Two-minute drills critical for West Virginia in key spots
Two important drives were crucial in leading West Virginia football to a win over Baylor in its regular-season finale and these situations have proven fruitful this season.
It all started with the Mountaineers' drive right before the halftime break when West Virginia went down the field in one minute and 30 seconds with only seven plays and 74 yards.
This possession was a huge shift in momentum for WVU, since Baylor had taken its two previous chances with the football and returned a kick on special teams back for a touchdown and the fate of the game was tilting in the Bears' direction
However, outside of being gifted 15 penalty yards, quarterback Garrett Greene was comfortable and completed two passes in succession for 26 and 19 yards before he ran in from one yard away for the touchdown, putting WVU up 27-14 at the break and retaking the game in his grasp.
Greene said he's become comfortable in these high-pressure situations with all of the practice that has gone into making them perfect.
"That's something we practice every week. Every Wednesday Coach Brown gives us a new scenario and that's something we rep," Greene said. "I thought the offensive line did a wonderful job containing their pass rush."
Head coach Neal Brown agrees that his team is very familiar with the two-minute drill and the situational growth has been a big factor in how well Greene executes those situations.
"I was just telling our staff we do these two-minute drills, if somebody else does them more maybe so, but we do them a bunch. A lot of situational football. We do it," Brown said. "Garrett [Greene] has been around and in practice there's a lot of mistakes in those two-minute drills but there's also learning points. He's learned some hard lessons in some two-minute drills in practice but those have helped him become kind of the two-minute guy he is now."
Related: West Virginia learns, adjusts in end game situation
After executing in the first half, West Virginia was once again put in a tough situation to convert, as they were given the ball late into the game on what was potentially the final drive.
On the opposing possession beforehand, Baylor chewed the majority of the fourth quarter clock from around five minutes remaining to just around a minute left on the clock, and the Mountaineers defense held the Bears to a missed field goal.
After the 32-yard kick went wide right, the Mountaineers retained only a four-point deficit at 31-27, which set up a final drive to take the lead. On first down came the most impressive play of the night, as center Zach Frazier took the lead and shoved wide receiver Hudson Clement through the defensive pile after he caught a pass, marking a first down for his team.
Since Frazier was injured after the play, it was a bittersweet moment for Brown but he knows an effort and intelligent play like that embodies who the Fairmont native is.
"This is how smart and how tough he is. He had an injury that's significant, but he limps off because he knows it's a ten second run off if he stays down," Brown said. "I think that speaks to his intelligence, how tough he is and he's a great player. I've had some good players but I've never coached one [a center] better. Really fortunate, kind of bittersweet."
After this crucial play, Greene took control of the game and fired a 23-yard pass to Clement who had to make an athletic grab. Then, Greene scampered for 17 yards on two straight plays, saving time by going out of bounds.
"I've practiced the two-minute drill a lot and I think it naturally comes with awareness and where you are on the field," Greene said. "Coach Brown says if you're outside the numbers, get out of bounds, but if you're inside the numbers get what you can."
After retaining time on the clock, Greene tossed a ball down the sideline to wide receiver EJ Horton which was incomplete, leading to the go-ahead touchdown with 23 seconds remaining in the game on the very next snap.
Coming in motion out of the backfield, freshman running back Jahiem White sped down the sideline on a wheel route and was wide open, grabbing the 29-yard touchdown pass from Greene to steal the game away from the Bears.
When reflecting on this moment, Greene knew it was the right coverage against this route and he credits his teammate with making the play that the Mountaineers needed.
"I'd have to watch it on film to see exactly what happened, but they tried to play some kind of man coverage," Greene said. "Number 41 [Baylor's Brooks Miller] was supposed to have him and he didn't run with him, so he [Jahiem White] made a great job making the catch and that ended up winning the game for us."
However, Brown credited Greene and his poise to complete these two high leverage situations and get the job done.
Outside of two scoring drives, West Virginia has also succeeded in six other two-minute situations at the end of halves or games against Duquesne, Texas Tech, Houston, BYU, Oklahoma, and Cincinnati.
All of those were engineered by Greene with the exception of Texas Tech.
"Garrett [Greene's] really good at the two-minute drill. We scored two touchdowns with less than a minute in the half with zero timeouts," Brown said. "He's really good, his ability to run, gets the ball downfield vertically. They hung in there versus a really good blitz and picked them up and Garrett made a really good play. Really proud of our guys."
----------
• 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
