Early angle for this week is not that WVU has handled adversity well this season or that WVU has not, but that WVU has handled lots of adversity in seven games. A startling amount, even for a team that was 5-1 before it got outadversityhandled by Syracuse.
Really, every game has had its moments for the Mountaineers, either brief, lasting or agonizingly long.
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ESPN’s fluid bowl predictions have WVU in what was once the Tire and later Car Care bowl in Charlotte. Even Miss Adelson urges against betting on these outcomes, but note the very real concerns she uses to hedge the Mountaineers.
That’s all well and good, and it’s certainly valid, but what would bother me the most, if I were one to be bothered by these things, or the prospect of Christmas in Charlotte, is WVU kind of knew what was coming and responded with that.
“We knew what we were getting ourselves into, the atmosphere up there. I talked to the guys about last year and they hit the field in Morgantown and played harder than we did, just like this year,” Holgorsen said.
It was, he said, a matter of being “outcoached and outplayed.”
“They played with more effort, more energy and more excitement,” Holgorsen said.
And when asked why that would be and what he could do to change it, he offered the standard answer that comes with that question:
“If we could figure out why we’d be writing books.”
I suppose everyone has taken enough Bayer and Pepto-Bismol and Listerine in the past 60 hours to get over whatever it was that happened in the Carrier Dome Friday night. Just not a good night, to say the least, for any aspect of what was the nation’s 11th-ranked team. Dana Holgorsen confessed his Mountaineers were both outcoached and outplayed. Let’s go all the way here and add outflanked, outclassed and even outdressed, too.
This will serve as a bright contrast to what I professed in the chat and the F Double, when I really did think WVU had it figured out on offense and could work with what Syracuse would offer on defense, a defense I insisted was better than the numbers, but there were some warning signs here. WVU hits big plays on offense and can string together a few series in a row, but it lacks consistency and efficiency. And you couldn’t ignore the concern along the offensive line, especially after the UConn game. WVU’s defense isn’t very big or deep or fast or savvy and it can be pushed around and made to stay on the field for a while, the latter being a real big problem, I think. WVU’s special teams are just unreliable and, at the worst times, detrimental.
Still, I just don’t think anyone expected everything to fall apart at once. That, and Syracuse coached and played a terrific game before a crowd that observed with great verve from start to finish. I don’t think we need to pick apart what happened and how it happened so many days later and WVU is certainly better off worrying about the solution instead of the problem, but we’ll examine this week where WVU is now and moving forward and who and what has to change. You might not like this, but Holgorsen said preparations will be the same, personnel changes don’t seem like the likely fix and, believe it or not, the offensive line was targeted right and protected well most of the night — it was the second level that did the damage.
Holgorsen had something else to say regarding one peculiar moment late in the first half at a time when WVU was trying to get back into the game and the officials made an error. That, and the texts, come after the jump.
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(I was down these past couple of days because I feared Texts From Game Day was done. Then I got an inspiring visit from an old friend and, well, it’s back in action. So bring your best texts to the table tonight and we’ll eat them up Monday morning. And in all seriousness, thank linds. She helped me pull this out of the fire.)
Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which would like to lay out some facts: Heading into the Syracuse game, WVU is 5-1 overall with a loss to LSU. It is the only ranked team in the Big East. It has the best defense and the best offense with the most explosive talent and the best quarterback on that side of the ball. And because of all of that, the Mountaineers are the early favorite to win the conference.
That was last year.
Everything I just stated is the same this year, including putting the crown atop the head of the Mountaineers before November. We were very wrong last year and after that game it started to seem like there were issues. It was almost a year ago when I wrote this.
The Mountaineers like to believe they can attack a defense in a variety of ways. Fast tempo, five receivers, shotgun, under center, two tight ends, I-formation, one running back, three tackles, two fullbacks. That faith in flexibility at least explains Mullen’s late-game philosophy, but there’s a certain audacity to think you can do eight things when you haven’t proven you can do one or two.
Is this not an issue?
“I see a lot of good we’re doing, I just don’t see consistency,” Stewart said. “That’s as calm and as honest as I can answer that question. Are we masters of any one particular thing? No. We’ve got to get better.”
The season is past the halfway point and, yes, there is plenty of football to be played. The Big East remains very open and, in reality, all Saturday’s loss did to WVU was make a 7-0 conference record unattainable. There was a notion WVU could do it and while the optimism seemed understandable, it was also without a logical base.
The offense is searching for something good, but is spread out widely when it needs a more narrow focus. WVU can’t reliably stay out of its own way, either, and now opponents seem more able than before to provide additional roadblocks.
Penalties and turnovers and a lack of blocking and protection on the offensive line preceded a bad day by the quarterback. The Mountaineers would stand around fire and expect not to sweat. Now, defenses are turning up the heat.
Aaaaaand that was about the time certain people stopped talking to me. You know, I read that whole column now and I wonder if it was that clear before it. Were we missing sighs? Hell, that’s a typo. I meant signs, but there must have been sighs, too. And then, because I’m a headcase, I wonder the same right now … but I honestly feel like this is very different. There’s a level of competence that just didn’t exist in the same abundance before. I say this because others say this, though not in the same words.
“I think we’ve got a lot of confidence going into this and we know what we can do,” Barclay said. “We’ve got great schemes if everyone buys into it and has confidence in it. Last year, I think we didn’t know if we were a spread team or a power team or kind of both, but this year, we’ve got an identity.”
Nevertheless, good test for WVU tonight. The offensive line will be tasked. The receivers can’t be “about average.” Syracuse will be better on defense than the ranking and the statistics suggest. Dana Holgorsen said Syracuse has played good offenses, which explains the statistics, but I counter with this: Isn’t his a good offense? I think the feet go in the wet cement tonight.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t fudge it.
Karl said:
The line is WVU -14. Thoughts?
It was 131/2 at kickoff last year.
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Today is Missouri’s apparent decision day. Maybe. I’m sure we’ll touch on that. Stop by for the discourse. Stay for the special guest: Rod Belding! Won’t you join us?
The Big East preseason coaches’ poll is out and WVU was picked to finish seventh — and that’s actually the third-highest result for Bob Huggins. UConn and Syracuse share first-place honors, though the Huskies got more first-place votes.
WVU’s Kevin Jones was named first-team all-Big East for the second straight preseason and I have to wonder how many players have multiple first-team honors in the preseason followed by multiple honorable mention honors after the season.
WVU inside receivers coach Shannon Dawson, a veteran of Dana Holgorsen’s offense and philosophy as both player and coach, was innocently invited into a discussion about the superlatives Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin and Ivan McCartney had thus far produced this season.
Dawson then recited many of the things we in the media had thus far written relative to those superlatives — more 100-yard games already than in any other season, multiple players on track to break multiple school records, so on and so forth — and veered unexpectedly off the road.
Surely aware people will expect WVU to just roll the ball out onto the field at the Carrier Dome and watch the receivers have their way with one of the country’s worst pass defenses to date, Dawson offered “about average” and then later “embarrassing” in a detailed and open assessment of the group.
“What most people look at and say is, ‘OK, that game Saturday, he threw for 450 yards,'” Dawson said. “Well, if we don’t drop eight balls, we might throw for 700 yards. You’ve had a lot of guys throw for 400 yards. Have you had a lot of guys throw for 700? No. If you want to get to the supernatural from the really good, you don’t drop eight balls. That’s my point.”
“I’ve been saying all year long that this team is good enough to be a big-time team. I’ve said that we don’t lose here when it’s packed. I just hope that results like this will convince our fan base to keep coming out and supporting this team, because when this place is full, we’re a difficult team to beat.”
— Marlon LeBlanc Wednesday night
No. 18 WVU beats No. 1 and previously unbeaten Connecticut 2-0 in men’s soccer with the home field advantage in full effect. Strong crowd (1,709), formidable student section on the end lines, lots of chanting and cheering and a person in a chicken suit who in the first half got a little too close to the field for security’s comfort.
Marlon LeBlanc now how has 13 wins against ranked teams and he’s 4-1-1 all-time against UConn, which always has a skilled team. WVU was just visibly and tactically better Tuesday.
The second goal was really very nice to watch as Shadow Sebele flicked a ball into the box after taking a corner kick above the box on the left side. His entry was headed into the goal and past a helpless goalie by Eric Schoenle. Sebele had this game-winner on a penalty kick in the first half after UConn tackled WVU’s firecracker of a forward, Andy Bevins, in the box.
Dana Holgorsen had a very standard press conference this afternoon in that he eschewed Bob Hertzel’s questions, highlighted another lowlight of last season and generally talked up his offense and how the system and the parts work in unison to achieve the success it has thus far experienced. I was told by an emailer that Holgorsen went sans water bottle today. He’s messing with us now, right?
Here’s a recap of the week that was and the week to come:
As for the conference call, it was what we thought it was.
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