Texas Game Thread

[DCWV4life]

What a heartbreaker. I have no voice left. While I am disappointed in the outcome, I am proud of the team and their effort.

Dana made great adjustments in this game. It is to his credit that WVU almost pulled the upset tonight.

Too many TO's and mistakes.

What a game!

My biggest issue is with the defense in the second half they could not get off the field on third down....I thought we blitzed way to much on 3rd for what it netted us...1 sack and not many hurries....there in the fourth quarter when they picked up that 3rd and 8 we blitz clearing the lane for Shipley when if the LB would have just stayed still ball would have hit him in chest. Offense was playing like crap but we still had the lead in the first half....defense needs to find that happy place between prevent and blitzing every third down.

Very proud of Millard, came in and kept the offense going, looked very good after a couple of series of jitters.

Very hard fought game for our boys and you can see some of these guys maturing right before our eyes....like what I see. Tough L's going to turn into great W's.

 

[WVUDAD]

My biggest issue is with the defense in the second half they could not get off the field on third down....I thought we blitzed way to much on 3rd for what it netted us...1 sack and not many hurries....there in the fourth quarter when they picked up that 3rd and 8 we blitz clearing the lane for Shipley when if the LB would have just stayed still ball would have hit him in chest. Offense was playing like crap but we still had the lead in the first half....defense needs to find that happy place between prevent and blitzing every third down.

Very proud of Millard, came in and kept the offense going, looked very good after a couple of series of jitters.

Very hard fought game for our boys and you can see some of these guys maturing right before our eyes....like what I see. Tough L's going to turn into great W's.

I agree to a point, Using the same blitz scheme resulted in Texas being 1-11 on third down at one point in the game, so I understand staying with what was working, but once they made adjustments and were getting Shipley open right past the sticks, WVU did not adjust. After a shaky first series, Millard did a hell of a job. There were some plays last night that should be in the regular rotation of plays, using Alford is some of the Austin plays worked great, damn near got the TD in OT with it, got a TD and a few first downs with them. Where we will disagree is on the plays that in my view resulted in the loss, I know in any game, you can point to a few plays as game changers, but there were two that cost WVU a great home win, WVU satrted a drive at our 15, with 6:30 on the clock, ran Sims four times in a row, and had a 2nd and 1 ant our own 35, with 4:00 left and a three point lead, we line up and TWICE try to run for the first out of the shotgun, around the corner, had we lined up with the QB under center, and either snuck or handed it off close, WVU wins the game. Out of the gun, a one yard pickup is hard, you must pick up seven yards to get one.
HOWEVER, had you told me WVU would have turned the ball over 5 times, been sacked seven times, YET played Texas to overtime... Great effort, team played hard, and could have rolled over numerous times, but kept fighting. Good showing on TV!!!! Keep up that same effort the next two weeks and get to a bowl.

 

[GoldRusher]

Put me in the proud of em crowd as well. One of our weakest and most important positions (QB) knocked out and down to our last option in the first quarter, the backup who isn't all that talented to begin with comes in behind an awful OLine and nearly gets killed himself then the ball goes to Texas time and time again on turnovers? This game SHOULD have been a blowout by the Longhorns but the team kept fighting, and the coaches kept coaching, no quit whatsoever. If there is blame to be thrown around its goes to our lack of talent on the players. We can question some of the play calling (and of course we WILL after an OT loss, that's what we do ) but when a defense stacks the box like Texas was doing and your are so limited on offense you have to play the odds, and that's what Dana did. I have no problem with that.
On a bright note save for the choke punt late in the game when we needed field position (2weeks in a row now by OTool) I thought special teams play was very good! Love that we finally blocked a punt AND I believe I seen Alford take a knee on a KR to give our offense some field position. Might we be seeing that unit FINALLY getting it together?

We HAVE to get right back up and be ready and motivated for the next game, we are not good enough to waste time feeling bad because we lost a close one. A big goal for this years team is still within reach and we will take the best shots KU and ISU have to offer, KU doesn't have much but what they DO have offensively plays right into our weakness on defense, they do have some playmakers on offense. ISU played TCU VERY tough and prob SHOULD have won that game, we will definitely have our hands full with them and need our fans to make things hard on them in a few weeks, that team like our own has no quit in them.

 

[bbwvfan]

My biggest issue is with the defense in the second half they could not get off the field on third down....I thought we blitzed way to much on 3rd for what it netted us...1 sack and not many hurries....there in the fourth quarter when they picked up that 3rd and 8 we blitz clearing the lane for Shipley when if the LB would have just stayed still ball would have hit him in chest. Offense was playing like crap but we still had the lead in the first half....defense needs to find that happy place between prevent and blitzing every third down.

Very proud of Millard, came in and kept the offense going, looked very good after a couple of series of jitters.

Very hard fought game for our boys and you can see some of these guys maturing right before our eyes....like what I see. Tough L's going to turn into great W's.

IMO, they had to continue to put pressure on McCoy. In the first half, the pressure resulted in him throwing some very errant passes as well as throwing the ball away… when we didn't get pressure, he picked the defense apart. I felt the problem was trying to cover Shipley with one of our safeties. Neither one of those kids are good cover kids. And, we did nothing to chuck him or any of the other WR's in those 3rd down situations.

The last 3 minutes and OT experience seem to reflect how the Mountaineer season has gone.

 

[WVUDAD]

We have some STRANGE fans, people complaining about the defense on the last few series', for letting a great QB and receiver hook up for some first downs, when the offense turned the ball over time and again inside the 15, and the defense held them to a FG several times. The offense was on and off yesterday, looked great on one series, then awful the next, but the defense did a damned good job the entire game.

 

[DCWV4life]

Not complaining about the defensive effort as a whole, complaining that they made no adjustments when it obviously was not working...I believe they were 10-11 in the second half on third down...overall I think the team played a very solid game.

Special teams was really good, OToole s last punt stunk but overall I thought they played very well.

Offense in first half or before Millard took over was atrocious...but lucky for us they play 4 quarters..and even as bad as they played we were still in control of the game.

Alford the last two weeks has been solid, once this receiving corps comes together with the QB our offense is going to roll.

We are 1-3 against the top two programs in the conf and some of the best in the nation, what games they have been.

 

[GoldRusher]

IMO, they had to continue to put pressure on McCoy. In the first half, the pressure resulted in him throwing some very errant passes as well as throwing the ball away… when we didn't get pressure, he picked the defense apart. I felt the problem was trying to cover Shipley with one of our safeties. Neither one of those kids are good cover kids. And, we did nothing to chuck him or any of the other WR's in those 3rd down situations.

The last 3 minutes and OT experience seem to reflect how the Mountaineer season has gone.

Could not agree more, our guys at safety are good in run support but they both struggle when asked to cover anyone, just who/what they are as players. We have to get pressure to give them help or we are meat to a team that can throw it.

 

[GoldRusher]

We have some STRANGE fans, people complaining about the defense on the last few series', for letting a great QB and receiver hook up for some first downs, when the offense turned the ball over time and again inside the 15, and the defense held them to a FG several times. The offense was on and off yesterday, looked great on one series, then awful the next, but the defense did a damned good job the entire game.

yup, defense had some breakdowns but we asked far too much of them last night, they were dragging by the end of that game.

 

[DCWV4life]

yup, defense had some breakdowns but we asked far too much of them last night, they were dragging by the end of that game.

Every time the offense put them in a bad position they made a stop, they could not stop a third down on the long drives and gave them TD's. Dragging by the end of the game, Tx only had the ball 2 more mins than we did and we ran 7 more plays...asking them to stop a third down is not asking to much. Over all effort was good, but when you give up numorous third and distance in the 4th quarter and overtime it usually dose not mean much good for your team.

Tale of two halfs, offense stunk in first half, defense wavered in the second. They gave up 34 pts after halftime, not sure why some think this performance cannot be criticized.

 

[WVUDAD]

Every time the offense put them in a bad position they made a stop, they could not stop a third down on the long drives and gave them TD's. Dragging by the end of the game, Tx only had the ball 2 more mins than we did and we ran 7 more plays...asking them to stop a third down is not asking to much. Over all effort was good, but when you give up numorous third and distance in the 4th quarter and overtime it usually dose not mean much good for your team.

Tale of two halfs, offense stunk in first half, defense wavered in the second. They gave up 34 pts after halftime, not sure why some think this performance cannot be criticized.

Because the offense put them on the field inside the fifteen after they had just thrown a three and out SEVERAL times, maybe you do not understand the physical as well as the mental toll that happens during a game with playing defense. When you do your job to perfection time and again, only to have to go back on the field two plays later because the offense turns it over, it weighs on you and tires you out in ways besides your legs getting heavy. AND they saved a lot of points the offense gifted Texas in the first half, holding them to FGs was huge. As I have said above, the game was lost by the offensive play calling with four minutes left, PERIOD.

 

[DCWV4life]

Because the offense put them on the field inside the fifteen after they had just thrown a three and out SEVERAL times, maybe you do not understand the physical as well as the mental toll that happens during a game with playing defense. When you do your job to perfection time and again, only to have to go back on the field two plays later because the offense turns it over, it weighs on you and tires you out in ways besides your legs getting heavy. AND they saved a lot of points the offense gifted Texas in the first half, holding them to FGs was huge. As I have said above, the game was lost by the offensive play calling with four minutes left, PERIOD.

Yeah sure it was even though our defense stopped them on one third down In the second half and gave upm34 pts our play calling on one series cost us the game....even though in overtime on third down we let them run wide open to score a TD, even though only producing one sack and one INT we still blitzed them none stop on third down our offense lost the game. Love how our fans expect the offense to carry the load and score 40 plus a game but asking the the defense not to give up 34 in the second half is to much. Physical and metal toll? Stopping a team on third down is a toll every team faces every game.

Your right though after watching our defense give up third down after third down I was yelling at my TV, "what the fuck is wrong with our offense?"

 

[DCWV4life]

I guess the third down they gave up in overtime for the TD was that on the offense as well? You psych majors should talk to the staff since you know the metal capacity of our defensive unit.

We can't possibly ask them to play a whole game for us...it's all on the offense.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

You do not win games when you turn the ball over 6 times. End of story. Going to OT was a major achievement. Texas should have won by a wide margin.

 

[bbwvfan]

I guess the third down they gave up in overtime for the TD was that on the offense as well? You psych majors should talk to the staff since you know the metal capacity of our defensive unit.

We can't possibly ask them to play a whole game for us...it's all on the offense.

DC, aren't you concerned that this kind of response will put you on DAD's ignore list?

 

[DCWV4life]

DC, aren't you concerned that this kind of response will put you on DAD's ignore list?

I would only be so lucky.

 

[WVUDAD]

I guess the third down they gave up in overtime for the TD was that on the offense as well? You psych majors should talk to the staff since you know the metal capacity of our defensive unit.

We can't possibly ask them to play a whole game for us...it's all on the offense.

It damn sure was not the defense who gave Texas the ball inside the 20 three times, was it? It damn sure wasnt the defense who has 2nd and one with a three point lead with minutes left and ran wide from the gun and couldnt manage the game winning first down was it? The defense was WORN OUT from the offense being ineffective most of the game, and as usual, the opponent made adjustments at halftime, and WVU did not.

 

[WVUDAD]

Had the defense not saved the TDs in the first half when the offense kept handing the ball over in the red zone, the score likely could have been like the Baylor score.

 

[JIMKOON]

As I was reading this post, I was a bit confused at some of the topic. In looking over the stats for this game, I saw that Texas only had the ball 2 minutes more in time of possession. That means that over 4 quarters, Texas had the ball 30 seconds more per quarter, yet some here are implying that the defense was worn out? Wouldn't that imply that the defense wasn't properly conditioned? I think the defense did pretty darn good, given the field position they were handed too many times. It could have been a whole bunch worse if not for the stellar play. We seem to still be adjusting and learning, even in this loss I saw some very good growth. Take away just 5 plays in this game, and WVU wins 40-37. Sure, I don't like the loss, but we were not embarrassed, we fought, hard and mean.

 

[bbwvfan]

The defense was WORN OUT from the offense being ineffective most of the game, and as usual, the opponent made adjustments at halftime, and WVU did not.

Even though DAD has me on silent, this post is complete bullshit… so I will respond.

http://www.wvusports.com/content/files/Boxscores/football/fbbox11913.pdf

WVU's offense was ineffective most of the game? The opponent made adjustments… WVU did not?

At half, WVU had 134 yds of total offense, and a TOP of 16:38. Texas had 123 yds of total offense, and a TOP of 13:22.

At the end of regulation, WVU's ineffective offense had scored 40 points. It ended regulation with 378 yds of total offense and a TOP of 31:19.

Texas… which was rendered ineffective for most of the first half, made offensive adjustments at half as they scored 40 points for the game. They ended with 410 yds of offense and a TOP of 28:41.

Looks like DC was spot-on, WVU's defense had no answers for Texas in the 2nd half.

Texas' defense had no answer for WVU's offense for most of the 2nd half, but it made the plays it had to make to get the critical stops in WVU's next-to-last possession of regulation as well as OT.

How in the world could anyone make a comment that WVU's offense was ineffective for most of the game when it dominated TOP, scored 40 points… and, did all of this with a billion TO's.