Way to early Spring Football predictions

[DCWV4life]

Bama @ Atlanta
Towson
@ Maryland
Oklahoma
Kansas
@ T Tech
Baylor
@ Ok ST
TCU
@ Texas
Kan ST
@ Iowa St

So with spring ball behind us who wants to step up and make some bold predictions?
Win/Loss record
starting QB
who has breakout year

...heck make up some categories and let’s see what we can all come up with.

Last home game this year is a Thursday night game and the students will still be in town, wonder how the turn out will be?

 

[bbwvfan]

Is that a brutal schedule… or what?

 

[DCWV4life]

Bama @ Atlanta Loss
Towson Win
@ Maryland Win
Oklahoma Win
Kansas Win
@ T Tech Loss
Baylor Loss
@ Ok ST Loss
TCU Win
@ Texas Win
Kan ST Win
@ Iowa St Win

I am going 8-4, Even with our QB situation in flux last year we were in games that we should not have been in....with what i think will be a improved defense i think we finish some of those games. We are finally starting to resemble a Div 1 football team with our numbers and I think that is going to help. There at the end of the season last year we looked tanked going late into the game. i think this year we get over that hump and we finsh those games that in all honesty we didn't belong in anyway.

Starting QB: Screw it i am going Logan Moore and why not? This spring he surprised most with his play and he was really one of the only players on the team with a spark play every open practice. I could care less if he can hit a net in practice. Pratical side of me says Millard gets opeing start against Bama, but whoever it is I hope they are the clear cut starter after earning it.

Breakout year: I think many on the defensive side will, some because of off field training and improvement, some because we have been so bad any life on that side will seem like a iprovement. With that said my breakout player will be Smallwood, he had a heck of a spring and his versatality is only going to benefit us and the speed in which we can run our offense. I liked him last year and I think this year he has about 1500 yards of total offense and I will say 10 TD's.

Obviously a big season for DH and staff and one I think will get us back on track.

 

[DCWV4life]

Is that a brutal schedule… or what?

it is but i think we are going to handle it diffrently, players have to be getting used to the Big 12 traveling. My wife mentioned this to me at the spring game and I tend to agree, she said that the whole program from DH down seems more confident and relaxed. Sort of like he is coming into his own after all the transition he has faced since day one at WVU. I think this is going to spread through the program and really help on game day.

 

[bbwvfan]

Here are some of my random thoughts…

I believe Trickett… if healthy… will be the starting QB. I was not impressed with some of his issues last year… the time it took to learn the hand signals being the main one. But, he gutted out the season, and I cannot imagine the pain he went through with a torn labrum, and how his injury affected his performance.

If Trickett is healthy… and can remain healthy… I expect to see improved production from him and the offense. The offense was improving at year's end, and with all of the WR's back from last year…. there should be continued growth as they understand and can read the defenses better as a unit.

Like DC said, WVU was in a number of games last year… and did not finish. That is a major theme being pushed on them…. FINISH!

I also feel that opening the season with Bama is huge in terms of motivation for the players. I believe it will pay great dividends in terms of focus and dedication during the off-season strength/conditioning and work-outs go.

I expect the defense to be much better. As a result of lack of depth and injury, a lot of kids were pushed into action the past two seasons. Their experience and growth should result in improved results. There is more quality in the depth chart today, but clearly we are thin in some areas. Injuries could still majorly impact this squad.

I will be thrilled with an 8-4 mark. Realistically, I am thinking 6-6… 7-5…

 

[DCWV4life]

I will be thrilled with an 8-4 mark. Realistically, I am thinking 6-6… 7-5…

Yeah i went 8-4 hoping we improve in those tight games, with all the issues we faced we still were in the games with T Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, and Iowa St. We had no QB, no depth, and nobody who really played together yet we still managed to challenge those teams down to the end.

 

[DCWV4life]

Davis Webb is the only QB currently on Texas Tech's roster - CBSSports.com

Maybe by the time they get to us we will be playing a back up!

 

[bbwvfan]

Phil Steele

Dropping our old rivals, and adding a neutral game against Bama looks to be making things harder for WVU.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Phil Steele

Dropping our old rivals, and adding a neutral game against Bama looks to be making things harder for WVU.

WVU SOS 12

Alabama SOS 99

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Bama @ Atlanta I see no chance for us here. 45-10
Towson Win 28-3
@ Maryland Loss 21-7
Oklahoma Loss 35-14
Kansas Win 24-10
@ T Tech Win 28-17
Baylor Loss 49-28
@ Ok ST Loss 21-17
TCU Win 28-14
@ Texas Win 21-17
Kan ST Win 17-14
@ Iowa St Win 28-7


W-L 7-5
Starting QB Trickett Crest takes over after Oklahoma loss
Breakout Player William Crest
Breakout player D Worley & Henry

Prediction After Alabama, our Defense gets stout. Offense gets hurt by WRs not being able to separate and QBs not making fast decisions. Defenses load up against the run. Ol has trouble keeping the pass rush and our RBs need to break tackles behind the line. Crest comes in after Oklahoma and with his mobility, the offense starts to progress. We don't score more than 28 points in any game.

Now if no QB really steps up and we are looking at the Trickett/Millard combo we end up losing to Texas,KSU and Ok State leaving us at 4-8 and Bill Bradley is named HC before the Iowa State game.

 

[DCWV4life]

WVU Kicking It Into Another Gear

They need too, last year it looked sad!!

 

[DCWV4life]

You know I forgot to mention anything about the kickers, this could be our best kicking tandem ever and the best legs since Pat M. Josh Lambert and boom stache are going to win at least two games for us!!! I know Deforrest time here has been up and down, but there is no arguing his influence and improvement on special teams kicking. If the return teams improve this year he will be back near the top as far as special teams coaches go.

Breakout candidate: Josh Lambert

 

[bbwvfan]

WVU Kicking It Into Another Gear

They need too, last year it looked sad!!

Raises a couple of questions…

1. In Dana's 2nd year, the offense ran less plays/gm than his first. Do you think he intentionally slowed down the pace to compensate for the defense?

2. Last year the team did not run much tempo. Was this due to having an all-new set of players in the skilled positions? Especially with Trickett running the show… the kid had trouble learning both the offense and the hand signals

 

[mad2mc]

Raises a couple of questions…

1. In Dana's 2nd year, the offense ran less plays/gm than his first. Do you think he intentionally slowed down the pace to compensate for the defense?

2. Last year the team did not run much tempo. Was this due to having an all-new set of players in the skilled positions? Especially with Trickett running the show… the kid had trouble learning both the offense and the hand signals

I feel that the answer is within both questions. New QBs taking over the offense who do not have the skill sets that Geno possessed in reading the D and placing the ball where it needs to be. The O was built around a fast paced passing game. This did not happen last year as there was times Mallard nor Trickett could hit the broad size of a barn. For some reason, the O-line was the most seasoned unit on either side of the ball and played like a Jr High football team. The offense as a whole was inconsistent forcing a young D back on the field on too many 3 & outs. The D was too green to hold a lead late in any of the games.
Some of this falls on DH. If your team is not equipped to run a high powered, fast paced offense, you need to have a blend of run vs pass. There seemed to be a few times that the run was working and he didn't force the opponent's hand to stop it. I believe K-State could have been a combination of run/pass, while in the Iowa State game, there were times late in the game that Dana should have ran the ball instead of pass first.

 

[DCWV4life]

Plays per game also dropped in second year because the other teams were running so many plays only do much time to go around...I don't think DH did anything to save defense. Defense gave up a lot if quick scores so I do not think this was a option.

 

[bbwvfan]

Plays per game also dropped in second year because the other teams were running so many plays only do much time to go around...I don't think DH did anything to save defense. Defense gave up a lot if quick scores so I do not think this was a option.

Well... even with Geno, WVU started going into a huddle in his 2nd year running Dana's offense. Hard to run tempo out of a huddle. That is when I thought Dana May be slowing the pace to help his struggling defense.

 

[DCWV4life]

Whatever the reason I don't think resting with that defense was a smart strategy since they gave up scores so quickly...his mentality had to say score and score as often a you can.

 

[DCWV4life]

They only ran 67 less plays in the last 6 games compared to the first 7. The defense was so bad I think all the pressure was on the offense. I mean look at the Baylor game, we were up 21 late in that game and still had to score as much as we could.

 

[bbwvfan]

I don't know if there is a right answer. I go back to the OU game in '12. It was frustrating to see WVU score with too much time left on the clock. They gave OU the ball with under 3min to go....haha. Lost the damn game despite scoring 49 points and almost 800 yds of offense.

Crazy!

 

[GoldRusher]

I think Skyler Howard is the starter after fall camp(assuming we don't pick up a transfer that's a better fit)and I also think Crest has enough talent to pass Millard and Trick THIS year on the depth chart. I just don't know if his comfort with the offense and timing with a talent level like our WR's will be enough to unseat Howard for the starting spot by the end of fall camp. I DO see a Tajh Boyd kind of player in Crest and I believe he is the answer long term and will be our starting QB for multiple years either starting next season or the year after.

I think Dana will use Howards mobility this year and make a few subtle changes with the offense to try n put even more pressure on opposing defenses and if the defense has improved as much as most of us expect I also see him using these RB's and running the ball a lil more than we have seen the last few years.

I agree on the kicking game, I havnt felt this good about our kickers and punters in....maybe ever. Lambert could be all conference(real shame ol L.L. aint around to enjoy this), kid has a cannon leg.

The defense looked better to me this spring but I have a very hard time trusting it to be the defense that we need it to be until I see it.

record?, Id say 5-6 wins tops unless this team does some serious gelling and growing up between now and August. As noted the schedule is brutal and we do still have some very significant question marks.