The Day After: WVU vs. Youngstown State
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West Virginia moved to 2-0 with a 52-17 victory over an overmatched Youngstown State program with yet another strong second half showing. While the defense pieced together four solid quarters, the offense was left wanting in the early stages only to score four times in less than 13 minutes spanning the second and third quarters. Here's the fresh take in The Day After following the blowout victory.
HOT AND NOT
HOT
Gary Jennings: In an obvious individual player choice, Jennings' career-best three touchdown performance was exceptional. While the senior wideout continued to make every routine catch and remain Mr. Reliable, he also beat Youngstown State's defensive backs deep and again showcased excellent timing with quarterback Will Grier.
Jennings finished with scoring grabs of 11, 24 and 33 yards, and now has four scores on the season after managing just one all of last year. Jennings didn't have the highlight grab he did last week, when he was able to locate Grier's lofted pass over his outside shoulder to forge a 27-7 advantage that segued into the 40-14 romp. But the Stafford, Va. native let his fathers fly with six catches for 97 yards, an average of 16.2 yards per catch. With the solid contribution from Marcus Simms ( 8 rec., 119 yards) and Dominique's Maiden score(pun intended), that was more than enough to push past a pesky Penguin squad that continually played two high safeties and managed to limit David Sills and TJ Simmons, both of whom had just two catches each.
West Virginia's offensive gameplan: With the aforementioned penchant of YSU to play man across the board under their two high safeties, WVU was forced to run the ball early against a light box. The passing windows underneath were simply too small sans the slant or curl/quick hitch routes, and it was nearly impossible to take the top off a defense whose main goal was to simply force the Mountaineers into chunking their way down the field and eliminating the backbreaking big play.
Coordinator Jake Spavital showcased a nice mix of the run and pass early, and WVU's line won the majority of the line of scrimmage battles even as the expected early offensive fireworks fizzled away to steady, solid gains. In all, the Mountaineers rushed for 289 yards on 46 carries, a solid 6.3 yards-per-carry average. Leddie Brown was the workhorse, carrying 15 times for 115 yards and his first collegiate score, while Alec Sinkfield was the more explosive back before he was forced from the game with a lower left leg injury. Sinkfield and McKoy also scored, meaning three of West Virginia's seven touchdowns came via the ground - not bad for an aspect of play expected to primarily complement the passing attack.
NOT
Penalties: West Virginia was flagged a whopping 12 times for 114 yards - the third-most in the Dana Holgorsen era. Only the 14 against Baylor in 2014 (the Bears had 18 themselves for 215 yards in grabbing Kevin White's jersey all game) and the 14 versus Cincinnati in 2011 were more. The corners were especially picked on, being flagged multiple times in trying to challenge YSU's Zach Farrar. The 6-foot-4 wideout proved a headache on the outside, catching six passes for 135 yards, an average of more than 22 yards per catch.
Yet Another Methodical Start, And Yet Another Injury: West Virginia mimics a late running thoroughbred, the kind that don't get out of the gates quickly but finish well in blowing past lesser competition. Such was the case again, when WVU scored just twice over the first 28-plus minutes of play. A game that could have went to the half with just a one score separation was made a bit more comfortable when Jennings pulled in a 24-yard pass for the 21-7 advantage at the break.
That seemed to snowball downhill in a third quarter that saw three more Mountaineer touchdowns in the first 12 minutes to turn the game into the expected blowout. But the slow start, coupled with another potentially significant injury in that to Sinkfield, put a slight damper over the first 30 minutes of play. That slow start was fine against opposing teams like Tennessee and Youngstown State, whose offenses, compared to others in coming games like NC State and Texas Tech, are downright anemic. But if WVU wants to win on the road in Raleigh, it must bring a more complete performance across both halves.
DEFINING MOMENTS
Speaking of spanning halves, West Virginia closed the second quarter with a touchdown drive, and opened the second half with the same. That 14 points was huge in taking the edge of what was developing into just the tight tussle Bo Pelini wanted. It also flipped a 14-7 game into the beginnings of a dominant performance at 28-7, and that proverbial snowball rolled downhill from there. That WVU's defense held the Pens to minus-13 yards on three plays to open the second half was a huge boost, and the two sides of the ball were sympatico the remainder of the way, the offense scoring four TDs and a field goal on both quick strike and prolonged drives (14 plays, 82 yards in 5:27 for a 35-14 lead was impressive in its sheer magnitude) while the defense forced three punts and had an interception over State's final six drives.
The foreshadowing in the previous paragraph leads right to Dravon Askew-Henry's interception. A nifty little tip toe exercise along the sideline, the senior's fifth career pick was the beginning of the end for Youngstown State. Askew-Henry broke on a chancy ball thrown to the boundary and intercepted QB Montgomery VanGorder on first down. That set-up the offense with a short field at the 33 yard line, and two Kennedy McKoy runs later, WVU held a 42-14 lead and the game was essentially over.
With West Virginia having moved 53 yards in 12 plays to open the game, Grier was picked off by corner William Latham at the 23-yard line. That snuffed an early opportunity, and gave Youngstown the early momentum swing it craved. The Penguins managed just 16 yards before punting, however, and WVU went right at YSU's light box defensively. We've touched on this early, but it bears repeating: The offensive patience paid off. The Mountaineers didn't force the ball downfield, didn't try to score 21 points in three plays. Instead, Spavital's offense ran it seven straight times to start its second possession.
Those runs gained 63 yards, or nine yards per pop. That was nearly a first down on every touch, and it led to Grier passes of 14 and 13 yards to Jennings and Simms, respectively, before Sinkfield plunged in from nine yards out for the 7-0 lead. Less veteran or savvy squads might have been tempted to push the tempo and force the pass early. West Virginia wasn't, and all the run game gashing opened other opportunities later, which the offense cashed in upon.
Transfer Linemen Shine Again: On the backs of drawing first blood against Tennessee, nose tackle Kenny Bigelow threw a quick counterpunch to YSU's interception of Grier on just the second series of the game. With the Penguins trying to establish the run and shorten the game, Bigelow knifed through the front in the first drive and dropped the ball carrier in the backfield. It served notice that the off tackle runs weren't in the offering for Youngstown. With Bigelow clogging the middle, Jabril Robinson sacked VanGorder on a zone read on second and four on YSU's second possession. It set up a third and 10, and, again feeling pressure, VanGorder dumped the ball shot in the flats. Two possessions, two negative yardage plays and two punts that gave the ball back to an offense which scored twice on its first three drives for a 14-0 lead.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7/11 – That's West Virginia's third down conversion stats, a success rate of 63.6 percent. Add in the lone fourth down conversion, and that jumps to eight of 12, for a solid 66 percent. The Mountaineers were rarely behind the sticks, and the ability to win the line of scrimmage enabled the offense to rack up 52 points and 625 yards.
19-0 - WVU's all-time record against FCS opponents. West Virginia is 8-0 under Holgorsen, and the head coach is now 17-1 at home in the nonconference. Can you name the lone loss? Answer at the end of this article.
625 - The total offensive yardage for the Mountaineers. That's the fifth-most since the 2012 season, and eclipses all of last year's totals except the 635 yards at Kansas. It also marks the 10th time in the last four years it has gained at least that much.
289 - Think West Virginia hasn't been booted from the true Air Raid club? Consider this: WVU tallied 289 rushing yards against the Penguins, the 19th time in the last 33 games it has gained at least 200 yards on the ground.
26 and 29 - Number of first downs by WVU in the first two games. The 29 are just four off the second-most all-time.
9 - The number of tackles for loss by the Mountaineers. Eight different players recorded a TFL.
GAMEBALL
The line once again kept Grier upright for most of the game and provided a solid, stable pocket. But this one goes to Gary Jennings for his three touchdown performance. That might seem obvious, and if Jennings continues this kind of productivity, we'll likely move on to other, lesser-known entities of play. But for a player who scored just once last season, this was a breakout game on the heels of an ultra-solid performance against Tennessee. As teams look to limit David Sills more and more, some of the onus is on Jennings to become more productive. At a team-best 12 catches for 210 yards and (count 'em!) four scores thus far, Jennings has done more than fill that void.
BIGGEST QUESTION/CONCERN MOVING FORWARD
West Virginia's defensive backs have been a mixed bag thus far this season, and the performance against Youngstown State did nothing to assuage that issue. For every Dravon Askew-Henry pick or nicely jumped route by Josh Norwood, there were an equal number of struggles, especially against the talent and size of Zach Farrar. Behind senior quarterback Ryan Finely, meanwhile, NC State rolled to a 41-7 win over lowly Georgia State. Sure, GSU doesn't scare anyone, but Finely hit for 31-of-38 passing for 370 yards, two TDs and an interception. Wideout Kelvin Harmon caught eight passes for 129 yards, and the Wolfpack showed a pulse it lacked in a ho-hum 24-13 win opening win versus James Madison.
WVU's back five are in for their first legit challenge of the season this Saturday, and their man defensive coverage and ability to limit the mid-range gains must improve against a program that has this one marked as their only major challenge in the non-conference.
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