WVU Football Power Rankings Week 1

1. Kevin White - 9 catches 143 yards and 1 touchdown. In terms of receiving White played about as good of a game as you can. Putting up those kind of numbers on Alabama's vaunted defense bodes well for the rest of the year. If White continues that level of play he will be playing on Sundays.

2. Clint Trickett - Night and day from last year. Trickett was 29 of 45 with for 365 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. That yardage is the third most ever against a Nick Saban defense, and if not for several drops those numbers would be even better. Trickett also spread the ball around with four players catching at least five passes. The most impressive thing is many of Trickett's throws were not easy passes. At one point in the second half of the game Trickett's accuracy led the television crew to comment that, "Trickett is throwing dimes". That is likely not something said for many quarterbacks going against the Tide.

3. Mario Alford - Gamebreaker. Alford put in decent numbers in the receiving game (5 catches for 54 yards), but it was his 100 yard kick return where he outraced everyone on the field that will be remembered.

4. Karl Joseph -Joseph was all over the field making plays as usual, and tell me if this statistic doesn't jump out at you: 18 tackles.

5. Rushel Shell - Shell started out strong at one point dragging several Alabama defenders along on one of his runs. The flu and Alabama's defense eventually slowed Shell, but his ability to get going in the first half opened up options for WVU. A healthy Shell should be able to do some serious damage against the rest of the opponents on WVU's schedule.

6. Wendell Smallwood - Smallwood did not do much of anything on the ground, but showed his versatility out of the backfield catching 6 balls for 73 yards good enough for second on the team.

7. Daryl Worley - Amari Cooper did his damage, but Worley's second half pick could have been the game changing play needed for an upset.

8. Dana Holgorsen - Game planning and preparation. Not to say the offense was without its flaws, but the players were ready to play and truly believed they could win. If not for some dropped passes and missed tackling the numbers would have been gaudy and WVU could have won.

9. Jordan Thompson - Thompson was somewhat a mixed bag because of a couple drops, but made a huge catch and showed more in one game against the Tide (5 catches for 62 yards) then he had in any other game during his WVU career.

10. Nick O'Toole - Continues to impress and averaged 43.8 yards a punt on Saturday.