The WVU Mountaineers have won there first game of the season. The game was never in doubt, the game was in some ways encouraging and in others not so much.
On the positive side the team spread the wealth of scoring to: J. D. Woods with a receiving touchdown, Jock Sanders with a receiving touchdown, Noel Devine with a rushing touchdown, Ryan Clark with a rushing touchdown. Tavon Austin contributed 90 yards in recieving with the exception of a fumble through the endzone he had a really good day. The defense pitched its first shutout since 2005. Brandon Hogan lead the way with an interception, a pass break-up and five tackles. His interception was a timely one as Coastal was in a position to score. And really the most special thing you can take away from the game is the special teams particularly the kicking and punt coverage teams. Tyler Bitancurt lead the way in scoring with one field goal and four extra points. Corey Smith kicked the ball extremely well and the Chants never had the got to start beyond their 35 yard line all day when returning kicks. Greg Pugnetti booted the ball very well all day long. He had too very impressive punts to inside the one yard line.
On the negative side. The offense while scoring 31 points should have scored in my humble opinion, on a lot more occasions. We had over 400 yards of offense but Noel only had a pedestrian day with 111 yards. The truth is that he could have had a lot more were it not for the abysmal blocking he received. The right side of the line has some major improvement to make and need to make it very fast. The Chants will be the worst team we face all year by leaps and bounds. They were able to contain one of the most electrifying runners in the Country. That simply shouldn't be the case. The offensive line needed to dominate and they clearly didn't deliver.
Da Geek's grades for the weekend would be as follows:
Team C+, QB play C+, recieving C+, Running Backs C+, Offensive Line D-, Defensive Line B-, Linebackers B-, D-Backs B, Punt Team A+, Kick Off Team A, and Field-goals and extra-points team A.
Now onto the Herd. What will we learn on Friday?
Notes:
Team Awards as the players graded out after watching the tape according to the WVU coaching staff: Offensive Champion Jock Sanders, Defensive Champion Terence Garven, Special Teams Champion Gregg Pugnetti Scout Offense C. J. Huffman, and Defensive Scout Taige Redman.
Big East Award Winners:
Offensive Player of the Week: Ryan Nassib, Jr., QB, Syracuse ( 287 yards of total offense and threw a pair of TDs)
Defensive Player of the Week: Mike Holmes, Sr., FS, Syracuse (six tackles with one sack)
Special Team Player of the Week: Brandon Bing, Sr., CB (Blocked 2 punts)
Honor roll:
Noel Devine, RB, West Virginia — Ran for 111 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in a 31-0 win against Coastal Carolina. Moved into eighth place on the BIG EAST’s career rushing chart (3,492 yards).
Gregg Pugnetti, P, West Virginia — Averaged 49.2 yards on six punts with a long punt of 71 yards in a 31-0 win against Coastal Carolina. Downed two punts on the 1-yard line to help keep the Chanticleers out of the red zone for the game.
Bilal Powell, RB, Louisville — Ran for a career-high 153 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown, on 16 carries in a 23-16 loss to Kentucky.
Alex Silvestro, DE, Rutgers — Had five tackles, a sack and four tackles for loss in a 31-0 win against Norfolk State. Led a defense that held Norfolk State to 25 rushing yards and an 0-for-12 showing on third down conversions.
B.J. Daniels, QB, USF — Completed 15 of 22 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-14 win against Stony Brook.
1 comment:
From what I saw on a very bad ESPN 3 broadcast, you grades sound pretty fair to me.
Defense pitched a shutout. That's always a BIG +. But 31 points and several 3 and outs didn't give many any warm feelings. The offense is quite capable of stopping themselves. Maybe some of it can be attributed to Mullens calling some plays in order to "work the offense" as opposed to trying to scheme Carolina and score. It appeared to me that we could have lined up in the I formation all day and CC wouldn't have been able to stop us. But spreading the D out and letting Geno work his reads may have a better use of the the offense for the future.
I don't expect much from Marshall. Coach Holiday clearly doesn't have the personnel to match up at this point. But you can be sure they will playing with passion. Which is why Marshall usually scores first and then falls apart as the game progresses. I, like you, expect more of the same Friday night.
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