Your final thoughts on the 2014 team regular season

[GoldRusher]

Mine:

Average year for an average team. My old ball coach used to define average as "the best of the worst and the worst of the best". Id say that sums this years team up pretty good. We have some fine fine players that will play this game for money soon and we have some scrubs that wouldn't start for several teams in D1 football. We are below average from the neck up and our coach has some good attributes but still has a long way to go to be a top shelf P5 coach.
Best of the worst, worst of the best, Id say that's us this year and while I'm not satisfied with that at all at the same time I'm not unhappy at the end result either and glad to see bowl eligibility after the crap show last year. Mr. Luck wanted improvement and we got that and some coaching stability could help the program even more now.
I'm looking forward to a good showing in the bowl and a fun signing day in a few months and cant wait for the stories from spring practice and the progress of our players and coaches...... assuming all of them stay put (Texas A&M is looking for a DC and has poached WVU before, Gibby and or Bradley might look good to them or someone else, hafta wait n see).

What about you?

 

[bbwvfan]

This year's team far exceeded my expectations. From the first game when I watched them go toe to toe with the current #1 team in the country until yesterday's final whistle. I honestly did not believe this team had enough talent on any side of the ball to compete with the other teams in the league.

With only two exceptions, the Texas and ISU game, the defense looked ready for battle… and the team started fast. The coaches did a great job of developing a game plan to attack each opponent. Sometimes the execution failed, and sometimes injury and mistakes affected outcome… but, this team was in position to win.

Having just played the most difficult season in the history of WVU football… it is hard to simply look at W/L record to offer my opinion. I consider WVU a good football team… but, not really good… obviously not great. Too many mistakes to be really good.

But, WVU beat the current #7 team in the country by 2 TD's, and despite mistakes… completely dominated them. WVU should have beat the current #5 team in the country as well as the #12… but mistakes did cost them those two games.

WVU's defense did not surrender a TD pass in the 2nd half of any game this year! In a pass happy league… that is amazing. Dana was able to get a 2nd string QB with no Division 1 experience to come in the 2nd half of the KSU game and direct the offense to over 300 yds, and lead the offense to almost 600 yds yesterday. That is amazing.

Look at the UofL schedule this year. Tell me what record you'd expect…

 

[GoldRusher]

Look at the UofL schedule this year. Tell me what record you'd expect…

Miami
Murray State
@UVA
@FIU
Wake
@ Syracuse
@ Clemson
NC State
Florida State
@ Boston College
@ Notre Dame
Kentucky

Pre season I would have prob went 5-6 wins

Now? Prob 9-10 wins assuming we would have a few head scratchers like we usually do along the road throughout the season.

 

[ralphiewvu]

Proud of our boys.

But some of our results had me wonder what if.

Could have beat: bama, TCU and k state

Could have lost: tech and the twerps

7-5 isn't horrible, I expect next year to have a better record. (Especially with our joke non conference schedule).

 

[DCWV4life]

Offense (125 teams)
· Total – 12
· Scoring – 37 (The problem is that WVU moved the ball just fine but didn’t score at the same level they were moving the ball. The difference between 37th and 12th in scoring was 5.1 points per game.
· Pass – 9
· Run – 44 (2nd lowest yards per carry among the top 50 schools.)
· 3rd down – 38
· Redzone – 78 (This played a part in the difference between total offense and scoring offense.
· Sacks – 85
· Tackles for loss – 93
· Turnovers – 119 (It’s surprising WVU had a winning record given their turnovers. The only teams that were worse was Idaho, Vanderbilt, Georgia St., Eastern Mich., and New Mexico St.)



Defense
· Total – 56 (Huge improvement over the previous 2 seasons.)
· Scoring – 61
· Pass – 64
· Run – 67
· 3rd down – 9 (The key statistic for this year’s defense. They got off the field.)
· Redzone – 70
· Sacks – 103 (It’s weird that WVU’s pass defense was so good given their pass rush was bad. WVU will be losing guys that accounted for 12 of the 18 sacks they did have this season. Top returning pass rusher will be Edward Muldrow with 1.5 sacks.)
·
· Tackles for loss – 46
· Turnovers – 113 (WVU recovered 2 fumbles all year. TWO!!!! We fumbled 27 times and lost 18.)



Special Teams/Misc
· Punt Return – 122 (WVU averaged 9.7 feet per return on the ones we didn’t fumble. Yes feet, not yards.)
· Punt Coverage – 120 (The top 50 teams allowed 2 combined TD. WVU allowed 3. )
· Kick Return – 18
· Kick Coverage – 90
· Penalty yards per game – 89
· TO margin – 119 (I wonder if WVU would have won 2 more games if the special teams would not have given up points and/or given the other team the ball back.)

 

[Anotherwvufan]

We started out with low expectations and fielded a team that was more than ready to exceed those expectations. Of the teams we played, Alabama and Oklahoma were the only teams that I felt were better than this team. The difference between this team being average and great was our inability to hold on to the ball. Had we done that, we would be the conference champs, but Baylor would end up in the playoff. Texas was a big disappointment as we just did not show up for the game and Trickett played like he was in a fog.

The weakness of this team was the D Line. Shaq Riddick was supposed to come in and make a difference which he did in the Baylor game. Otherwise, he was a non-factor. Rose did a good job of holding the line and our LBs were great. No pressure on the QB hurt us immensely.

Our other major weakness coming into the season was the QB position. Tickett held up well until everything went sour after the beheadding at TCU. Until then, he played like a Heisman candidate. White and Alford are the best receiving duo we have had other than Bailey/Austin.

I see the coaching as a mixed bag. This group took a bunch of 3 star players and played head to head with Alabama and Oklahoma. Coming into the season, this team was well prepared and our skill position players were vastly improved. While Dana has shown some great starts, he needs to learn how to finish. Finish games, finish the season. Preparation was great, execution was not always sharp. Dropping 3 of our last 4 is worrysome especially after the past two Novembers. I see no good reason why this team should not be 9-3 or 10-2.

While the end of season fade is distressing,

 

[DBAR4WVU]

Overall - I was pleased.

After the last season and a half, I was not expecting much. I hoped for 6-6 so we would not be shopping for a new HC. After the way this team came ready to play against 'Bama, I was a little surprised and hoped for good things to happen. And they did - but not enough of them.

The defense was my biggest surprise. They played fantastic compared to what we endured the last 2 seasons. Their numbers were impacted by a couple of things..... too many big plays. Passing mostly but against the run as well in a couple of games (late against 'Bama for instance). They were not helped by our offense turning the ball over (and over and over). The defense would just be sitting down after a huge stop and they were back on the field. Many times - trying to stop a score from the WV side of the 50. They were not helped by our offense or by our special teams.

The offense looked spectacular on one series and totally inept on the next (sometimes both on the same series). Other than the aforementioned Turnovers - there was the inability to execute inside the 20 (and 30 for that matter). Red Zone was horrible when it counted the most. A lot of dropped balls and Clint trying to force the ball where he shouldn't have. Lots of blame to go around.

Special Teams - horrible early in the season - much improived by the end. A lot of work to be done.

To have finished 7-5 with the SOS this team faced is a testament to how improved this team was. They should have finished 9-3 IMO, but easily could have been 5-7. So I won't complain too much.

Bottom line - it felt good to watch my team play with fire and enthusiasm. They seemed to have their swagger back much of the time. And it was rewarding that not just Mountaineer fans noticed. This team is/was dangerous and could have beaten just about every team they faced. They justed seemed to come up short when it counted most.

A better than expected improvement. Great job!