Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which would like to call Jordan Thompson to the stand today. We observed his quizzical decision to field a punt with his finger tips whilst running toward his goal line with his back to the kick. It looked foolish live and it seemed like another mark against Thompson’s decision-making, and maybe Joe DeForest’s, too, for putting Thompson back there despite a (brief) history of lowlights.

Well, let’s take a look at this again.

There’s a lot to process, beginning with the kicker and the fact WVU thought it knew what to expect. This is a true freshman who hadn’t kicked in college, and the Mountaineers had circled it. The biggest question mark with them special teams wise is the punter and the kicker, because they’re replacing some good guys that they had last year.

This is not to say Alabama was going to be bad at it, but WVU wasn’t expecting, say, spectacular.

“It was his first college kick,” Thompson said. “That’s a true freshman back there punting the ball for the first time. We saw him punt in the pregame. Forty-five yards. He’s not going to boot it 70 yards.” 

So Thompson went back to what he thought was a normal and appropriate depth — and got schooled. He’s not afraid to admit it, either.

“I was originally at the 35-yard line,” he said. “I was already 45 yards deep when I went back, and then I lost count. In my head, I’m thinking, ‘All right, he out-kicked his coverage. I’m going to have time to catch it and turn around and they’ll probably be 40 yards out.’ After looking at it on film, they were 40 yards away — except the two gunners. The gunners were right on me.”

Thompson didn’t expect that, either. He knew one was close because he heard safety Landon Collins yelling, but since the kick was on the left, Thompson didn’t expect the gunner on the right side to also be down there after a long kick.

“The first guy wrapped me up and then the other dude was there and got me,” he said. “When I got up, I was like, ‘Dang.’ ”

Upon further review, well, it’s probably a little surprising Thompson actually made that catch, and then, given how unexpected everything was, held onto the ball and didn’t loose it into the end zone. That could all happen again and Collins could have easily knocked that ball out for a safety or a touchdown. And getting the ball at the 6 is better than giving up six.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, prioritize.

Mack said:

Is anything overly criticized more than a kick returner who brings it out of the end zone and gets tackled before reaching the 20… or a punt returner who catches one inside the 10 and gets tackled?

In the former instance, any kick returner has a theoretical chance of taking it to the house on any kick return. Isn’t that worth the idea of potentially starting your drive at a spot where you’d need 90 yards to score a touchdown rather than 80 yards?

The crazy punt return catch by Jordan Thompson was a bad play, but it wasn’t disastrous. If he lets it go, there’s a chance it goes out of bounds or is downed inside the five. In such an instance, any human being in Thompson’s place goes through a “fight or flight” mental process… Thompson chose to catch it and the ball sailed further than he probably planned. At the end of the day, he caught it so no harm no foul. Fans always act like every yard you start behind the 20 is a million dollars out of their pockets whereas every yard you start a drive past the 20 seems inconsequential.

I don’t mind the kickoff return decisions. With the way offenses play now, which is to say with speed and results, field position lost can be regained. I was more offended by Rushel Shell jogging to Mario Alford in the end zone on one kickoff like, “Nah, you’re not going to do anything with this one. Get the next one.” Same guy had a touchdown earlier, Rush. If DeForest wanted a guy to catch the thing on kickoffs, he’d put Thompson out there, right? As for the punt, sorry, you can’t catch the ball inside the 10. Just let it go. There are some occasions with extenuating circumstances — and, sure, Thompson’s was one of those — but in ordinary instances, it’s worth it to let it bounce at, say, the 8 and make the team field a sharply bouncing ball. 

I love you, Doug! said: 

Is it raining on the parade to point out the offense managed only one TD? When’s Holgo’s legendary offense going to show up?

It’s a stiff, wind-driven dew, I think. They moved the ball. Alabama’s defense morphs into something different and even more aggressive when backed inside the 30 — and it’s always one of the best red zone defenses in terms of touchdown percentage and scoring percentage. And yet WVU had chances to make something happen down there. Can’t forgive the dropped passes or the bad throws, can’t forget the fade that was knocked from White’s grasp, but you can’t blame-blame Holgorsen for all of that. Now having said that, these red zone problems are not new, so you do wonder if why, how and who are connected.

Rugger said:

Four rushing plays in the second half killed us. I realize we averaged 1 yard per carry in the second half and Dana is tempted to air it out but that never seems to work without some semblance of a running game.

Let’s hope we can run v Towson.

It didn’t help, but that’s not what killed them. We need to understand a few things. 1) There were 10 or 15 calls, according to Trickett, when he switched from run to pass or pass to run. That certainly took away some runs, though for a reason. And that reason is … 2) Alabama’s defense puts eight in the box or an eighth near the box a bunch and WVU can’t beat that. That was one trigger for Trickett to switch, and the fade to White on the right side in the third quarter was supposed to be a run play, but Trickett bailed and made the right play for a big gain. 3) The quick throws outside and the screens that come inside are, in essence, run plays for the Mountaineers. They can do better for themselves working outside than inside because starting the ball out there takes away the advantage a squad like Alabama has in getting outside with the run. Now, yes, they should have run the ball more, and they said so, but WVU wasn’t going to pound Alabama on the way to the end zone again and again. The teams that have succeeded against Alabama threw it all over the place — and remember, WVU and Oklahoma are strikingly similar. That was WVU’s plan, and it’s not as though the pass didn’t work. Trickett pushed 400 yards against the Tide. Four is a low number, but they weren’t going to do themselves much good running, say  16 times that half.

Mack said:

“Dana can not abandon the run and expect to win vs top competition. I believe I read that we had four (4) rushes in the second half…..seems Dana panicked.”

I knew the “abandon the run” folks would come out. Holgorsen started on drive with two rushes that went nowhere and every WVU fan in the stadium was thinking, “Why are we running the ball?” It appeared that WVU had no chance of successfully running the ball in the second half whether it was due to a worn down offensive line and/or worn down running backs. Shell was a beast in the first quarter but none of that was on display on the few rushing plays in the second half.

Good point on those two rushes. Fans were insane about that below me. I think the offensive line fatigued a little, but that the Alabama defensive live was much better, and fresher, and started blowing up the blocking in front of Shell on that inside run. 

ffejbboc said:

Mike, great job on the first G&B of the season. You highlighted pretty much every single critical situation.

When you add up and/or take away the “almosts” from both sides, does Alabama still win?

That’s a good question. You could answer either way, I suppose. Here’s a good question, too, amid all of WVU’s “almosts” and “what ifs” — did Alabama play poorly? Did it submit those same unknowns?

Mack said:

Why do people make a big deal about which conference the officials come from? Every conference has awful officials. I’ve watched a lot of games and I’ve seen a lot of terrible officiating but I haven’t ever seen anything that leads me to believe that one conference’s officials will give its team better calls than the opponent… yet everyone in the Dome kept saying “SEC refs!” (even though they weren’t).

Mack: Solitarian. World: Contrarian. (Mack’s never seen a Pac-12 game or heard Pac-12 coaches or administrators go off, either.)

BobbyHeenan said:

Great job, Mike.

I was shocked to see Worley peering into that seam route to get that INT. Conventional wisdom says NO WAY does the CB on the best ‘Bama WR break off his man to cover the TE there. Kiffin didn’t see it, the QB didn’t see it, and neither did I.

Pac Man is the last CB we had that could make that play. Worley is no Pac Man, but we used to play a ton of zone with Pac Man and he was an absolute weapon in getting eyes on the QB and making breaks on the ball, often well outside of his traditional coverage area.

Really sharp play. Worley said he was waiting on that play, but that was the first time Alabama ran it and went to O.J. Howard, which means Worley not only had it dog-eared, but recognized it in the fourth quarter. The best part? He was mad at himself for returning the interception to the far sideline, and thus drawing the phantom holding penalty on Tonkery. 

Grumpy said:

Was hoping to see a G or B on Henry. The Good he didnt really get burnt on anything that was real noticeable, except he should have been the one deep with the WR that dropped the easy pass. The Bad, he was late getting to a lot of plays. That will improve with experience. Give him couple more games and he will start making plays?

He was OK. He wasn’t bad, but he didn’t stand out, either, and I suppose that gets a Good for his first game. I watched him on the sideline after the first series and he was breathing really hard. Nerves, I’m sure, but he didn’t look nervous out there. Do the coaches like him? Tony Gibson went Cover Zero and put Henry on Amari Cooper on that fourth down play in the third quarter. That was encouraging.

 realbbbb said:

Mike,

There are 4 b’s, not 3. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REoYZ37j8mY&feature=youtu.be&t=2m57s) . Anyway, I will try to improve the quality of the files for next week (I forgot that YouTube further compresses any files you upload to them) but these are from SD feeds so the quality is only going to be so good.

Good: defense not giving up any big plays (thanks to Cristion Jones drop), offense moving the ball with ease most of the time, no 3 & out 20-second possessions (a staple of 2013 WVU)

Bad: horrendous officiating, too many WR drops, several short throws that Trickett didn’t have the touch on, 3rd down fade to Alford

FYI–The Holgorsen gif for future use/reference http://i.imgur.com/U4Woc7G.gif

Gif saved.

Mack said:

With regard to the Mario Alford 40-time at the top of the screen – and I’m not claiming there’s anything misleading here, it just took me a minute to think of it – the difference in starting from a stop and hearing the gun go off versus being in mid-stride from the get-go surely helps shave that 40 time down just a bit to make it an eye-popping number.

Mack’s the guy who wins the lottery and laments the times he didn’t.

Down South said:

Mack, I would argue that the helmet, shoulder pads, girdle, knee pads, thigh pads and rabid Bama defenders would provide a sufficient counterweight to the running start to allow one’s eyes to still pop.

As to the abandonment of the running game, I had this same conversation with my degenerate gambler friend (he took Bama and the points) who bears no allegiance to any team. Alabama (and South Carolina) are built to stop the Alabama’s and LSU’s of the SEC. Big D-lineman, big linebackers. They are built to defend the area immediately around the football. I think, generally, there are two purposes of the run game. The first is to soften up and tire out the interior by making them defend inside runs. This goal was certainly accomplished by Alabama. The second purpose is to gain yards that make third-down conversions attainable. Offenses like Holgorsen’s try to accomplish that same purpose by throwing the ball sideways. It helps soften up the middle by making D-linemen and linebackers turn and chase the ball sideways. Combine those plays with tempo and the linemen and linebackers are running to the sideline to chase receivers, then running back to the hashmarks to line up, then doing the same thing over again (perhaps in a different direction) on another play fifteen seconds later. West Virginia wasn’t physically gifted enough to line up and run right at the Alabama interior, so why would we have done that repeatedly? It would have played to their strength. But when you make their defensive ends turn and chase Mario Alford or Wendell Smallwood play after play, that plays to our strength. The problem was Alabama sustained long drives that gave plenty of rest to their defenders. For the most part, the interior runs didn’t work, so why would we have tried more of them? If you turn and pitch it sideways to Kevin White and he gains four yards on first down, haven’t you accomplished the same purpose?

Right on about the run, but let’s go back to Mack. Again. Receivers weigh about 16 pounds more during a game. Sixteen. Guys at the combine are as close to naked as live coverage on NFL Network will allow. And Alford didn’t run a straight line. But, sure, mitigate it. 

Josh24601 said:

I’m pretty happy a good player is wearing #7 again. Viva Shell.

Josh24601 said:

(A good running back. I’m aware how important Daryl Worley is.)

Not that Alford is losing his spot, but Shell and Worley can’t return kickoffs together. Officials from any conference would throw a flag for illegal participation. 

BobbyHeenan said:

Really liked both Shell and Smallwood.

I particularly liked that we could take Smallwood, put him in motion into the slot or out wide, and run the tunnel screen to him. He wasn’t just a place holder in the slot – you’ve got to actually account for him on all kinds of routes.

We toyed with that concept with Sims. But now you’ve got a whole new wrinkle when you can play Smallwood and Shell in the line up at once.

I’ve held back writing or talking about it because it hasn’t blossomed yet, and I don’t think it will this week, but, yeah, there’s a lot to like there. And Shell looks like he can block and that he wants to block, with the latter mattering more than the former. What’s exciting to me as an observer and a fan of WRINKLES is the third play. Start with the two backs, do something; stay with the two backs and motion Smallwood outside; stick with the three backs and … well, the defense is made to wonder.

Gordo said:

I’ve never had a great deal of confidence in this scheme, but what do I know? If it is such a great idea, why is there essentially only one group of coaches that use it?

Lots of teams use the 3-3-5, either as a base or as a, I guess, nickel defense. There’s a big difference between a 3-3-5 and a stack 3-3-5. I don’t think the people who say “WVU is using a 3-3-5!” fully understand the significance in saying “WVU is using an odd stack!” Note how coaches generally make that distinction when they talk about it. It’s hard to explain, and to understand, but the alignment, the leverage, the variations of the linebackers and the many ways all of that affects angles and lanes and attacks does a ton to run fits, routes, reads and more on offense. Honestly, Casteel won’t do clinics on it and Gibson doesn’t like to talk about it. It’s rare enough that Gibson pulled Anthony Leonard from the West Virginia Wesleyan staff, where his son plays and one of his favorite players (George Shehl) is the head coach because Leonard knows it so well. Think of it this way: John Beilein’s 1-3-1 and Bob Huggins’ 1-3-1. Now introduce cocaine.

Oklahoma Mountaineer said:

I’m glad HCDH allowed them to go back to the stack — I know a lot of people don’t like it, but it’s perfect for a throwing league and fits the type of players WVU has been able to recruit over the years.

I found it funny to listen to Holgorsen talk about how the 3-4 was the hardest for him to work against — didn’t make sense at the time when you see that from a lot of schools……I think he just wanted to cut ties with Casteel so bad that he couldn’t stand us running it…and Mitchell didn’t know how to run it anyway.

He wanted it back as much as he allowed it back. You can prepare for it — you can prepare for anything — but it’s not something you can deal with until you see it, and the Big 12, for the most part, has not seen it. 

chocolate covered bacon said:

In his press conference Holgorsen said of Alabama, “Good defensive teams line up and play good technique, they don’t need to do a lot schematically…”, or something very close/similar.

That’s my problem with his decision to sign-off on the 3-3-5. In the past under Casteel, it was understood that players needed more than one season to acclimate to the 3-3-5.

It seems a contradiction.

It seems a clever way of saying WVU still can’t get the G.A.M on the defensive line but can instead get big athletes to run around and make plays on defense.

Down South said:

I think the most interesting thing about Saturday’s game is going to be who comes in at quarterback when Trickett leaves the game. Millard is comparable to an older Mark Brunell at the end of his NFL career. Been in the system forever. Can do certain limited things when he is put in the game. And probably doesn’t need to get meaningless game reps to do what he does. Crest is the star rookie who is still learning the system. Needs all the game reps he can get. If Crest is your second best option at QB this season, then the redshirt comes off and he is the second man out on the field. If he isn’t ready yet and he doesn’t play, have to think he is looking at a redshirt. My first impression of Crest from watching him warm up Saturday was (1) his throwing motion is a little weird and (2) he is a much bigger guy than I thought he’d be.

Agreed, and I get this, I do, but it presumes Trickett & Co. are good enough to blow out Towson with time to spare. I’m not sold, and that makes me want to see Trickett & Co. for as long as possible. So, to me, playing Crest is relative to conditions. If Trickett & Co. do work and have that thing in the bag at the end of three, I’m OK seeing Crest. If it’s, say, 31-10 after three, then doesn’t the first-team have to keep going? I don’t see great value in having Crest come in with three minutes left in a 45-13 game. (And I don’t want Trickett playing behind the second- and third-string linemen. Again, it’s all relative. I just feel like the offense could use the work and that you can get hurt at any point in any game, so preservation isn’t my chief concern.)

lowercase jeff: 

yo. mike. the site is fixed. nice.

also

tailgate?

We can do it, but it’d be nice to know some game times and arrange it for a later kickoff, right?

smeer said:

and because I was interested in Crest’s full name (thoughts of Billy Dee)

I (think) I discovered that Crest’s middle name is Vernon . . .

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-02-03/sports/bs-va-sp-william-crest-signing-day-0204-20140203_1_william-crest-dunbar-quarterback-west-virginia-dunbar/2

so maybe not Billy Dee but Billy Vee? 

I like it …

Rugger said:

W.V. Crest works.

Enjoy the weekend!