Liberty Bowl Game Thread

[bbwvfan]

I just do not get you throwing the kids under the bus, it most certainly is on the damn coaches, THEY are the bosses, THEY tell the players what to run, an effective coach tells the QB to hand the ball off.............

Players gotta make plays.

When the box has 8 men in it, a well coached QB ain't supposed to just hand the ball off.

Some people are pretty fucking stupid...

 

[bbwvfan]

You would think that with ALL the Bowl games that Bradley has coach with Paterno, he would have the defense prepared along with all the coaches. After all, weren't we told this all year long? Bradley coaches all the coaches. Maybe Bradley talked to everybody but they didn't listen. Let the countdown for the Spring Game begin.

You make a great point!

Bradley did not have this team ready to play. His DL was thrown around like a bunch of pansies, and he did not coach up the coaches either.

I wish Pitt had selected him to take over their loser program. One loser deserves another....

 

[GoldRusher]

You would think that with ALL the Bowl games that Bradley has coach with Paterno, he would have the defense prepared along with all the coaches. After all, weren't we told this all year long? Bradley coaches all the coaches. Maybe Bradley talked to everybody but they didn't listen. Let the countdown for the Spring Game begin.

cant coach size unfortunately.

 

[WVUDAD]

I find the blind allegiance to Holgorsen amazing, he gets credit for every win, yet gets no blame for losses. Even stranger is the loyalty some show to Efore, talk about stupid.

 

[Slaton10]

Good game sheep!!!!

Send me the Address King..I'm good for the Crabcakes...

 

[Slaton10]

I just do not get you throwing the kids under the bus, it most certainly is on the damn coaches, THEY are the bosses, THEY tell the players what to run, an effective coach tells the QB to hand the ball off.............

DAD...you crack me up if it was only that simple every team in America would be undefeated!....


At the end of the day I agree with BBW's assessment...

Even though he disagrees with me..just watching Howard back there..no way the guy is 6 ft tall..he had so much trouble throwing over the linemen..he kept moving around trying to find a throwing lane he could see thru...I had no idea his lack of arm strength on deep balls..and his ability to find a secondary receiver was beyond bad!

The only adjustment I think Dana could have made he should have given Millard a couple of series just for a change of pace...

On defense the ends just got dominated all day...TAMU set the edge at will in the second half...liked how the secondary played...

O'Toole BTW is horrific...he can't be the punter of the future..

 

[mad2mc]

cant coach size unfortunately.

But if you listen to the one, he tells us that we went toe to toe with 'Bama, so there is no excuse for size. We were also told by the one that Bradley talks/coaches up the coaches. That Bradley gets credit for a lot of the major decisions, especially in a victory. IMO, the DL has done well but there is not of them. Size does matter (I expect payment from Extenze) and having depth as well. The one doesn't think so.

Skyler Howard was not the same QB we saw earlier during mop up duty. Whether it was nerves, adrenalin, or lack of preparation, he blew. Funny how some teams 3rd string QB (aka Buckeyes C. Jones) looks like a seasoned starter, but we will see how he handles the spotlight. The Johnny Manziel imitation was bush league. He is no where close to Manziel while Manziel was in college and I couldn't stand "Johnny Football". Skyler needs to leave that stupid shit at home, especially when playing the way he did.

Maybe Dana should have ran the ball against the 8 man box. Possibly one of our 4 RBs could have broke a long run at least once per quarter. Instead of pass, run, pass, punt; we could have run, run, run, punt. Blame it on what you want - coaches, players, meaningless game, players in Holiday mode, Clint retiring, who wants to play football on a Monday in Memphis, whatever reason, this team needed a better effort from the QB position. I respect Clint for realizing he needed to cash in the chips but at the same time blame him for not following protocol by reporting his concussion symptoms. He may have been able to play in the game yesterday and IMHO would have made this game a joke with WVU winning by a large margin. Maybe, maybe not. I wonder why Paul Millard did not see the field.

I can accept this loss by making up any excuse I want that makes me feel better. I do believe that if Clint played, WVU wins. I also feel that if the recruiting classes were filled, we would have better depth, not necessarily better players, but having a body to toss in there from time to to time, is better than nothing. I thought the kids were ready before the game, because Gibson said so. Not so sure what his definition of ready is, but I have to disagree. I will say that the team made the game close, through effort, but gave up. Not because of the coaching but due to realizing that no matter how hard they played, their QB could not complete a simply inside slant 10 yards downfield.

I can accept the loss but don't like it.

 

[kingbd1]

I think WVU should have stuck more with the running game in the second half. They were kinda damned if they do and damned if they don't though. If they don't keep throwing bombs and completing a few, then they aren't in the game anyhow. A&M's size wore them down in the second half and the Ags made adjustments on defense to slow WVU down some. That was the difference IMO

 

[mad2mc]

Should have also mentioned that the D didn't seem to play the entire game. The one will blame it on the lack of offensive production, which may be partially (not entirely) true. D looked alright in the first half, but I still feel that they should have played better.

 

[mad2mc]

I think WVU should have stuck more with the running game in the second half. They were kinda damned if they do and damned if they don't though. If they don't keep throwing bombs and completing a few, then they aren't in the game anyhow. A&M's size wore them down in the second half and the Ags made adjustments on defense to slow WVU down some. That was the difference IMO

After all these years, king, I agree with you. Not attempting to take anything away from TAMU, but if Skyler could hit some of the 'easy' passes, it would have possibly loosen the 8 man in the box looks and allow WVU to run a little more. Whatever the case, TAMU won by 8 and at the end of the day, it is what it is.

Are you softening up in your old age or just coming to after passing out from drinking last night? It had to be a good night for you with TAMU winning and the Horns losing.

 

[kingbd1]

After all these years, king, I agree with you. Not attempting to take anything away from TAMU, but if Skyler could hit some of the 'easy' passes, it would have possibly loosen the 8 man in the box looks and allow WVU to run a little more. Whatever the case, TAMU won by 8 and at the end of the day, it is what it is.

Are you softening up in your old age or just coming to after passing out from drinking last night? It had to be a good night for you with TAMU winning and the Horns losing.

I can talk trash with the best of them but I can have a serious conversation about football too. Skyler's inaccuracy made it worthwhile for the Ags to keep in man coverage on the corners most of the time despite giving up a few big plays downfield; with safeties rolling over on occasion. Thus they were able to move the safeties up just enough to slow down the running game. It cost a few big plays but it won the game.

Not sure how it could have turned out with Trickett at QB. Skyler's ability to run kind of offset Trickett's accuracy. A&M had to spy on him a lot and that left some men open downfield sometimes. They don't have to do that with Trickett. A&M did a poor job containing Skyler on the perimeter as well. Not much of a worry with Trickett. On the other hand, they would have to drop more men in coverage with Trickett so that could open up the running lanes a little more. They key for A&M was simplifying the defense with their DC gone and guys were just filling lanes and not having to overthink things. We had as many as 7 freshmen on the field on defense in this game and the KISS method made it easy for them to instinctively react instead of thinking about their assignment and watching some dude blow by them.


Any win is a good one and any loss by Texas is cream on the top. I hope you cats beat them the next ten years in a row. A&M has flipped the state in recruiting just like they did to Texas in the 80's and 90's and I am thoroughly enjoying it...and I enjoyed the Liberty Bowl of course.

 

[WVUDAD]

TAM adjusted their snap count to a dummy count to see what our defense was doing, they used this to dump of quick short passes or QB runs. Howard was pumped up, full of adrenaline at playing in the biggest game of his life, he threw for 350 yards, no picks, and in an attempt to keep slurping on Holgorsen, he is being thrown under the bus by some fans. Yet again we saw adjustments by our opponent during the game, with no adjustments by our coaches.

 

[bbwvfan]

King,


Congrats on the win last night.


WVU could not establish the running game which made them one dimensional against the 8 man front. Skyler was so inaccurate, he could not get A&M's defense out of their scheme.


Slaton says Howard was moving to find passing lanes. I think there is some truth to that; however, most of his movement was forced because of the pass rush. He did not have to move to compensate for his lack of height in appearances against KSU or ISU. So, I don't buy that his height was a major problem. He was too amped for the game, and his repeated high passes reflected this.


Bottom line, the offense did enough to win the game. They scored 37 points and had over 450 yds of offense. The defense was terrible. Give credit to Spavital. He came up with a great plan to involve Allen in some QB running plays. Obviously, WVU was not prepared for this.


I knew A&M had a huge advantage on the LOS. WVU's DL has been neglected for so long. There is no beef... little speed. A&M was not even a great rushing team this year, yet you ran for over 200 yds last night.


Defense giving up 45 points is what cost WVU this game. That was pathetic...

 

[Anotherwvufan]

TAM adjusted their snap count to a dummy count to see what our defense was doing, they used this to dump of quick short passes or QB runs. Howard was pumped up, full of adrenaline at playing in the biggest game of his life, he threw for 350 yards, no picks, and in an attempt to keep slurping on Holgorsen, he is being thrown under the bus by some fans. Yet again we saw adjustments by our opponent during the game, with no adjustments by our coaches.

20 of 45 for 350 yards. 40% accuracy. Trickett would have passed for 600 yards.

I also noticed that the coaches did adjust to TAMU's Dummy count and called off the blitz causing them trouble.

Also note that Holgerson made the most of his TOs. While I don't worship Holgerson, he did have a good game plan. We just needed bitter execution.

We were outmanned on the lines today. We need more big guys to compete against these SEC teams.

Looks like the committee was right. Baylor and TCu just took big hits to their SOS yesterday as the B12 went 0-3 in bowls.

 

[DCWV4life]

If you think Howard played a good game by that stat line you obviously did not watch the game. Many of the plays called were there he just missed them.

What should the coaches have adjusted calling plays that were not open?

The defense looked terrible yesterday...late in the game giving up 3rd and 20's...

 

[mad2mc]

TAM adjusted their snap count to a dummy count to see what our defense was doing, they used this to dump of quick short passes or QB runs. Howard was pumped up, full of adrenaline at playing in the biggest game of his life, he threw for 350 yards, no picks, and in an attempt to keep slurping on Holgorsen, he is being thrown under the bus by some fans. Yet again we saw adjustments by our opponent during the game, with no adjustments by our coaches.

You're a fucked up Dude. Obviously you do not know the difference between being thrown under the bus and somebody calling out poor playing. Nowhere did I say that Dana called a masterful game nor place the loss squarely on Howard. He missed a lot of easy throws during the game. I'm surprised that you didn't blame DH for Skyler's play. Why didn't Bradley calm him down? Why didn't Gibson and Bradley adjust on the fly? It doesn't take halftime adjustments to mask your defense. It was done the entire season.

As DC stated, if you read the stat line, Skyler looked good on paper. Looking good on paper doesn't win you games. You would have realized that if you watched the game objectively. it is hard to run the ball when your opponent challenges you to throw knowing that your QB cannot complete the easy throws, especially when needed. I'll call Skyler out for acting like Johnny Manziel while exhibiting John Talley talents during this game. If he is the starter next year, I hope he learned a hell of a lot from this game.

 

[WVUDAD]

20 of 45 for 350 yards. 40% accuracy. Trickett would have passed for 600 yards.

I also noticed that the coaches did adjust to TAMU's Dummy count and called off the blitz causing them trouble.

Also note that Holgerson made the most of his TOs. While I don't worship Holgerson, he did have a good game plan. We just needed bitter execution.

We were outmanned on the lines today. We need more big guys to compete against these SEC teams.

Looks like the committee was right. Baylor and TCu just took big hits to their SOS yesterday as the B12 went 0-3 in bowls.

When did our defense quit blitzing? They were still blitzing on TAMs last TD, that's how he was able to run it in.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

When did our defense quit blitzing? They were still blitzing on TAMs last TD, that's how he was able to run it in.

I never said they quit blitzing, but it did look like they changed the call and went zone after a couple of TAMUs audibles.

The problem was more with tackling yesterday.

 

[WVUDAD]

I never said they quit blitzing, but it did look like they changed the call and went zone after a couple of TAMUs audibles.

The problem was more with tackling yesterday.

Indeed, tackling was HORRIBLE.

 

[WVUDAD]

You're a fucked up Dude. Obviously you do not know the difference between being thrown under the bus and somebody calling out poor playing. Nowhere did I say that Dana called a masterful game nor place the loss squarely on Howard. He missed a lot of easy throws during the game. I'm surprised that you didn't blame DH for Skyler's play. Why didn't Bradley calm him down? Why didn't Gibson and Bradley adjust on the fly? It doesn't take halftime adjustments to mask your defense. It was done the entire season.

As DC stated, if you read the stat line, Skyler looked good on paper. Looking good on paper doesn't win you games. You would have realized that if you watched the game objectively. it is hard to run the ball when your opponent challenges you to throw knowing that your QB cannot complete the easy throws, especially when needed. I'll call Skyler out for acting like Johnny Manziel while exhibiting John Talley talents during this game. If he is the starter next year, I hope he learned a hell of a lot from this game.

Smallwood averaged 9.6 yards per carry......................I hope HOLGORSEN learned something from this game.