WVU vs. Tennessee: The Day After
West Virginia opened the season with a bang dispatching Tennessee 40-14 on the heels of an impressive second half performance. WVSports.com looks at the game in our new feature The Day After.
HOT AND NOT
HOT
The West Virginia defense: It wasn’t perfect but the West Virginia defense put together one of its most impressive performances in recent history holding Tennessee to 14 points and only 301 yards. This group of Mountaineers looked aggressive from the jump and had a pack-mentality tackling and flying to the ball that would make the DAWGS label proud. That was especially evident up front where the Mountaineers put together one of their best efforts in some time. There are still some concerns with the second level and tackling on the perimeter but for game one, this group got it done.
Will Grier: It didn’t start as optimal as the fifth year senior would have liked heading into the break completing only 9-15 passes for 154 yards and managing only 13 points but it sure finished strong. Grier engineered touchdown drives on four of five attempts in the second half scoring 27 points while completing 16-19 passes for 275 yards and three scores. He made a number of impressive throws demonstrating just how good he can be in this scheme. The end result was a career passing game for Grier in front his hometown and a convincing win to start his season off on the right foot.
NOT
The first half efficiency: The Mountaineers headed into the locker room with only 13 points to their credit when it could have easily been much worse had there not been some misfires or dropped passes along the way. The offense was 0-3 on third down and had to settle for field goals twice in the red zone, one of which could be attributed to some questionable clock management. They got away with that against Tennessee that doesn’t mean it will be so easy later down the line.
The secondary: It’s not that West Virginia’s backend played poorly it’s just that too often Tennessee had little resistance when they wanted to play some quick pitch and catch to move the chains. The Mountaineers have to be aggressive at cornerback and can’t afford to let teams take chunks of yards at a time especially in a league like the Big 12 where there are much better passing quarterbacks.
DEFINING MOMENTS
3rd and 7 on the first drive of the second half: Tennessee had built quite a bit of momentum after a 17-play, 78-yard drive that chewed up almost nine minutes on the clock toward the end of the second quarter. The Mountaineers would add a field goal to take a 13-7 lead, but facing a third and 7 at their own 35-yard line the offense ran the risk of a quick three and out to start the third. That wasn’t meant to be as Grier connected with Marcus Simms on a 32-yard catch and run and the Mountaineers would score the next play to push the lead out and keep things out of reach.
The first play of the game. Listen, no football game has ever been won on the first snap of the game but something that was evident when senior Kenny Bigelow split the Tennessee line on the opening snap and forced a fumble that would result in a 10-yard loss to open the game is that these Mountaineers weren’t going to be pushed around. It would be a scene that would play out several times over the course of the game but that hit set the tone that this West Virginia defense wasn’t going to be the one that struggled with the physical element last year and had some pop up front.
The 4th and goal stop in the fourth quarter: West Virginia held a 33-14 lead at the time but Tennessee had marched down to the Mountaineers two-yard line with a chance to at least make things interesting down the stretch with a score. However, the Mountaineers defense rose to the occasion this time turning the Volunteers away and keeping the lead at 19 points. The Mountaineers would score on the next possession to effectively ice any comeback thoughts for Tennessee.
The Will Grier scramble to set up field goal before the half: The offense struggled at times and one of those reasons was the fact that Grier was on the move too much out of the pocket. He avoided a bad play by getting away from the Tennessee defense and gaining four yards to give the program a 13-7 lead into the break and at least stealing back some of the momentum the Vols had built.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
12 – Total number of tackles for loss for the West Virginia defense. The Mountaineers matched that number twice last season against Baylor and Utah.
29 – The 29-yard catch by Trevon Wesco is the longest by a West Virginia tight end since Tyler Urban caught a 33-yard pass against Liberty in 2009.
83% – West Virginia's third down conversion rate in the second half as they converted 5-6 third downs after not converting any of its three third down attempts in the first half.
429 – The new career high passing number for Will Grier after doing so against the Volunteers.
26 – The number of first downs from the West Virginia offense.
GAMEBALL
The West Virginia defensive line: For a group that took a beating at times during the off-season especially after Lamonte McDougle and Adam Shuler left the program in the spring, the defensive front put together one of the most dominant performances in recent memory particularly in the first quarter. The Mountaineers used a rotation of players and routinely was able to get into the backfield and get ball carriers to the ground or allow for others to clean up. This unit alone had 7.5 tackles for loss.
BIGGEST QUESTION/CONCERN MOVING FORWARD
What happens at linebacker? The severity of Charlie Benton’s injury has yet to be known but one thing is for sure if he does miss time than coordinator Tony Gibson is going to have to figure some things out. Shea Campbell, a former walk-on, would be first up but can he handle as many snaps and responsibility as Benton would have been able to? Does West Virginia use more of the four-man front look that they displayed at times to help that concern? Depending on how things unfold with Benton, that is the biggest question coming out of week one and it’ll be interesting to see how it’s addressed.
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