What I Think After Messing With Texas

I think I really like Kyzir White

Let’s make this a thing. If you play safety at West Virginia you’re name must start with the letter K. And you get to wear #8. And you get to LAY. PEOPLE. OUT.

This play was huge in the fourth quarter. After Skyler’s third interception of the half, Texas started driving down the field. Having at least moved into field goal range, Texas looked poised to make it a one-score game, which would have significantly altered the outcome at the end. Kyzir blitzes, sacks, forces a fumble AND recovers the fumble all in about 1.5 seconds. The Mountaineers did nothing with the turnover, but they flipped the field. Taking Texas from our 15 to their 15 was enough to burn another 3 minutes off the clock.

I think this was bad Skyler 2015 and it can’t happen again

All three interceptions in the second half were just bad throws. The first, Skyler panicked with approaching pressure and made a throw he shouldn’t. The second he had a guy in the end zone but he was bracketed with coverage. A high throw resulted in an interception. The same for his third interception. Shorts was bracketed and Howard made an inaccurate throw.

Lucky for West Virginia, these turnovers did not happen in the Texas redzone. That is the single difference between this game and Oklahoma State. WVU had four turnovers, but two came in the redzone, taking points away from us. Two came in the middle of the field. Only one resulted in any points. Against Oklahoma State, we turned the ball over once inside our own 10. Two other interceptions were returned to our 10-yard line. That gave Oklahoma State 17 points.

West Virginia will not win Saturday if Howard plays this way. Luckily, the game will be played in Morgantown. Skyler has only thrown three interceptions at home this year and never more than one in a game. Howard is very good at Milan Puskar. We will need him to use that magic Saturday.

I think the polls are wrong....but they are right

Clemson lost to Pitt. (edit: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). Michigan lost to Iowa. Washington lost to USC. All three were undefeated entering Saturday and are now tied with West Virginia with 1 loss. All three remain ranked significantly higher than WVU. Clemson has a better resume. Their loss, while at home, was by one point. Michigan lost by one, on the road. Washington lost significantly at home, but to a ranked college “elite” in USC. West Virginia lost by 17, on the road, to a then-unranked Oklahoma State.

Michigan has no ranked wins. Penn State has climbed all the way up to #9/10. If voters are looking at the demolishing of Penn State as a great win, then they should give credence that WVU’s only loss came to #13 Oklahoma State, in part thanks to turnovers.

There is no consistency in how voters vote, what teams get moved up slightly, which teams make big jumps, which teams fall out of the race. West Virginia has a chance to make a statement this weekend against Oklahoma. Even then don’t expect it to change the narrative. West Virginia “barely squeaked by a 5-5 Texas team” according to analysts. They aren’t impressed winning close games. Unless #TeamChaos strikes again, don’t expect to move up anymore.

Thanks to the mediocrity of the Big 12, there are not enough big wins for West Virginia this year. Last year we played 4 straight ranked opponents. This year we will only play one. This year, Mizzou and BYU are bad and mediocre. Last year Georgia Southern and Maryland were decent and bad. Without signature OOC wins, West Virginia cannot impress people. The stats say we’ve had a great year but most people don’t want to see stats. They want to see wins 45-7.

I think Kennedy McKoy is an heir to #4

Back in the summer, JaJuan Seider said Kennedy McKoy “Got it.” Said he was a smart talented freshman and would be special. I rolled my eyes because freshman running backs don’t do that. It sounded like a coach praising a guy for doing well, for a freshman, and hoping to inspire newcomer Justin Crawford and incumbent Rushel Shell that they needed to work harder.

Seider wasn’t lying. McKoy is special. He shows toughness, acceleration, burst, speed, vision, ball skills. He looks so much like Wendell Smallwood, but more explosive.

I think I wish GameDay had come, but I understand why not

I can remember watching previous Thanksgiving games, including Backyard Brawls and seeing the entire student section empty. I remember thinking to myself, that looks so bad on TV. GameDay didn’t want to come to Morgantown when the students would have gone home for the holidays. Not only that but apparently, the ‘Lair has some structural issues that are making it hazardous for events. It is a shame that GameDay won’t be in town for the 3rd ever time two top-10 teams will play in Morgantown. Western Michigan is a poor choice. Playing a 2-8 team is not worthy of College GameDay.

I think you need to extend Holgorsen now....and Tony Gibson

Holgorsen just did something we hadn’t before. He won 8 regular season games as a member of the Big 12. We’re likely going to win 10 games in the regular season for the first time since 2007. The Mountaineers are 13-2 since November 2015. One bad game against Kansas State, in Manhattan, should not have caused the panic that so many people felt at the end of the season. The team has turned a corner. Next year Will Grier gets to take the field for the Mountaineers. Grier will be the most highly ranked recruit to play quarterback since....ever? Certainly, the highest ranked in the Dana Holgorsen era. Give the man his money and keep him here.

Tony Gibson, here is my wallet, the numbers to my bank account, my savings account and my HRA funds. Please stay with WVU for the next 30 years. D’Onta Foreman had 167 yards on 35 carries. WVU and Iowa State are the only teams to keep Foreman under 5 yards per carry. Foreman had one long run of 32 yards. His other 34 carries went for 3.9 yards per carry. Foreman had 115 yards at halftime and only 52 in the second half. He scored no touchdowns. I wasn’t sure that would happen in this game but Gibson has proven to be a masterful DC.