So much talk about depth and so much evidence to suggest WVU has it and is benefiting from it, be it the defensive exploits down two cornerbacks against Baylor or the list of running backs who did something in the absence of the starter to contribute to Saturday’s victory. There remain some question about backups, namely at receiver, but when Mario Alford and Kevin White do what they do, you sort of accept that there’s going to be a dropoff when one or both is out, if even for a few plays.

But from the start of the season to now, hasn’t quarterback had our attention most? Who’s the backup? Why is the freshman returning punts? Can Clint Trickett stay healthy? Will the Mountaineers use William Crest in a special package? Is Paul Millard redshiring? Can I get a damn camera on Millard at all times?

We know now that Crest is done for the season because his shoulder is “all jacked up,” and WVU will pursue a medical redshirt. For the first time all season, Crest was not with the team Saturday because redshirts don’t travel. But his absence was nevertheless significant because, honestly, WVU’s deceptive towel game has been on point all season. Crest is Hall to Skyler Howard’s Nash, and now we know that Logan Moore is the third Outsider.

I, for one, fell better in the presence of that knowledge.

Such depth.

How did we get here? Let’s find out by taking a look at the Good and the Bad of WVU v. Oklahoma State.

Good: Fun
I didn’t know where to begin there was so much to get into and so much to enjoy about that game, no matter where we sat and what hat we wore. I’m working and you’re rooting and that difference will sort things out into different piles. The common denominator, I think, is we have some fun following this team. Rushel Shell didn’t play Saturday and you and I both nodded approvingly, though again for different reasons, at what Wendell Smallwood, Dreamius Smith, Andrew Buie and Dustin Garrison did in his place. Afterward, someone asked Smallwood what sort of help Shell provided on the sideline, as though Shell was a veteran and Smallwood a rookie, but the point was to get a quote along the lines of, “Yeah, he helped me figure out a few things about the gaps and the blocking and how I could get downhill faster.” What Smallwood said was so much better: “He made sure I was hydrated.” The interrogator skipped past that and went to the next question on the script and Dave Hickman waited and said, “He made sure you were hydrated?” Smallwood laughed. “He had his own personal water bottle and was walking around the sideline with it for guys.” Teamwork!

Good: Capitalization
Let’s not spend a lot of time today going over inches and missed opportunities that are sometimes the difference in the game. Truth be told, WVU didn’t have a lot of chance to take against what OSU did defensively. There were some, but there were also times I thought Clint Trickett stayed within himself and stayed within the game and chose security over risk, and he was praised for that afterward. There was one deep ball to White that was short and one fade to White in the short corner of the end zone that probably could have been caught. But you’re talking about two snaps out of 74 and a game where there were but a handful of chances for something special. But this was one of those chances and WVU nailed it. It’s a run/pass call for Trickett, but he saw the defense, knew it was man-to-man and knew the safety was going to have to step forward to jump the run or cover the receiver in motion. With the other shadowing White, there was no one left to deter this pass.

And do you think Trickett’s feeling it in this offense? Look when he commits to this play.

Absent context, that doesn’t look like a good decision at all, right? But he knows his very fast receiver is inside the cornerback and is going to be clear of the safety really soon. He knows an on-the-money throw is six points. And he’s right. That’s special stuff.

Good: Mack
I like how he’s popping up in TFGD now and that people are ready for him to pour water over Alford’s speed. I tracked his fastest 40 yards here and it was just 4.2 seconds (his 40-yard line to OSU’s 20). But 40s are something players and coaches aren’t much concerned with. I asked Alford a few weeks ago when he last ran a timed 40 and he didn’t know. He couldn’t even give me the time he ran. To him, it didn’t matter, because being fast beyond 40 yards on things like, say, kickoffs or deep slants is most important. Well, on this 79-yard score, he covered the final 70 in 7.48 seconds. That’s 19.14 mph and, oh no, Alford is coasting to the finish line this season.

Bad: Imperfections
Picky, I know, but this is the Good and the Bad, and this is the first play of the second half. It should look familiar. This time a clever linebacker sinks and does just enough to complicate this. A little more air or a brief delay and it’s a big play and maybe another score. But you can’t fairly praise Trickett’s trigger and then condemn it. Football’s hard, too.

Good: Speed
Did you know Tyreek Hill is fast? I quizzed some people who played in Saturday’s game. They said Hill is quicker and reaches a top speed earlier, but that Alford is faster. There you go.

Bad: Trends
Oh, the 12 personnel. That’s one running back and two tight ends and that’s a Thing right now. Pictured above is an unbalanced set. OSU has one tight end on one side and another as the H-back. It chopped WVU up throughout the first half. OSU also played a bunch with a tight end on each side of the offensive line and was successful with that, as well. Explanation? Cale Gundy. He’s Mike Gundy’s brother, but he’s also Oklahoma’s running backs coach, and the Sooners threw a ton of 12 personnel at WVU with great results. Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said OSU showed none of the unbalanced and two-tight end stuff on tape, but that he knew he’d see it Saturday because what’s good for one Gundy is good for another. The Mountaineers didn’t stop it despite having two tactics prepared to stop it. That’s a concern. TCU might not do a lot of it, but Texas and Kansas State can and probably will, and Gibson said as much afterward because the 12 packages are good ways to deter and thus discourage the pass rush the Mountaineers have showed so often and used so effectively.

Good: Sound effects
Here’s a tone-setter early in the game. Listen to Cody Clay (Aside: Still very good!) pop one defender and Smallwood collide with two others. WVU is increasingly physical as this season progresses, and it began with the Baylor game. It continued against the Cowboys, who are to be taken seriously up front, with Garrett Hope doing an orderly Elijah Wellman impression and Russell Haughton-James banking a bunch of productive snaps as an extra tackle. What WVU does seems to transcend who does it now, which is a pretty good place to be.

Bad: Exceptions
None of that is to say WVU’s offensive line was especially good. It wasn’t their best game and was the worst of the four in this winning streak, but OSU had a lot to say, and one of the four has to be the worst. The Cowboys do well make a mess of things up front and complicate communication, and you saw twists and stunts give the linemen and Trickett trouble. But this is not one of those plays. This is just a dud from Marquis Lucas, who was not the most popular player on the sideline soon thereafter. It’s not as bad as it was made out to be in TFGD, which had me giddy to watch it, but it wasn’t good. And that’s a clean, though vicious hit on Trickett.

Bad: No feel
We’re eight games in and I have no feel for the tackles still, which probably means they’re just OK. Not a problem, but not a strength. You can win some games with them. They won’t cost you many games. Maybe it’s simply a matter of those two not being as good as G-C-G, which is more about G-C-G than it is the tackles. And I can’t overreact to the Oklahoma game because Eric Striker and Geneo Grissom are that good and because Lucas and Adam Pankey did well after that and maybe because of that. But, as we’ve been over before, it seems like there are two or three plays every game, just very visible examples, that give you pause. Pankey, the left tackle, had a tough game with two false starts and a bizarre unsportsmanlike conduct after Smith ran right for a 40-yard touchdown (he also pummeled people on that play). This is unfair in that it singles out one play where he whiffs on a cut and the defender makes the tackle, but it matters. Everything matters.

Good: Swag
Did you know Hill was fast? I sense the Mountaineers did and were tired of hearing about it. With that in mind, K.J. Dillon’s “tackle” here made me laugh.

Good: Special teams
No joke. They were good. Josh Lambert’s so good he’s adding degrees of difficulty to his kicks. Mike Molinari is good at touchbacks. The coverage team handled the two exceptions without incident. Nick O’Toole was asked to do something new and kick the ball into the open side of the field so that Hill would take time to go get the ball as the coverage team closed in on him, and it went pretty well. But …

Bad: But…
…punt returns. #FreeJaylon. Let’s go through this slowly.

Bad: Start
OK, so this was a little reckless. That’s not the place to scoop up the bounce to save a few yards. You’d rather lose  nine or 10 yards than lose possession, and if the timing is just a little bit different, the OSU player pops the ball out of Myers’ hands and we’re holding student tryouts at the Mountainlair. But let’s not get it twisted: There’s an acceptable level of nonsense. It’s simply not fair eight games and umpteen debacles in to expect someone to be free of errors, especially a kid doing it for the very first time. I did not approve of this play, but I can accept it. He lost a yard on the second return, but he caught it! And there really wasn’t a chance for him to do something productive on that play. I was fine with that, too.

Good: Abundance of caution
Stillwater is hot, the fans have paddles, the sidelines are tight and the sun is an uncommon factor. The field is situated with one end zone in the west and another in the east. That’s actually somewhat rare (WVU is north/south, for example) and it brings the sun into play on kicks and deep passes on the east end. Myers simply lost this ball. It wasn’t high, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t in the sun. It likely stayed in the shine for a long time, as opposed to going through the shine on the way up and the way down, and it tricked him, which is absolutely not his fault. So what does he do? He bails. He locates it late, realizes it’s dangerous and probably even remembers he’s out there with the specific directive of “DON’T SCREW UP.” So he doesn’t screw up and doesn’t try to be heroic and invite risk. That was all for Myers and that was weird, but not as weird as putting Thompson back in the shine and up 17-10 when you’re doing everything else so cautiously. And on cue, he muffs the punt. It was remarkable. There was a re-kick and WVU put Vernon Davis in for the first time and he, too, had a moment when he darted toward the rolling ball. Honest question: Where was the Cover Zero look there?

Good: Thompson
I’m with TFGD on this: It’s probably easy to forget he’s a pretty good player. You can throw a football at him very hard from very close and he can catch it. He’s much improved as a route-runner. He clearly likes to block. But punt returns? Nope. Nope. Do I evoke Chuck Knoblauch for a second straight week?

Good: In spite of himself
I’ve never been a kicker, so I don’t know if I should be so impressed or not, but I know they’re obsessed with routine and mechanics and they study their operation for the smallest things. When they talk shop with outsiders, they sometimes equate their skill to golfing. I’m terrible at that, but I know about it and I know I can’t start, stop and start again and do anything properly. I have no idea how he’s done this twice now this season when routine is so important. (Side bad: How do all those guys dressed in black and white miss that? Second side bad: In the Baylor game, the officials cited a little-known rule that allows for a replay review to fix an “egregious” mistake, which in that case was the seemingly not-so-egregious location of a pass in relation to the line of scrimmage. With that in mind, this is egregious, no?)

Bad: OSU’s kicker
Actually, I don’t know if Ben Grogan is good or not, but I know his second field goal was no good and a WVU opponent finally missed a kick this season. And how did he push a 36-yarder? The Mountaineers got this on third down and turned a 26-yarder, or something even easier, into something trickier. That was a big little moment in the game, one of many, as it turned out

Bad: Update
Again, WVU didn’t have a lot of chances like this, and Trickett had to do something outside the (tackle) box to make it possible, but when they’re hard to come by and when you effort an opening, it’d behoove you to connect. This missed and Trickett has his worst MTEP day of the season: 0-for-3 with an intentional grounding call, two sacks for a loss of 11 yards and one 7-yard run. For the season, he’s 12-for-31 for 173 yards and two interceptions, three sacks, a lost fumble, an intentional grounding penalty and a pass interference penalty, plus five runs for 39 yards. Trending, trending, trending …

Good: Shell game
This was another game with cats and mice, and I hope on some level you see and appreciate these things every so often. This starts with five defensive backs and we’re thinking Cover Pentagon again. But with three receivers, you assume it’s actually Cover 2. Now you have to find out which two safeties are the deep safeties. You assume it’s the ones not above the receivers. That’s incorrect and the safeties in question show themselves at the snap.  And as all that’s happening, the linebackers are moving around and weaving their own web. OSU wins this down, but WVU was already playing games within the game.

Bad: Bah
OSU used this formation a few times — the Shell game play, included — and WVU couldn’t wrap its arms around it. You see early on that Dillon is on the right side of the offensive line and Icky Banks is behind him as something of a safety. Dravon Henry has the outside receiver, who’s just off the offensive line. Henry gets a slow start, which happens, and Jarrod Harper, in for Karl Joseph, who was hurt on the previous play, gets blocked, which also happens. Banks does his job and gets over as the backstop on the play, but he misses, which amplifies what happened to Henry and Harper. Mostly, though, it’s a good play for the Cowboys. They set it up, they ran it between the 40s and they did it following a break for an injured player. They also blocked it. That’s good stuff on that side.

Bad: Meh
I don’t hate the call. The defense is scrambling and WVU was running the ball pretty effectively to the left. There’s no reason to disapprove of the idea OSU would rally right and leave the end around open for the very fast Alford. Really, the problem here is that it’s poorly blocked.

Good: Fox Sports
Kind of missed them this week. I thought Ed Cunningham was fine and, of course, Mike Patrick is forever amazing. (Side good: “Kevin hWhite.”) But the cameras and the replays and all of the production just seemed off to me. The Fox Sports crews get a lot of Big 12 reps and they’ve got a great feel for the timing. They don’t miss snaps because of replays. They’re not showing me a coach or a player when the play is starting. I sort of need and definitely appreciate crisp presentation.

Good: Feet
Warning: We’re about to get deep here. One thing WVU’s receivers, and the very good receivers, do very well is line up properly. Seems simple, and it is, but it’s a little thing that plays big. It’s easy to get right and easy to get wrong. Look at White. When you say he’s on the numbers, you mean he’s really on the numbers. That’s no help for the cornerback. If White is a step outside the numbers, he creates room for a route that gets him in the middle. If he’s inside the numbers, he’s creating room for something deeper down the field and toward the sideline. Defenders know this. Cornerbacks mostly have to line up across from the receiver or they play right into the receiver’s plans. White has no tell here and he just beats a defensive back who has to worry about a fade, a vertical route or a slant. Oh well.

Similarly, Alford is outside the numbers and still gets inside the defensive back who should be protecting against  that … but Mario’s really fast off the line.

Similarly similar, OSU’s James Washington is inside the numbers and WVU’s Ricky Rumph gives up the sideline for a deep ball.

I don’t know, maybe nothing to you, maybe something you pay attention to as we proceed.

Good: Defense
Naturally — I mean, naturally — I write about a game that will feature deep passes and it just doesn’t happen. The play on Rumph is OSU’s only pass longer than 17 yards. But this one should be another. Washington cuts his route and Daxx Garman makes a bad throw, but it was there. WVU mostly did a good job keeping the roof on things, and I think that’s because WVU didn’t blitz a ton (by its standards) because it believed it could pressure Garman organically. (Aside: This is on Joseph and not Worley, right? The safety should be a lot closer when he’s got that half of the field … but OSU and its vertical threats will do that to you.)

Bad: Miss
The vertical to Washington (inside the numbers!) isn’t going to be there, so Washington comes inside and Garman just misses him. But watch Hill in the backfield on the wheel route out of the backfield into the space Washington vacated. He’s past Edward Muldrow III. There wasn’t any pressure here, either. It’s not a stretch to say someone needs to catch a pass on this particular play.

Good: Commitment
I thought the best part of WVU’s in-game audible to the run game was the wholesale commitment. It’s not that WVU was determined to run the ball. WVU was running the ball by running the plays it believed would work. There was no deviation from the plan or the particulars within it, unless the deviation was, “Hey, that play we just ran to the right? Yeh, how about we go left?” Let’s look at that critical drive in the third quarter that ended with no points, but was far from pointless.

Here’s first down. There’s nothing to the left and Smallwood, knowing a safety is not the desirable outcome, cuts it back to the right. He’s a wiggle away from a huge run. (Side Bad: I’m starting to wonder if it’s just not going to happen for these gentlemen this season. We’re headed to the ninth game and, like, the sixth preceded by, “They’re so close! They’re bound to break one soon!” Maybe not? Maybe this is just a good running game and not an explosive running game?)

Here we are on second and third downs. On second down, the play goes right and Garrett Hope, who’s the fullback here, sees something and blocks inside, which lets the safety come in and make the play. Not Hope’s best play, because I think Clay, who Hope helped, had things under control. If Hope blocks the safety (13), Smallwood is 1-on-1 on the cornerback (1) a few yards down the field. On third down, everything works. Clay, who is next to the left tackle, moves his man out of the play and then gets to the second defender as Hope arrives. That guy has no chance and Smallwood has all the room he needs to move the chains on third down. Clay, man. Clay.

Good: Jordan Sterns
Twenty tackles. Twenty. You’re going to need a safety who can play the run if you’re going to play WVU. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State had similar plans in that they were going to keep one or both deep just about all the time. When one is deep, the other has to be on the run. When both are deep, at least one is going to have to come forward to stop plays and negate the numerical advantages. Sterns was terrific … and he’s a sophomore. The 20 tackles were the most for a Cowboy since 2001 and made him only the sixth OSU player to register 20 tackles in a game since 1984. Only seven players in the nation have recorded 20 or more tackles in a game this season. Sterns is the only underclassman to do it.

Good: Play of the day
There’s no arguing this, right? It wasn’t his touchdown. It wasn’t Alford’s score or White’s snare or Henry’s pick six or even the sack that preceded the missed field goal. It ultimately precedes a punt … but that punt came after a 14-play drive that took 7:02 off the clock. That gave WVU’s defense a break. This gave the offense an altogether new reason to puff out its chest. There’s no way WVU can line up like it did on the first, second and third plays of this drive, but I’m curious how or why OSU really thought WVU would pass it here. The blocking is fine early — the defender on the back end is handled, Pankey dispatches the defensive end up top and Thompson/Spain and Tyler Orlosky come together to open an alley — but Smith does a whole lot of this on his own. Where was this guy all season?

Good: Weather!
It’s a Thing in the Big 12, so much so that WVU prepared for the heat last week. With aplomb.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Mountaineers were invited out of the cool, overcast and sometimes rainy weather and inside the indoor practice facility. The heat was turned up, all the doors were closed and WVU was on its way to practicing for both the Cowboys and the conditions.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever done it,” said Holgorsen, who followed a hunch after coaching the 2010 season as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator. “We cranked the heat up and went at it. Did it help? I don’t know.”

His players, who have won back-to-back road games for the first time since joining the Big 12, are certain it mattered. At first, though, they were suspicious.

“It was huge,” said quarterback Clint Trickett, who hadn’t played at Boone Pickens Stadium. “I thought they were joking about a lot of things, like how tight the sidelines are and how hot it was.”

Good: Third down defense
What WVU is doing is ridiculous, and it’s absolutely not what most long associated with the bending odd stack that would almost habitually allow 13-yard routes and completions on third-and-12. Or so it seemed. The Mountaineers rank No. 11 in the nation — not the Big 12 — in third down defense, and look at this game-by-game summary. Remember, Texas Tech was 2-for-11 in the second half. WVU is getting better as it goes deeper into the season. And what’s most remarkable is how WVU is doing this. It’s not merely being good on third down. It’s what happens to set up third down. Opponents have had third-and-7 or more on 73 of 128 third downs and converted only 16 times. That’s unbelievable.

Good: Handshakes
I’d point out how Hope blows out his defender one last time or that Pankey was out there late to get his hits in or that the rock finally broke at the end of a long, hot day and that in the eighth game of the season WVU has its long run and it’s but 40 yards. Instead, marvel at Dreamius trying to cop a handshake from the cheerleader. Howdy. Name’s Dream. Just ran 40 yards pretty much untouched. Running that play all day, if you didn’t notice. Playing to put ourselves in the Big 12 driver’s seat next week. Nothing? Fine. Orange is ugly.