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

Now what?

November 28, 2012 by Mike Casazza

I enjoyed Friday’s game from start to finish because of the little things. After spending the week witnessing the coronation of Tavon Austin as World’s Greatest X-Factor and participating in the festivities by chronicling the digestive disorder of one Paul Rhoads, I had to laugh when Austin didn’t even start against Iowa State. Not at running back, not at receiver.

After that, we all saw Austin and Shawne Alston tactically toy with the Cyclones and they way they played defense. Austin had 174 yards rushing/receiving and Alsotn had 130 yards rushing and the whole thing looked very clever.

Then I realized that WVU started three running backs. Not one was named Alston.

So WVU gave Oklahoma the Tavon Austin look and then gave Iowa State the Shawne Alston look. What does Kansas get? How about a healthy starting lineup that features Austin, Alston, Stedman Bailey and Geno Smith together for the first time since the second game of the season?

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The Good and the Bad of WVU v. Iowa State

November 27, 2012 by Mike Casazza

Know who had a nice game Friday? That guy. Yeah, he had the pass interference early, but that didn’t discourage him and he was right on the edge between aggressive and penalized the rest of the way, though on the good side for the Mountaineers.

And WVU needed him on a day when Brodrick Jenkins was out, Ickey Banks went out with an injury and Terrell Chestnut and Ricky Rumph had problems and gave up touchdowns and Cecil Level was back at cornerback.

In key spots and in late in the game, Miller was on that wall.

We’ll never know what the story was before the Oklahoma game. Miller insists there was nothing, but Dana Holgorsen’s comment that week suggested maybe there was something. Either way, there was something Friday in Ames, Iowa, and the defense did a serviceable job.

Great? I didn’t say that. Fixed? I wouldn’t say that. Rather, the defense made two plays late and otherwise breathed deep breaths as the secondary mostly held up against a very iffy passing offense. The team is bowl eligible now, which was a long, long time coming, but those young cornerbacks figure to benefit greatly from those bowl prep reps.

How did we get here? Let’s take a look by examining the Good and the Bad of WVU v. Iowa State.

Bad: Eyes in the backfield
After all that, I start off with the secondary!

This is the 10th touchdown pass of 35 yards or more against WVU this season. Ten touchdown passes covering that distance. How does that happen? I mean, even for the nation’s worst pass defense, that seems like a lot. Twelve teams haven’t allowed more than 10 touchdown passes this season.

Well, here’s one way it happens. The playaction fake sucks safety Darwin Cook in — way in — and Chestnut simply can’t make the play when left one-on-one.

Cook’s a playmaker and he likes to come up and break up passes and stop the run, and it served WVU quite well later in the game, but it hurt here.

Good: Running game
So, so good, in fact. I’ll dig into this more, because I wrote about it, but Shawne Alston finally looked like Shawne Alston and Iowa State looked legitimately stumped early in the game.

The Cyclones were either at a loss for words to explain his presence or at a loss for ways to tackle him on a cold day. Or both. And then there was the partnership with Tavon Austin. It seemed, at some point, there was a realization: “This Alston is no easier to deal with than the Tavon fella … and he’s a handful, provided you get a hand on him.”

Dealing with both? That’s a new and different proposition WVU has not presented before.

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He said, he said

November 26, 2012 by Mike Casazza

When Charlie Weis was hired by Notre Dame in December 2004, he promised the Fighting Irish faithful, in one of those rah-rah moments not uncommon to the hiring honeymoon, they would enjoy a “decided schematic advantage” against all opponents.

You laugh now, you may have laughed in recent years, but people do easily forget he was viewed as a home run hire. And with reason.

Oh, he’d never coached in college, but the trend at the time was NFL coaches going to college campuses and Weis had a pedigree born under the watch of Bill Parcells and crafted by Bill Belichick.

The New England Patriots were sliced bread and Weis was the guy moving the knife. He was going to bring all of that to Notre Dame and restore the shine of the golden dome. The schematic stuff was simply his way of saying it.

Things gradually went downhill for Weis at Notre Dame and he was ousted after his fifth season, but the line about the schematic advantage followed him out the door to Kansas City and his job with the Chiefs and all the way to the University of Florida.

We hadn’t heard much of it this season because, after all, his Kansas Jayhawks are 1-10 in his first season and he just doesn’t have a lot to work with, especially in the passing game.

Out of the blue Monday, it reappeared on the Big 12 coaches’ teleconference and from Dana Holgorsen, of all people, on the first day of the last week of the regular season that ends with Saturday’s home game against Weis and the Jayhawks.

“We’re going to be at a major schematic disadvantage going against their coaches,” he said.

Come again?

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But seriously, relax

by Mike Casazza

The best part of this postgame scene was the part you didn’t see. Joe DeForest came into the room, drew a crowd, flopped down in his chair and exulted, “Relax! It finally paid off.”

What, I’m not certain, but I think I have an idea, and we’ll get to that. Yet WVU’s defensive coordinator also had that had on again and it was not on so tight that he missed the fact his defense very nearly gave the game away with the two personal foul penalties.

He remembered those and he hated those, but he saw a team, at long last, dig in and make a play when it needed to make a play.

Let’s not forget that from the very end of the 70-63 game, we knew there would come a time the defense would have to stand up and save the day and there just wasn’t great confidence it would happen.

And it did not happen as WVU lost five in a row with two games, and perhaps three, missing that decisive moment. It happened Saturday, though DeForest — and actually many other Mountaineers — had the same thoughts you were having.

Linebacker Josh Francis let them off the hook. He was penalized 15 yards for grabbing Richardson’s facemask after Francis made the tackle.

“Not again,” DeForest thought.

The defense, which allowed just 396 yards, its best work in Big 12 play, let Iowa State inside the 20 to the 14, but forced a third-and-10. Richardson’s pass was incomplete, but defensive end Will Clarke had a penalty flag thrown at him for illegal use of hands to the face of an opponent.

The Cyclones had first-and-goal at the 7. WVU had that familiar feeling.

“In the back of your mind, you’re like, ‘Oh, no. Really? We just stopped them and now we’re going to get a person foul?’ “

 

Waiting for Cyber Monday?

by Mike Casazza

There are still some copies of the hardcover version of the latest edition of Waiting For The Fall. They’re available at a discounted price for a limited time before Christmas and can be signed and personalized as you please, or just slipped in the mail without any messy handwriting.

Texts From Iowa State Game Day

by Mike Casazza

I don’t know about that ball cap, but I do know if Bob Huggins wore a ball cap and won the Old Spice Classic, he’d wear it till the wheels fell off. Interesting thing about the ball cap was that it gave Dana Holgorsen a ponytail’d look in the back — and the wind whipped up a flowing mane and  marvelous sight.

Yet not as marvelous as this. Say hello to your new wallpaper!

Anyhow, what I sensed from the press conference Friday was a breakthrough. I don’t think Dana discovered anything — he knew Alston was capable, for example, when healthy — and I know the team is not a global threat to be taken completely seriously — Iowa State did indeed fumble one away — but he seemed like a guy who had been watching a team try to turn a corner for a while and was finally relieved to see tail lights disappearing off in the distance.

There was a coach who had been talking about making strides and being close for weeks now. To have results must have mattered, but he was again careful to point out misdeeds like blowing the early lead and committing silly penalties.

But, hey, the rare early cushion helped and the penalties, as ill-timed and ill-conceived as they were, only made the ending more dramatic. Sometimes you get a hold of the carrot that’s dangled before you and it tastes really good.

If you sell a million books, we can battle for the money. I’d  rather count a hundred thousand texts on a Sunday. My edits are in [brackets].

3:40
Caution: if your Steele Jantz lasts more than 4 hours, consult a physician 

3:41
Nick Florence is Steele Jantz in … Big Tex 

3:46
4th down, bring in Millard 

3:52
Looks windy…that doesn’t bode well for Geno

4:01
Who started the vicious rumor that pat miller left the team before the Oklahoma game? That was mean to do around the holidays.

4:03
This is the first time Ames means anything in W.Va. except “formerly Murphy Mart.”

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WVU v. Iowa State: You knew it would matter!

November 23, 2012 by Mike Casazza

You are looking live at Jack Trice Stadium, the second and final natural grass surface WVU will play on during this regular season. It’s a little choppy near the numbers, but it’s not in bad shape. and it’s been cut recently, so it won’t slow-foot WVU’s fleet-footed players.

It’s not a big stadium, but it’ feels big and open. As Dave Hickman reminded me, it’s Iowa, but there are open corners and people sitting on blankets on grassy hills watching the game. The stands go out and up more than just up and something Dave and others have people have pointed out is it’s not unlike WVU’s plan when it opened the new Mountaineer Field.

Oh, and it’s windy as hell. With an flat topography and an open layout, the flags are straightened out, left to right, “IOWA STATE” end zone to “CYCLONES” end zone. Chilly, too. Safe to say the Mountaineers haven’t played or practiced in conditions like this this season — remember, they were inside during the snowy days before the TCU game.

Yet here we are, in Iowa on Thanksgiving for a rivalry game! And it’s just like we expected.

Or not.

Here’s the paraphrased version of a real conversation from September:

Chuck McGill: We need to figure out what to do with that Thanksgiving weekend.
Me: Indeed. Probably better for me to cover football.
CM: Right, it’ll still be early in basketball season. Plenty more chances there later.
Me: Plus, what if they’re, like, 10-0 or 9-1. What if they’re somewhere around No. 1?
CM: Certainly. You can’t miss that game.

Remember that? Remember when we were stoking up this rivalry and talking, sincerely, about the how the Mountaineers were in a perilous position to go into Jack Trice Stadium one way and come out a very different way?

Ju-uust a bit outside.

I actually spent time looking at schedules this morning to see if or how I could get to Orlando tomorrow, but the Chuckin’ Hugginses took care of that. I guess, WVU could still go into the stadium one way and come out some other way — and one other way could be bowl eligible!

Been chasing that thing for seven weeks now. The last time the Mountaineers won a game, Mitt Romney was enjoying “momentum” in the presidential race.

And that was according to Nate Silver!

The whole thing just makes you a little queasy right?

Hey, that reminds me. Need another reason to adore Tavon Austin? His great game Saturday ruined the great game Paul Rhoads had last Saturday.

There was plenty to feel good about, but the joy was brief. Rhoads was debriefed on what the Mountaineers had done that same night against Oklahoma. A box score showed receiver Tavon Austin carried the ball 21 times for 344 yards.

“We got back here and put the tape on and saw where he was lining up and how he was gaining all the yards,” Rhoads said,” and then soon after that, we vomited.”

Creep with me as I roll through hood…

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Can Matt Humphrey spice things up for WVU?

November 22, 2012 by Mike Casazza

The Old Spice Classic begins here shortly and it’s a nice opener for the holiday weekend. WVU has no business losing to Marist, unless the Mountaineers just aren’t good, so you should be able to enjoy this one. Allow @FakeBobHuggins to help, if you want.

I might also keep an eye on Matt Humphrey. Face it, WVU’s backcourt was a little young, weak and timid at times last season. Humphrey is a veteran, “kind of washed up,” in his own words, but he brings a little zest that the team lacked in the backcourt before.

He vows that the Mountaineers won’t be getting bullied anymore. Real Bob Huggins believes  Humphrey can do a bunch of the things he believes his players, at this moment, don’t quite grasp.

“If I do what I’m supposed to do, regardless whether it works to our phenomenal favor or not, we’ll still be all right, I think,” he said. “I’m just one of those guys who’s going to be all right.”

The Mountaineers need that, especially in the backcourt. Humphrey watched games last year and saw WVU lose to Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament. Once he got the call from the Mountaineers after he was released from his scholarship at Boston College, he remembered the roster and how so many freshmen had so many learning experiences.

“I remember how I was when I was a freshman, so I can imagine how they were feeling, and I had a much bigger role than most of those guys did my freshman year,” Humphrey said. “I can definitely understand the frustrations I had. That’s a lot of the reason I think I’m here.”

Tough talk

by Mike Casazza

I don’t know what it was about this week. Maybe a lot of people had time off or maybe it was just time for them to pop off, but whatever the trigger, this was the week I received the most pointed and aggressive critiques of Dana Holgorsen yet.

The crowd is mixed, but generally speaking everyone is sad to mad about the losses the lack of fixes and improvements, the way Holgorsen behaves on the field, the amount of money he’s paid, the fact he wears black, the notion he doesn’t care about West Virginia (parts of his family live here now, by the way), recruiting and, of course, Joe DeForest.

This week brought about something interesting.

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Huggins inks new deal

November 21, 2012 by Mike Casazza

As discussed in October, Bob Huggins isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. On Tuesday, he signed said contract and WVU announced it Wednesday to some fanfare with a late-afternoon press release while Huggins is in Orlando prepping for the Old Spice Classic.

Standard document that, most notably, spells out the next 11 years. If all goes as planned — and I would have to imagine, as Huggins has planned — he coaches six more years and then works five years in an emeritus position. The whole thing runs through June 30, 2023. Huggins turns 70 that September.

Two things otherwise stood out: Huggins gets $25,000 every time he beats Kansas in the regular season. All of the incentives from the previous contract are now doubled. That’s merely an update after four years, but it could be significant. Review the old incentives, and then multiply them by two, if you’re interested right here.