MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- It's a pleasant trip to the film room for us, as we look at WVU's pre-snap motion, the Mountaineers' special teams wins, and the reasons for OU's success with inside runs. The nicest view, though, was of the scoreboard following Casey Legg's kick the produced a win over the Sooners.
WVU wanted to run the ball and control the clock, but that can't be done when outnumbered in the box. A simple count here shows five WVU linemen, a tight end and a receiver against eight Oklahoma defenders in the box. The Mountaineers do an o.k. job in their blocks, but there's an unaccounted safety coming off the back side, and he drops Tony Mathis for a loss. This is a play that should have been checked out of.
At times, it looked as if West Virginia was ceding the middle of the field to the Oklahoma run game -- and sometimes it was. Look at this formation, where OU has twin receivers to the left. WVU, with its shaky pass defense and history of getting torched by Texas Tech with this set, has three defenders aligned against the quick screen game to that side. With other pass defenders spread across the field to cover a wide split, and deep to help against downfield routes that have also been a problem, there's just not a lot of players left to guard everything else.
OU attacked the numbers deficit with six blockers against five defenders, and piled up a lot of rushing yards on the interior. However, partly due to the help in pass coverage, and admittedly due to a couple of drops and missed throws, the Mountaineers held the Sooners to 20 points.
West Virginia got its longest and best kickoff return right at the end of the first half, and it can be argued that this was the play of the game. The Mountaineers opt for the quick burst return on the short side of the field, and hit every one of their initial blocks against the two Sooners that are first downfield, plus another in the return crease by Preston Fox.
The Sooners sweeping in from the far side of the field aren't fast enough to get to Sam James, who bursts upfield to set up WVU's first score of the game. Even though OU added two points to its total with a return of the ensuing dropped extra point snap, the resulting 12-6 halftime deficit was much better than 10-0.
Multiple times during the game, FS1 analyst Devin Gardner proclaimed "West Virginia's tight ends and motion will lead you to the ball. All you have to do is follow them."
Well, duh. Tight ends are almost always going to lead to the play side or the point of attack, and either provide a lead block or a trap or seal block a bit past the hole.
But, just to illustrate the point that WVU's motion wasn't a dead giveaway, we counted. West Virginia's tight ends went in motion (and mostly reset at a new spot) on 30 plays. Eleven of those were pass plays, so it wasn't like the Mountaineers ran the ball on every one. WVU gained 134 yards on those plays -- not an awesome accomplishment, but a solid average of 4.5 yards per play Only three resulted in negative yardage.
So, somehow, even with this dead giveaway (according to Gardner), West Virginia managed to make some blocks and move the ball.
There's no better play to illustrate the effect that Garrett Greene had on the team and the game. On this busted play, he turns the wrong way for the initial handoff/zone read, and has no one to give the ball to. However, Oklahoma's edge defender is similarly confused, and doesn't make a play on either Greene or the running back. Making something out of the chaos, Greene dashes inside for an 18-yard gain to set the Mountaineers up for touchdown number two.
Of course, this doesn't happen if the blocking isn't good. But right now, Greene is the only QB that can make this sort of thing happen, and it's why he has to be the starter vs. K-State.
If Sam James' kickoff return wasn't the play of the game, this fake punt might have been.
First, WVU switches the entire strength of the formation from left to right, but such movement isn't uncommon in the Mountaineer punt game. Once set, James comes in tight, appearing to set up as another blocker on the shield. Note the reaction of OU's defense, especially that of 24, who is apparently assigned to Brown as a mirror in order to block him. In tracking him across the formation, though, he loops a bit too deeply in the backfield.
That, in turn, takes him out of immediate run support, and when he chooses to go wide to defend the alley on the sideline, James has just enough space to cut inside the blocks of Jalen Thornton, Treylan Davis and Marcis Floyd for a first down. Of such small items are big plays made.
