This Week's Match Up Okie State

[WVUDAD]

This year's defense, more than I can remember in a long time is two different units depending on playing at home or away, play pretty darn well at home, horrible on the road. I complained also about not taking the three, but if he had consistently taken three, we get those 6 you spoke about, BUT , Gold, we only get three rather than 7 the other time he went for it on 4th at the 6, and still lose. Holgorsen is a mad hatter type, the good goes with the bad. Had I been calling plays, we would have kicked the extra point at Texas and maybe lost, but the gunslinger mentality that Holgorsen has won that game. As my brother in law says, it is WVU football, if you get too excited, you will get your heart broken........I pin yesterday's loss on the defense, common wisdom has always been that defense travels, and offense sells tickets at home, but that is not the case with this team. WVU had a ten point lead with under four minutes to go and let OKST walk down the field TWICE, then the gunslinger offense STILL got in position to win, so I can not fault the offense or play calling for the loss. I will be cheering hard for the Mounties next week, it will be an uphill battle, as I am sure the league office is wanting Oklahoma-Texas in the championship game, so WVU will have two opponents on the field...............

 

[Slaton10]

Will throws for almost 400 yards and 2tds. McKoy has over 200 plus yards and 2 Tds. Special Teams makes a splash play. OKIE STATE turns the ball over 4 times and they lose? GUT WRENCHING....

Listened to Gundy post game. Said the change they made at halftime was to go four wide narrow the play calling to 8 plays and play fast. On defense they just changed to a base technique in their front 4. SAD.

Good News. We finally beat OU next their in the Big12 championship.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

Shiiiiiit. This team aint beating OU, not with numbnuts Dana at the helm

I hate to say, but you're right.

 

[mad2mc]

This second half of this game gave me flashbacks of 2009. The only difference, we didn't give up a 17 point lead. Dana needs to make a change with his coaching staff and eliminate Gibson.

For years we bitched about the play of the special team. It has improved. With a above average quarterback, the offense performs. The defense...a whole different story. The DL allowed lanes to be created for the QB to escape. Long is the only player that seems to know how to tackle and it is embarrassing to see Norwood think he is better than what he is. He better move to Safety because he cannot find the ball. The announcer said on one pass breakup that he read the eyes of the WR. BS. He got lucky because he actually grabbed the arm of the WR early and got away with it. On OKSt winning TD, Washington should have made the tackle. Why would you decide to go high with no momentum instead of taking out the legs at the 4 or 5 yard line? I understand why Dana went for 2 against Texas and felt that he needed to get the TD late in the game instead of settling for the FG. The defense in both of these games could not adjust to what the offense was doing, plus in the Texas game, you didn't know what the ref was going to call on any given play. This D made another average QB look like a Heisman candidate.

Spav has to become more creative. The second half reminded me of bubble screen left, bubble screen right, Slaton between the tackles, punt, but this 2nd half was deep pass on first down, RB draw, pass across the middle in front of the first down marker. The OL looked like they mailed in the 2nd half and during the 1st half, the 4th down and 1 should not have been an issue to pickup.

Word on the street is Kansas is in negotiations with Les Myles. It's not going to get any easier.

 

[WVUDAD]

Good News. We finally beat OU next their in the Big12 championship.

I actually think we match up pretty well against Oklahoma, and being at home, we stand a good chance of winning. The defense I have seen from OU will be ripe for the picking if Grier is on his game at all. Our defense plays well at home so far this year. I just hope the officials call a fair game!!!!!!!!

 

[WVUDAD]

Word on the street is Kansas is in negotiations with Les Myles. It's not going to get any easier.

Can you imagine the wild decisions and wonderful clock management we would see in a game with Miles and Holgorsen coaching against one another!!! ESPN will have a field day with the what were they thinking soundbites

 

[Slaton10]

I actually think we match up pretty well against Oklahoma, and being at home, we stand a good chance of winning. The defense I have seen from OU will be ripe for the picking if Grier is on his game at all. Our defense plays well at home so far this year. I just hope the officials call a fair game!!!!!!!!

Its all about stopping Murray..and no one has done it yet...

 

[Anotherwvufan]

I wonder if Sills intentionally went offside on the 4th down near the 50 because he thought it was such a wacky call.
In retrospect it was not so wacky. They were going to score on our D if they got the ball back and the faster the better.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Could not agree more

I’ll wait another week to chime in. This year it was CCG or bust. My thing is that he has to beat Oklahoma at some point and this is the year he has a team that can do it.

 

[Slaton10]

At the end of the day I just don't see how this is a litmus test about Dana's job...I can think of several coaches out there that have the same resume and their fan base isn't saying get rid of the coach....starting with Mike Gundy, Mark Richt, Will Muschamp, and so on....

 

[mad2mc]

At the end of the day I just don't see how this is a litmus test about Dana's job...I can think of several coaches out there that have the same resume and their fan base isn't saying get rid of the coach....starting with Mike Gundy, Mark Richt, Will Muschamp, and so on....

Is Lyin’ Shane Lyons still the AD? Thought for sure he would have some great comments. At least the state of the sports programs and construction projects.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

At the end of the day I just don't see how this is a litmus test about Dana's job...I can think of several coaches out there that have the same resume and their fan base isn't saying get rid of the coach....starting with Mike Gundy, Mark Richt, Will Muschamp, and so on....

I agree. I can see some coaching shake-ups with assistants though.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

At the end of the day I just don't see how this is a litmus test about Dana's job...I can think of several coaches out there that have the same resume and their fan base isn't saying get rid of the coach....starting with Mike Gundy, Mark Richt, Will Muschamp, and so on....

Dana's job should be safe with No Balls at the helm. Ollie would fire a 9 win coach, but I don't see Shane doing the same thing.

This is a litmus test as to whether Dana is good enough to win the B12. We have been talking about this team for 3 years now. I see this as a now or never year. If Dana can't win it this year with this team, I doubt he ever will. Then the question will be how long are we satisfied with placing 3-6 each year in the conference.
There are alot of fans who think Dana is not the answer. A CCG would do wonders to appease that part of the fanbase.

The next question will be can any coach do better given our location and conference?

 

[mad2mc]

I don’t think Ollie would have canned Dana unless he had a sure bet like bringing Jimbo here instead of TAMU getting him. Possibly a Les Miles. As far as No Balls, who knows what he is going to do.

I can see a D-coordinator getting bounced. I think the OU game could seal Gibby’s fate. I’ve read on another board, or it could have been on Twitter, where a guy said we have to run the 3-3-5 because we couldn’t recruit enough DL to run a 4-3-4. Where is Jeighmonee at when you need him?

Until we can get to a reload instead of rebuild mode, we will always be in the 3-6 spot in the league. No different than the Nehlen days but playing in a conference that is a step higher.

 

[Slaton10]

Dana's job should be safe with No Balls at the helm. Ollie would fire a 9 win coach, but I don't see Shane doing the same thing.

This is a litmus test as to whether Dana is good enough to win the B12. We have been talking about this team for 3 years now. I see this as a now or never year. If Dana can't win it this year with this team, I doubt he ever will. Then the question will be how long are we satisfied with placing 3-6 each year in the conference.
There are alot of fans who think Dana is not the answer. A CCG would do wonders to appease that part of the fanbase.

The next question will be can any coach do better given our location and conference?

I don't know...I think ...again my opinion its bigger than wins and losses to a significant degree...for instance..I don't think this is a now or never year...I like the recruiting health of the program...I like how this coaching staff seems to have cleaned up the details on the field of play... at the end of the day...The Big12 has two BLUE BLOOD programs that are always going to be tough to tackle..no different than any other Power 5 conference...SEC Georgia/ Alabama..and Auburn...Big 10 Michigan/Ohio State and MSU....ACC Florida State/Clemson...Pac12 USC..and well..USC... Wv needs to have all the stars aligned to match up with Texas and OU programs that year in and year out have the top recruiting classes in the country...yes this year was one of those years to win the Big12...and they still might...but they already took Texas down in Austin...that was HUGE....and yet if you read on other websites losing to a better than its record would indicate OSU are ready to fire DANA...its crazy to me really...I mean every time it seems this program drops a game its time to fire Dana...those expectations are insane!

 

[WVUDAD]

The next question will be can any coach do better given our location and conference?

There are coaches who could turn WVU into a power almost immediately, the question is would they come and stay? I look forward to seeing what the mad hatter does at Kansas.

 

[WVUDAD]

I mean every time it seems this program drops a game its time to fire Dana...those expectations are insane!

I still don't see Holgorsen as a guy who can get to the top and sustain it. I have warmed to him as he has grown into being a HC, but is depending on transfer kids the best way to get to the top? I just can not understand why the guy who is an offensive genius can not recruit a QB. I am glad that he is a better coach today than in previous years, and he may one day be a great coach, but he still has much to learn. We all want to praise him for a win, then pour piss all over him for a loss that was called exactly the same as the win. Had the 2 point play not scored we would ALL be calling him an idiot. One thing that has changed in my mind in the last couple years is that I was expecting to lose every game prior to it being played three years ago, but this year I am expecting a win each week. The program is ticking up, and as I stated prior to Bill Stewart getting canned, you don't fire a coach who wins 70% of the games, so no, it is not time to can Holgorsen.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

. The program is ticking up, and as I stated prior to Bill Stewart getting canned, you don't fire a coach who wins 70% of the games, so no, it is not time to can Holgorsen.

Agreed. But some assistants need to go. After thinking about how the defense has been, Gibby needs to go. I like Gibson, but the scheme is ineffective.

 

[WVUDAD]

Agreed. But some assistants need to go. After thinking about how the defense has been, Gibby needs to go. I like Gibson, but the scheme is ineffective.

Wvu had the second best defense in the league....the three times we lost this year were more on offense giving away the ball and moronic play calling at crucial times

 

[bbwvfan]

I agree. Gibby has to go.

There is absolutely zero excuse for giving up over 90 points in our last 2 games.

By being so soft and ineffective, you're forcing the offense to be perfect.

I knew Will and Co would have to be perfect to beat OU. I also knew there was little chance of that happening.

It is not fair to place so much of a burden on one side of the ball.