Smurph's smack - week 10

[smurph]

If a win is a win is a win, then a loss is a loss is a loss. Having already read some posts on other threads, it appears I am the minority on a few things, but I will post my opinion anyway.

I don't think many of us ever thought we were a top-10 team this year, but many of us felt we could be a top-15/20 team. IMO, our guys put forth their best 60-minute effort of the season, almost beating a top-5 team on their turf. Too bad we can't play every game with this intensity. I mean, c'mon, we only play 12 games.

1. Running backs - A. Noel Devine took a beating and kept on coming. He and Jock proved they are not just finesse backs .Excellent game for Clark. He should be a bigger part of our game plan.
2. Quarterback - A-minus. Jarrett's weakness is that he doesn't throw well on the run. Otherwise, I thought he had an exceptional game. his only misses were whenhe was on the run. No INTs. He was under pressure a few times and usually did a very good job of turning scrambles into positive yardage.
3. Offensive line - C-plus. I saw improvement on the offensive lie, but this is still the weakest part of our team (other than KO coverage). I still saw guys like Madsen and Capers missing blocks. Many people think Selvish Capers can play in the NFL, and maybe he can, but the last 2-3 games he is our worst O-lineman. The line did a pretty good job on power-run blocking in the 2nd half.
4. Receivers - B-minus. Jock Sanders might be the most consistent player on the team. I wish we could have used him a little more. Starks, Arnett, and Urban had good games. Not much passing in the 2nd half.
5. Defensive line - B-plus. Pretty good job. They contained Collaros, got some pressure on him and forced Cincinnati to run the ball in the 2nd half. Though their running back got 175 yards, not too many long runs. Remember, this was the #3 offense in the country.
6. Linebackers - B-minus. I thought linebacking would be a strength on this team. It really isn't, but they did pretty well yesterday. Tackling was a little bit better.
7. Defensive backs - A-minus. These guys had their best game of the season. Couple of big hits. Tandy forced UC's first lost fumble of the season . They mostly shut down the #1 team in the country in pass efficiency.
8. Special teams - C. Kozlowski had another great game, pinned them inside the 20 three times, including once at the one. Our first kickoff, we stopped them at the 21. Unfortunately we had a penalty,which was unbelievably repeated on the rekick giving them the ball at the 49. KO coverage still sucks. Always will.
9. Coaching - A-minus. This is where some will disagree with me. I agree the 2 consecutive calls of illegal formation on the 2 kickoffs is unacceptable. I also agree the play-call on 3rd and 8 with 5 minutes to play was a stupid call.
Otherwise I thought both coordinators came in with a great game plan. This Cincinnati team was averaging over 40 points a game and led the nation in pass efficiency. We usually rushed only 3 guys and kept either one or two "spies" to limit Collaros scrambling for yardage and it mostly worked. We had 2 (actually 3) turnovers and they had less than 200 yards passing. On offense, we were very creative in the first half, and again it worked mostly. I saw a few slant passes (halleluia). In the 2nd half we tried to do what UConn did, which was to wear them down with power running. Even though that is not our MO, I thought it worked pretty well. Yes we didn't score until the last 40 seconds, but we moved the ball, used the clock, and had a chance to win the game.

[smurph]

POG- Hard to pick one player. So let's say Noel Devine, Jarrett Brown, Jock Sanders, Tandy, Chris Neild, Bradley Starks, John Barclay, Robert Sands. Kozlowski.

[wvumaryjane]

I think there was poor poor clock management by Bill Stewart. I think in the second half things should have been mixed up a bit more. I agree that WVU played last night which is something we haven't seen in awhile and I FULLY agree that Ryan Clark needs to get more play time.

I honestly thought we were gonna get our asses SPANKED last night but at least we came to play.

[mountaineerinpa]

The coordinators may have come in with a good game plan and the players executed it with alot of heart, however they didnt make any adjustments and some of the plays were called were very bad to say the least. Stew overruled some of them im sure. Therefore the A minus grade you gave them should be lowered to a C plus at best.

[rainman]

Good review as usual and pretty much right on, the reversed call still upsets me but he was Cincy's 12th man for sure last night and we could not defend against him

[elp525]

I think you are right on as usual. The call was unreal. It sucks when you are playing a game against another team as well as the officials. I saw another one last night by probably the same Big East replay official during the ND/Pitt game when he overturned a field decision on a forward pass call and gave the ball over to Pitt in the waning moments. It seems to be a trend now for the replay officials to take care of their highly ranked comference teams - not only in the Big East but all conferences.....especially the SEC. Just sayin'.
Like I mentioned on another thread the special teams play is our Achilles' heel. Not just the assinine consecutive calls for the exact same two penalties on the same side of the line, but the whole special teams play. You can't sustain a long drive and then turn around and give up 40+ yards or way more on the following kick-off. It brings your morale down a notch from where you just built it up. Been there - done that.
The offensive line does need to gel. I thought it was cool to see the inside running game evolve as it did. I thought they should have run it more inside when they were completely shutting down Devine trying to catch the end. Jarrett did his best job in weeks. That was good to see.
Overall I thought it was the best game we showed up to play this season. Although we had some unusual calls for the offense a couple of times Mullen did fair. We moved the ball well. I felt a bit of al-la Fraud when they kept trying to run Devine around the end in the first half. It wasn't working and they beat that dead horse for a while. Like I mentioned it was good to see an inside run game evlove from this. Stew just needs to cede the special teams to someone else - we all already knew that. You can't say any more than that. Casteel did better with the "D". The defense has been getting better and better each week - especially the d-backs. Neild is my hero on the d-line. That boy is a beast.

Overall I would grade them at 'B'. But when you play a top 5 team you have to bring your 'A' game.

[joemountaineer]

I thought the over ruled fumble and gifted touchdown really changed the game. It's 14-7 at that point and that was a huge turnover that was taken away. I still don't know how that official makes that call when he's supposed to rule fumble/no fumble. At any rate, it was the best effort so far by WVU and maybe this will be one of those unusual teams that surges late. I really hope so. I fully expected a shellacking at the hands of Cincy and the Eers really played hard in that game. I think with just a bit more effort (and better calls on coaching) this WVU team can beat Pitt and Rutgers. Won't that make things interesting at the end of the year? I really wish Stew had gone for the field goal late in the game, but I guess it's easy to Monday morning quarterback when I'm not a coach and just a a fan. I still think Stew and Mullen are learning on the fly how to coach certain situations. I'm starting to lean toward the Stew isn't the man to keep this program going. On that note, I also think a coaching change at this point would do more harm than good. There are good recruits coming in and I'm of the mindset that upsetting the applecart right now isn't the way to go, despite my heavy frustration with Stewart and Mullen at times. I'm probably in the minority on this at this juncture because there's a lot of dicontent in Mountaineer land right now. If WVU somehow win's the next two it will finish 9-3 reg season and that hasn't happened in a while. No BE championship of course but maybe WVU can get a Gator Bowl trip out of this (if ND can somehow be kept from stealing that spot). Anyway, odd as it is to feel this way after a loss, I actually feel a little better about this team now than I did after the lackluster wins over Louisville and others this season.

[smurph]

joe, I have said all along let's give this coaching staff 3 years, and then see where our program stands. It is unrealistic to expect a top-10 team every year. However, I think everyone feels at this point that our teams have underachieved the last 2 seasons. After 2010, this staff will have mostly their own recruits, and maybe gained some knowledge. Many of these coaches are doing their specific jobs for the first time. If, after 3 seasons this team continues to show a downward trend, there will be a lot of pressure on Stewart to step down.