West Virginia was soundly beaten by Penn State 34-12 at home in the season opener. WVSports.com takes a look at some of the advanced statistics to get a snapshot of the game as well as the season moving forward.
Rivals.com has partnered with PPF and we look at some of their data to review the game and different position groups.
QUARTERBACK:
--Redshirt senior quarterback Garrett Greene was only 1-6 on passes thrown 20+ yards down the field. He did complete 5-8 in the intermediate level of the field for 100 yards.
--Greene was blitzed on 11 dropbacks and completed 6-10 passes for 103 yards. When not blitzed on 19 dropbacks he was 9-18 for 58 yards.
--The average depth of the target was 9.3 yards but the average yard per attempt was 5.8.
--Greene was only under pressure on 9 dropbacks but was 3-7 for 43 yards.
--In play action concepts Greene was 3-7 for 53 yards and when not using play action was 12-21 for 108 yards. He hit all 5 passes but for just 14 yards in the screen game.
--Greene did not scramble and did not complete a big-time throw, which are balls delivered accurately down the field in a tight window.
--Greene had only one pass that was deemed catchable dropped.
RUSHING:
--Not factoring in sacks, Greene had 20 total yards rushing and all of that came off designed plays. He did not scramble in the game.
--The 85 total rushing yards snaps a streak of 16 consecutive games of 140+ rushing yards dating back to the end of 2022.
--The Mountaineers had only six runs over 10+ yards and sophomore running back Jahiem White recorded three of those.
--West Virginia forced 11 missed tackles in the run game.
--Removing sack yardage, West Virginia had a total of 119 rushing yards and 78 of those came after contact. That's 65-percent. The Mountaineers averaged 2.23 yards after contact against the Nittany Lions.
--Out of the 35 rush attempts, 10 resulted in a first down.
--The long run on the day for West Virginia was only 12-yards.
RECEIVING:
--The pass catchers hauled in just 15 of their 28 targets for a 53.6 reception rate.
--A total of 83 of the 161 receiving yards, or more than half, came after the catch.
--In seven contested catch situations, West Virginia hauled in only 2. Both Hudson Clement and Preston Fox each had one grab.
--Jaden Bray was the only wide receiver tagged with a drop.
West Virginia targeted the tight end 6 times and that resulted in 3 catches for 28 yards. Kole Taylor hauled in 2 grabs for 25 yards.
--West Virginia running backs hauled in three of six targets for 13 yards. Jahiem White was responsible for all of that production.
--The long pass play on the day was just 25-yards.
--The pass catchers forced just a pair of missed tackles and one of those was on a screen to Jahiem White.
BLOCKING:
--The offensive line was charged with allowing a sack from Johnny Williams. The group also allowed five pressures and a pair of hits.
--The offensive line gave Garrett Greene on average 2.41 seconds to throw.
--Tomas Rimac graded out the highest in run blocking at 66.3 across 35 snaps while Nick Malone was tops in pass blocking at 87.4 on 35 snaps.
--West Virginia had success running behind the left guard with 3 carries for 25 yards (8.3 per carry), along with the gap between the center and the left guard (7-33) and the right guard (6-27). The Mountaineers struggled to run off tackle and on the ends on both sides with the left being 7-19 yards off the end and 2-3 yards off the tackle and the right 3-4 yards off the end and 3-9 yards off the tackle.
DEFENSE:
--On 22 passing dropbacks, West Virginia blitzed 12 times and allowed 6-10 passes to be completed for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. Over two seasons against the blitz, Drew Allar threw for 364 yards and 6 touchdowns.
--West Virginia missed a total of 6 tackles.
--Penn State had eight runs over 10+ yards. And were at 13.1 yards per attempt throwing the football.
--West Virginia did not record a sack but TJ Jackson generated 3 of the 5 hurries.
--Ayden Garnes allowed just 3 of 6 passes in his coverage to be completed for 32 yards. Garnett Hollis permitted both of the passes thrown at him to be completed for 35 yards and a touchdown.
--Garnes spent 40 snaps at corner but also played 13 at nickel.
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