The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Traveler’s checks: Oklahoma State

October 28, 2016 by Mike Casazza
2ndHalfTurnover_MMORAES

 

(Breaking news: One divsion for the Big 12! This is logical and something about which I feel have strong feelings. Discuss!)

I was thinking, that’s the biggest play the special teams has had for West Virginia this season. Clearly. Behind that is  … I guess it’s the other fumble recovery in the same game. Or is it a good punt by Billy Kinney or a kickoff that stayed away from Aaron Ross? Do we count Matt McCrane missing a potential game-winning field goal for Kansas State? It’s nondescript stuff.

Truth be told, WVU’s special teams have been unspectacular — some yuck rankings — and somehow mostly inconsequential, which is really an improvement on some prior years. And yet, it’s concerning Saturday. Oklahoma State is really good on special teams, with rankings that look even better next to WVUs.

The Cowboys treat every rep like a chance to score or at least alter the game. They blocked three extra points against Texas, which means they saw something in their preparations and went after it — they have two blocked PAT two-point conversions this season. Vincent Taylor is a monster. The kicker is the school’s all-time leading scorer. The kickoff return guy has good genes. Watch out.

“It’s huge here,” Scott said. “You look at their coverage units and they’re right at the top of the Big 12. So we’re going to have our work cut out in the return game, whether it’s [Jalen] McCleskey in the punt return or Barry Sanders Jr., who has gotten loose on a couple punts and kickoff returns.”

Oh yeah. Barry Sanders’ son is returning kicks. All he has is the genes of the best running back in the history of football. (My opinion. Argue amongst yourselves.)

“He’s extremely quick,” Scott said of Sanders. “He and McCleskey are different guys. Barry Sanders Jr. is a thick kid. He’s almost 200 pounds and he still has quickness and elusiveness. McCleskey is more of a speed guy. He’s one of their top slot receivers. He’s got wiggle and straight-line speed.”

Back to that kick-blocking stat though.

“They’re going to come after two to three punts every game,” Scott said of OSU. “We’ve got to teach our guys what to look for. Obviously protection is No. 1 always when it comes to punts. Protect your gap. If there’s no threat, we’ve got to get out with the same type of speed as we did against Kansas State and last week [versus TCU]. We’ve got to use our hands. You can’t run away from a block. We’ve got to be violent. We’ve got to be the aggressor. We’ve got to get those hands off and get down into coverage.

“We’ll work on that all week. It’s hard to say this week is more important than any other, but we want to continue to get better.”

– Oklahoma State had some special teams issues last season and sought and secured fixes in 2016, particularly on kickoffs.

– Another problem the Mountaineers must deal with? James flippin’ Washington, who’s played the past 14 games at an extremely high level: 69 receptions, 1,542 yards. 22.4 yards per catch, 15 touchdowns. He also destroyed Pitt. And to think, he was a recruiting nobody who had to sell himself on a homemade tape that included basketball highlights.

“I would say I was overlooked,” the 6-foot, 205-pound Washington said. “I went to a bunch of camps just to try to get looks, but I wasn’t getting the calls I wanted. Really, coming out of high school, I thought I’d have to go to a junior college and transfer to a Division I school.”

His junior and senior seasons at Stamford were stunning. He caught 78 passes for 1,172 yards and 22 touchdowns the first year and followed that with 73 receptions for 1,331 yards and 24 scores as a state champion the next season. He was the Class 1A player of the year, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, which is a massive honor in the football-frenzied state.

He’s a junior now, and he has 37 receptions for 740 yards and six touchdowns already for the Cowboys (5-2, 3-1). He totaled 81 catches for 1,543 yards and 16 touchdowns his first two seasons. Washington was second-team all-Big 12 last season, and remember the first-team players were Baylor’s Corey Coleman and TCU’s Josh Doctson, both Biletnikoff Award finalists and first-round draft picks.

With them out of the way, Washington was named was first-team all-conference this preseason.

“People miss,” said Cowboys linebacker Jordan Sterns said. “That’s recruiting, I guess. When I heard he was from a 1A school and I watched him, I said, ‘Are you serious?’ ”

– He’s coming off a bizarrely quiet game, but Kansas hung a safety over him the entire time. That’s not what the Mountaineers do, but it worked, to a degree, for the Jayhawks.

“They tried to keep a defender over the top of him most of the game and then when they didn’t, they tried to disguise it and wait as late as possible,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “We’ve had that before. They did that with (Justin) Blackmon and Dez (Bryant). So it’s a simple game; it’s math. If they’re going to defend (Washington), then you have to be able to run the ball. If you can’t run the ball, it makes for a long day.”

OSU got past KU without Washington because of a run game that produced more than 200 yards and a six-catch day for inside receiver Jalen McCleskey.

That didn’t make it less frustrating for Washington, who entered the game averaging 121.8 yards and a touchdown per game.

“I didn’t really handle it as well as I wanted to,” Washington said.

-The matchups seem pretty even. That inspired lowercase jeff to go deep.

– The Cowboys admire the progress of WVU quarterback Skyler Howard. Remember, he had at least one interception in nine straight games last season. That’s not happening this season.

Meanwhile, the OSU defense has reached peaks and valleys this season. The Cowboys’ eight interceptions are tied for most among Big 12 teams and they’re first in red zone defensive percentage (73.7). But even in a commanding 44-20 victory at Kansas, the Jayhawks still gashed OSU with passing plays of 68 and 26 yards and run plays of 25 and 54.

“Skyler is a really hard worker, so anytime he has adversity he comes back a lot stronger,” linebacker Jordan Burton said. “I know he’s been putting in work in the offseason. He’s found his niche, and he’s found what throws he needs to make and when he needs to make them. He’s found his place in that offense, so that’s why he’s thriving like he is.”

This is relevant because …

– The other quarterback is pretty good, too. WVU intercepted Mason Randolph three times at Mountaineer Field last year, but he’s been on a tear ever since: 26 touchdowns, two interceptions. But the Mountaineers have seen, if we’re being honest, better offenses the prior two games, and their results have been way better than the results of other teams. That begs a significant question: If playing defense in the Big 12 is so hard, then why is WVU so good at it?

“What West Virginia’s been able to do, they’re able to stop people with a three-man front and then they’re up putting people in the box,” Patterson said. “They’re playing what I’d call a 2-cloud system, where they’re playing a deep safety on each side with a ‘robber’ in between, and they’re rolling people around and doing a good job of either dropping eight and playing some of those kinds of coverage or bringing everybody. So what you have to do is make sure you can prepare for both and keep it off balance.

“The other thing I think they’re doing is they’re playing together, they’re physical and they’re playing smart. And any time you do that, you’re gonna give yourself a lot of opportunity to be successful.  They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think Gibby’s done a great job.”

-The Cowboys nevertheless understand the Mountaineers aren’t going to spin it all around the stadium.

– Speaking of turnovers, WVU has forced at least one in every game this season and in 11 of the past 12 games — and the record, as you know, is 11-1 in the same 12 games. Nobody in the Big 12 has a better turnover margin than Oklahoma State, which has committed just one turnover in the past three games, all wins.

– Joe Wickline really was one of the best offensive line coaches in the country when he was at Oklahoma State.

In 33 games since Wickline left Stillwater, the Cowboy offensive line has given up 95 sacks.

In 91 games before he moved, the Cowboy offensive line gave up 86 sacks.

– It’s enlightening to read the words of people who knew Dana Holgorsen when he was the Oklahoma State offensive coordinator and try to wrap their brains around what he’s doing now. What some find, though, is it’s really not that different.

– Saturday is homecoming at Oklahoma State, which is WVU’s second homecoming road game in Big 12 play. Mike Gundy also has 99 wins at his alma mater.

– Finally, a note from a wild week that’s taken me from the press box at Mountaineer Field to Richmond to Morgantown to Pittsburgh to Kansas City to Cleveland and back home for a few hours before I go to Oklahoma: WVU fans give Jamie Dixon a lot of crap for one reason or another. That’s fine, I guess, and I’d sort of forgotten about that disdain with Pitt in the ACC and the Mountaineers in the Big 12 and the rivalry dormant — until, of course, I was reminded that Pitt was the side that wouldn’t make a basketbrawl happen. That may be true.

But on Tuesday, which was Big 12 media day in K.C., Dixon was so refreshed and personable and fun to talk to.

I feel like I should share this, because if he is, as I picture it, starting anew, maybe it follows the line. But he was exceedingly complimentary of WVU fans for the way they remembered his late sister. He’s a big, big Bob Huggins fan. He missed the brawl. Now, sure, maybe this was for-the-cameras stuff, though the stories about his sister are old and told the same.

But he later asked Justin Jackson how The Dominion Post was doing these days, because he remembered liking TDP. He remembered my name, which is something that always shocks me, since I’m a face and a name he had to deal with but a few times in a career with hundreds of thousands of interactions, most of which carry far more significance. When the event was over and writers hurried to a lunch inside the Sprint Center, Huggins joined Justin, Geogg Coyle and me for a bite. Dixon came over and sat down, which is not what you’d expect if you think this is some insufferable jerk who doesn’t like WVU. We talked football, of all things, for 10 or so minutes, and it was like five guys at a bar.

(Aside: Story idea – The five of us at a bar…)

Maybe that does or doesn’t change the way you think of him — up to you — but perceptions and realities are oftentimes two wholly different things.