Back at it again at 11 a.m. for an hour of your questions and my answers as we try to figure out Saturday night’s WVU-Baylor game. Perhaps you’d like to delve into Clint Trickett’s signalling shortcomings. Maybe you’re curious about how the 21 depth chart changes from last week will fare this week.
Whatever the case, I’m there.
And if you need it, here’s your mobile link.
I think Clint Trickett is going to start Saturday.
Childress didn’t practice Tuesday and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Shannon Dawson said Childress still can’t throw. Trickett did practice and Dawson said Trickett and junior Paul Millard split the snaps pretty evenly.
“With these guys, they need to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because we’re dealing with three guys who are so inexperienced,” Holgorsen said. “If they can’t practice (Tuesday) and Wednesday, I doubt I’m going to put them out there on Thursday to play Saturday because these guys need the reps. If they don’t have the reps through the course of the week, I’m not going to feel good about it.”
I know Baylor is going to be wearing these bad boys …
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These keep getting better and better. Garbage is used in a descriptive sense.
Dana Holgorsen made a big deal out of WVU’s sideline support system during the week before the win against Oklahoma State. His offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson, really wanted practice to pop and not stop. If there were mistakes, he wanted to see the Mountaineers be allowed to play through them so that they weren’t conditioned to fear a response to a mistake, and so that they could get into a rhythm.
Jordan Thompson put all of that to the test, which made this moment pretty neat to see. It came after Thompson caught a punt and immediately got rocked and after he signaled for a fair catch at his 3-yard line. Just before this picture, he caught a punt and lost four yards on the return.
There were some noisy reactions from the stands, but he found friends on the sideline who tapped him on the helmet and, in the case of Adam Pankey, put an arm around him.
I saw it from the press box and then I saw it on — wait a second.
Misspellings aside, it was a good day for the Mountaineers, who are now 3-2 and not 2-3 with a long trip to Baylor waiting on them. How did we get here? Let’s take a look by examining the good and the bad of WVU v. Oklahoma State.
Good: Brandon Golson’s flexibility
My goodness, that’s two friendly fire injury scares in two games for the outside linebacker, who has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being all right afterward.
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Funny what a home win against the 11th-best team in the country will do to the collective Sunday morning psyche of a fan base. That’s a victory WVU needed, but also wanted and believed it could have — no matter what was said around the walls that attempt to shield the team from the outside.
One underdog challenge down, one to go as the Mountaineers head to Baylor this weekend to take on one of the nation’s most bedeviling offenses. Again. The Mountaineers do indeed have a defense and might have once again found their quarterback, though Clint Trickett has work to do with performance and communication. And that presumes he plays against the Bears after he was knocked out of Saturday’s win with a throwing shoulder injury.
“That’s his competitive spirit, but, dude, if you get hurt, lie down, let somebody come tend to you so we don’t get a delay of game,” Holgorsen said.
Trickett left the game and went to the training room to have his right shoulder evaluated. Trickett, who had the shoulder iced and wrapped after the game, called it a “little nick” and said it hurt when he left the field, but that it went away quickly enough that he only missed one snap.
He’s expected to be fine for Saturday’s 8 p.m. game at No. 17 Baylor (3-0). The matchup will be televised by Fox Sports 1.
Trickett returned the next series and threw on all three downs of a three-and-out. WVU called pass plays on five of the first six snaps of the next series.
“He was fine,” said Dawson, who coaches the game from WVU’s box above the field.
“My conversation with him, his mindset was always, ‘I’m playing.’ We took him out basically because at that specific moment in the game, we didn’t know if he could take the next rep. But his mentality was he was never coming out of the game.”
Dude, the action in the game provided plenty of ammunition for the the 160-characters-at-a-time barbs, but that’s no upset. You bomb atomically. Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define why you be dropping these mockeries. Lyrically perform armed robbery. Flee with T.F.G.D. Possibly they spotted me.
My edits are in [brackets].
(Update! Holgorsen said on the Big 12 coaches’ teleconference Monday WVU had one healthy quarterback at Sunday’s light practice. That’d be Paul Millard.
I’m inclined to believe that. Ford Childress is obviously not well and Tricket was “nicked” in the win. But I’m not sure what to believe beyond that. This is all designed deception and protecting [the identity of] the passer, so let’s not accept at face value that Trickett is good to go just because he and Shannon Dawson said so. They’re disguising our coverage.
Dawson admitted Saturday “I knew a lot more than I let on” when he talked up Childress last Tuesday. Trickett told us after the game he didn’t know until Friday morning that he was starting, even though Holgorsen publicized the decision Thursday night and Trickett took starter reps “the majority of the week,” according to Dawson, and it was “a decision that was made early in the week.”
There’s no way Childress plays if he has a torn pectoral muscle, but allowing for that possibility gives Baylor something to think about amid preparations. Trickett absolutely won’t be ruled out publicly Tuesday because doing so diminishes the ruse. So Holgorsen made it sound Monday like anyone could start against the Bears. “I will evaluate how they do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and make a decision on who it’s going to be,” he said.)
9:39:
Ask Holgs why he won’t play Rawlins or Kimble will be bawlin’.
-A
10:27:
Someone gave me a solo cup of moonshine….help me
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Mike Gundy, as you may have once heard, is a man and he is now beyond 40. But did you know he is also King Leonidas and he’s the leader of the 300?
Today’s game against West Virginia being his Oklahoma State team’s third away from home in four games this season and the sixth game away from home in the past seven overall, Gundy has taken kindly to the movie about famed struggle at Thermopylae.
“That’s pretty much how it is for us,” Smith said. “We’re not traveling with much, so we all have to stick together and be just one sound team. When we go down there and do that and we take care of things we’re supposed to take care of, we can win. We can beat anybody.”
OSU’s Big 12 road success has been one of the biggest ways the Cowboys have built their national stature over the past six years. But they took a step back in that category last season, going just 1-3 in conference games away from Boone Pickens Stadium.
The No. 11 Cowboys will try to tilt the scales back in a positive direction when they open their Big 12 road slate Saturday at West Virginia, the league’s most unknown destination.
“When you get there, it’s 100 or 115 people against however many people their stadium holds for the most part,” Gundy said. “We have always challenged our team that way and told them to come together as a group and play hard and that gives them the best chance to win.”
The numbers are not quite as disjointed at this hour of the day.
You’re in the office, baby…
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Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which doesn’t think this is part of the plan. Two weeks ago, Dana Holgorsen went on his radio show and said he was benching Paul Millard in favor of Ford Childress. And I thought, at that time, maybe that was all choreographed. I suspect this may be part of a plan that they were hoping, willing and eventually ready to execute.
It made sense, if only between these ears. I though it was a more calculated move than watching Paul Millard flick footballs around Norman and go, “Notuh. Gimme Ford.” I may have everything wrong this season. Fair warning.
Anyhow, Dana had his radio show last night and said he was starting Clint Trickett Saturday against Oklahoma State and that Ford Childress, fresh off a Millardian showing against Maryland, has a torn pectoral muscle … and will be out for a week or so?
Childress didn’t practice all week and Holgorsen knew Sunday that Childress wouldn’t play. He nevertheless used every provided opportunity Monday and Tuesday to reaffirm his commitment to Childress, though, to be fair, maybe we know why Childress struggled Saturday and couldn’t and wouldn’t push the ball down the field.
No, the protection wasn’t great and, yes, the coverage was constructed in a way to take those throws away, but not on every possible occasion. I didn’t buy that explanation, but I thought that was a shield for a young QB having a bad day.
But now, with a torn pectoral muscle, you have to wonder many things. You have to believe there was a physical problem that prevented some of those throws. But when did it occur? In the first quarter? In the fourth? Should he have been in the game? Did he need to come out? Did Childress disclose it? All questions we could have asked had we known and not been made to believe that writing about finding Childress’ comfort zone was a good idea.
So what of Trickett? Well, I had Jed Drenning on “Scoop & Score” last night and that was one of a few WVU topics we covered. He believes, like Dana apparently suggested on his radio show last night, that it’s temporarily a temporary thing and that Childress will have a chance to get his job back when his torn pectoral muscle heals in a week or so, but that Trickett has a chance to take the job, win a game and run and hide.
What a weird week.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know with whom you’re messing.
JPWVURFL said:
I have to say that the lack of toughness throughout is discouraging. Last year we saw no fight in the defense. This year we see no fight in the offense. The defense has improved, but how can you compare? I am still puzzled by the decision to stick with Ford after the competition seemed to clearly be between Millard and Trickett. I really feel Trickett, even with his lack of experience with the offense, should be given some time. What’s sad is that all three put together probably still do not add up to Geno.
I also think the team takes after it’s coach. Holgs said it himself that he’s not a big “rah rah” kind of guy. I think we can tell. When was the last game we came out looking excited and dominating? We have yet to do so this year, which is sad against the competition we have faced and won against. I wish T.E.A.M. really stood for something, but it’s just words if there are no actions.
There were also coaching changes in the off-season, but there was a spring and fall with these coaches.
Question of the week: Are we where Maryland was this time last year? And is there hope for next year?
I don’t want to give up on this year, but seeing how little improvement we’ve seen within the seasons, along with the downward trend since the Texas game last year, I can’t be hopeful. Ever since the departure of that core group of Rod/Stew players who knew what WVU was supposed to be, the identity has been lost. If you look at this on a graph, it’s not promising. We are on the downside of the bell curve. Not sure we’ve hit the bottom yet.
We have to question whether these guys know what they’re doing in their current high-paid positions. WVU fans will not pay to see this crap, not at $55/$60 a pop. They won’t subscribe to internet broadcasts either.
How much is the buyout? It won’t be this year, but the questions do have to start ramping up. Why was Holgs brought to Motown…remember that? “To win championships!”
Table. Set.
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I don’t have the Valenti verve in me, but I suspect you might. Scoop & Score is live again tonight from 8-10 p.m. and Jed Drenning is my guest at 8:17. We have plenty to discuss, and I don’t have another guest until ESPN.com’s Jake Trotter hops on at 9:37. I can fill the time in between, but that’s not as fun.
So do call in to respond to Jed’s educated insights or to ask your own questions or submit your own comments. (571) 969-7268. Please?
Join me and the regular cast of characters once again at 11 a.m. as you ask me about punt returns and I talk about that and all sorts of other stuff (anything). And if you’re of the more modern era, here is your mobile link.
I hope you don’t hate it. Josh Stewart is mentioned a bunch, and Dana Holgorsen is a big reason why he’s at Oklahoma State, but Stewart made it through some unimaginable experiences. And if you’re thirsty for more Oklahoma State, last week’s “Scoop & Score” is available in commercial-free podcast form. Gina Mizell stops by on the way to a concert and talks about scandal, defense, Joe DeForest and bromances.
