Welcome to the first 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's edition focuses on all things Texas Tech, where West Virginia took a 20-13 win over the Red Raiders in Morgantown this past Saturday.
1-- Nicco Marchiol showed flashes of what he can be for West Virginia
As long as original starter Garrett Greene is not 100 percent, there's no reason why Marchiol can't succeed in this offense. Multiple times on Saturday against Texas Tech, Marchiols confidence grew but also some of his technical skills improved too. There were two plays in particular where Marchiol navigated the pocket and avoided the rush and then delivered a dart downfield and this doesn't even include what he did in the running game. He finished with 15 carries and 72 rushing yards and showed excellent presence in the pocket. Of course, the interceptions are what people will talk about, but the second one was not his fault and the first one was a mistake in his first true career start. Marchiol also made multiple plays through the air in the second half and put the game out of reach by connecting with Kole Taylor on the touchdown. Simply put, watching Marchiol has created some confidence in the passing game that I haven't seen this season and his arm talent is absolutely there for this level of football. I think Marchiol has shown that he can be an all-around better player than Greene, so as long as Greene isn't fully healthy, I'm extremely confident in the abilities that Nicco has shown and I am enamored by his potential at West Virginia.
Related: The Day After: West Virginia football vs. Texas Tech
2-- The defensive secondary has taken a big step forward, especially from last season
Both this season and last season are not comparable in terms of the defensive secondary and we've now seen some consistency. The first two games saw a lot of questions for the secondary and now with schematic changes and personnel changes, the group looks solid. West Virginia recorded 10 pass breakups and held the Red Raiders to four straight incompletions to win the game. Multiple times on Saturday, WVU's Beanie Bishop Jr. was tested, along with great defensive plays by Malachi Ruffin and Anthony Wilson all night. The secondary group has visibly improved and that's a plus for West Virginia when the offense is in limbo. Texas Tech was a true test on what this defense was made of and now after also forcing three interceptions and only allowing one touchdown in the last two games, it seems like the defense has turned the corner.
3-- Why isn't RB C.J. Donaldson Jr. getting the touches he deserves?
I feel like against Penn State and Pittsburgh, we saw a healthy dose of the sophomore running back but against Texas Tech he was rarely on the field for more than three plays in a row. He did pace the group in carries on Saturday with 15 attempts for 51 yards and a short touchdown, but there's no reason why he doesn't deserve 20 plus carries per game in a West Virginia offense that wants to run the football; Marchiol said it himself after the game. That is what they rely on and it is their identity. Jaylen Anderson hasn't quite found his footing this season when it comes to vision and strength in running the football and I'm all for the freshman Jaheim White and his playmaking abilities, but I still wish I would have seen more of Donaldson on Saturday. This could have just been a product of only having 54 offensive snaps in the game, but I firmly believe Donaldson should be the primary rushing threat.
4-- Pressure, pressure, and more pressure. Keep bringing the heat on defense
West Virginia has only allowed 36% of pass attempts against them to be completed in the last two games and that comes down to the pressure they've been sending in the front seven with linebackers and the defensive lineman. Although the secondary played an exceptional game without forcing a turnover like I said above, nearly every throw in the first half was under pressure for the two quarterbacks and it ended up leading to 15-for-43 passing on the night for starter Tyler Shough and backup signal caller Behren Morton. In the second half, the pressure was less effective and wasn't getting home as much as I'm sure they would have liked, but head coach Neal Brown admitted some play calling changes defensively that they made in the second half that didn't quite work out. We've seen it this season that pressure has been so successful for the Mountaineers as was a huge part of why Pitt's Phil Jurkovec was rattled a week ago against WVU. Players like Mike Lockhart, Sean Martin, Marcis Floyd and Jared Bartlett have been impressive in pressuring quarterbacks even all the way back to Week One and combined for five quarterback hits against Texas Tech. I like to see West Virginia's defense go out on a limb and pressure the quarterback, because when it has reached, it has been disruptive. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley needs to continue to amp up the pass rush pressure and blitz the quarterback, because although you may get beat, I think you can see the fruits of it like they have the last two weeks in particular.
5-- If WVU capitalizes on opportunities, they have a chance to be dangerous
Brown was extremely frustrated following the Texas Tech win about how many missed opportunities they had against the Red Raiders and he is absolutely right. At the game on Saturday, I was scratching my head at how many chances were lost and I have to agree with Brown in his sentiment that West Virginia should have been up 27-3 or 20-3 at the halftime break on Saturday. This would have ultimately put the game out of reach. For example, Marchiol's two interceptions were missed chances, or when Marchiol missed a wide open Hudson Clement down the field and recognized it too late, which led to an under thrown ball. Along with this are two trips deep into Texas Tech territory that were cut short because of conservative play calling that lacked urgency and creativity. Luckily for Brown and the Mountaineers with the exception of Penn State, it hasn't come back to bite them. But in the Big 12, every single scoring opportunity will matter and as the offense matures, you'll definitely want to take those chances and run with them and put games away when you're given the chance, like they were against Texas Tech. However, from what I've seen in this season's offensive group as a whole, there is absolutely some great potential for it to be a deadly combination of strength running the football and a confident vertical passing offense that can also create easy completions, like we saw on Saturday. It just needs to be collaboratively executed better to take advantage, but I see no reason why WVU can't have a successful offense.
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