Three Guarantees For West Virginia Against Youngstown State

Jack Allison Will Play The Entire Second Half

For all of you wondering why we play a team like Youngstown State, part of the reason is that these games give the coaching staff a chance to evaluate the entire roster. We should be up enough that Holgorsen feels comfortable pulling a majority of the starters, including Will Grier, to allow the backups to play. Grier will throw for at least 300 and 4 more touchdowns, bring him close to 900 yards and 9 touchdowns on the year. This will allow Jack Allison to come in the second half and show the Mountaineer faithful what they can expect in 2019.

Kenny Robinson Will Pick Off The First Pass Of The Year

Youngstown State will attempt to execute a gameplan similar to that of the Tennessee Volunteers by slowing down the clock and running the ball. The problem with that type of gameplan is you need the horses up front to be able to control the line of scrimmage and Youngstown State simply does not have the hog mollies to control West Virginia’s defensive front. Once the Penguins get down early, they will be forced to throw the ball more, something they are not fully equipped to do. When you make teams one-dimensional, especially taking away the thing they are very good at offensively, turnovers and negative plays happen. Forcing the Penguins to throw the ball more than they want to will give the West Virginia Mountaineers an opportunity to record their first interception of the year, and the man to do it will be sophomore Kenny Robinson.

Marcus Simms Will Return A Kickoff 50+ Yards

Marcus Simms missed the first game of the year last year against the Virginia Tech Hokies and made his sophomore debut against East Carolina Pirates. The debut was significant because Simms showed promise as a return man in the game and proved to be adept at returning kickoffs.

Last week against Tennessee, Simms took the second half kickoff two yards deep in the endzone and was a fingertip away from break it for a long gain. A Volunteer defender got a hand on Simms’ jersey enough to slow him down that allowed the second level to close in on him at the 32. Had that defender missed, Simms would have split those defenders and been a kicker away from a return touchdown.

This return scared Tennessee because following Tim Jordan’s rushing touchdown, Tennessee line drived the kick away from Simms. I expect Simms to only get two return chances but now that he is more mature, I expect him to break one for a long return against the Penguins.