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

Texts from Texas Tech Game Day

October 21, 2013 by Mike Casazza

That’s a question, and not a statement, that also serves as a nod to today’s excellent texts.

Hey, I don’t know what  happens the rest of the way. I just drive this bus and you give me the direction I need. But West Virginia, officially, has its work cut out for it to make a bowl for a 12th straight season. The Mountaineers are 3-4 following Saturday’s 37-27 loss to Texas Tech, the one in which WVU “refused” to respond as the Red Raiders rallied with 21 unanswered points to end the game.

Winning at Kansas State when the Wildcats are coming off an open week is tricky. (More fun with WVU’s schedule: K-State is WVU’s third straight Big 12 opponent with an open week before the game.)

TCU doesn’t look particularly impossible, but we’re talking back-to-back road trips this late in the season for a team that’s suddenly very thin and visibly affected by it (Barely any depth at receiver, only four receivers really getting significant playing time). And we know this year that the Texas-Texas Tech sequence for WVU was hard last season.

Get through that and, hey, it’s Texas.

The Mountaineers looked interchangeably good and bad, hopeful and hopeless Saturday. The arrival of the offense was as shocking as the disappearance of the offense was sudden. Seriously, five straight scoring drives for a team that only scored on back-to-back possessions four times. Two were against Georgia State!

While the score and the statistics don’t look bad, the sound bytes do. Dana Holgorsen more or less said his team didn’t have a will to win. Shannon Dawson said the offense had no one who could step forward to make a play. Keith Patterson said the defense is haunted by the Baylor game.

Combine that with the bizarre fourth down call in the first half, an on and off switch to exploit Kevin White against a cornerback nine inches his junior and the 11:4 pass:run ratio when the Mountaineers gained all of 26 yards and went from up 27-16 to down 37-27 and there’s plenty to dislike and plenty of reasons to worry that this might go all wrong.

Then as it was, then again it will be. And though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach T.F.G.D. My edits are in [brackets].

10:54 am:
I keep hearing people say its chilly this morning. I’m in disagreement. Maybe they just need some pumpkin shine?

10:58:
My gf and her friends always tailgate but never go in to the game. I showed them pictures of Kilff Kingsbury and now they’re talking to a scalper.

11:14:
Would there be a collective mind [storm] at the stadium today if HCDH comes out in a gold shirt? I think he should do it just to mess with people’s minds.

12:10 pm:
Good: Squirt PR decoy!

12:12:
Where was he throwing that? Three and out without crossing the twenty. Yippeekai-ay!

12:13:
Please tell me yiy saw how fan of game spelled her name…bekki! Yes!!!

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WVU v. Texas Tech: Hurry up, offenses!

October 19, 2013 by Mike Casazza
weather

You are looking live at the predicted weather for 3 p.m., which, if the pace of recent games can serve as any indication, will be the start of the third quarter. That rain would hit around 4 p.m. You’re going to see the ball in the air a bunch today and that could make for a long game. If it’s a close game, perhaps that final quarter is compromised, if not by the arrival of the rain, then by the conditions that precede it.

Oh, and I’m told Ford Childress and Nick Kwiatkoski will be in uniform today. I’m looking at Childress right now (10:40 a.m.) and he’s in gym clothes as Clint Trickett gets loose. Obviously he’s not playing, but if he is to be in uniform, that’s solely for emergency purposes.

Ricky Rumph, Wes Tonkery and Marvin Gross will not be in uniform. Rumph was labeled questionable Tuesday because of a foot injury he suffered against Baylor while Tonkery was ruled out because of a broken thumb. Gross is news to me and that further thins that players available to both Keith Patterson and Tony Gibson. Gross was really coming on as a pass rusher, too, and WVU could use some pass rushers on a day like today.

Speaking of which, it seems Dartwan Bush, a pretty good pass rusher, is out for the Red Raiders.

And for the Homecoming crowd, WVU will go traditional and wear blue helmets, blue jerseys and gold pants. For the CSC stadium staff, it’s pink shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I like it.

I like to blog, too. Won’t you join me?

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Friday Feedback

October 18, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is [redacted] today even though we [redacted] a [redacted] on [redacted] and must [redacted] for [redacted] to [redacted] [redacted].

Yesterday was a tidy encapsulation of this entire season. Dana Holgorsen has multiple problems at quarterback and we don’t know who or what to believe. I understand there’s a need for privacy, maybe even secrecy. Coaches work extremely hard to create and protect advantages and there’s an aggressive reluctance to let things go that don’t have to be let go. Obviously, the health of the quarterback is a critical issue to monitor and protect and there’s a competitive element to all of that.

But there’s a difference between silence and deception and there’s some slight of tongue that’s unsettling. I don’t know if you care, and I’m not sure I care if you care, but in my line of work deceit is prohibitive. Don’t get me wrong: I admire the way Dana has conducted himself this season. I can only speak for myself, but I never walk away wanting for more. I get along with the assistants and think they’re pretty good about telling me things. And I know my boundaries. I just happen to think you need to know who’s playing in the game you’re covering, and Dana would seem to agree because the one concession he allows to his steel trap privacy policy on injuries is to say when someone is out. Everyone is day-to-day unless he’s out.

We’ve all been suspicious about this torn pec for a while, and I know I’m not the only one who’s been asking around about this. But I was really suspicious about how healthy Ford Childress was for this week based on things I was told over the weekend. In retrospect, Holgorsen let something slip Tuesday that we should have jumped on, but he also only said Childress had to get better, which is not the same as healthy. That night, Shannon Dawson was pressed about things and juked us. I heard Tuesday night only that Childress had a “setback” last week and that it wasn’t serious and nothing had changed from before — that being when Holgorsen said the pec wasn’t torn from the bone, didn’t need surgery and required only time to heal. That was reiterated from different people Thursday, who told me there would be no surgery and that Childress wasn’t ruled out for the season.

I’ll go ahead and add “yet” to all of that because if you have to believe anything you can believe WVU is protecting this as much and for as long as possible. Based on what Holgorsen said last night, WVU has known for a week now that Childress is in bad shape and is due for time on the shelf and not time on the field. I want to believe Childress doesn’t need surgery and could conceivably need more time, but I also think he could dress for the game tomorrow and the next five Saturdays because what if something happens and Trickett and Millard are hurt — and don’t pretend that with the way things are going this season that it couldn’t happen. Unlikely? Sure. Impossible? Notuh. It’s two plays away, and given that we can’t be sure about anything related to Trickett’s shoulder, it’s not exactly two hard-to-attain plays away. What if you find yourself in a spot that needs a quarterback for a quick fix? There’s a difference, believe it or not, between a lame Childress and a healthy … who the hell is Greg McPherson? Sheezus, would it be Logan Moore? He’s not even listed as a quarterback.

Don’t be surprised if Childress doesn’t play again this season and don’t be surprised  if he gets cut on in January, and then probably misses spring football.

And with that, I’m done. Two things can make you feel better.

Here’s an actual email I got this afternoon.

GOODQUESTION

Oh, that didn’t help? Well, here are other shenanigans that happen at my office just about every day.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, be creative.

Rugger said:

Ollie has no buy out. Do most AD’s have a buyout?

Mr. Luck does not. Some do. It’s not unprecedented and, obviously, I think it’s smart. Here’s why: Oliver would have agreed to it because though his exit would sting, it would nevertheless benefit WVU in a financial sense. WVU could then use that money to, I don’t know, fund a search committee. Pay the successor. Cover a buyout for an AD at another school. Rob Mullens, for example, has a buyout.

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Juwan Staten’s underhanded plea for chemistry

by Mike Casazza

Basketball season begins this evening with the annual Gold-Blue Debut at 7:30 p.m. at the Coliseum and there will be a slam dunk contest and a 40-minute scrimmage. Jonathan Holton will play, but don’t be alarmed. He’s allowed to do that, much like he’s allowed to practice, and it means nothing about his status for the regular season.

There will be no bowling, though, and that’s a pity. Bowling is what aims this team in a direction that’s different than the dark one they traveled last season.

(P.S. F Double coming. Last night’s QB announcement/subterfuge made me revise and find a new home for today’s stories. Hence extra posts.)

Who’s targeting who?

by Mike Casazza

Remember this?

That was weird, right?

It sort of gave you the impression that opponents or officials or both are targeting WVU. Let’s not kid ourselves here: The Mountaineers’ safeties hit hard. Darwin Cook and Karl Joseph and of late K.J. Dillon try to hit hard. They run up to plays and throw themselves into the action. The leave their feet and, well, launch their bodies at an opponent. They make tackles and leave reminders. The cornerbacks have done some of the same things. Travis Bell and Ishmael Banks are physical guys who play with and on an edge. And Cook, Bell and Banks have been penalized for personal fouls this season, though only Cook has been accused of targeting, and that, of course, was overturned.

This is not to say they’re dirty — they’re not — or that they’re to be deterred — they won’t — but there is an implication and there are ramifications. And here I am, on the eve of a game against Texas Tech and one  Jace Amaro who (legally) WVU knocked out of last year’s game and the remainder of that season, wondering if WVU believes people are looking out for where and how they hit.

“No doubt in my mind that’s the case,” WVU safeties coach Tony Gibson said. “Look at the Oklahoma State game. It came down to crunch time and No. 81 (Jhajuan Seales) came across the middle and Cook broke on the ball and basically knocked the kid out on the field. They had to stop the game.

“All of that Baylor sees that on film, I’m sure. I don’t know if they say, ‘Hey, watch this,’ to the officials. It’s just like us as coaches. If we see a team holding or if we see something going on, we alert the officials to it. I think with our kids being big hitters, they’ve gotten that reputation and I’m sure that’s being put into the ear of the officials.”

You’ll Never Talk Alone: S2, E7

October 17, 2013 by Brad McElhinny

Chat. 11 a.m. We’re back. I’m loose. Just did Scoop & Score. This will startle you, but it was awesome. Anyhow, chat. 11 a.m. Here’s your mobile link. Tell the world.

Wednesday Walkthrough: Texas Tech

October 16, 2013 by Mike Casazza

I had some technical quirks and had to re-shoot, which means re-upload, which is a headache. It’s coming, I promise, but I have to get to basketball for 12:15 p.m. interviews, so hold the rope.

(Update: Here it is … and it’s the full, unedited version. It’s the director’s cut because for some reason I can’t trim the length before and after it. I suppose I could re-do it a third time, but you demand the walkthrough.)

Dana Holgorsen: Texas Tech Week

October 15, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Believe it or not, more injuries on defense, plus an interesting adjective for third-down offense, an explanation for what happened to Jace Amaro last season and a revelation about how Dana Holgorsen has managed his emotions this season.

Well, this was honestly surprising

by Mike Casazza

By most of the available measures, WVU has played one of the hardest schedules in the country, and some of those metrics don’t account for a game Saturday against the No. 16 team in the country that’s 6-0.

And here comes Worley

by Mike Casazza
ttdc

 

There’s your depth chart for the Texas Tech game. Only three things to note:

1) Mario Alford is now an outside receiver.
2) Jared Barber, who’s been, I don’t know, healthy, is the starter at Will linebacker over Nick Kwiatkoski, and Kwiatkoski apparently practiced last week.
3) Daryl Worley is your new starter at boundary cornerback. He supplants Travis Bell, who blew up the first Baylor touchdown by forgetting it was Cover 3. I wouldn’t abandon hope for Bell. He can play that nickel spot that Worley is going to free up now and Texas Tech does a ton of stuff with its inside receivers, whether it’s 6-foot-5, 260-pound Jace Amaro or 5-foot-6, 160-pound Jakeem Grant.

Also, I feel pretty good about this now.

CB: Daryl Worley
He’s going to play, if not on defense, then on special teams … as a return man … but I wouldn’t be surprised if the things I’ve seen and heard about the true freshman eventually lead to a starting spot. That has more to do with him than the numbers at corner, too. And let’s debunk this, because I’m guilty of it too: He was pegged as a cornerback a while ago. He was not going to be a college safety, and I’ll explain why in a moment.