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2013 Big 12 by the numbers: Over/unders

July 9, 2013 by Mike Casazza

We’re still peeling back fingers to count the number of days until the start of preseason practice here (Aug. 1) and then the regular season. The numbers are getting smaller, which is good news because we’re fixated upon the numbers. Wins, losses, tiers, quarterbacks taking reps, returning starters on the offensive line, freshmen at receiver, lettermen in the secondary, words in this sentence.

In a roundabout way, we use these facts and figures to predict and to project because the future just can’t arrive fast enough for us. And that’s why we love over/under propositions. It’s simple criteria for complex queries. It’s not as easy or as accurate as attaching one statistic to one part of a team as a way to see into a team’s future, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.

Or worrisome.

Case in point: For WVU, we spotlighted d’Vante Henry (we’re doing to need a ruling on whether we capitalize his first name … I’ve seen it both ways, even in WVU content), Brandon Golson and Dontrill Hyman and the number of sacks the three junior college transfers would combine for this coming season. If those three could get five each, then it hits the over we set at 14.5.

It’s hard to find a starting point for all that went wrong with West Virginia’s defense in 2012, but a lot of the trouble was a result of giving the quarterback too much time and comfort. The Mountaineers only had 23 sacks last season, and two came in snow in the Pinstripe Bowl.

The defensive line totaled 4.5 sacks and the team’s top three sackers all graduated, including the starting outside linebackers who had to rush because of the since-altered configuration of the defensive line. Recruiting pass rushers was a priority in recruiting and the Mountaineers invested in the three junior college players.

That said, this over/under gift has a curse, and perhaps literally. I’m not seeing Golson or Hyman anywhere and people are beginning to wonder when, or if, they’ll make it here.

Is it too late to send him to Dallas?

July 8, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Charles Sims might make for an interesting ambassador for WVU when the Big 12 gathers for its media days in two weeks.

Though he’s not on the roster and we haven’t seen an official proclamation announcing his arrival, he’s enrolled at WVU and able to participate in the summer stuff that’s been going on for weeks now.

And today the West Virginia running back was named to the Maxwell Award watch list. That’d be a nomination for college player of the year. These watch lists mean very little, but on July 8, it means one of the 76 best players in the country is at WVU.

State of the union

by Mike Casazza

A year ago, WVU sent Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, Joe Madsen and Will Clarke to the Big 12 media days in Dallas. It was the cotillion occasion for the Mountaineers and, on multiple levels, they did not disappoint.

They came here with a purpose, and while they didn’t intend to do it by singling out opponents or rattling coaches, they wanted their peers to know they were very much a part of this conference.

Being invited is one thing. Belonging is another.

“We all came out here knowing what our abilities are, so why not have that kind of swagger where we say what we feel and do what we want, but at the same time show respect and know it’s an honor being in the Big 12,” Madsen said.

Last week, quarterback Geno Smith was named the Big 12’s preseason offensive player of the year. On the following day, the conference media picked WVU to finish second in its preseason poll. Those were heavy distinctions for a team new to the league and it spurred a natural curiosity about how WVU would manage.

Madsen had a sharp reply. On a day when people wanted to learn about who and what the Mountaineers are, a member of the Rimington Trophy watch list he wore his hair in a spiked Mohawk.

“One reason I like the guys on this team, and you can tell this just talking to the guys we had here, is they’re confident,” Holgorsen said. “They’ve been in big games. They’re used to winning. That always gives you a chance.”

Of course, some people might say that that coming out party, or that attitude, was used against the Mountaineers, but let us digress.

Continue reading…

July 5, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Remember that play? Remember it happening, oh, two dozen other times on some other part of some other field in some other game?

And then remember this reaction?

That all happened in about 30 seconds of one game, but it serves as quite the nutshell for the 2012 season. That team wasn’t very tough and that has to change. The 2013 season ought to be different and, on the surface, it looks and sounds like Dana Holgorsen is trying with lectures and presentations about the history and tradition of the state and the program, with the junior college additions and with the coaching staff hires.

There were a lot of coaching staff hires and three of the four make very visible sense. There’s a connection between Holgorsen and Brian Mitchell, a connection between WVU and Tony Gibson and connections between Lonnie Galloway and WVU and Dana Holgorsen.

And there’s Ron Cook whose best link to the job is a convenient, though mostly irrelevant period the Parkersburg native spent as a player and assistant in the WVIAC.  Now, there was a time when a 304 area code for the house you grew up in and some time in the state as a player or a coach got your resume somewhere.

This is not then, though, and Crook’s resume is especially curious when it comes to his most recent job. He coached the tight ends and offensive tackles at Stanford, which is to WVU’s offense what Sleepytime Tea is to Red Bull. Yet Crook is coaching up quite a cocktail for the offensive like, one that should serve the offense and the team quite nicely.

The single-most important ingredient? Double teams.

“I think it’s just the way we’re playing the double teams now,” presumed starting right tackle Curtis Feigt said. “It’s something new and it puts more aggression in the offense. Before Crook was here, we were strictly inside zone, outside zone and more or less in one-on-one situations. Now we’re doing double-team stuff – two of us against one of them, three of us against two of them. It puts us in a better, more aggressive situation.”

There was nothing wrong with the designs of Crook’s predecessor, Bill Bedenbaugh. He wasn’t fired. He was hired by an Oklahoma team that prefers zone plays and needed someone to do it better than the guy before him.

WVU’s linemen used to block the defenders who crossed their facemasks. If there was an opportunity to double team, the free lineman usually went to the next level to get his hands on a linebacker or a safety. Double teams were somewhat rare and mostly seen when a lineman didn’t have a body at the first or second level and instead chose to blindside a defensive lineman who had his hands full with one of the other Mountaineers.

Crook’s double teams are by design, power plays dependent upon the defensive front that tells which linemen are supposed to link up and take on predetermined opponents.

“Now we’re both engaged on the defensive end, and whichever way he goes, the other guy comes off and he goes up to the next level,” Feigt said.

This clip is pre-Crook, but it’s a clinic and the plays didn’t change after he arrived in Palo Alto. The same can’t be said of his arrival in Morgantown. Trust Crook is bringing some of it to the Mountaineers.

College football is fast, right?

by Mike Casazza

High tempo, no-huddle offenses. A fleet of fast players. Combines with stopwatches. Star systems linked to 40-yard dash times. On and on it goes.

And for years and years, WVU has been riding that wave, hair on fire, ball spotted, air raided.

That’s been on offense, though. Maybe the defense is a little new to this whole thing, not quite as accustom to the way things go, because the plan seems a bit misguided.

Those Mountaineers, the ones who had so much trouble keeping up with opposing offenses last season, want to slow down in 2013.

“Coach emphasizes being patient,” said linebacker Isaiah Bruce, whose speed had a lot to do with his 90 tackles last season. “A lot of times we tend to try to react too fast and that puts us out of position. He tries to emphasize getting more depth from the line of scrimmage so we can see everything before we react.”

Consider that using the sort of patience Patterson requests. Space is a valuable commodity with the amount of playmakers in the Big 12. Speed and immediacy are keys to shutting down a lot of plays before they can get started and find that space. The Mountaineers, it would seem, are conceding both, but with a purpose.

“It’s not like we’re trying to play slow, but coach says he wants us to be patient and right instead of fast and wrong,” Bruce said. “I can get anywhere really fast, but if I’m not in the proper position to make a play, it’s just a waste of a person. If you key correctly and you’re in the right spot and everyone does the same as far as their position goes, we should be able to stop any play the offense throws at us.”

He gives 100 percent 89.8 percent of the time

July 3, 2013 by Mike Casazza

Karl Joseph played 890 of last seasons 992 snaps, plus his regular job covering punts. He just didn’t come out of games very much, and indeed, at all, throughout his freshman season. So that’s one pretty good explanation for why he led the team in tackles. Consider, too, that he himself was pretty good and that WVU’s defense was not and that the latter contributed to ranking No. 14 nationally in solo tackles.

WVU needed Joseph and Joseph wanted to play, so no one complained. Joseph did battle a case of the niggles throughout the season and needed more ice and more treatment as the games piled up, but he actually started and finished the season at pretty much the same weight.

He’s 10 pounds heavier now — this is noticeable muscle mass — and he’s again gearing up to play a ton of snaps, though he admits a need for what others desire: Depth.

“I think so but that’s on the coaches whether they take me out or not,” Joseph said. “I don’t really ask them to take me out.”

So much so that Joseph said he can’t remember ever asking to come out of a game. That might not change and it’s plausible Joseph’s playing time will remain consistent. K.J. Dillon played just a little last season and a handful of freshmen will get a look when the Mountaineers return to camp early next month. Joseph, though, would rather stay on the field as much as possible and worry about finding ways to maintain a high level of performance.

“It’s very hard, especially with the high tempo offenses in the league,” Dillon said. “But the strength coaches make sure we’re in shape and in good condition. Right now, I feel like I could play as many snaps as I need to.”

Bat signal?

by Mike Casazza

I’m on campus this morning and have been assured there’s a “big announcement” — sounds like a carefully chosen choice of words and thus probably not bad news — coming right around 10 a.m. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, any ideas?

(Update: Sounds like a football scheduling deal, with Virginia Tech being the buzz team.)

(More updates: Home and home series beginning in 2021 at WVU. Home dates are flexible because of unknowns with future scheduling, but this seems like it was patiently arranged.)

Your thoughts?

July 2, 2013 by Mike Casazza

This is interesting. In the Dana Holgorsen Era (let’s call that 2007-2012), here are the totals at Texas Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State and WVU.

Texas Tech

2007: 6,114 yards passing (5,705 for Graham Harrell); 134 receptions and 1,962 yards receiving for Michael Crabtree, 109 receptions and 1,245 yards receiving for Danny Amendola; 771 yards team yards rushing

Houston

2008: 5,214 yards passing (5,013 for Case Keenum), 79 reception and 1,024 yards receiving for Tyron Carrier, 2,101 team yards rushing

2009: 6,033 yards passing (5,632 for Case Keenum), 104 receptions and 1,214 yards receiving for James Cleveland, 85 receptions and 1,026 yards receiving for Patrick Edwards, 90 receptions and 1,012 yards receiving for Tyron Carrier; 1,852 team yards rushing

Oklahoma State

2010: 4,496 yards passing (4,277 for Brandon Weeden),  111 receptions and 1,782 yards receiving for Justin Blackmon; 2,267 team yards rushing

West Virginia

2011: 4,509 yards passing (4,385 for Geno Smith), 73 receptions and 1,279 yards receiving for Stedman Bailey, 101 receptions and 1186 yards receiving for Tavon Austin; 1,595 team yards rushing

2012: 4,285 yards passing (4,198 for Geno Smith), 113 receptions and 1,627 yards receiving for Stedman Bailey, 111 receptions and 1,287 yards receiving for Tavon Austin; 2,222 team yards rushing

Whither the 2013 season? Hazard a prediction, please, for whether or not WVU hits these marks and who does it.

All’s well for Carswell

by Mike Casazza

We’ve already made some noise here about Kevin White and the early expectations, but there are people who will tell you Ronald Carswell is the junior college receiver who will make the greater impact at West Virginia.

Continue reading…

Farewell, Tavon Austin Twitter?

by Mike Casazza

This happened yesterday in Oregon when Tavon Austin was speaking to top prep players at Nike’s famed camp and showcase The Opening. It was part of a Brand U presentation, in case you’re wondering, so it had something to do with branding and wasn’t a silly non sequitur. Fortunately, it appears Mr. Austin is still tweeting. By the way, The Opening is a pretty big deal nowadays, so good on Tavon participating for those who aspire to get where he is, never mind to rise from where he started.