Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which has had an indiscernible stance from as far back as the Pop Warner days. You’ll never know what’s coming here.
We didn’t give ourselves a chance to really touch on Chris Spielman touching up poor Quinton Spain, so let’s circle back for just a moment because there are a few thing to discuss and consider.
I actually like Chris Spielman (Cleveland Browns, 1999). It feels like a guy who knows football is talking to you about football, as opposed to lecturing you or reciting the replay rules to you. I don’t even have a problem with what he did — it’s not his fault he picked up on something and it’s an analysts job to report that. I had to laugh when he’d break off a sentence to call out a play. West Virginia’s not doing the job on th– run — third down so far. It needs to keep it’s def– yep — it’s defense on the sideline for a while.
All of that said, I’m not sure it was … correct? For starters, a lot of WVU’s plays have run/pass options where not even the linemen know what the quarterback will do. Second, when I watched, it looked like Spain’s left foot was back on run plays as Spielman was predicting run. Even McDonough said as much. Third, I’d bet you Spielman could do that on most Saturday’s in the fall. It’s not uncommon.
I’m not even sure it had an impact on the game apart from just looking bad. Linebackers and defensive ends weren’t pointing at Spain’s feet, rising out of their stance, calling out pass or run and reacting appropriately. There was some communication along the line when Spain looked inside, and that would have to be fixed, but I can’t believe the defenders tried harder and made more plays when and because Spain looked inside on run plays.
Now, credit where credit is due. Spielman, a very good linebacker at Ohio State and in the NFL, nailed it every time, so I’d have to think McDonough and I were mistaken, or that we were misreading Spielman’s cues. But there is something curious about all of this: Why in the world did Spielman do this? I’ve seen him do a number of games and I’d never caught that before, but he was right on top of Spain. Was he tipped? Did Texas Tech’s coaches, in their meetings with McDonough and Spielman, somehow get around to this?
West Virginia’s got this tackle, this Spain fella, who is just enormous. Tough to get around. What we’ve seen on tape is he drops that left foot way back when they’re passing and he stays about even when it’s a run. We’re telling our guys to read that and to use that to get around that guy. He’s just huge and he’s been pretty solid, so we need all the help we can get there.
That would not be unusual — and it wouldn’t be treasonous by Spielman or unsportsmanlike by Texas Tech, to be clear — but it’s perhaps a bad sign for WVU. This is an offense that’s been so successful that it’s really forced opponents to take a close look. That can produce things like this and the Mountaineers, who keep things very uniform before their snaps, don’t want to start giving out clues.
“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot,” Holgorsen said. “I know a lot has been made about of it because of the commentary, but it’s something we’ve been aware of since we got here and started coaching offense and trying to make sure stances and signals don’t give anything away.”
There’s another part of success that has to be considered, too. Sometimes things come easy and you lose grasp of the things you had to do to make it feel so easy. If there was a thread weaved through the entire Texas Tech debacle, it was that the Mountaineers wanted to do it the easy way, and they paid dearly for that. At best, Spain’s transparency is a lesson for him and for everyone else to revisit the stuff that was taken for granted.
As for tomorrow? The Mountaineers will perform better. They’re not as bad as what you saw in Lubbock, Texas, and Dana’s been good about making something out of losses to LSU (“Hey, we took it to them…can’t turn it over like that, though!”), Syracuse (“Hey, we’re not as good as you think we are!”) and Louisville (“Hey, our energy sucked!”) and it would seem there are ample opportunities to draw something out of the latest defeat.
Kansas State is in a tricky spot, too. The Wildcats just played a really tough game on the road at Iowa State and now it’s time for a trip to Morgantown and quite likely a fired up opponent in a night game. The Wildcats could use a break, like WVU wanted a break last week, and maybe the most dangerous thing WVU presents is that it was obliterated last week and looks a lot more susceptible than it really is.
Yet Kansas State is a really smart, consistent, disciplined and physical team that’s already won its way on the road against a top opponent this season. That’s not a team that is likely to beat itself with a lousy attitude.
Lose this one and it’s going to be a long open week, especially if it follows the recent script.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, get a good breakfast.
ConservativeMountaineer said:
We used to play ‘No blood. No foul.’ Of course, that was on a concrete court with a chain-link fence surrounding it. I had to go to the hospital once for stitches above an eye. Was known for taking the charge. I was sorta young (mid 20s). I was also somewhat stupid. 
I’m just going to let this one go, because it’s marvelous, time capsule stuff. Ready?
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