Starting cornerback Terrell Chestnut will not play Saturday against Oklahoma State.

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) October 23, 2014

I’m off to Oklahoma City today for tomorrow’s game in Stillwater, where it’s going to he hot. I feel like I let you down by not doing another weather-on-the-road feature, but I do have some intel and something up my sleeve for Monday. It’s actually pretty clever, but useless to use if the road team doesn’t prosper on the road.

Anyhow, Mr. Chestnut will not be in attendance, and WVU will probably travel with junior college transfer Keishawn Richardson for the first time. He hasn’t played all season, but such is the situation at cornerback. Daryl Worley has given indications he’s good to go, which is good news for the secondary. (No legitimate word on Rushel Shell. I’ve heard yay and nay, which means “Ask me Saturday.”)

Get ready for something of an oddity at Boone Pickens Stadium, though. College football has evolved into spread sets, short throws, quick releases and athletes in space. WVU and Oklahoma State do that, but both throw it deep like few others in the game today.

“We worked on throwing the ball vertically more than I ever have in my life because of what we believe is a great running back room and an extremely physical offensive line,” Dawson said. “We figure that teams are going to have to man up at some point to stop the run, so we have to be able to throw it vertical.

“And we’ve worked on it. That was our biggest emphasis in the offseason, and obviously we’re way better throwing and catching it.”

It remains a part of WVU’s practices during the season. Most days start with a drill where cornerbacks are set at different depths and with varying leverage and the quarterback and receiver are in charge of completing a deep pass.

“We haven’t worked on a lot of the back-shoulder stuff because our guys are getting by them,” Trickett said. “If they’re even, they’re leaving, and I have to go for the home run shot. If guys are winning on the edge, I’ve got to put it out there. It’s always about letting them make a play, don’t throw it out of bounds, don’t throw it short. I’ve always got to give them a chance to make a play.”

Daxx Garman’s deep throw is a pretty one, and I’m guessing it gets a lot of P.T. Saturday. I’m not sure he’ll be throwing them to Jhajuan Seales, but there are many options available to the team’s second QB this season. Fortunately for WVU, Baylor was “more over-the-top than anybody I’d ever broken down,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. That blitz-or-bust strategy might be employed again, though with more disguise and variation, because 1) it worked and 2) OSU’s line is sieve.

Topic today: Best deep ball. I ride with Jeff Blake.