Numbers and Notes: West Virginia football 2023 season
West Virginia closed the regular season going 8-4 in the fifth year under Neal Brown.
WVSports.com takes a look at some of the advanced statistics to get a snapshot of the season and what to expect moving forward.
Rivals.com has partnered with PPF and we look at some of their data to review the game and different position groups.
PASSING:
--Redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Greene completed 29 big-time throws, which is a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window. That total places him tied for fourth in the nation and tops in the Big 12 Conference. A total of 10.4% of his completions were big-time throws.
--Greene was at 8.5 yards per attempt and had an average depth of target of 13.7.
--Greene completed 30-65 passes over 20+ yards down the field for 1,072 yards with 11 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. A total of 73 percent of his touchdown passes came on throws over 20+ yards down the field.
--A total of 18 of those completions became down the deep center of the field, while only 2-13 were completed deep left of the field.
--Greene was blitzed on 35.6 percent of his 295 dropbacks and completed 47-94 passes for 894 yards with 5 touchdowns and 1 interception.
--West Virginia dialed up play action on 40.7 percent of dropbacks and Greene completed 56-107 passes for 1,028 yards and 8 touchdowns with 2 interceptions.
--Greene was effective in the screen game completing 33-37 attempts for 221 yards.
--Greene only threw the ball away 4 times and had on average 2.90 seconds to throw.
--A total of 106 of the 135 completions traveled for first downs.
--Greene had an adjusted completion percentage of 62.5 percent when you factor in 16 of his catchable passes that were considered drops.
--Redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol completed just 30-53 passes but his yards per attempt dropped to 4.5. He completed just 1-9 passes over 20+ yards with a pick.
RUSHING:
--West Virginia forced a total of 113 missed tackles with redshirt freshman Jaheim White leading the way with 32 on the year.
--The Mountaineers had a total of 90 runs over 10+ yards, significantly more than the 55 that the offense had last season. Greene led the way with 28.
--A total of 1,581 of the 2,874 yards came after contact.
--True freshman Jaheim White averaged 8.2 yards per carry. He averaged 4.06 yards after contact and rushed for 792 yards.
--Redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Greene finished with 708 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. That scoring total is the most from a quarterback since 2007 and tied for the 10th most all-time in a single season.
--A total of 339 of Greene's rushing yards came on scrambles.
--West Virginia had only one 50+ yard run all season.
RECEIVING:
--Devin Carter led West Virginia in targets with 56 but hauled in only 27 of those for 501 yards and 2 touchdowns. A total of 4 of the 7 passing interceptions were thrown while targeting Carter this season.
--The pass catchers made just 20 of 53 contested catches this season. Carter led the way with 5, while tight end Kole Taylor had 4. However, Hudson Clement was the most successful hauling in 3 of his 4 attempts.
--A total of 872 of the 2,431 receiving yards came after the catch. Kole Taylor led the way with 178 yards.
--Hudson Clement and Kole Taylor tied with 4 touchdown catches each.
--West Virginia targeted the tight end position 53 times for 418 yards and 4 touchdowns during the regular season and well surpassed the 15 catches for 153 yards last season on 24 targets as the spot was a much bigger part of the offense.
--West Virginia only targeted the running back 27 total times resulting in 15 catches for 205 yards.
--West Virginia pass catchers forced just 22 missed tackles.
--The pass catchers had a total of 21 drops.
BLOCKING:
--The offensive line was charged with allowing only 4 sacks for the entire season.
--The Mountaineers offensive line allowed only 50 pressures, 38 hurries and 10 hits.
--West Virginia kept Greene clean on 75.3-percent of his drop backs. That boils down to 222 where he completed 118-204 for 1,818 yards 11 scores and 3 picks.
--West Virginia rushed for over 200+ yards seven times on the season.
--West Virginia averaged over 5.0 yards per carry in each gap outside the left tackle at 4.0 (39-155 yards, 4 touchdowns), right tackle at 4.4 (36-158 yards, 1 touchdown) and right end 4.6 (70-322 yards, 4 touchdowns).
--The Mountaineers had the most success rushing off the left end with 94 carries for 610 yards for an average of 6.5 per tote and a team-high 7 touchdowns. A total of 20 of the 90+ 10 yard runs came in this spot.
--The Mountaineers were penalized 36 times, although 4 were declined.
DEFENSE:
--On 440 passing drop backs by opponents, West Virginia blitzed 174 times or 39-percent. On those snaps teams completed 86-156 for 1,175 yards and 16 touchdowns with only one interception on the season.
--West Virginia missed a total of 115 tackles or 9.5 per game. Anthony Wilson missed the most with 15 and Aubrey Burks was second with 13.
--Redshirt junior defensive end Sean Martin led the team with 16 hurries. He finished second with 7 hits while also recording a pair of sacks.
--Senior linebacker Lee Kpogba led the team with 39 stops or a tackle that constitutes a failure for the offense.
--West Virginia recorded a total of 41 pass breakups and 9 interceptions. Redshirt senior cornerback Beanie Bishop led the way in both with 4 interceptions and 14 PBUs.
--In coverage Bishop allowed 42 of 82 passes to be completed for 524 yards. He allowed 4 touchdowns to go along with his 4 interceptions and 14 PBUs.
--Redshirt senior cornerback Malachi Ruffin permitted just 45.1-percent of passes thrown in his coverage to be completed. That's 23 of 51 for 269 yards while allowing 3 touchdowns but recording an interception and 7 pass breakups.
--A total of 1,325 of the 2,879 receiving yards put up by opponents came after the catch.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @zachanderson_11
