Patience pays off for WVU offense
Practicing patience.
That was the message from the top down on the offensive side as the Mountaineers prepared for Iowa State.
Patience in the run game and sticking with it, patience with fitting the ball into tight windows and in the pocket as well as the coaching staff emphasized to redshirt junior quarterback Will Grier to buy time and extend plays in order to find things down the field against the Cyclones prevent defense.
The Iowa State outfit will often rush three and drop eight into coverage forcing teams to play a little backyard football in a sense to find holes in the back end.
“We practiced scramble drills, practiced extending plays because Will has a pretty good savviness to him in the pocket,” offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said.
It didn’t take long to put the week-long lesson into action. On the first drive of the game, the Mountaineers offense faced a third and eight on the third play of the game from their own 27. Grier took the snap and redshirt senior Ka’Raun White was initially designed to run a three-yard slant and then peel back to the outside as the Cyclones dropped eight into coverage.
But a pair of defensive backs chased sophomore Marcus Simms away from the right side of the field and White saw the hole in the coverage and adjusted on the fly up the right sideline.
“He noticed it and went vertical and sometimes the stars align,” Spavital said.
Simultaneously as Grier was buying time in the pocket with the offensive line providing the opportunity to scan the field, the signal caller caught White streaking down the sideline. He didn’t miss.
“He saw some space and ran to it and the line gave me plenty of time and we both kind of saw that hole,” Grier said.
The ball was delivered on a rope to White who was wide open down the sideline for 63-yards, but it should have been a touchdown except the wide receiver was weary about the defender diving at his ankles and he lost track of where he was on the field and went out of bounds at the ten.
“Can’t believe he stepped out of bounds,” Grier said.
It would become nothing more than a joke however, because the Mountaineers would score on a ten-yard toss to David Sills on the ensuing play to put the score at 7-0 after the opening possession.
It was a classic scramble drill and one that the wide receivers worked on with Grier throughout the week.
The Cyclones would bring a blitz later in the first half and again it resulted in a big play down the field on a perfect pass from Grier to White again for a touchdown.
Patience.
“That was our quarterback buying time and keeping his eyes down the field,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Grier also was able to escape the pocket and extend drives with his feet rushing for 28-yards and forcing the Cyclones out of their comfortable three-man front into a four-man look. Iowa State would blitz more than they typically do in order to try and get the Mountaineers out of a rhythm.
Just liked they practiced.
