I've got five on it: Tennessee
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - WVSports.com takes a look at five thoughts from No. 17/20 West Virginia's 40-14 win over Tennessee Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. The Mountaineers outscored the Volunteers, 27-7, during the second half of Saturday's contest and we take a look at five things that stood out during the course of the game.
1. Defense arises - For the first time since 2016, West Virginia’s defense held its opponent to 14 points for fewer in a game (held TCU to 10 points in 2016). The defense set the tone on the very first play as nose tackle Kenny Bigelow forced a fumble. For the first few minutes of the first quarter, Tennessee had negative yardage and the Mountaineers were flying around and playing aggressive.
However, it wasn’t exactly perfect as Tony Gibson’s defense allowed Tennessee to convert on 50 percent of its third downs in the first half and one fourth down which resulted in a touchdown at the goal line following a timeout.
There were other positive things to feel good about if you’re West Virginia though such as the defensive line. The unit has depth and rotated multiple guys such as Ezekiel Rose, Reese Donahue, Kenny Bigelow, Darius and Dante Stills, Jabril Robinson and Jeffery Pooler.
No doubt that there are still some things to fix such as third down defense and getting off the field, but when you look at it, Saturday’s game was as good and a promising start you could see from the entire defensive unit.
2. Four-man defensive front use - When SAM linebacker Charlie Benton went down with an injury in the first half and didn’t return, West Virginia went into a four-down defensive line look (4-2-5). This occurred only a handful of times during the game, but it still may have come as somewhat of a surprise considering its difference to Gibson’s 3-3-5 look.
According to Gibson, the four-man look was something they already had ready to go and its primary point is to stop opposing team’s offenses when they go big up front and want to run the ball as well as use some zone.
West Virginia has the depth at defensive line to do this as well as the size and it’s something we could possibly see more of in the future. Depending on the severity of Benton’s injury and how Shea Campbell performs in his place will somewhat determine how much the team uses this look, but it will mostly depend on the offense’s game plan.
If an offense plans on pounding the ball, expect to see more of this four-man defensive front look.
3. The offensive line uses a rotation - Coming into this game, it was still unclear who would start for West Virginia at center and right guard.
The starting lineup consisted of the incumbent, Matt Jones, at center and junior college transfer Joe Brown at right guard. However, Jacob Buccigrossi still rotated in at center and at right guard, it was was Chase Behrndt who rotated with Brown. Isaiah Hardy was mixed in at the right guard position as well.
It’s unknown what exactly the strategy behind this was, but for an offense that racked up 40 points and 547 total yards, it’s a good sign when it comes to performance and depth. It’s very critical for the players like these ones who are on the bubble of starting to get some snaps and game experience as they can be called up to play every snap at any point.
The offensive line looks to be in a better place than last year and is off to a good start, paving the way for 118 rushing yards and allowing two sacks against Tennessee.
In conclusion, the more offensive lineman that can step up, play and provide consistent and reliable depth, the better.
4. Grier spreads the wealth - West Virginia quarterback Will Grier passed for a career-high 429 yards and five touchdowns during Saturday’s win.
What may be more impressive than that though was the amount of players who were involved in the passing game.
Eleven total players caught at least one pass from Grier during Saturday’s win over Tennessee with six of those players being receivers, two tight ends and three running backs.
This is another promising aspect of the team’s offense and so far, it shows that Grier has built more trust with more of variety of pass targets and won’t have to rely on a just a select group of pass catchers.
Last year, depth at receiver was no strength of West Virginia’s, but now with the use of tight ends (who between Trevon Wesco and Jovani Haskins caught three passes for 44 yards) and other players stepping up and becoming reliable backups such as Dominique Maiden and William Crest, West Virginia now has a better chance of expanding its offense and working depth to its advantage.
5. The offense started out shaky, but improved on efficiency - As mentioned several times, one of West Virginia’s primary focuses this offseason was to improve its offensive efficiency.
That specific area didn’t exactly have an ideal start as the Mountaineers finished the first half 0-for-3 on third downs. The offense in general was off with Grier missing a handful of wide open receivers and the offense going three-and-out twice in the first half.
It was a completely different story though in the second half as West Virginia went 5-for-6 on third downs and racked up 27 second half points.
West Virginia’s offensive surge in the second half was exactly what the team needed as it generated momentum to the other two sides of the ball and allowed the Mountaineers to take complete control of the game.
Although the second half play was promising, the Mountaineers are going to have to work on becoming more consistent not only with its efficiency, but also its general offensive play, something they struggled with at times last season.
Enter the contest by clicking on the following link and choosing to subscribe to the channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=VideoGlide
