Sunday Morning Thoughts: New Week, Same Befuddling Issues for WVU
The Mountaineers were unable to escape Lubbock with a win on Saturday and were defeated 34-27 by first time starting quarterback Henry Colombi.
Although I had West Virginia winning a close one, I got that feeling right before the game started that it might just go Texas Tech's way, and it did. The Red Raiders forced a three and out on the Mountaineers' opening drive of the game, went down and scored themselves on their first drive, and never looked back.
Our very own Jonathan Martin tweeted following the game that if Neal Brown wants folks to "Trust the Climb," these are the games you have to win....and they didn't. And he's totally right. Don't get me wrong; I think Texas Tech is much better than people think. They will give some teams trouble and maybe even pull out a couple of wins. I mean, they went toe to toe with Texas, who is arguably the favorite to win the conference, and that was with Alan Bowman at quarterback. If Henry Colombi plays in that game, who knows? Maybe Texas Tech pulls off the upset, and people look at West Virginia's loss to the Red Raiders much differently. Regardless, you have to win these types of games like Jonathan stated.
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Coming into the game, West Virginia had the No. 1 defense in the country and looked nothing like it in the first half. Colombi moved the ball on them with ease, and it wasn't until the 2nd half that the Mountaineer defense finally adjusted and figured him out. To be honest, I was extremely shocked that the defense struggled so much out of the gate. They had to have known that Colombi would make plays with his feet, and they almost seemed caught off guard by it; they had no answer for it. But what was even more disappointing was seeing how long it took for them to make adjustments and slow Colombi down. Those adjustments needed to be made after the first couple of drives. I understand losing Tony Fields II to a targeting call doesn't help the defense, but from what we saw on Saturday, you can tell this defense still has a long way to go from where they want to be.
Offensively, where do I start? Drops continue to happen at an alarming rate, and I'm not exactly sure what the deal is. You can say that an abnormal offseason hurt some of these guys' development or readiness for the season, but everyone is in the same boat, and this is not a nationwide issue. It's a West Virginia issue, and I don't see an end to it in near-sight.
Like I stated last week, I understand the talent that Sam James has, and you want to give him a confidence boost, but at some point, you have to start going away from him. He has proven to be unreliable in certain situations and is clearly in his own head right now. Every player gets in a funk from time to time, and that's okay. He will eventually snap out of it because he's too talented of a player not to. But right now, he doesn't have it.
Does that mean take him out of the game instead of throwing that screen to him that he fumbled in the 4th quarter? No, but you can leave him out there to block and toss it out to Winston Wright Jr., who made play after play against Texas Tech. To be honest, I didn't love the idea of throwing the ball there anyways, even if it were to Wright. Go to the man who you know will carry you to victory and hand it off to Leddie Brown and get you in 3rd down and manageable. This has been my BIGGEST issue with the play calling this season. Why continue to put the ball in the air on 2nd and seven or longer instead of giving it to Brown and chipping away at the yards to go? Brown can easily get you to 3rd and 3, 3rd and 4, and even if you don't convert on 3rd down, you now have a chance to take the lead with a long field goal.
Lastly, I want to talk about the quarterback play.
Again, I know the receivers HAVE to step up, but Jarret Doege just doesn't have much value in the passing game. He's routinely missed easy throws, underthrows the deep ball, and his awareness in the pocket is not the greatest by any means. While everyone was pumping up Doege at the end of last year, I repeatedly said that the offense did not see much of a difference with him in the game over Austin Kendall. I'm not saying Kendall should start because I think Doege gives you a better chance to win, albeit small.
Last year, Kendall was plagued with a hand injury of his own, poor play from his receivers, an inconsistent o-line, and absolutely zero run game. This year, the Mountaineers have proved they can run the football much better, and Doege doesn't have any injuries that we know of, so how is it that Doege has two of those deficiencies thrown out and still isn't playing at a high level? I think Doege is a great kid, and the effort is there, but what does he bring to the table? Do you give a healthy Austin Kendall a chance? Do you give the true freshman Garrett Greene a chance? Or do you ride it out with Doege and hope that he figures it out? I don't think Neal Brown wants to make a QB change with the team being 3-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play, but if the Mountaineers drop their next two to Kansas State and Texas and fall to 2-4 in the conference, I think you have to consider making a change.
If the drops from the receivers and average quarterback play continue, West Virginia could finish 4-6 or 5-5 at best. They must improve offensively, and it all starts with the passing game.
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