Post by elp525 on Oct 29, 2011 12:17:21 GMT -5
10/28/2011
Garrett Cullen
MetroNews Sports
No. 25 West Virginia (5-2, 1-1) will try to rebound from a 26-point loss to Syracuse with another road contest on Saturday against Rutgers (5-2, 2-1 Big East).
The Mountaineers were left stunned a week ago after Syracuse came out strong from the start and didn’t let up, pounding a less-energetic Mountaineer team 49-23.
“They played a little bit harder than us,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “They outcoached us, they outplayed us and it happened on all three sides of the ball. That’s a huge disappointment.”
Rutgers, meanwhile, is coming off of a disappointing loss as well – following a 5-1 start, the Scarlet Knights fell to a Louisville team that had lost three straight, 16-14. The other loss on the year for Rutgers came back on September 10th – a 24-22 loss to North Carolina on the road.
Overall on the year, the Scarlet Knights have been led by their defense, coming in at 9th in the country in scoring defense giving up just 16 points per contest. A lot of that defensive success has come from creating turnovers – Rutgers leads the country having forced 25 turnovers on the year (15 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries). West Virginia, on the other hand, has forced nine turnovers all season.
“There’s a reason they lead the nation,” Holgorsen said. “That’s not always being in the right place at the right time, but it’s also attacking the football. They’ve got good team speed on defense, and they attack the ball. They make plays on the ball whether it’s in the dude’s hands or if it’s in the air. They do a good job of attacking the football.”
Offensively, however, the numbers aren’t quite as glamorous for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers comes into Saturday ranked 66th in scoring, 99th in total offense, 53rd in passing and 112th in rushing. The team has also endured a quarterback change midseason as well – freshman Gary Nova has stepped in and started three straight games, taking over for sophomore Chas Dodd.
However, in the last two games, Nova has thrown for a combined five interceptions.
“I'm sure he's mad, like most of us,” said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. “But you can't do anything about that one. You've got to go to this one.”
Nova’s leading target to throw the football to is junior Mohamed Sanu who has 65 catches on the year for 683 yards and six touchdowns. He leads the Big East in receptions and is second in yards per contest.
“He moves around a bunch,” Holgorsen said of Sanu. “He’ll play inside and outside. Our scheme is to have the corners/cover guys outside. If we load up the box, we’ll put them in one-on-one situations. When those guys release, then you’ve got to have stuff in the middle and identify what routes they’re running and go cover them. We didn’t do a good job with that last week.”
Another thing West Virginia struggled with last week was with the defensive pressure and blitzing brought on by Syracuse. It’s something Holgorsen expects to see again this week as well.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams that handle blitzes better, and you make them pay for it. That’s our goal offensively. We want them to blitz because that means that there’s less space behind them at the line of scrimmage,” Holgorsen said. “If we identify it and do a good job of handling it, we could have easily scored more than 49 points.
“We sat in here as an offense and we went through every play and we said here’s how you attack it. If a few guys would have done that, then we could have easily scored more than 49 points and won the game, but we didn’t do that. We need to
be able to handle it better.”
Motivation for Saturday should certainly be improved – if nothing else, last week’s loss to Syracuse served as a bit of a wake up call.
“We need seniors and upperclassmen to step up and take control of this team when things get tough,” Holgorsen said. “The routine of the week is going to be the same. The difference is, when we line up and get hit in the mouth, what are we going to do? Last week, we didn’t do anything. This week, we need guys to step up and be the ones that are going to hit people back in the mouth. That’s called football.”
Looking at the series overall between the two teams, it’s one the Mountaineers have simply dominated. West Virginia has overall won 16 in a row and leads the series 32-4-2. Schiano, meanwhile, is 0-10 against the Mountaineers.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 P.M.
“It’s going to be a challenge to go up there. It’s going to be much like Syracuse,” Holgorsen said. “They’re going to be fired up about playing at home, and they’re going to be fired up about playing the Mountaineers. We’re going to get their best shot. If we want to win a championship this year, then we’ve got to be able to handle that. We didn’t handle it last week, and we need to be able to handle it this week.”
Garrett Cullen
MetroNews Sports
No. 25 West Virginia (5-2, 1-1) will try to rebound from a 26-point loss to Syracuse with another road contest on Saturday against Rutgers (5-2, 2-1 Big East).
The Mountaineers were left stunned a week ago after Syracuse came out strong from the start and didn’t let up, pounding a less-energetic Mountaineer team 49-23.
“They played a little bit harder than us,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “They outcoached us, they outplayed us and it happened on all three sides of the ball. That’s a huge disappointment.”
Rutgers, meanwhile, is coming off of a disappointing loss as well – following a 5-1 start, the Scarlet Knights fell to a Louisville team that had lost three straight, 16-14. The other loss on the year for Rutgers came back on September 10th – a 24-22 loss to North Carolina on the road.
Overall on the year, the Scarlet Knights have been led by their defense, coming in at 9th in the country in scoring defense giving up just 16 points per contest. A lot of that defensive success has come from creating turnovers – Rutgers leads the country having forced 25 turnovers on the year (15 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries). West Virginia, on the other hand, has forced nine turnovers all season.
“There’s a reason they lead the nation,” Holgorsen said. “That’s not always being in the right place at the right time, but it’s also attacking the football. They’ve got good team speed on defense, and they attack the ball. They make plays on the ball whether it’s in the dude’s hands or if it’s in the air. They do a good job of attacking the football.”
Offensively, however, the numbers aren’t quite as glamorous for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers comes into Saturday ranked 66th in scoring, 99th in total offense, 53rd in passing and 112th in rushing. The team has also endured a quarterback change midseason as well – freshman Gary Nova has stepped in and started three straight games, taking over for sophomore Chas Dodd.
However, in the last two games, Nova has thrown for a combined five interceptions.
“I'm sure he's mad, like most of us,” said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. “But you can't do anything about that one. You've got to go to this one.”
Nova’s leading target to throw the football to is junior Mohamed Sanu who has 65 catches on the year for 683 yards and six touchdowns. He leads the Big East in receptions and is second in yards per contest.
“He moves around a bunch,” Holgorsen said of Sanu. “He’ll play inside and outside. Our scheme is to have the corners/cover guys outside. If we load up the box, we’ll put them in one-on-one situations. When those guys release, then you’ve got to have stuff in the middle and identify what routes they’re running and go cover them. We didn’t do a good job with that last week.”
Another thing West Virginia struggled with last week was with the defensive pressure and blitzing brought on by Syracuse. It’s something Holgorsen expects to see again this week as well.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams that handle blitzes better, and you make them pay for it. That’s our goal offensively. We want them to blitz because that means that there’s less space behind them at the line of scrimmage,” Holgorsen said. “If we identify it and do a good job of handling it, we could have easily scored more than 49 points.
“We sat in here as an offense and we went through every play and we said here’s how you attack it. If a few guys would have done that, then we could have easily scored more than 49 points and won the game, but we didn’t do that. We need to
be able to handle it better.”
Motivation for Saturday should certainly be improved – if nothing else, last week’s loss to Syracuse served as a bit of a wake up call.
“We need seniors and upperclassmen to step up and take control of this team when things get tough,” Holgorsen said. “The routine of the week is going to be the same. The difference is, when we line up and get hit in the mouth, what are we going to do? Last week, we didn’t do anything. This week, we need guys to step up and be the ones that are going to hit people back in the mouth. That’s called football.”
Looking at the series overall between the two teams, it’s one the Mountaineers have simply dominated. West Virginia has overall won 16 in a row and leads the series 32-4-2. Schiano, meanwhile, is 0-10 against the Mountaineers.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 P.M.
“It’s going to be a challenge to go up there. It’s going to be much like Syracuse,” Holgorsen said. “They’re going to be fired up about playing at home, and they’re going to be fired up about playing the Mountaineers. We’re going to get their best shot. If we want to win a championship this year, then we’ve got to be able to handle that. We didn’t handle it last week, and we need to be able to handle it this week.”
