West Virginia’s fourth down stop came down to repetition

The fate of the Black Diamond Trophy rested on one play.

West Virginia clinged to a 27-21 lead as Virginia Tech charged toward the goal line. With just under a minute remaining, the Hokies faced 4th and Goal.

Positioned on the WVU 5-yard line, Hokies quarterback Braxton Burmeister took the snap and rolled out to his right side. After burning three seconds, and facing pressure from the WVU defense, he planted his right foot and threw to his left.

His intended target? Tre’ Turner, who entered the afternoon as the team’s most productive wide receiver.

As the ball sailed in Turner’s direction, West Virginia’s Jackie Matthews lunged in front of him, batting the pass away.

The batted ball had hardly hit the turf before the celebration had begun. The deflection resulted in a Virginia Tech turnover on downs, ensuring that the Black Diamond Trophy would be rehoused in Morgantown for the next year.

Speaking postgame, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said that the read came down to repetition. The Mountaineers often ran the play Virginia Tech threw at them in practice in a portion of drills where they rep multiple two-point plays.

It's something that West Virginia does in practice every day.

“I could see it unfolding within my eyes,” Brown said. “I saw the guy go in motion, do what we call a little orbit motion, (he) came back out and I thought our guys on the backend did a great job matching it … we played it like we had seen that play before, which we had.”

The game’s final Hokies possession was their fourth time in the red zone. Thanks to a stout West Virginia defense, Virginia Tech only came away with points once.

Linebacker Jared Bartlett was a key factor defensively as he tallied three second-half sacks. One of those came late in the fourth quarter, which resulted in a Burmeister fumble. While West Virginia did not turn the opportunity into points, it took crucial time off the clock.

“We had an idea of what they were going to do coming in,” Bartlett said. “Throughout the game, (we) make adjustments of slight things. We just really played physical, and that’s what helped us win the game today.”

While Alonzo Addae, a senior safety, said that the practice reps certainly helped especially with the switch that was required on the play. While it wasn't a two-point play, it was ran similar to what the Mountaineers often rep against.

"Almost every day we work on two point plays so we've seen that from our offense. It was really about executing the call that the coaches put out. It was a great call, everybody stayed on their assignment did their job and you saw the result," he said.

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