🎶 Hello from the outside. At least I can say that I’ve tried. 🎶

Watching it live, it felt a bit like UConn 2010. It felt like this was the game, these were the players and those were the errors that were going to send this whole deal in a new direction and maybe never change course. West Virginia’s offense was too fast and had too much skill for the opponent. The defense was stymieing — that word never looks right and yet never sounds wrong — a pretty basic offense. A win was right there, if only the Mountaineers could wake up and take it.

But there were just enough gaffes and guffaws to sketch and then color in the idea it wouldn’t happen. I mean, this was really close to ending differently Saturday.

If Matt McCrane makes the field goal, who knows what WVU’s offense does? It had time with which to work, but who kicks a field goal for the Mountaineers? If Byron Pringle catches this pass — and he definitely should have, if only to reward Jesse Ertz for a proper check and probably his best throw of the game — do the Mountaineers have the same response to a 20-3 deficit as they did to a 13-0 deficit? If McCrane connects and/or if Pringle catches the pass, how large do little moments loom?

For example, how big is this?

It’s Good WVU. Tempo. Haste between plays. Justin Crawford is tackled, and Skyler Howard snaps the ball 13 seconds later. Kansas State isn’t set. Look at the safety above Shelton Gibson. He can’t help. Howard knows it and throws it. And he whiffs, but he’s hit this before. Why not Saturday? Was it one of those days?

We’ve seen Howard make plenty of deep throws, but overall he wasn’t as accurate or efficient early — the second quarter, in particular — and that, combined with the defensive ends turnstiling his tackles, certainly shook his confidence later.

Marcus Simms is the receiver at the bottom of the screen, and he may have gotten away with a false start, but the safety near him steps forward, because K-State respected the run. But that’s going to give Simms and Howard a chance. The television view is not conducive, but the cornerback plays soft, and the second safety plays shallow enough in the middle of the field that Simms has room to run a good route and get open deep in the middle of the field.

Listen to the crowd … and then listen to the fan the parabolic mic captures at 0:17.

So there’s ample incentive to worry by the time Adam Pankey jumps on fourth-and-2 at the 15-yard line or when Rushel Shell loses a fumble inside the 5 or when Howard takes a knee trying to sneak across the goal line.

But ultimately, none of it mattered.

Well, that might not be wholly true. Appearances do matter, and while a comeback is noble and the Mountaineers impressed with their valor, they did outgain K-State 422-286 and win by a point. The Mountaineers are No. 20 in total offense. They are No. 67 in scoring offense. All 19 teams above them in total offense are above them in scoring offense. East Carolina is No. 65, Louisiana Tech is No. 43. The other 17 are in the top 40. Points per game remains the most important stat, whether for the offense or the defense.

You do have to commend the defense for shutting the Wildcats down in the second half and for, I guess, causing Charles Jones to trip on the late second-and-10 and for pressuring Ertz on third-and-12 to set up the eventual missed field goal. And Howard and his cohorts did indeed make plays on the money drive. Ka’Raun White, who bobbled a catch that became an interception in the first quarter, made not one but two big plays on the drive. (Side Good: The Brothers White! Kyzir had his best game, and Ka’Raun was very valuable. Those two catches were significant, and so, too, was the fourth-down conversion in the red zone at the end of the third quarter. He got hit just when he caught it, just like he did on the interception and on the third-and-8 catch. WVU scored touchdowns on both possessions … and WVU only scored two touchdowns. Neither happens without him.)

The game-winner was the splendid intersection of preparation and execution. It’s a scramble drill, and the Mountaineers do rehearse this, but it was still something else to see it happen and to witness the reaction. You could sense surprise and relief at once.

That’s a much better look at it all, though. We’ll spend more time on Durante and how he had his best day in college to help the Mountaineers move to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Big 12. How did we get here? Let’s find out by taking a look at the Good and the Bad of WVU v. Kansas State.

Good: Receivers
White was clutch. Shelton Gibson did his thing, though again with minimal opportunities and/or catches. Durante was indispensable. But let’s stop for a second and acknowledge the season Daikiel Shorts is having.

Through four games, he has 24 catches for 318 yards and two touchdowns — both in the end zone, of course. Eighteen of his catches — including all seven of his third-down receptions — have been for first downs. So, all but four of his catches have been good for six points or three downs. His 31-yard catch-and-run Saturday was the second-longest reception of his career and his second reception of 25 yards or more this season. That’s as many as he had all of last season and half as many as he had in 2013 and 2014 combined. He’s averaging 13.25 yards per catch, and that’s an indication of what he’s doing after the catch, which is what the Mountaineers wanted to see. He was at 11 and 11.61 yards per catch in 2013 and 2015, respectively, and at 14.42 in 2014, when he finished with as many catches as he has this season.

Good: Durante
Dana Holgorsen was so mad after this. Watch Durante, the middle receiver at the bottom of the screen, stroll through this route and get knocked over. That’s not the urgency or toughness you want to display on any down, let alone fourth down.

Durante didn’t act like this the rest of the way. Tell me that dash across the back of the end zone wasn’t urgent or that the catch wasn’t tough. Tell me he wasn’t in the appropriate spots when he had to be, which is the gripe coaches have had with him. Two other displays stood out and seemed to show Durante is getting used to his new role.

First, he keeps this play alive, and it’s a precursor to the touchdown. Howard could have run here and picked up yards, but Durante availed himself and got a first down. If this doesn’t happen — if Durante jogs or if No. 9 re-routes him — does the touchdown happen?

Two plays here. Durante is the middle receiver again at the bottom of the screen. He does … I don’t know what he does. Maybe his route is supposed to be like that to jerk the defender around and give Durante space and then a pass on the run. I’m the one who said he could be a red zone weapon because of jerky jerky stuff like this in the slot. But it doesn’t work, and it looked like a mistake. #TeamGoForIt quickly assembles, and WVU runs the same play, except that Durante runs all the way through his route and makes the catch.

Good: Those trips
Not really stacked or even bunched, but they’re far away and they were useful. Hard to say where this came from or why WVU used it, but it was a ~wrinkle~ and it was effective. It creates a lot of space for the receiver on the opposite side of the field (helpful for White’s third-and-8 catch on the game-winning drive). It unloads the box. It creates free releases at the line for the three receivers.

The one thing I noted was how it seemed to alter K-State’s plan. Check out how the Wildcats defended the stacks. (Aside: Definitely a red zone Thing now. Punch and cookies will be served at the end of the season.)

A cornerback stays back, meaning he won’t become engaged with the top receiver, and the corner, the safety and the other defenders can rally to make the play on the quick throw. (Aside: Bad throw and bad block, I know, but K-State would generally help itself by having defenders who aren’t caught in traffic running to the ball.) WVU wasn’t defeated, and one workaround was having the top receiver cut inside, either on a drag route or a slant, which, don’t get me wrong, is not unprecedented. It worked now and then, and something happened on this play. I have no idea what the safety over Gibson is doing after the snap. He and the corner are defending the stacks, I guess, and that leaves the other safety up top while the two linebackers have to watch the underneath stuff, which is generally an acceptable outcome for K-State.

Another workaround? Perhaps these three-to-one-side looks. You can’t put two safeties on top of the secondary if three receivers are grouped wide to one side and one receiver is on the other side. If you do, it’s at best three-on-two when the ball is snapped, and you’re surrendering gains on clean throws. You have to devote a safety to that three-receiver side, unless you’re going to play dime, which means taking a linebacker out of the box and trying to defend likely automatic runs with five defenders. So there were a lot of single-high safety looks, and that’s not how K-State has defended, or wanted to defend, the Mountaineers in the past.

Between this stuff and the run game, K-State had six in and around the box more than they did last year. Shell game.

Bad: K-State
Complicit in all of this talk about the Mountaineers winning one they could or should have lost is the Wildcats losing a game they could or should have won. This can’t be thrown at the feet of the kicker, who was 3-for-3 before missing at the end. Ertz was 10-for-30 (!) and plainly missed some big plays. He only completed one long pass, and that 37-yard gain to Deante Burton (Aside: Contained! It was his only catch. He did 5-135-1 last season.) was a busted play when Ertz scrambled and floated one to Burton running left-to-right as Maurice Fleming trailed, seemingly in pain. That was Fleming’s last play of the game, by the way.

Ertz was pretty clearly caught up in the shape-shifting the 3-3-5 did before many snaps, and that started early. He was trying so hard to get the checks right, basically to a detriment. The Wildcats used four of their six timeouts because the play clock was about to expire and took one delay of game penalty. Ordinarily one of the tidiest pre-snap teams you’ll find, there was that consistent consternation plus two illegal substitution penalties, one false start and one timeout because there were 10 players on the field in the wildcat, which is not only something K-State runs all the time and would seem conditioned to trigger, but it’s unbecoming of a team nicknamed the Wildcats.

 

(Side Bad: No one’s perfect. WVU took a timeout on the first third down of the game because it had 10 players on the field.)

Good: Schedule
All of that said, this K-State team is, I thought, much better than the K-State team WVU played and lost to in the 12th game last season, and that team was much better than the team that started 0-6 in the Big 12. That crew won its final three regular-season games and returned a lot of those players this season while … adding? … it’s returning starting quarterback who played one snap last season. So, you’d rather get this one in your rear view mirror sooner rather than later. Ertz looked like a guy who played Stanford and then four quarters against two cans of artichoke hearts, but he can spin it. Pringle, Burton and Dominique Heath are weapons, and the run game is and will be better than what it looked like against the Mountaineers. Above all else, that defense is legitimately good and could stand as the best WVU sees in the regular season. It’s going to win games and keep the offense within striking distance for others.

Bad: Offensive line
The tackles had trouble, and the guards were just OK, and all of that made me realize that I can’t remember the last time Tyler Orlosky wasn’t very good or better. Doesn’t happen often. Look, some of the trouble Adam Pankey, Colton McKivitz and Marcell Lazard had was the direct result of who K-State had. Jordan Lewis is one of the Big 12’s best pass rushers, so he’ll give good players bad memories. He does two mean things to McKivitz here, first getting low and springing up to rob McKivitz Lazard of any leverage. Then, just as the reeling McKivitz is recovering and getting control, Lewis spins inside. Meanwhile, Reggie Walker, who looks like he’s going to be a problem for the next few seasons, is putting his own two-move sequence on Pankey. One or the other was getting the sack here.

The edge pressure had an effect on the increasingly demonstrative Howard, but it wore on the tackles, too. Watch McKivitz here and compare him to Pankey. McKivitz is backing up and backing up, and, sure, he’s looking for someone because Lewis angles inside, but the pressure is obviously coming through the vacated space. By the time McKivitz and Charmeachealle Moore engage, Moore is wearing Howard’s socks. McKivitz never looked like that against Missouri or Youngstown State even. Pankey, on the other hand, widened out, engaged sooner and made Tanner Wood take a longer route to the backfield.

It wasn’t just pass protection, either. The ends and outside linebackers sometimes made tackles earlier than WVU wanted or when they had no business doing so, like on this play, when McKivitz initially blocks Lewis like he’s supposed, only for Lewis to simply turn around and chase down Crawford. I’m willing to bet he was not expecting that. He might have scored. Say what you want about McKivitz, who is still but a redshirt freshman and who WVU went to as Lazard struggled, but he’s going to school early in this season, and that’s not the worst thing that can happen to him and for his development.

Good: Special teams?!?!
The BYU game left a mark, and the timing of it — a week before a visit from K-State — enhanced it. WVU was maybe guilty of overthinking things. I liked the squib to start the game, and I liked how the Wildcats had a plan, which was “WVU wants one of our slow guys to return this, so let’s make sure we don’t give WVU what it wants.” I don’t know what was wrong with this, but WVU decided to go deep on its second kickoff, and that was returned 58 yards, which was vintage WVU. But Josh Lambert didn’t kick again after that, so maybe be missed a sign. I don’t know. After the Howard-to-Durante touchdown, Mike Molina tried a squib, and it was all right. It went to the 11-yard line, but Pringle slithered through for a 30-yard return, and, ooohhh, there was a nip in the air. Felt like the arrival of Fall.

At the end of the day, though, it didn’t matter. And Billy Kinney punted well. And his comrades covered punts like they’re supposed to. And Molina handled a jagged in-game switch. And Gary Jennings called for a fair catch. These are all good things!

Good: Throwbacks
I have a black leather jacket. It’s technically not mine. Someone took it from a bar on accident once and realized it wasn’t hers — hers! — and decided to give it to me. It looked so good when I was in college. But that was some time ago, and the zipper hasn’t worked in years. I still wear it, because I feel good. It’s comfortable. It brings me back to good times. I feel the same way about what’s happening on offense this year. Four-receiver sets. Two-back sets. The hot potato pass. Stick-draw! (Aside: I owe it to you to go on Facebook Live the next time I try to explain it to Hertz.) Now, does the zipper work on everything? Nah. But aren’t you cozier this year than you were before?

The instant recognition of a stick-draw is one of my favorite things. The texts and Twitter go crazy, and the heart is warmed. I thought we might see it, just based on how K-State chose to drop back to defend WVU’s passes. Here’s the thing with three receivers spread far to one side. Certainly on third-and-7, you can expect the defense to be cool and keep everything in front of it and short of the first down, all of which makes me wonder. Was this our old friend? Do you run a stick route when you need seven yards? I don’t think so. This may have been a straight draw, and the formation certainly lends a hand. Durante occupies a defender, and Orlosky does more than enough to facilitate Shell, who really needed to run straight ahead here. Later in the game, on another third down when WVU needed twice as many yards, we saw the same play … and that makes me think the first was a straight draw, because there’s no way you run a stick here. And to Shell’s credit, he got it right this time.

Good: Rasul Douglas
He was trailing receivers more than you’d like to see, but I do enjoy watching him play. He’s making a lot of tackles, which can mean his receivers are catching passes, but it can also mean he’s chasing down plays. We remember the touchdown-saver against BYU, and now we see this. That’s his man getting a handoff in motion, but Douglas still has to go through a lot of space and traffic to make the tackle. The only direction his confidence is ever going to go is up.

 

Good: Speaking of …
Know who else is fun to watch? David Long. Look at that! He gets popped while he’s basically flat-footed, and that knocks him off balance and off course, but he steadies and makes the play. He waited four games to get a start. He waited four plays to prove that what people say about him is true. He doesn’t get blocked.

Good: Wrinkle
I’m 99.9 percent sure this was the play WVU was going to run when Pankey jumped for that false start. This is clever, but this is also a good look at the difference between avoiding your weaknesses and working with your weaknesses. Seriously, the next time WVU lines up like this, it won’t be a team that’s mastered short-yardage and goal line situations. It will be a team that’s given a defense two things to consider in a formation that usually only ever offers one.

Bad: Third down and its relevancy
I don’t know, this might need a disclaimer. K-State was 8-for-18 on third down, which is one make away from 50 percent, and that’s the level opponents used to never approach against the Mountaineers. They haven’t seen an especially great offense yet, and they rank No. 110 out of 128 teams in third-down defense.

But … but I think we need an explainer.

 

Ertz had problems on third down: 4-11-1 for 62 yards. Three of his completed passes (plus an 8-yard scramble on third-and-18) came against zones, and each went for a first down (except the scramble). The other completed pass was against a blitz, and it was a tight throw inside to Heath that did just enough to get a first down. But when WVU blitzed on third down, I had Ertz down for 1-for-8 for 9 yards, and he was sacked twice. That’s nine wins. That’s Tony Gibson’s WVU. When K-State ran on third down, it picked up the first down on four of six rushes, and five were true runs (the sixth was the aforementioned scramble). But on the five true runs, K-State only needed 1, 3, 2, 2 and 2 yards. Gibson doesn’t want to lose those — giving up 1, 4, 12 and 6 yards to move the chains is more than he wanted to allow, too — but it’s hard to win all of those. The one win? It was third-and-goal, and penetration blew up a speed option to the right. That led to a field goal instead of a touchdown, and those four points mattered. It was better than the numbers suggest.

Or I’m an apologist.

Good: Run defense
Remember when right after the BYU game Holgorsen was wringing his hands because a defense that gave up 280 yards rushing was about to play K-State, and Holgorsen said the Wildcats and Cougars were similar? Well, BYU’s Jamaal Williams went ape Friday night against Toledo, and K-State ran 42 times for 120 yards and only 2.9 yards per carry against the Mountaineers.

It was a combination of a lot of good things. Watch Christian Brown, who’s the right defensive end. He slides in just before the snap, and the left guard flails. That’s probably unexpected, if not awkward, for Brown, and he’s suddenly in the lion’s den. He calmly makes the play. A while later, Adam Shuler, who’s looking more and more like an all-around player and not just a rush-the-passer guy this season, is the right end. He swims through a block and helps shut down a run. Gibson blitzed a lot, and much of that was done to help against the run. On both of these plays, WVU was in a Bear front. That was used at times throughout the game, because it evens the numbers game up front but still requires players to get off blocks and win 1-on-1. The Mountaineers did a lot of that. Again, they had nine tackles for a loss in the first three games. They had eight Saturday. These Bear fronts have worked for three straight years against the Wildcats. In a way, K-State was probably just what the defense needed. The longest run was an Ertz option keeper for 20 yards, and Gibson was mad at himself for his call that put his defense in that spot. Only two other runs went for more than 9 yards, and one was a mistake when no one contained the bounce outside.

Good: The best for last
Sdkhsfisdg!