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

Shucks

September 28, 2014 by Mike Casazza

No jabs or haymakers this year betwixt Dana Holgorsen or Charlie Weis because Weis was fired Sunday.

This is not a surprise. In addition to the losses and the clear lack of progress and the way he was demeaning his team, there was mounting evidence he was asleep at the wheel.

Literally.

Charlie Weis will be the first head coach from a Power 5 conference to be fired this year. After going 1-17 in Big 12 play in his first two years at Kansas, the 58-year-old comes into this season already on thin ice. Won’t help that his team lost its top two running backs to season-ending injuries or that word is he’s falling asleep in team meetings.

Bruce Feldman, if you need him. But worse than that — imagine that, for a moment — is this gem from Saturday.

Bergeron is one of many players dismissed during the Charlie Strong Takeover and is now the leading rusher at Texas A&M-Commerce.

So Weis, outscored 64-3 by two high visibility teams this season, had to go, and it happens at an odd time for West Virginia. The Mountaineers play host to the Jayhawks at 4 p.m. Saturday and today is the day coaches spend like 15 hours watching film and putting game plans together. A coaching change on the other side of the schedule is not welcome news.

But then again, what can WVU do? The coaches can only prepare for what they see on film. They can’t chase ghosts or prepare for things they have not seen. If something new pops up in the game, you adjust on the fly, though perhaps you spend some time thinking about conditionals this week.

Similarly, defensive coordinator Clint Bowen, who is now the interim coach, and offensive coordinator John Reagan, is his first season after a successful run at Rice, only have today and tomorrow to make whatever changes they deem necessary and then three days to practice them.

The wheel will still be round. It may spin a little faster or have some more air in it or, who knows, blow out in the middle of the action. But it’s still a wheel and it hasn’t taken the Jayhawks very far lately.

You and what army

September 25, 2014 by Mike Casazza

The world is talking about TFGD this week, and deservedly so, but I’d like to point or redirect you to the one that had my attention for an altogether different reason.

9:24
We’re all jumping in our section and then they play 7NA and everyone stops and shudders. “[Ferocious] Claiborne…” Then that happens!

I actually saw this one in real time. I usually don’t see the texts until Sunday night, which makes for odd interactions when people I do or do not know see me after a game and go, “Yo, my text, right?” Then I tell them I’m not who they think I am, but that this happens all the time.

But this one was different. Alex Ross housed it and I, having been to many a rodeo through the years, grabbed my phone to see what time it hit the fan and what time the idea for this particular post came to me.

This is a Thing® now and it is exterminable: 7NA has to go, right? I’m a fan of the song and of the bang, and there’s no denying it gets a stadium going, but there are two problems:

1) It gets every stadium going. It’s a fact. I’ve been to every stadium in every sport and it works everywhere. Don’t argue.

2) WVU fans are now legitimately and understandably conditioned to be fearful when they hear the strings. Post-score touchdowns follow. Call it PSTD.

The first isn’t that big of a problem for me. It’s too hard to be original today, and it’s too shortsighted to keep some songs out of the rotation. The chorus of “Ohs” makes for a loud and lively scene and it’s really not different than “Shout” or “Rock n Roll Part 2” or other songs you hear at different places.

The second one, that’s a problem, right? It’s Pavlovian for pessimism and that’s not a good vibe. I mean, everyone knows “Jump Around” at Camp Randall means the fourth quarter is about to begin. And everyone at Mountaineer Field knows 7NA is about to debilitate the Mountaineers. If you were in the stadium Saturday or watching on television at a place where it wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t hear the song and then the fans, you can’t tell me you didn’t think, if only for a moment, “…this is bad. This is bad.”

And what happened when you were right? Did you blame DeForest and Rumph and Molinari and also Matt Wells? Probably!

I don’t know what to do. Drop it completely? Ban it between a WVU score and kickoff? Don’t play any music there? Replace it with another song there? What song? But we need to make an adjustment. Open weeks are about self-evaluation and this seems like as good a place as any to make a needed improvement.

Got some room in the 2015 class

by Mike Casazza

That’d be Levi Cook of Huntington Prep by way of Liberty High. The big news is he’s apparently hooked  on WVU-Parkersburg!

You never know how these things work. He’s always been a WVU fan, and those allegiances don’t go away so simply. There are things like, I don’t know, grades that might be a factor. He could be getting attention now that he hasn’t gotten or bee able to enjoy before. Myriad factors are in play, and they are in motion now as his recruitment is open again six weeks from signing day.

As for me, I’m off the rest of the weekend. I’ll prop up a placeholder open post a little later today.

I’ve wasted plenty of time here today

September 24, 2014 by Mike Casazza

And boom goes the punter

by Mike Casazza

Seriously, that preview frame…

But what is it about WVU punters earning the national spotlight? I’d like to sit in on a meeting of Nick O’Toole and Pat MacAfee.

Dana Holgorsen: Open week

September 23, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Fun stuff on special teams, including an admission about what’s happening and an explanation why.

The Good and the Bad of WVU v. Oklahoma

by Mike Casazza
strikestep

So much of what follows today is going to require something of a constant reminder, so let’s get it out of the way. Yeah, but that was Oklahoma on the other side. It’s impossible to disprove or dispute that, and the point is a lot of the Bad things can be countered or accompanied by that line and I won’t so much as blink because they’ve got good guys. In many spots, they’ve got better guys. You can treat the Good stuff similarly because it came at the expense of the same opposition. I have to think West Virginia saw a playoff team Saturday night, and I think Alabama is good enough to be there at the end, though to be honest, the rest of the SEC West might complicate matters more than the rest of the Big 12 will test the Sooners.

Anyhow, I found myself watching this game in person and then for this thinking, “They didn’t play too badly.” It got out of sorts late, but as Oklahoma opened up a lead, Oklahoma poured on the pressure and it derailed a lot of what the Mountaineers were doing, and some of that was compromised even before the game by the fact that — let’s hear it — that was Oklahoma on the other side. And then defensively, the sustained effect and impact of the running game was too much, too.

But I thought WVU did all right and did things it wanted but also missed some openings and then ran out of gas or answers or both. The pressure overwhelmed guys, but I thought WVU did things to the defensive line and yet just never broke runs beyond the first level. The secondary help up fine and the receivers did their jobs, but Sooners receivers and defensive backs affected the outcome in various ways.

It happens and there’s still a gap WVU has to close, and WVU has to take care of special situations better than it is now. The defense has only forced three turnovers and the offense hasn’t scored after any of them. Against Alabama, Maryland and Oklahoma, the defense has allowed 21 scores (13 touchdowns) and the offense has only followed with nine scores (seven touchdowns). The defense has forced 10 three-and-outs, but the offense has matched that in punts (three) and “turnovers” (one a fumble, one on downs) and only scored three times (one touchdown).

It’s sort of alarming to look at those numbers and think how close or how far the Mountaineer are from where they want to be.

“For the most part, we’re moving the ball, but the biggest deal is gaining momentum at the right time,” WVU offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “It doesn’t seem like we’re really able to get the — I guess the right word would be ‘understanding’ — of when it’s time to put the throttle down and get momentum back.”

But I know we’ve been over this before: Inches!

All of which leads me to the picture up top. This is the second snap of the game. You can see the ball on the way from the center to the quarterback and you can see the ROLB is already on his way to the pocket. That’s Eric Striker and he’s a missile with a ludicrous first step. I don’t think he had the snap count down two plays in, and it’s possible he got a bead on Adam Pankey on film, but after 29 seconds, he changes the game with this otherwise little matter. He gets off the line in a hurry, he gets the sack, Pankey plays most of the rest of the game sunk back a little with his outside foot deep and you saw WVU use a ton of Cody Clay and/or Eli Wellman and even some Russell Haughton-James.

The more you need and use those guys, the less you use your playmakers on offense. As the game wore on and pressure mounted, WVU also lost its ability to make big plays. It’s all on a string.

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

Good: Perine
Keith Ford must be a six-time All Pro if he was keeping carries away from this guy. When Ford gets back and the Sooners figure out how to balance Ford and Samaje Perine and mix in Alex Ross, good friggin’ luck. Watch Perine run and you think, “Dude’s a tank.” And you’re right because, naturally, that’s his nickname. He’s 5-foot-11 and 245 pounds, but he made some cuts and some reads that speak to a separate skill that makes him a little more dangerous than just a keg rolling down a hill. We could go over many of this 31 carries, but this one, I thought, spoke to this game. The Mountaineers have eight in the box and the Sooners are not impressed. Blake Bell (Aside: I was very impressed.) spins Brandon Golson out and the fullback ripkowskis through the hole and blasts K.J. Dillon. Then the left guard and the right tackle climb the ladder and take out Ish Banks and Nick Kwiatkoski and Perine accelerates and detonates. WVU never got to that second level. The Sooners spent a lot of time there.

Bad: Omen

Continue reading…

Texts From Oklahoma Game Day

September 22, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Transitive property time! Oklahoma beats Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, 45-31. Alabama beats West Virginia 33-23. Oklahoma beats West Virginia 45-33. Oklahoma is better than Alabama is better than West Virginia and West Virginia plays a more competitive game against Alabama than it does against Oklahoma.

In a vacuum, it all makes sense — and since it’s in a vacuum, it still sucks for you. Stepping back, 2-2 feels about right and 2-2 would have felt about right July 31, except I think that since your squad had a pair of above average showings in both losses, it probably feels better. Conversely, it’s been close enough and accompanied by a quantity of self-inflicted stuff (anything) that you probably feel as though you could feel better. It’s all easy to digest, really, and the losses don’t require much of an explanation. Alabama and Oklahoma were and are superior teams up front on offense and defense. The Mountaineers are not yet good enough to avoid meaningful mistakes or to make and overcome those errors.

Getting beat by errors is a pretty common thing in football. Preventing them is a rare, desirable and constructive trait. Can’t do much about the former, but can certainly do something about the latter. In other words, there are no [brackets] on the field. There are plenty below, of course, and I don’t have to tell you when it gets Willie McGee Ugly. Never changed though, I’m just the new version of old me. Forever hot headed but never got cold feet. Got up in the game, won’t look back at my old seats. Texts so deep we take up the whole street. My edits are in [brackets].

10:21:
When I cross that state line on 68 the air smells better the Sun shines brighter and the leaves look just a bit prettier.

11:39:
Desmond Howard said on Gameday that West Virginia was really good on special teams, referencing the kick return for a TD against Alabama. Oh boy…

4:50:
Birthday Cake Moonshine today in the Blue Lot #goacc

5:26:
Leave no doubt

5:53:
552 and first cej

5:55:
Four turnovers by Bama. Could’ve used those in Atlanta.

6:03:
Boomer? I barely know her!

7:08:
Should we put any significance on the fact that Dave Wanna text is in the stadium?

7:18:
Wannstedt even

7:24:
I saw Clint Trickett throwing passes at Mountaineer Field. His hair was perfect. Owwwwww….Werewolves of Morgantown. Owwwww….

Continue reading…

WVU v. Oklahoma: Who will answer the bell?

September 20, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Greetings from above Mountaineer Field, where there is a good football game coming bad news preceding it. Cornerback Travis Bell is not playing today. All I’m told is that he’s won’t be in uniform, and though the reason is not yet disclosed and the length of his absence is unknown, it does further deplete West Virginia’s thinning depth there.

And it is here where we note that Dana Holgorsen went into great depth about his cornerback play at his press conference Tuesday and never named Bell, who didn’t play against Maryland.

Moving  on, Daryl Worley, we know, is suspended and Bell will be elsewhere today. Ishmael Banks will see his first action of the season today and Jaylon Myers figures to get his most sign.ificant burn, too. Terrell Chestnut has been on a roll, but he’s never been in a role like he is now. Dana Holgorsen’s comments about depth are going to have to ring true again today.

Let’s go deep…

Attorneys: Worley defended girlfriend

September 19, 2014 by Mike Casazza

MORGANTOWN — Attorneys representing suspended West Virginia cornerback Daryl Worley presented Friday a second version of the events that led to the sophomore facing a misdemeanor battery charge.

A press release signed by Rocky Gianola and Dave Jecklin, of the Morgantown firm Gianola, Barnum, Bechtel & Jecklin, contends Worley “defends his long-time girlfriend from an advancing female bar patron who had earlier that night threatened to fight his girlfriend.”

Citing eyewitness statements, the press release says “the advancing female grabs Daryl’s girlfriend’s leg immediately before the video shows him pushing the female away in a non-provoking manner.”

A press release from the Morgantown Police Department Wednesday said only that surveillance video from the downtown night club Lux, where the incident occurred, shows Worley put his hands around a woman’s neck and pushed her to the ground.

Worley’s attorneys further say that their version is “corroborated not only by the video but also by several eye witness statements that we have obtained.”

“When all the facts and circumstances are released,” they continued, “we are confident that it will demonstrate that there is more to this story than what is being reported.”

Worley, 19, turned himself in Wednesday and was arraigned and released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. The maximum punishment for Worley’s charge is a year in jail and a $500 fine.

The Mountaineers, who play host to No. 4 Oklahoma Saturday night, suspended Worley indefinitely Monday night without seeing a video of the incident, university officials told the Charleston Daily Mail Thursday. WVU had not seen the video when Worley was charged two days later.

A police spokesperson said the video is not currently obtainable through a public records request or for the media to view because it’s considered evidence as part of an ongoing investigation. At least one media outlet has reported seeing the video. It also detailed the footage.

“Some members of the media are making conclusions regarding the video of the incident involving our client. … We ask everyone to please remember that everyone, including Daryl, is considered innocent until proven guilty,” the attorneys wrote.

When Worley was arraigned in Morgantown Magistrate Court, he and Jecklin were informed the next court date for the case might not be before November. Friday’s press release suggests a quicker conclusion.

“We intend to discuss Daryl’s version of events, the video, the eye witness statements, and all the evidence with the prosecutor at the appropriate time,” the release read. “This matter will be resolved through the court system.”

Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec@dailymailwv.com or 304-319-1142. His blog is at blogs.charlestondailymail.com/wvu. Follow him on Twitter at @mikecasazza.