Welcome to the second edition of my weekly analysis named "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 on what I saw from watching the Mountaineers. This week, WVU pulled off an upset win over TCU 24-21 on the road on Saturday and here's what I saw in its fourth straight win.
1-- Obviously, Garrett Greene recovered better than we all thought.
After I heard the news on Saturday that Garrett Greene would be starting under center for West Virginia, I was definitely skeptical on if head coach Neal Brown and West Virginia were rushing him back too soon and if Nicco Marchiol should still get another week. Early on against TCU, his mobility seemed to be there despite the heavily taped up ankle and then Greene broke off a 35-yard touchdown on a scramble to solidify how wrong I was. Greene was lethal on Saturday at what he does best, working with his legs, and he accumulated 80 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the night. It took everyone to get this win done, and Greene's legs and ankles seem almost back to normal.
Related: West Virginia football leans on defense to upset TCU, 24-21
2-- Scary injuries came at a rate I've never seen.
First of all, the injuries to two leaders on defense, safety Aubrey Burks and linebacker Trey Lathan are devastating and I wish them both a speedy recovery. There were quite a few alarming injuries in Saturday's game, including some cramps from Sean Martin and another ailment for Hershey McLaurin. These are injuries that a team like WVU wanting to prove itself can't afford but it's scary how much we saw it against TCU. I feel like injuries were a big storyline in this game from start to finish, but obviously the West Virginia defense responded well to the challenge. Let's hope this is not a sign of things to come for WVU and that all of these guys can come back healthy. It's concerning to see such severe injuries plague some of your best players in a moment of the season that's so important. I've never seen the cart be called out twice in the same game
3-- The defense is legitimate and they were exceptional in the second half versus TCU.
The Mountaineers allowed only one yard and one yard in the third quarter, and only 121 total yards in the entire second half in a dominant defensive performance and I think they're a top three or four defensive group in the conference. This doesn't even include the two blocked field goals in the crucial moments and how the defense answered from two poor opening defensive drives. West Virginia forced nine total stops on TCU along with five punts and locked down the Horned Frogs offense. The secondary played lights out with six pass breakups alongside nine tackles for loss, three sacks and quite a few near turnovers forced, like a muffed punt and two dropped interceptions. West Virginia's defense has taken a huge step forward and they carried the team to its fourth straight win, especially in the second half. Although it may have been a rocky start, you can't deny that the WVU defense passed the eye test on Saturday and has now shown consistent ability to defend the pass, rush the quarterback and sometimes stop the run. Big injuries on that side of the ball will definitely create some question marks but the unit against TCU showed out.
4-- The passing game still worries me, less because of the quarterback and more because of the receivers.
10-for-21 passing, just under 50 percent, is not a good mark for any college football team. Luckily, WVU was able to rely on the run well in Saturday's win over TCU, but it's concerning to see many passing concepts, especially in the fourth quarter, come to fruition and how others are a disaster. Watching the game, I noticed something that was interesting and it's just the basic lack of separation from West Virginia's receivers. Multiple times, every route on a play would be covered and Greene would be forced to run and it's just an interesting dynamic. Greene on Saturday put together an impressive drive in the fourth quarter with three of the best passes we've seen from him this season, but he definitely isn't benefiting from young and inexperienced receivers and those that have trouble creating separation. I'd be remiss to not mention the amount of drops that have also hurt West Virginia this entire season, but the entire phase of the game needs to find consistency. Obviously, we've seen good stuff and we saw great stuff against TCU from the passing game, but it just needs an identity. I've seen more confidence in the passing game from Brown and company since Week Three against Pittsburgh, but the lack of separation along with play calling and scheme should be assessed. As long as the defense dominates, tonight would be a great performance by the offense, but it will not always be that way and the offense will be challenged to make passes down the field.
5-- The Big 12 is more wide open for West Virginia than we've seen in a long time.
Now, West Virginia has proven that it can win in multiple ways, in a ugly defensive battle in the rain or on the road in fireworks. Although some missed opportunities were available for West Virginia to stretch the lead by more, they are 4-1 and an undefeated 2-0 in Big 12 conference play. With Oklahoma and Texas at the top, below there are a lot of question marks. TCU and Texas Tech have already been defeated and teams like Baylor and Iowa State are having down seasons, Baylor losing to Texas State and Iowa State fighting for every win. Oklahoma State lost to South Alabama by 25 at home, Kansas and Kansas State are not on the Mountaineers' schedule, and the new teams like BYU, Cincinnati and UCF haven't been super impressive but could all be respectively tough games; however, two of those games are at home in Morgantown. In a Big 12 that hasn't been this unfortunate in a while in terms of beating each other losing out of conference, this is the perfect opportunity for WVU to swoop in and put together its first winning season under Brown. Also, when the defense is playing like it did on Saturday WVU controls its own destiny.
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