Welcome to the Friday Feedback as we wrap a bow around a mad-as-hell, not-going-to-take-it week in the WVU sports world. Sooner we finish this, sooner the week’s over, right? Let’s begin with a comment trilogy that could pretty much stand on its own to summarize this week:
Homer said:
I’m just going to keep posting this until it gets answered somewhere: Why does WVU refuse to throw a pass downfield? Are they coaches scared? Are they players unable or too dumb? Is it some combination? About 115 other teams do it every week with regular success, and the others are squads like WVU and Navy that don’t even try. Makes no sense.
A reply?
Mack said:
Homer, WVU will work on its passing game once it finds an easy, comfortable game to do so. So far, we’ve had to face such giants as Villanova, Marshall, Syracuse, and Rutgers. Give the coaches a break. You can’t just do whatever you want when you’re going against the Orange defense.
Sarcasm very much intended, huh?
Alli said:
Homer, first play of the game, we threw a downfield pass. Jarrett over threw the ball. Jarrett also missed some reads during 3rd downs where he chose to check down instead of throw it to the sticks. So the downfield pass is in the playbook, we just don’t do it very often. Some have pointed out that our WRs have had butterfingers all year, too, so they may feel uncomfortable giving them the ball. Regardless of the issues, we need to start throwing the ball down the field. Â
An explanation from Bill Stewart? He wants go deep, but sometimes the routes and/or the throws haven’t been there and sometimes the games have required a different approach:
“We’d like to pitch and catch more, but we’ve had to control the ball more for various reasons — Pat got dinged in the third quarter against Rutgers. We need to pitch and catch a little more, but we’re very content to win the football game with defense and the kicking game. That’s what I was raised on.”
As for the receivers …
“I’m very pleased that Wes Lyons has stepped up and done a nice job. He’s really made some nice catches. We do need to get the ball to Alric Arnett like we did early in the year. Dorrell Jalloh made a big catch against
Rutgers, a nice double-move and Pat threw the ball to the spot. When we have the ball 35 minutes, we can pitch and catch a lot more. You have more plays. When you have the ball 25 minutes and run 50-some plays, to get in a rhythm you have to keep the ball and sustain drives and time of possession and hopefully get a few more big plays.”
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, careful is sometimes careless.
Shannon said:
I can’t blame Boyd at all for his decision. Ultimately, if he believed WVU, in its current situation, is not the best fit for him then he made the right decision taking back his commitment at this point. You can’t fault the kid for making the decision.
To Alli’s point about playing down the rumor, you could perhaps make an argument that Boyd wanted to see what would happen on the field against Syracuse, figuring that Syracuse was a lackluster opponent and the offense could show sparks of normality against the Orange. When the offense could only muster 17 points and essentially performed like it was infested with engine grime, I think that moved Boyd from uneasy about his commitment to wanting to get out of his commitment.
But you’re right, we’re screwed. Big time!
I’m reminded of the Big Lebowski: “Nothing is ****** here, Dude. Come on, you’re being very un-Dude.” I think it’s a big deal, but shouldn’t perspective be a WVU fan specialty by now. P-Rod’s departure was a far bigger deal and … I’ll stop. Â
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