WVU vs. Marshall Grades: A Unit-By-Unit Look At The Mountaineers Victory Over The Herd

by WVUIE97 on Sep 7, 2011 11:48 AM EDT in Mountaineer Football

Despite the lightning shortened game, WVU came away from Sunday's game with a solid, but not spectacular victory over an improving Marshall squad. It was a hot day in Morgantown until the rain and lightning came and spoiled all the fun.

Despite the distractions of the off-season and the weather, the Mountaineers put forth a winning effort to keep their all-time record perfect against the Herd. Now it's time to break down the different areas of the game and hand out the season's first report card.

Offense: B-
Geno had a solid start to the year and was able to salvage a couple first downs on broken plays. They didn't light up the scoreboard as many had hoped, yet they did score on 5 of 8 drives. The 3 and out following the on-side kick recovery in great field position was glaring though.

Running Game: D
I'm not going to solely throw the OL under the bus for this just yet, mainly because Coach Holgorsen pointed out that it was an overall lack of blocking, including receivers and the other running backs, that was to blame. The young runners never seemed to be able to get anything going. But, I still liked the effort by Roberts to get in the end-zone just before the game was postponed the final time.

Receivers: B-
Tavon was basically a non-factor in this area of the game but Sticks McCartney emerged as another go-to guy for Geno after settling into more playing time with Nehlen's injury. Coach's indictment of the blocking brings the grade down a bit.

Defense: A-
Again, solid, yet not spectacular. The run defense was stout but the LB's struggled a bit. DB's didn't really get tested at all. Bruce didn't get shut out of the sack column. Coach Casteel didn't think they played very well, yet they held Marshall to only 2 field goals.

Special Teams: B-
Smith got off some nice punts and Bitancurt was perfect in his attempts. As I noted in my knee jerk reaction, coverage was good except once, and that killed them in that one instance. Tavon's return saves this from being a C.

Coaching: A-
The offense didn't seem to exactly click at times, but scored on 5 of 8 possessions and the defense was solid, despite many young guys getting playing time. The glaring stats to me were 0 turnovers and only 2 penalties for 15 yards.

Crowd: Incomplete
The student section seemed to be a bit over-capacity and the crowd was good and loud throughout most of the first half, as some of you noted in the Game Thread. The "no pass outs" rule contributed to long lines at half time that I believe contributed to the delay of many returning for the start of the second half. It will be interesting to see how this plays out the remainder of the season. The lightning delays caused many to leave and is the reason for the incomplete.

Disagree with any of these? Let us know below.

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Defense: A- ???

That game is a one score game (perhaps a field goal game) w/o Geno Smith. That was potentially his best game played as a QB. He had to escape pressure from Curry & Co. (btw, Marshall’s defense is much improved) due to our average to slightly below average OL. I don’t think the OL performed too badly in run blocking….I just think our running backs are below average right now.

I take total exception to an A- grade for the defense. I don’t care that they only scored 6 points. They moved the ball on us rather easily at points in the game and this is a young, inexperienced QB who quite frankly didn’t show me very much. The outside linebackers lost containment on so many plays that I quit counting. I would give the defense a B- grade only based on the fact that they only gave up 6 points.

Otherwise I’d give them a C- or D

by WVUColumbus on Sep 7, 2011 12:50 PM EDT reply actions

I didn't know that kept score by the amount of yards you gained

I always thought it was how many times you broke the plain of the goal line, and we kept them out of the end zone.

Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
CM PUNK IS MY HERO
Canal Chronicles resident Steelers Fan

by WVPiratesfan on Sep 7, 2011 1:32 PM EDT up reply actions

plus, marshall only had 187 total yards, which extrapolated out over 4 quarters would only be 250 yards of offense, which would be the 24th best defensive performance in the country opening weekend. and if continued throughout the season, would be top 5 in the country. marshall only had 2 drives where they picked up more than one first down.

by The 25314 on Sep 7, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

so what you're both saying is that you'd honestly

give the defense an A- ?

I truly find that hard to believe. I’m not saying they were terrible, by any means, and I totally think they’ll improve but giving them an A- is very generous in my opinion…..

My guess is that the majority of WVU fans wouldn’t be so generous.

by WVUColumbus on Sep 7, 2011 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

The majority of fans are idiots.

by The 25314 on Sep 7, 2011 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

Outside linebackers didn't lose contain.

They ran the ball for the most yards right up the gut.

As 25314 pointed out our D was good other than a couple drives where they moved the ball.

I would’ve said B.

by 5th Year Senior on Sep 7, 2011 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not going to throw the OL completly under the bus

because our freshman running backs had a hole to run through on a few occasions; but instead of hitting it at full speed they hesitated and that allowed the pursuit to bring them down in the backfield

by WVPiratesfan on Sep 7, 2011 1:34 PM EDT reply actions

34 points

If this game were played September 4th, 2010 and WVU scored 34 points everybody would have been excited, thinking Stew was finally “turning the corner” and things were looking up. And that would have been if it were 34 points in four quarters! If we had the remainder of the 4th to play this game we would have scored at least 48 points and I don’t think that’s too shabby for the first time out. I ALWAYS thought the idea that we were going to come out and hang 80 on a team that plays this game like it’s their superbowl was a little far fetched. The running game looked shaky, but freshmen backs with happy feet in their first college game can lead to that as well. Put up 34 against NFSU and then we can scratch our heads a bit, but let’s call this game what it was, a good win and the beginning of an era.

by WVU_BILLS on Sep 7, 2011 1:49 PM EDT reply actions

Exactly. Yeah, the O-Line struggled, but anyone who thought they would be great just isn’t paying attention. We only punted twice. We scored 34 in 3 quarters. You know how many points we had in Stew’s first game after 3 quarters? 34 points. And that was against a 1-AA opponent, and everyone rejoiced. This was against a legitimate football team. We were on pace to score in the 40’s. If you score 40 against any D-1 team, that’s a good day. We only scored 40 one time in the last 3 years. We were going to do it in Holgorsen’s first game.

by The 25314 on Sep 7, 2011 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

I think we should have tempered our expectations

I think people were expecting to drop at least 60 on Marshall and have footballs raining all over the place

by WVPiratesfan on Sep 7, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

"We only scored 40 one time in the last 3 years"

Most scathing indictment of the HCBS era ever. And they scored 40 on a DI-AA team once: Villanova.

No sig.

by GenericCommenter0001 on Sep 7, 2011 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I must admit

that I never thought we’d put up 60-70 points on Marshall. Was the general consensus that we’d score 50+? Really?

I thought the offense was absolutely fine and will continue to progress nicely. Remember we scored 34 in 3 quarters of action.

Overall, my expectations were similar to outcome….very impressed w/ 2 things:
1. no TO’s and few penalties
2. Marshall’s front 7

by WVUColumbus on Sep 7, 2011 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Technically, the offense scored 27 in 3 quarters.

www.smokingmusket.com

by Country Roads on Sep 7, 2011 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

And by that I’m discounting the kickoff return TD, not the fact that the last TD was scored shortly into the 4th.

www.smokingmusket.com

by Country Roads on Sep 7, 2011 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm pretty pleased

I admit that I went into the game with big expectations that I probably shouldn’t have, but I also went in with a healthy fear of a Marshall team who, as someone already stated, plays this game like it’s the freakin’ super bowl.

The offensive line needs work and experience as do the running backs but potential is there. The wide receiver made some excellent catches in some not-so-excellent situations, which really pleased me. Geno Smith was excellent and really carried the offense on his back with his experience. The way he threw on the move, across his body, and under pressure really shows me what I think he’ll be capable throughout this season. The defense was solid if a little inexperienced. They didn’t give up any huge plays, they didn’t give up a touchdown. This was a great game for them to gain some experience and make adjustments where they need to be made. Special Teams, with the exception of “THAT” punt, learned their lesson and really stepped their game up afterwards. Besides, every once in a while a kick returner is in the right place at the right time, you know? Good on him. Despite the loss he probably left as the hero of the game in Marshall’s eyes, along with the front 7 on defense.

All in all I’m excited about the Holgorsen-era of WVU football.

by MountaineerAirman on Sep 7, 2011 2:55 PM EDT reply actions