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

Hip, hip for trey

September 6, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Hard to say Dana Holgorsen’s offense was missing anything last season with all the success the team had scoring the football with three NFL draft picks. But the truth, even one he’ll confess, is West Virginia was not itself without its three running back set last season.

You’ll remember the set, known also as the diamond or the trey because that’s so much more clever than three-back set, from Holgorsen’s first season with the Mountaineers. He invented it with offensive line coach Joe Wickline the year before at Oklahoma State and he used it with some regularity in 2011 at WVU when he had three running backs. Which was not a exactly regular, but still often enough to be a little dangerous with it.

Nor was it regular, or even close to it, last season when WVU rarely had three healthy at once and more often than not only handed it to two backs in one game.

“It adds a lot,” Holgorsen said. “I wish we could go back in time.”

Well, he kind of has because he has three running backs again. He actually has four and he put the diamond on film against William & Mary for nine snaps. It’s not about giving Oklahoma an inconvenience as much as it’s about giving WVU an edge, though.

If you act like you forgot about trey, let’s review.

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Tonight on Scoop & Score

September 5, 2013 by Mike Casazza
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We are live again tonight on SMCRadio.com. You can listen live there on the link at the top of the page. There’s a “play” button. You don’t have to pay for anything. If you choose, the Tune In app is good for cell phones and tablets.

This is all hearsay, of course, because I don’t listen to my show live. I understand there was confusion last week, but I also understand that’s the way to go. I welcome your tips or complaints in the comments and perhaps you can get or provide help.

As for the show, Chris Huston from HeismanPundit.com is up in the first hour and David Ubben is in the second hour. I’m also inviting you to do whatever pregaming you need and to call in at (571) 969-7268. We have prizes for a free download of this neat little app.

 

You’ll Never Talk Alone: S2, E2

by Mike Casazza

Welcome! We’ll be talking all things Oklahoma, plus some more WVU news and notes today. Join us! We’ll be starting at 11 a.m. but as always you’re welcome to read over everything later if you can’t be here while the chat is live.

 

Ugh…

September 4, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Awful news from WVU. Curtis Jones passed away this morning. Saw him last night, smiling and bouncing around the Puskar Center as he interacted with the players who couldn’t have liked him any more.

Wednesday Walkthrough: Week Two

by Mike Casazza

Before you go …

* By far the most unusual motivation to return to school that I’ve heard, but Trey Millard is a chess piece.

* Bad news for former walk-on Dozie Ezemma and WVU’s defense and special teams. That’s a career-ender for the fifth-year senior. If you’re not familiar with Ezemma, well, for one, everyone likes him, but it’s his background that makes everyone so bummed out about this. (And this is fact: People are bummed out.)

* Beware the unfriendly confines of Memorial Stadium.

* Berry Tramel recalls the Oklahoma v. WVU game from 1982.

* “But the transformation of the modern AD into a kind of CEO (complete with hefty bonuses) or brand manager perfectly mirrors the monetize-everything trajectory of college sports, as well as the ways in which a school like West Virginia can begin to think far beyond its seeming limitations.” So says a fun, lengthy and detailed feature on Oliver Luck.

* Back on the radio tomorrow night. My guests are David Ubben and Chris Huston, better known as the Heisman Pundit. And I’ll take your calls to talk about whatever you choose. Ideally, it will be about college football.

Dana Holgorsen news conference: Oklahoma

September 3, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Injuries, holding penalties, player reviews, formation notes and much more.

The Good and the Bad of WVU v. William & Mary

by Mike Casazza
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Charles Sims was named WVU’s offensive player of the week Monday, which is fine. I don’t disagree. I suspect others wouldn’t, either. Those 100-yard games have been hard to come by for the Mountaineers. More and more this appears to a team that either will or must lean on the run and Sims flashed speed and power and cuts across 23 carries to get 120 yards and a score.

Neat.

I couldn’t get past Daikiel Shorts, though. Seven catches, 63 yards and the game’s quintessential contribution (we’ll get to that later). The Mountaineers, long without a third receiver until Shorts was moved fro the outside late in camp, were able to use three-receiver sets quite a bit, which subsequently made four-receiver sets an option. He had no stage fright and he gave Paul Millard, who, by the way, was new and in search for a good start, a target early, which Millard no doubt remembered later.

But on top of that, Shorts is exactly like the player you’d create in NCAA Football. Did you see him Saturday? An eye black strip under one eye. A pair of bicep bands on each arm. A half-sleeve up both arms. Gloves. Tremendous.

Personally, my Daikiel Shorts would have had a visor, but give the young man some time. He’s even technically Daikiel Shorts III. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t name a created player that. Don’t.

Oh, and your freshman receiver and mine would be good enough to start right away, which the 6-foot, 200-pound Shorts certainly is. His performance was promising and he gave us a replacement for “Everything’s coming up Milhouse!”

He gets the first Good of the season, and I trust it won’t be his last. We have so much more to cover, though, so let’s begin the Good and the Bad of WVU v. William & Mary.

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Oh, hey, Dana Holgorsen has a run game

September 2, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Oh, hey, where have you been?

This sudden discussion about the running game ignores the trend that’s been building the past few years. Holgorsen’s offenses run more than you think and sometimes more than they pass.

Texts From William & Mary Game Day

by Mike Casazza
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The trick and the treat of the opening game of a season is you just don’t know what to get. What is true for the game is what was true for the first edition of Texts From Game Day 2013.

The game was neither pretty nor encouraging and I’d imagine the Oklahoma game is coming sooner that you’d probably prefer, but no matter how high or low your hopes were, you really didn’t know precisely what to expect Saturday.

I’m going to throw this out there: I think Saturday was fine for the Mountaineers. First, it was a win and WVU only paid $300,000, which is a pittance these days for a guarantee game. Not to say WVU belongs on the list of teams that would lose to FCS opponent, but WVU isn’t on that list. That’s not an entirely empty achievement. It could have easily gone the other way, which would then aim this season in a different direction.

I think Dana Holgorsen has more of an answer about his quarterback dilemma than he’s let on and I trust he has only more faith in the running game than had before. A lot of firsts — first start, first game playing, first game coaching, first time at a new position, etc. — are out of the way, which means its no longer the first thing coaches worry about before the game.

And believe it or not, the defense answered some questions. Some. Not all. The second half was better than the first, but the second half had to be better than the first, much the same way that this season has to be better than last season. Given how the offense had one big play and that the mustachioed punter did the heavy lifting, what the defense did after halftime qualifies as a winning performance. Not something you’re used to reading, and, yes, I know that was a FCS opponent.

Hey, nothing was great, and I suppose this all sounds apologetic, but it’s important to frame expectations properly this season. Saturday’s game wouldn’t have felt right last season, and though on many levels it shouldn’t feel right this season, I think we can agree this season is not last season.

Best of all? Marshall is off WVU’s schedule and had they opened the season against one another Saturday like they have the past two seasons, well, I think you understand 1-0 isn’t a bad thing right now.

Maybe I’m a different breed. Maybe I’m not listening. So blame it on my T.F.G.D. baby. My edits are in [brackets].

8:34:
Survived the roundabout

10:20:
Roll Tide.

10:52:
Tried to tune into pregame show. I guess IMG blocked it. Nothing like expecting to hear Jed Drenning and Dale Wolfley and instead hearing Fleetwood Mac

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WVU v. William & Mary: Lucky No. 17?

August 31, 2013 by Mike Casazza

 

You are looking live at the set of IMG’s new pregame show. Peep the over-caffeinated Amanda Mazey on the end. I did some immersion journalism and nailed a cameo in the media roundtable segment. Near as I can tell, the new radio show sounds like the old radio show. I think I heard some new advertisers and new studio music, and this pregame program is outside, which lends itself to a certain ambiance, but also wind (!). Apart from that, Mack was right same as it ever was.

The inimitable Jon Antonik was on the segment before the roundtable and he regaled the audience with tales of past tiles between West Virginia and William & Mary, including a coaching matchup for all times in 1970.

That was Bobby Bowden v. Lou Holtz and Antonik retold the story from that post game, when Holtz wondered aloud with Bowden why Bowden had chosen to run up the score (such an unBowden thing to do, I know). Bowden replied that it was up to Holtz to coach better or recruit harder.

Fastforward two years. Holtz was coaching harder and recruiting better at N.C. State and sipped on sweet revenge.

As for today? The worst part about last night’s otherwise wonderful North Dakota State upset of shockingly soft Kansas State (called it!) is that every FBS team playing host to a FCS team is on upset alert. Lord. The Bison are legitimately good. The Wildcats, for now, are not. Towson is very athletic. UConn, forever, is not.

William & Mary was 2-9 last season, true, with quarterback issues and a stout defense, but this isn’t on anyone’s radar for a shocker. Nor should it be. And if the Tribe get their first ever win to go with an 0-15-1 record in the series, well, we’ll have plenty of other things to discuss next week.

Speaking of radio shows …

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If you need to kill some time, Thursday’s show is at the ready.

And I’d love to fill you in on who’s playing and who isn’t relative to the injury list. However, WVU has chosen not to issue a dress list this season, which is extremely inconvenient for the people covering the team. But I digress.

TFGD is rolling. Do join the fun.

Care for a blog?

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