West Virginia's Offense Nonexistent in Lopsided Loss at Kansas

Lawrence, KS - West Virginia limped into its Big 12 Conference opener at Kansas and were walloped Saturday night 41-10.

“Nothing was good,” West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Coaching, not good. Playing, not good. I thought it was an OK week of practice, but evidently, not good enough. A lot to work on.”

The Mountaineers (2-2, 0-1) wee down to their third running back after Tye Edwards remained on the sideline with a hip injury, which came down to a game time decision. The redshirt senior rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns last week in the win against Pitt.

“He was on the trip,” Rodriguez said. “I thought he was going to go… but couldn’t go and so that’s unfortunate.”

Fortune was not in West Virginia’s favor from the outset.

After losing the coin toss and receiving the kick to open the game, the offense went three and out and a 50-yard punt from Ollie Straw was nearly wiped away following a 30-yard punt return by Tate Nagy put the Jayhawks at midfield.

Facing a fourth and one, redshirt senior quarterback Jalon Daniels found redshirt senior receiver Levi Wentz wide open over the middle on a hitch route and coasted to the endzone untouched for a 41-yard touchdown for the early 7-0 edge.

The West Virginia defense limited Kansas to one first down on three drives, including a pair of three and outs. However, the Mountaineer offense was incapable of grabbing the momentum and on three drives, totaled a mere eight yards.

Kansas maintained the field position and the offense moved the ball into WVU territory. The defense bowed up and held the Jayhawks to a 42-yard field goal.

West Virginia moved the ball to midfield on a swing pass to running back Cyncir Bowers, and although the Mountaineers ultimately punted the ball, the defense held Kansas to a three and out and WVU took over at their own 43-yard line, leading to their first score of the game.

The Mountaineers drove the ball to the eight-yard line and settled for a field goal to pull within a possession.

Kansas quickly responded. Following a 43-yard kickoff return from Emmanuel Henderson Jr., it took the Jayhawks just three plays to find the endzone. Jaylon Daniels rolled left and tossed a 39-yard touchdown pass to running back Leshon Williams on the back side for a 17-3 lead.

West Virginia was in its two-minute offense and appeared to be on another scoring drive, but facing a fourth and two, Nicco Marchiol rolled to the short side of the field and came up empty handed as the pass was batted to the turf.

Daniels scrambled for 28 yards into field goal range on a third and 10 to take a 20-7 lead into halftime.

“I thought the defense played really hard in the first half. [They] gave up one or two big plays,” Rodriguez said.

Henderson returned the opening kickoff if the second half 94 yards for the touchdown and the Jayhawks were on cruise control.

“The most disappointing of the whole thing is the kickoff return,” Rodriguez stated. “I don’t know if I’ve had two in my whole career and here, we go open in the second half and try and get some momentum and give up a kick return. I mean, there’s no excuse for that.”

The offense went three and out and then Marchiol followed with an interception, subsequently ending his night.

“Well, you gotta try and manufacture some run stuff and if you’re going to have to throw it, you got to be really on the mark throwing precise with your passing game, your protection, your routes, and your decisions. We weren’t precise in any of the categories there.”

In between the WVU drives, Kansas added another touchdown, eating up seven minutes of game clock on a 12-play 69-yard drive, capped by a two-yard touchdown pass to wide open tight end Boden Groen out in the flat.

West Virginia backup quarterback Jaylen Henderson added to the rushing attack. The redshirt senior opened the drive with a seven-yard run and moments later, gashed the Jayhawk defense for a 32-yard run. He ended the drive, scampering for a 13-yard touchdown run.

It gives you a little bit of different dimension. I thought Jaylen ran hard and Khalil is a fast guy. So, we’ll figure out what we’re going to do going forward.

It took just four plays for Kansas to regain its 31-point advantage when Williams juked inside and raced 62 yards for his second touchdown of the night. He finished the night with 198 total yards and two touchdowns, propelling the Jayhawks to the 41-10 final.

“Our defense was playing well – hanging on a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “At the end there, I didn’t think we were as strong as we needed to be. But, again, our offense wasn’t doing anything to help us. Particularly in the first half.”

“We weren’t overly physical at times,” Rodriguez added. “I think we missed more tackles [tonight] I think than any of the other games. Especially in the second half.”

The West Virginia injury list continues grow. Redshirt junior starting center went down with a lower body injury and did not return to the game.

“Injuries are unfortunate – they are going to happen,” Rodriguez said. ‘It seems to be hitting in bunches. But that ain’t the reason we lost. Poorly coach. Poorly played.”

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