Welcome to the ninth edition of my weekly analysis, "I Got Five On It," where I will give you five of my biggest takeaways and thoughts following every WVU football game this season and give you insight into what I saw from watching the Mountaineers. To finish out the season on a high note, West Virginia dominated in its postseason bowl game bid, defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 30-10 with a strong defensive performance in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. This bowl-game win, the second under head coach Neal Brown since 2019 marks many special milestones, including the program's most wins since 2016 with nine victories and also the best season of Brown's career in Morgantown by two wins, making him 5-1 across his career in postseason bowl competitions. This one was dominance in favor of the Mountaineers from even the very first snap and the Mountaineers cruised to a satisfying win. Here's what I saw at the conclusion of the season for the Mountaineers.
1 -- West Virginia was the more ‘excited’ squad, just like head coach Neal Brown wanted.
Time and time again in the moments between the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the final regular season game, there were quite a few factors that head coach Neal Brown mentioned that are crucial to a victory and from what I saw, they sure met those requirements. It started with retention and the players who opted into the postseason bid, which luckily for WVU, was almost everyone including NFL hopeful cornerback Beanie Bishop, despite missing NFL-bound center Zach Frazier due to injury as well. Many of the stars throughout the season opted to play against North Carolina, so this first step paid off. Despite some transfer portal departures, West Virginia came out excited to play and this was the second factor that Brown preached. He said that whichever team came out more excited usually wins the bowl game, regardless of the obvious effects that happened to the Tar Heels like an array of talent opting out. However, it was clear to see that West Virginia answered the bell in terms of excitement and it was visible up and down the Mountaineers sideline. Just look at the opening play of the game and the 75-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Greene to wide receiver Traylon Ray and the reactions that came after that play all-around. WVU checked that box and was certainly the more excited team throughout.
2 -- WVU’s severe, drive-ending penalties were one challenge to overcome
Throughout the early portions of the game, especially in the first half when points were hard to come by, West Virginia hurt themselves with penalties. This includes finishing the game with nine total flags for 70 yards compared to UNC’s eight penalties for 60 yards, which is nearly an entire field’s length in penalties against WVU when they could, hypothetically, be laid end-to-end. My point is, that this was uncharacteristic for the Mountaineers this season and I felt like it came down to not playing in just over a month. Although practice reps, scrimmage reps and mental reps in drills and meetings are a big step towards learning and refining skills, football definitely feels different in a game-like environment and that could have been the case here. For example, two costly holding penalties ended drives for WVU in the first half and although they did not come back to hurt the team, this was something that I wasn’t used to seeing. For me, I’ll chalk it up to the hiatus from being in-game competition and that was the Mountaineers were clearly amped to compete.
3 -- The run game was less of a factor than expected, in the first half at least
On a big stage like this and in a crucial situation to reach nine wins and make a statement, I expected head coach Neal Brown to rely more on the running game, the bread and butter. However, this wasn’t the case, certainly not in the first half. The running game was less of a factor in the first two quarters, but once the game was in control, it was easier for the team to lay back and do what they do best to complete the win. At the halftime break, West Virginia recorded only 52 rushing yards, but went on to finish the game with 175 yards, so clearly something was different and working better in the second half. This can be attributed to the fact that Greene was slinging the football down the field at a decent rate to start the game, especially with a big play to open the contest. Also, it seemed like WVU was able to catch the Tar Heels off guard with a couple of play-action pass plays and shots down the field early in their possessions which yielded some yardage through the air. To finish the game, White carried the ball 12 times for 50 yards and Greene had another nine carries for 75 yards, so a solid day all things considered.
4 -- Youth was everywhere, and that bodes well for the future.
Everywhere you look, West Virginia has young talent starting and playing a significant role on the field and this bodes well for a big future. It’s surely obvious to see that young talent playing in the biggest games early in their career could be beneficial, but these players haven’t only been young, inexperienced, or learning, they’ve also been producing and performing. For example in Wednesday’s matchup against North Carolina, a redshirt freshman wide receiver Hudson Clement, from the state of West Virginia, was the squad’s leading receiver with five catches for 89 yards. The team’s second-leading rusher and freshman All-American White also scampered for 50 yards and true freshman Traylon Ray led the team in yards with 91 of them and a touchdown. This isn’t even including true freshman and highly touted recruit Rodney Gallagher III who didn’t record stats against the Tar Heels and redshirt sophomore pass-catcher Preston Fox, who missed the game with an injury after appearing as a key contributor all season. Defensively, WVU touts two freshmen linebackers, Caden Biser and Ben Cutter who stepped up after injury into a new role and performed at a high-level and they also depended on players like cornerback Jacolby Spells in his sophomore season and redshirt freshman safety Raliegh Collins III to step in and play some defense as a fifth defensive back. On the defensive line is a young splash player named Tomiwa Durojaiye, who is a redshirt freshman and a player like redshirt freshman Trey Lathan was a starter before his season-ending injury. The point here is that besides bonafide stars and starters such as Greene, Frazier, Bishop, defensive lineman Sean Martin and linebacker Lee Kpogba amongst others, there is up-and-coming talent at every turn and that development could lead to big things for the next generation. Especially when the next generation is already making its mark.
5 -- West Virginia has big momentum going into next year and probably, expectations
After completing the season on a three-game winning streak and getting even more wins in the transfer portal and high school recruiting trail, there’s a lot of momentum going in West Virginia and head coach Neal Brown’s favor. 2023, the best season under Brown and the first nine-win year since 2016, is a huge win for the program and it’s showing off in multiple ways. Not only is youth everywhere on the offense as I mentioned above and some strong pieces all around the defensive unit, the Mountaineers’ coaching staff and program executives have objectively performed well in acquiring talent. West Virginia signed a 21-man high school recruiting class on early signing day last Wednesday, Dec. 20 and before that even, got some huge acquisitions in the transfer portal, including five huge defensive additions and a wide receiver to add to the group of young talent. This is on top of flipping a four-star wide receiver, Ric’Darious Farmer, from Big 12 conference foe UCF to come play in Morgantown. There are just quite a few things trending in the program’s direction and this positive momentum should carry over into next season with a lot of talent returning and a lot of talent being added. But also, expectations have surely been heightened and that’ll be something for this team to reach for as well.
H.M -- The defensive performance
Seven sacks, 11 tackles for loss and three takeaways are all big numbers for this unit and with all of the struggles that the WVU defense has faced, it deserves recognition for performing well in the season's biggest moment and holding North Carolina to only 10 points.
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