It's Game Week in Morgantown!! And it's almost Game Day! Man, do I remember those. The parties at the Pike House the night before, getting up in the morning to giant pots of Bloody Mary's and Screw Drivers, the wild and extravagant WVU tailgating, and of course, the game. Ahhh, those were the days. I am even excited about it sitting here in Washington, DC decades later. Our Mountaineers are about to kick off their first season in the Big 12, which is exciting in and of itself. At noon on Saturday they take on Marshall, who they should destroy. Marshall always plays WVU hard. But I see our Mountaineers maintaining their undefeated status against the Thundering Herd.
Here is a Mountaineer Football Preview courtesy of beyondusports.com. It's a good and fair assessment. Enjoy.
WVU Mountaineers Football Season Preview
image credit: couchfiresports.com
The last decade in West Virginia University football has produced some program-defining moments, including three BCS victories. Yet much of what made up those successes is now relegated to the past. Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense that saw Pat White running circles around defenses is now a pass-happy, air-raid system. The late Bill Stewart’s defense that was ranked top-10 in the country is now a 3-4 base scheme. Oh yeah, that BCS thing is now soon to be history, as well.
It’s hard to make comparisons considering the changes. The Mountaineers have left the highly criticized Big East, which is now a dilapidated shell of the conference it once was. As the newest member of the Big 12 Conference, gone from the schedule are teams such as Rutgers and South Florida, having been replaced by storied programs in Oklahoma and Texas.
The last time we saw West Virginia leaving the field, the Mountaineers had just dropped 70 points in the thrashing of a favored Clemson team in a record-setting Orange Bowl performance. Now in the Big 12, a new era of WVU football is beginning.
Needless to say, expectations are high in Morgantown.
What seems like a lifetime ago, many West Virginia supporters were clamoring for a move to the SEC amidst all the conference realignment discussions. While the SEC is undoubtedly known for defense, the Big 12 is certainly known for its offense, and that suits the Mountaineers and the $20 million man Dana Holgorsen just fine.
The freshly signed head coach, who in the past has engineered the attacks for offensive juggernauts Texas Tech, Houston, and Oklahoma State, has a restructured coaching staff to take into familiar Big 12 territory.
image credit: wvgazette.com / Kyle Slagle
Armed with one of this year’s most highly touted offenses in the country, Holgorsen and company invade the conference boasting the most productive collection of offensive players the school has ever returned. Despite all of the weapons at his disposal, Holgorsen’s biggest coup is perhaps his team’s experience in what was a brand new system last year that was still able to rank in the top 15 nationally in total offense and scoring.
Senior quarterback and preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Geno Smith leads the attack, returning from a 2011 campaign that saw him set school records in completions, attempts, yards, and touchdowns. A viable Heisman candidate, Smith will certainly smash Marc Bulger’s career marks this season and do so before conference play begins, if not in the first two games.
Smith, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound prototypical quarterback who enters his final year with 20 extra pounds of muscle, will be throwing to a pair of 1,000-yard receivers and fellow record-breakers in senior Tavon Austin and junior Stedman Bailey. The 5-foot-9 speedburner Austin (101 catches for 1,186 yards) is a highlight reel unto himself and looks to break his own record for catches. Bailey (72-1,279) aims to top his school-record yardage total from last season.
While they will be the primary playmakers for what should be an even more potent offense than in 2011, the depth is substantial, as well. The aforementioned three are among the nine starters returning on offense.
The running back position features sophomores Dustin Garrison and Andrew Buie as well as senior bruisers Shawne Alston and Ryan Clarke, all of whom have starts and meaningful games under their belts and offer skills different from one another. Blocking for them will be an offensive line that returns three starters along with redshirted senior guard Josh Jenkins coming off of a knee injury.
image credit: doublecoveragefootball.com
However, on the defensive side of the ball, there is uncertainty as to how the Mountaineers will transition from a 3-3-5 stack that has been used for the last decade to a 3-4 scheme implemented by a restructured, Big 12-based staff. Using this formation, new defensive coordinators Joe DeForest and Keith Patterson look to better prepare the team for the barrage of offense Big 12 opponents will surely bring.
Contrary to the Mountaineers’ offense, the defense doesn’t have the luxury of returning many playmakers. Sack specialist Bruce Irvin was drafted by the Redskins—err, rather the Seahawks—while two-year starters Najee Goode and Keith Tandy were selected as well.
A handful of experience does remain, yet the new 3-4 look will cause some position shuffling. After two years starting at safety, Terence Garvin moves to linebacker but is coming off of knee surgery. Darwin Cook, who was last seen running 99 yards in Miami, returns at safety alongside true freshman Karl Joseph. Senior Pat Miller and redshirt junior Broderick Jenkins also bring experience to the cornerback slots.
Up front, second-year starter Jorge Wright moves from nose tackle to end as junior Shaq Rowell will now anchor the middle. Promising junior Will Clarke, who started 11 games at end last season, moves to defensive tackle in the new scheme. They have the task of replacing Irvin and Julian Miller who combined for 14.5 sacks last season.
Meanwhile, the key special teams components all return. Kicker Tyler Bitancurt has been named to the Groza watch list, with Corey Smith and Mike Molinari taking on punting duties again. The explosive Austin, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last year, will assume return duties this year, as well. Coach DeForest, who ran some of the most impressive special teams in the country at Oklahoma State, has helped develop this unit through spring and fall camps.
A Big 12 Championship is certainly not out of the question for West Virginia’s first year in the conference. The combination of the talent on offense and playing in Holgorsen’s system will give the Mountaineers the opportunity to win every week. Yet a new scheme in a less than developed defense will have to provide some impediments to Big 12 offenses if WVU wants to consistently win a shootout, of which there will likely be plenty.
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