Wolfpack rewind: West Virginia 44, State 27
THE GOOD
Saturday's game at Milan Puskar Stadium was going to be special for brothers Thayer and Drake Thomas no matter what. They spent a good portion of their formative years living within a few miles of Morgantown and though they were admittedly Marshall fans, they attended numerous games at the stadium.
But even though the result wasn't what they would like, the game turned out to be a memorable one for both Thomas'. With a large group of family members and friends watching from the stands, Thayer caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Matthew McKay in the first quarter, then threw his first career touchdown pass to tight end Cary Angeline in the second. Drake, meanwhile intercepted a pass and was credited with three tackles in the loss.
"It means everything," Thayer said afterward. "I have like 30 family members here. I grew coming to these games here. My grandmother passed away about four years ago Sept. 30, which is around the corner, so I played for her. I went out there and tried to play to the best of my ability. But we get the win, which was the main thing I wanted to do."
THE BAD
Take your pick. Multiple things went wrong for the Wolfpack in all three phases of the game -- from the inability to stop a previously inept West Virginia offense from running the ball effectively, especially on the edges, to the missed blocking assignment that led to the pivotal third quarter blocked punt.
But the most trouble big-picture aspect of the loss was the ineffectiveness of State's offense. It's one thing to run roughshod over non-Power 5 defenses such as East and Western Carolina. But against an opponent from the Big 12, the Wolfpack ground to a half offensive. It was only able to muster 97 total yards and a pair of field goals over the final two quarters.
Even in the first half, when State scored all three of its touchdowns, it got help from the Mountaineers, who twice extended drives with major penalties. A large portion of the offensive woes can be traced to McKay, who never looked comfortable in the pocket and threw far too many balls behind receivers and over their heads. He also spent far too much time locking in on one receiver -- Emeka Emezie was targeted 23 times on his 48 pass attempts (catching 12 of them).
While his performance has sparked speculation that newcomer Bailey Hockman might be ready to get a chance to see what he can do under center, some of McKay's problems can be pinned on the playcalling of co-offensive coordinators Des Kitchings and George McDonald.
An example came early in the third quarter, when with the Wolfpack trailing 24-21, they dialed up a pass on third-and-1 after Zonovan Knight had rushed for nine yards on the first two plays of the possession. McKay was sacked -- forcing a punt that was eventually blocked.
THE OFFBEAT
Kicker Christopher Dunn had his streak of 19 straight made field goals snapped on the game's first series when he came up short on a 52-yard attempt. Coincidentally, his most recent miss that wasn't blocked also happened in the state of West Virginia -- on Sept. 22, 2018 at Marshall. For his career, Dunn is now 29 of 33 for his career.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
There weren't many candidates to choose from, but just by sheer volume, this week's award goes to Emeke Emezie. The junior wide receiver had a career high totals of 12 catches and 103 yards.
STAT OF THE WEEK
State hasn't beaten a nonconference Power 5 opponent on the road since an overtime win at Texas Tech on Sept. 21, 2002. While that's a long time, it's not as if the Wolfpack has given itself a lot of opportunities to end the drought. In the 17 seasons since, State has only played four games on the road against P5 opponents -- losing at Ohio State in 2003, at South Carolina in 2008, at Notre Dame in 2017 and at West Virginia on Saturday.
UNSUNG HERO
Payton Wilson keeps adding to his inspiring comeback story. The redshirt freshman linebacker, who has overcome two knee surgeries to return to the field this season, had three tackles in a reserve role against West Virginia. His most meaningful contribution, however, came on special teams when he took a short snap on a fake punt and ran for nine yards and a first down to prolong a second half drive.
INJURY REPORT
Cornerback Nick McCloud missed his second straight game because of an undisclosed injury. Starting defensive ends James Smith-Williams and Joseph Boletepeli were both pregame scratches.
Coach Dave Doeren no longer issues an injury report, but tight end Dylan Autenreith went down with an apparent leg injury on the Wolfpack's second possession of the game and did not return.
THEY SAID IT
"I feel like I started strong throughout the first half. Second half, I didn't start off hot and I tried to overcome that adversity. I felt I did a solid job, but at the end of the day we didn't win. ... I've just got to watch the film. I'm not really sure what happened. I'm going to go back, learn from it and move on. It could have been a lot better." Wolfpack quarterback Matthew McKay
"When we go back in and watch the film, I'm sure we're going to see a lot of guys missing blocks. I'm sure we're going to see them blocking us. I just thought in the trenches, which is where we've been good, we were not good today." Coach Dave Doeren
"I thought the crowd was huge today. They did a tremendous job. They stayed, they were loud. I thought they were really a factor on third and fourth downs." WVU coach Neal Brown.
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