Game Preview: WVU vs. BYU

Fresh off a bye week, West Virginia (2-0) will travel to the nation’s capital to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule with its first ever meeting with BYU (1-2).

West Virginia will look to finish the non-conference portion of the schedule undefeated for the second straight season but will face a stiff challenge inside FedEx Field, the home of the Washington Redskins.

The Mountaineers have defeated Missouri and Youngstown State and will be looking to build off a strong start to the 2016 campaign. Head coach Dana Holgorsen is in his sixth year with the football program and has amassed a career record of 38-28 during that time.

Senior quarterback Skyler Howard has completed 63-percent of his passes, while throwing for 642 yards and five touchdowns with only two interceptions. Howard was limited by a rib injury during the week in prep for Youngstown State, but is coming off a bye week to rest up and heal.

BYU is currently 1-2 on the season defeating Arizona before dropping consecutive games to Utah and UCLA by a combined total of four points. While the Mountaineers had the luxury of the bye last week, the Cougars played host to UCLA falling 17-14 to the Bruins in a hard fought contest.

The Cougars are led by Kalani Sitake, who is in his first season as the BYU head coach after taking over for Bronco Mendenhall after his departure to Virginia this past off-season. A former BYU fullback, Sitake is also in his first year as a head coach after previously serving as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Oregon State. He also had previous stops at Utah and Southern Utah.

The Cougars will be sticking with redshirt senior quarterback Taysom Hill and through three games he has completed 58-percent of his passes for 628 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. A dual-threat option, Hill has battled injuries over his career but even with the slow start, there is no hesitation to turn to the senior leader of the football program as the starter moving forward.

In the backfield, senior Jamaal Williams leads the Cougars in rushing with 248 yards and a touchdown while the aforementioned Hill has rushed for 117 yards and two scores on the season. The Cougars offense is currently ranked 119th in the nation under first-year offensive coordinator Ty Detmer.

The Cougars defense is a physical outfit that is ranked as the 49th best unit in total defense and 31 in scoring defense on the season. In the first three games they have yet to allow 20 points, something last done by the 1984 national championship team.

The defensive unit crowds the box and mixes thing up in the backend and is ninth nationally averaging 7.5 tackles per loss per game.

The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. at FedEx Field.

West Virginia Depth Chart:

OFFENSE:

QB - 3 Skyler Howard (Sr), 11 Chris Chugunov (r-Fr), 16 William Crest (r-So)

TE – 89 Rob Dowdy (r-Fr), 87 Stone Wolfley (r-Fr)

FB – 28 Elijah Wellman (r-Jr), 47 Michael Ferns (r-So)

RB – 7 Rushel Shell (r-Sr), 25 Justin Crawford (Jr), 4 Kennedy McKoy (Fr)

WR (X) - 1 Shelton Gibson (r-Jr), 12 Gary Jennings (So)

WR (Z) – 2 Ka’Raun White (Jr), 82 Devonte Mathis (r-Sr)

IR (Y) - 6 Daikiel Shorts (Sr), 5 Jovon Durante (So)

LT - 53 Colton McKivitz (r-Fr), 74 Sylvester Townes (r-Sr)

LG – 70 Tony Matteo (r-Sr), 57 Adam Pankey (r-Sr)

C - 65 Tyler Orlosky (r-Sr), 79 Matt Jones (r-Fr)

RG - 62 Kyle Bosch (r-Jr), 56 Grant Lingafelter (r-Jr)

RT - 77 Marcell Lazard (r-Jr), 73 Josh Sills (Fr)

DEFENSE:

DE - 97 Noble Nwachukwu (r-Sr), 88 Adam Shuler (r-Fr)

NT - 49 Darrien Howard (Sr), 67 Alec Shriner (r-Fr)

DE - 95 Christian Brown (r-Sr), 92 Jon Lewis (r-Jr)

SAM – 30 Justin Arndt (r-Sr), 5 Xavier Preston (Jr)

MIKE - 17 Al-Rasheed Benton (r-Sr), 44 Hodari Christian (r-Jr)

WILL – 27 Sean Walters (r-Sr), 28 David Long (r-Fr)

CB – 1 Antonio Crawford (r-Sr), 14 Nana Kyeremeh (r-Sr)

FS – 2 Jeremy Tyler (Sr), 16 Toyous Avery (r-So)

SPUR – 8 Kyzir White (Jr), 18 Marvin Gross, Jr. (r-Jr)

BS - 22 Jarrod Harper (r-Sr), 12 Khairi Shariff (r-Sr)

CB – 13 Rasul Douglas (r-Sr), 24 Maurice Fleming (r-Sr)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

PK - 48 Mike Molina (r-Jr), 86 Josh Lambert (r-Sr)

P - 15 Billy Kinney (r-So), 80 Jonn Young (Fr)

LS -46 Nick Meadows (r-Jr), 43 R.C. Brunstetter (r-So)

H – 15 Billy Kinney (r-So), 80 Jonn Young (Fr)

KO - 48 Mike Molina (r-Jr), 15 Billy Kinney (r-So)

PR - 12 Gary Jennings (So)

KR - 1 Shelton Gibson (r-Jr), 12 Gary Jennings (So)

Notes:

--Coaching assignments for this season include: DC/LB Tony Gibson (field), OC/TE-FB Joe Wickline (press box), CB Blue Adams (field), WR Tyron Carrier (field), S Matt Caponi (field), OL Ron Crook (field), D/ST Mark Scott (press box), RB JaJuan Seider (field), DL Bruce Tall (field)

--West Virginia is 4-2 in professional venues under head coach Dana Holgorsen including 1-0 at FedEx Field after defeating James Madison 42-12 in 2012.

--A total of 23 players have seen their first WVU action this season: CB Jordan Adams, S Toyous Avery, CB Elijah Battle, QB Chris Chugunov, CB Antonio Crawford, RB Justin Crawford, CB Mike Daniels, OL Rob Dowdy, FB Michael Ferns, CB Maurice Fleiming, DE Reese Donahue, LB Adam Hensley, P Billy Kinney, LB David Long, OL Colton McKivitz, RB Kennedy McKoy, LB Zach Sandwisch, DL Alec Shriner, DE Adam Shuler, WR Steven Smothers, S JoVanni Stewart, S Kyzir White and TE Stone Wolfley.

--The 2016 roster consists of 120 players from 15 different states.

--There are 34 juniors and seniors on the West Virginia depth chart.

--The West Virginia offensive rosters includes 13 players that have started at least one game. The offensive roster consists of 19 true freshmen, eight redshirt freshmen, three sophomores, seven redshirt sophomores, one junior, eight redshirt juniors, two seniors and six redshirt seniors.

--Breaking down the West Virginia offensive numbers for the season the Mountaineers have run a total of 164 plays, 94 on the ground and 70 through the air. The rushing game has totaled 476 yards for an average of 5.1 yards per carry and two touchdowns. The passing attack has totaled 642 yards and an average of 14.9 yards per completion.

--The West Virginia offense has gained 20 first downs via the run and 29 via the pass.

--The West Virginia offense ranks No. 1 nationally in sacks allowed, No. 7 in total offense, No. 16 in third down conversions, No. 18 in passing offense and No. 23 in rushing offense.

--The West Virginia defensive roster includes 6 players that have started at least one game. The West Virginia defensive rosters includes 20 true freshmen, 10 redshirt freshmen, one sophomore, three redshirt sophomores, nine juniors, four redshirt juniors, two seniors and 10 redshirt seniors.

--The West Virginia defense hasn’t allowed an opponent to complete better than 50-percent of its third down attempts in 27 straight games, the longest streak in the Big 12 Conference.

--The West Virginia defense is No. 8 nationally in red zone defense and No. 21 in scoring defense.

--West Virginia has 14 senior starters on its depth chart and 20 seniors on its two deep, the most in the Big 12 Conference.

--The Mountaineers are No. 14 all-time in college football winning percentage.

--Since 2000, West Virginia is 102-13 when scoring 30 or more points in a contest.

Injuries/Suspensions: West Virginia junior free safety Dravon Askew-Henry is out for the season with an ACL injury same can be said for redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste. Freshman linebacker Brendan Ferns is also out for the season with an ACL injury. Freshman cornerback Jake Long is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Redshirt sophomore Jaleel Fields is out for the season with a knee injury. Redshirt junior Xavier Pegues is out until late October with a shoulder injury.

As for suspensions, West Virginia will be without the services of redshirt senior kicker Josh Lambert until next week when the Mountaineers open Big 12 Conference play.

Redshirts: West Virginia has played true freshmen running back Kennedy McKoy, defensive end Reese Donahue, SAM linebacker Zach Sandwisch and WILL linebacker Adam Hensley, wide receiver Steven Smothers and safety JoVanni Stewart to this point.

Points to Click:

Lean on the line again. The West Virginia offensive line has been a strength this season and the Mountaineers will need to rely on the unit to step up again against a physical BYU defense that does a variety of different things. West Virginia has been able to control the line of scrimmage for the better part of the first two games and establishing the run will be key in order to set up the type of offensive balance that the Mountaineers want to ideally use in each and every game. However, equally as important will be the protection that the offensive line has provided for Skyler Howard to this point not allowing any sacks and giving him time to scan the field. Continue to lean on the line.

Back to the basics on defense. A week after impressing against Missouri, the West Virginia defense took a nosedive against FCS level Youngstown State. Missed tackles, missed assignments and an overall noticeable lack of effort were the major culprits in the Mountaineers allowing over 400 total yards to the Penguins. BYU will challenge West Virginia in the run game much in the same way that Youngstown State did and assignment football will be key in preventing a similar performance. Tackling must get better in the open field as well especially against a quarterback as mobile as Hill.

Score touchdowns in the red zone: West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen has said that the Mountaineers are shooting for at least a 50-percent touchdown rate in the red zone but in the season opener fell short of that goal punching the ball in only one time out of five and then only one out of three against Youngstown State. That was an Achilles heel for the West Virginia offense last season and will continue to keep teams in games until the Mountaineers can turn those field goals into touchdowns. Whether it’s a combination of play calling, execution or bad luck West Virginia has to convert opportunities into touchdowns and that could be big in this game.

Avoid negative plays. BYU averages 7.5 tackles per loss per game good enough for 9th, while the Mountaineers rank 12th nationally in preventing that stat. Winning those plays will be big for the Mountaineers to move the football against an experience defense that hasn't given up many big plays this year. Staying in manageable downs and not losing yardage will be a major factor when the Mountaineers have the ball.

Taking what they give you. The West Virginia offense has done an excellent job of this throughout the course of the season and that can't change against the Cougars. If the plan is to stop the run, take shots down the field or if they elect to play back to prevent big plays down the field establishing the run will be necessary. Skyler Howard has been very improved in the intermediate passing game to go along with what he has done throwing the ball down the field and consistency as well as taking what's there is key.

Handling the road. No, it's not a true road game but it is the first time that West Virginia will have left the friendly confines of Mountaineer Field to travel to FedEx Field for the neutral site contest with the Cougars. BYU has already traveled to Arizona and won, while losing a close game at Utah so there will be no jitters there. Now it is important to remember that the Mountaineers are an experienced roster, but for some of the younger players in key spots they must be able to take the road in stride.

Turnovers: This is an area that goes without saying as turnovers both avoiding them on offense as well as forcing them on the defensive side play a giant role in deciding the overall outcome of games. The Mountaineers lost the battle 3-1 in the opener but still managed to come out with a victory and was even against Youngstown State. Those aren’t winning odds over the course of a season and they must improve in that department.