West Virginia bounced back, earning a 31-26 win over Arizona on Saturday, breaking a two-game losing streak.
Staff writer Wesley Shoemaker picks out five things from the game yesterday that stood out and dives into each.
Marchiol Makes Plays
West Virginia was without starting quarterback Garrett Greene on Saturday night, but that ended up not mattering.
In came backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol, making his second career start, and he looked comfortable and in control for the majority of the game. Marchiol finished the night passing for 198 yards, completing 82 percent of his passes and throwing two touchdowns. He also added almost 40 yards on the ground.
Marchiol wasn't asked to do a whole lot, but when he had to throw the ball down the field, he did so in a big way. He found Traylon Ray on a 54-yard touchdown and found Hudson Clement on a big-time throw across the middle early on in the fourth quarter.
Marchiol was making plays with his legs and his arm all night and was accurate as well. Marchiol's accuracy especially showed up on a 3-yard touchdown to Hudson Clement in the back of the end zone, but the offense looked good with Marchiol under center.
Unconventional Offense
West Virginia's offense seemed to somewhat defy a traditional blueprint.
WVU scored their first three touchdowns all on fourth down conversions, and they had an explosiveness to their offense that had not been there all season. WVU recorded the two longest plays of their season, going for a 55-yard rush from Jahiem White and a 54-yard touchdown pass from Marchiol to Ray.
In addition, WVU scored their first touchdown of the night on a fake field goal where holder Leighton Bechdel kept the snap and turned upfield for a 14-yard score.
WVU's offense still rushed for 203 yards, but they did things a bit differently than they had through the first seven games of the season. WVU finished with six plays of 15 yards or more through the air and they went a perfect 4/4 on fourth down.
Secondary Struggles Remain
Last week against Kansas State, the secondary struggled, as a missed assignment led to an easy score.
It was the same story on Saturday as the secondary's struggles almost cost West Virginia the game.
The Mountaineers led by 18 in the fourth quarter, but wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan took over. He finished with 202 yards receiving on 10 catches and a touchdown. In the fourth quarter alone he had receptions of 17, 34, and 49 yards.
Add in the fact the Wildcats also had an easy touchdown from Noah Fifita to Sam Olson for a 23-yard touchdown earlier in the second half, it seemed to be more of the same from the Mountaineer defense.
WVU allowed 308 yards through the air and only 78 yards on the ground, as Arizona averaged 14.0 yards per completion on the night.
Offensive Line Issues
West Virginia's offensive line was also dealing with injuries of their own as left tackle Wyatt Milum missed the game due to injury.
The O-line as a whole would struggle early with pre-snap penalties, putting the Mountaineers behind the chains frequently.
There were five penalties that were accepted by the Wildcats called on the WVU offensive lineman, including two holding calls and three false starts.
That's not all though for the unit up front for the Mountaineers as they seemed to be getting beat when the WVU offense sputtered later on in the second half. Add in more snap issues from Brandon Yates and it wasn't the best day for the West Virginia offensive line though the result of the game was perfect.
Making Plays
Oftentimes, in a win, some plays get overlooked and don't show up in the most meaningful ways. However, there are two of them that stand out from the win tonight.
The first is in the first quarter on Arizona's first possession of the game as they were driving down the field, the Mountaineers were able to force and recover a fumble inside their own red zone. This turned out to be the only turnover of the game by either team and helped keep Arizona off the board in what eventually was a one-score game.
The second and arguably biggest play of the game is Jaylen Anderson's catch on third down with two minutes to play in the game.
If you don't get it, you punt the ball and give Arizona a chance to win the game. Instead, Anderson, who had not played all game, comes in and makes a pretty difficult catch, turning upfield for a gain of nine and a first down to finish off the win.
Anderson sat the entire game, but in the biggest moment, he made a play when his team needed him to come through for them the most.
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