WVU relying on the run game
Another week has passed and yet another injury has occurred in West Virginia’s backfield with freshman running back Kennedy McKoy suffering a shoulder injury against Oklahoma on the offense’s first play.
The Mountaineers were also without redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell who has been battling an ankle injury he suffered against Oklahoma State and has seen little to no action since.
In stepped junior running back Justin Crawford, who rushed for a career high 331 yards on 24 carries. Crawford is now only 70 yards away from hitting the 1,000 yard mark.
This has been the story for West Virginia’s backfield throughout the season. When a player goes down, another one steps right up and answers the call. Some may find it surprising that the Mountaineer’s running game has been thriving despite these numerous injuries it has suffered this season.
Crawford stepped in for an injured Shell against Missouri and rushed for over 100 yards. Shell and McKoy returned the favor by rushing for over 200 yards combined against Texas Tech in Crawford’s place after he suffered an ankle injury.
Since Shell went down again against Oklahoma State, both McKoy and Crawford have carried the rushing attack for the Mountaineers and have each had impact performances including each rushing for over 100 yards against Kansas.
Quarterback Skyler Howard has also been utilized in the running game and has had some key rushing performances himself, most notably against Texas Tech and Kansas. The impact performances of this running back trio along with Howard has established an area of consistency on an offense that has often been inconsistent at times throughout this season.
The fact that West Virginia has had three different running backs each have at least one game with over 100 yards rushing shows the valuable depth of West Virginia’s backfield and has also given valuable experience to McKoy especially when you look at the long run.
Overall, the Mountaineers rank 23rd in the nation in rushing offense and have produced 2,291 rushing yards so far this season this season but none of this would be possible without the help of the offensive line led by redshirt senior center Tyler Orlosky along with the lead blocking by junior fullback and tight end Elijah Wellman.
Now this week, the Mountaineers could possibly be without two of their running backs. McKoy’s status is unknown at this time and Shell may be returning but the question will be whether or not he’s 100%. He carried the ball once against Texas for only two yards and did not appear in the Oklahoma game after head coach Dana Holgorsen saw him limp in pregame warmups.
“Let’s hope he is ready to go this week,” Holgorsen said. “Russ wants to play, nobody wants to play more than him.”
Iowa State’s defense has been vulnerable to the run all season. The Cyclones allow on average 213.3 rushing yards a game. West Virginia has rushed for over 100 yards in each game this season.
The Mountaineers have shown over and over again that no matter who they have at tailback, their rushing game is a threat from the start to opposing defenses which will be needed in order to gain their ninth win of year in what will a not so easy game in Ames on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Holgorsen said. “We better prepare like we have all year. This is a great week for football.”Like a boss.