offenses.

Jeff in Akron said:

The problems on offense against TTU could very well have been the wind and TTU’s realization that they could use the wind to their advantage. The Red Raiders dared Geno to throw the ball deep and by all accounts did everything they could to crowd the line of scrimmage and block short passing lanes. In other words, they used the wind as another defender banking that the stiff breeze would reduce Geno’s accuracy on deeper throws. Strange that our defensive staff didn’t employ the same technique against TTU.

Rewind a few years and we were having these same conversations about the offense and its inability to score points and move the football in games. The fix for that problem was found in the hiring of a new o-coordinator and had much less to do with the abilities of the players.

Even Holgorsen has added coaching to the issues for the loss on Saturday, though he has not been specific. Look, I’ve been wrong before and could be wrong again. Still, if we’re going to throw player’s ability under the bus fine, as long as the coaches in charge of those players are given the same consideration.

Again, WVU is in the process of fielding the worst defense in it’s entire footbal history. Am I to believe from that the defense has the worst players in it’s history, on defense, or are there more pressing issues.

I’m with you, and that’s a good point about the wind. Tuberville all but said that and Dana professes that he knows the wind well … so that could have been, or become, a part of the plan. I think the coaches are getting a very fair share of the blame here, though. You can’t observe this and not assign them some blame. Yet this team has a very 2006-ish problem. There are players who are either out of position, or not quite fit for it, and blitzes are not reliable.

Brother X said:

Shoulda mailed this one is, Caz. You could have summarized this entire post thusly;
—
Good; WVU scored, Geno didn’t get killed…YAH!

Bad; Did you WATCH the game? I mean…really?? Do we have to go over this again??

—
Or something like that at least.

Similar thoughts occurred to me. I’ll try … harder? … next time.

Drew said:

Did the wind cause receivers to drop balls that hit their hands?

I just don’t buy the excuse. Maybe if it was a one or two score game. The offense scored 7 meaningful points. That wasn’t the wind.

I think the team, including Geno, was overconfident. Then they panicked when they realized TT could play.

I think few, including WVU, would disagree with you.

Kevin said:

Maybe our boys took TT lightly. Maybe the wind disrupted Geno and the offense. Maybe a struggling defense became even more rattled by the offenses struggles since they normally take comfort in the fact that the offense scores a lot of points.

Probably 6 of 1 and half-dozen of the other. I think most people that have played sports have come off the field after getting dumptrucked and not been sure exactly where the wheels came off or why they came off in the 1st place. Hopefully TT doesn’t beat WVU twice and they are able to come out strong against K-State.

I say this as a working member of the press … but sometimes postgame interviews are unfair and weighed way too heavily.

rekterx said:

I saw the wind blowing our defensive players out of position all day long. And when they were close by to make a tackle they would dive toward the TT player and a big gust of wind would blow against them and they would fall to the ground short of the ball carrier. It was incredible.

Yes!

netbros said:

In the postgame Q&A Geno said, “That’s a stupid question.” Did anyone catch what the question was? It was difficult to hear.

Sure didn’t.

Matt said:

Luck made Stewart fire Mullen. Luck needs to make Holgerson fire DeForest.

Mullen had two-plus seasons.

rekterx said:

I have lived in B12 country. People there are a little more down to earth than trash talking East Coast people. It’s a part of the world where you are known by your actions, not your mouth.

Frankly, they deserved to be talked about. The Texas team they beat is not so good after all and when they ran into a more complete team that was ready to play when they weren’t ready they got their butt kicked.

This really interested me. It was somewhat perceivable that Texas Tech was really enjoying what it was doing during the game. Some quotes after the game suggested as much. I thought that was the end of it, but I wasn’t surprised to see the kid perk up in the aftermath. I was then left to wonder what people would have to say about this and I figured people would assume the kid was a front-runner. But then Dana pretty much agreed with it.

DanWV said:

This seems to be a trend in this program over the last decade or so. I just don’t get how they can allow themselves to be so overconfident that they think they shouldn’t bring it on every snap against every opponent when they are succeeding. Technique, preparation, and desire shouldn’t go out the window due to the hype meter being off the charts..

And the funny or frustrating part is so many of those kids were on the team that did the same thing last year at Syracuse.

Brandon said:

It’s the paradox of WVU football for the last 25 years. On the one hand good enough to develop the type of swagger that quickly turns to arrogance with a dash of complacence. On the other hand not QUITE enough talent to go half speed and beat someone. This was true in the Big East and is only magnified in the Big 12. Unfortunately I don’t quite know the answer. Best I’ve come up with is they develop some measure of pride in being the hunted and find a way to use that to challenge themselves, a la Calipari’s UK Wildcats, who often brag about how they sell out every arena and feed off the energy. It’s what great programs do but it’s certainly a tricky mindset to navigate.

My grandma isn’t blind, but she really can’t see. She doesn’t drive anymore.

Gordo said:

Texas Tech will be our new South Florida.

These rivalries are piling up pretty fast, huh?

overtheSEC said:

If this was this season’s Yankee Hat game, then maybe not all hope is lost. The year of the hats, the team then won the next 6 games, including wins over 3 ranked teams. That season turned out pretty well in the…oh $#*&

Enjoy the weekend!