At times, we made Cincinnati look silly. At times, Cincinnati made us look silly. Sure, our good plays outnumbered there's, but anytime a team racks up that many yards against you, you know you haven't played your best. But even without our best, we went on the road and beat the #22 team in the country. I don't care what my expectations are these days, that's a good win.
Thoughts from the game:
- Luckily, we saved our fumbling problems until we were "comfortably" ahead. Seriously, at this point, I have no idea what to think about this. Has a team ranked so high in turnover margin had this many problems just giving the ball away in key situations? If you think this isn't a huge problem you're kidding yourself.
It doesn't seem to be confined to any one player, either. Sure, this week, it was Pat White, but he also carried the ball on seemingly every play down the stretch. Against Louisville, Steve Slaton joined the act. Against South Florida, the entire team wanted to give the ball to the Bulls. Whatever the problem, it needs fixed. Pull a James Caan in "The Program" and hand every skill player a football to carry around campus for the next month. I don't care how it gets done, but the epidemic needs to be stopped. - Play Noel Devine more.
- Bad things happen when quarterbacks scramble against WVU. Bad things really happen when they scramble laterally and look the throw. Cincinnati's Ben Mauk exposed our secondary the same way USF's Matt Grothe did over a month ago. Our defenders need to find that happy medium between stopping a potentially scrambling QB and that wide-open WR running free in the secondary.
- Play Noel Devine more.
- Of course, the run defense was absolutely stifling. Cincinnati had no chance to throw the ball late in the game, and with an 18 point lead (on the road), the pass defense is going to give up some yards. I understand that. But kudos to the defense on forcing them to pass. When you can shut down an entire half of a team's offense, it makes things a little easier.
- Play Noel Devine more.
- The BCS dominoes keep falling our way, don't they? Now, all WVU has to hope for is either an LSU loss or an Oklahoma victory in the Big 12 Championship game. With a healthy Sam Bradford, OU should be favored against either Missouri or Kansas. Whatever you do for the next few weeks, do not allow yourself to be talked into being scared of either a) Ohio State or b) Arizona State. Neither will pass us. I promise.
1 comment:
I agree 100% that we need more Noel in our offense instead of wearing out poor Pat White's body. Come on RR, spread the wealth and keep our team healthy. In my honest opinion, Jock Sanders doesn't look half bad either. Of course, it scares the shit out of me every time Slaton is handed the ball. I don't know really why, because he hasn't fumbled that much, but it does.
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