Post by rainman on Oct 1, 2007 5:59:31 GMT -5
Back to Work
By Christopher Marshall for MSNsportsNET.com
September 30, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez will try to improve his team this week by doing it the only way he knows how: going back to work.
After seeing his team commit more turnovers (six) against South Florida than in any game during his tenure at WVU, Rodriguez on Sunday offered his view on what went wrong against the Bulls.
“The interceptions were bad decisions. The fumbles - one of them was a snap and another they put the hat on the ball and we didn’t have it secured right,” Rodriguez said. “It was very poor execution offensively all night. We need to get it corrected and we’ve got a lot of work to do starting this evening.”
Shot-gun snaps were another problem area for the Mountaineers and several of those bad snaps came at critical points in the game. With WVU facing third and goal at the two yard line just before halftime, center Mike Dent fired the ball over Jarrett Brown’s head turning a possible momentum-turning touchdown into a 35-yard Pat McAfee field goal. Another snap was never properly handled by Brown, forcing him to mishandle an exchange with running back Steve Slaton that resulted in a turnover.
“It was pretty glaring. We had been pretty good about it for the most part all year and then we had a few bad ones during that game at key times,” Rodriguez said. “It was pretty disappointing but we’ll work extra hard on it.”
The Grant Town, W.Va., native said the snaps had more to do with poor execution than anything the Bulls were doing on the defensive line. Dent wasn’t the only one on the offensive line having difficulties handling a fast and athletic South Florida defensive front.
“There were a couple missed assignments in blocking. I think our guys were thinking a little too much,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously when you start to think too much you become a little tentative on some of your techniques.”
One of the more upsetting things about the game for Rodriguez was the fact that his team showed great focus in practice leading up to the game last Friday night.
“I thought we were ready to play. We had a pretty good week of practice and their focus was pretty good but then you go out in a game and we just weren’t sharp,” Rodriguez said. “Not just on offense, there were some times in all three phases where we weren’t sharp, and sometimes when the coaches weren’t sharp. It was a team effort. When you’re not sharp against a pretty good team at their place on the road it can cost you a game and that’s what happened.”
One of the bright spots was the performance of the West Virginia defense - a unit that continues to grow with each game. Jeff Casteel’s squad limited the Bulls to just 280 yards of offense while forcing four turnovers.
“I thought they played pretty good. They only had 56 snaps and the guys made a few plays on the ball in the air. There weren’t a whole lot of missed assignments and we tackled pretty well,” Rodriguez said. “The only glaring weakness we had was the scramble where we let them get a big play there. Other than that they did a nice job.”
A topic on everybody’s mind is the health of quarterback Patrick White, who sustained a deep thigh bruise while scrambling for a fourth-down conversion late in the first half. Rodriguez says his starting signal caller will be "day-to-day" with the nagging injury.
“Pat White began treatment and he won’t do anything (Sunday). We will see how it gets better during the week,” Rodriguez said. “He may wake up tomorrow on the day off and get better. It’s one of those things you can’t predict so we’ll see.”
Rodriguez was frustrated Friday night by a tidal wave of miscues that had not shown up so far this season. The seventh-year Mountaineer mentor was grasping for answers as to why the mistakes happened.
“I have always said that 18-, 19- and 20 year-olds aren’t always going to have great performances,” Rodriguez said. “For whatever reasons sometimes they are just not sharp. We certainly weren’t very sharp offensively. We made more mistakes in that game than the other four combined. It’s kind of baffling but after today we’ll get it corrected and move on.”
While it’s unrealistic to expect a team to play well for 12 straight games, Rodriguez noted that to have a great year you have to find a way to win games when the team is not at its best.
“You want to be able to play well every weekend but it’s nice to try to win some when you don’t play well,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously we didn’t play well in the last game and we got beat, but as poorly as we played we still had a chance to win the game down there at the end.”
Rodriguez notes that while watching all of the miscues on film, he saw nothing that couldn’t be corrected on the practice field.
“I don’t think there is anything there we can’t fix,” Rodriguez said.
By Christopher Marshall for MSNsportsNET.com
September 30, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez will try to improve his team this week by doing it the only way he knows how: going back to work.
After seeing his team commit more turnovers (six) against South Florida than in any game during his tenure at WVU, Rodriguez on Sunday offered his view on what went wrong against the Bulls.
“The interceptions were bad decisions. The fumbles - one of them was a snap and another they put the hat on the ball and we didn’t have it secured right,” Rodriguez said. “It was very poor execution offensively all night. We need to get it corrected and we’ve got a lot of work to do starting this evening.”
Shot-gun snaps were another problem area for the Mountaineers and several of those bad snaps came at critical points in the game. With WVU facing third and goal at the two yard line just before halftime, center Mike Dent fired the ball over Jarrett Brown’s head turning a possible momentum-turning touchdown into a 35-yard Pat McAfee field goal. Another snap was never properly handled by Brown, forcing him to mishandle an exchange with running back Steve Slaton that resulted in a turnover.
“It was pretty glaring. We had been pretty good about it for the most part all year and then we had a few bad ones during that game at key times,” Rodriguez said. “It was pretty disappointing but we’ll work extra hard on it.”
The Grant Town, W.Va., native said the snaps had more to do with poor execution than anything the Bulls were doing on the defensive line. Dent wasn’t the only one on the offensive line having difficulties handling a fast and athletic South Florida defensive front.
“There were a couple missed assignments in blocking. I think our guys were thinking a little too much,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously when you start to think too much you become a little tentative on some of your techniques.”
One of the more upsetting things about the game for Rodriguez was the fact that his team showed great focus in practice leading up to the game last Friday night.
“I thought we were ready to play. We had a pretty good week of practice and their focus was pretty good but then you go out in a game and we just weren’t sharp,” Rodriguez said. “Not just on offense, there were some times in all three phases where we weren’t sharp, and sometimes when the coaches weren’t sharp. It was a team effort. When you’re not sharp against a pretty good team at their place on the road it can cost you a game and that’s what happened.”
One of the bright spots was the performance of the West Virginia defense - a unit that continues to grow with each game. Jeff Casteel’s squad limited the Bulls to just 280 yards of offense while forcing four turnovers.
“I thought they played pretty good. They only had 56 snaps and the guys made a few plays on the ball in the air. There weren’t a whole lot of missed assignments and we tackled pretty well,” Rodriguez said. “The only glaring weakness we had was the scramble where we let them get a big play there. Other than that they did a nice job.”
A topic on everybody’s mind is the health of quarterback Patrick White, who sustained a deep thigh bruise while scrambling for a fourth-down conversion late in the first half. Rodriguez says his starting signal caller will be "day-to-day" with the nagging injury.
“Pat White began treatment and he won’t do anything (Sunday). We will see how it gets better during the week,” Rodriguez said. “He may wake up tomorrow on the day off and get better. It’s one of those things you can’t predict so we’ll see.”
Rodriguez was frustrated Friday night by a tidal wave of miscues that had not shown up so far this season. The seventh-year Mountaineer mentor was grasping for answers as to why the mistakes happened.
“I have always said that 18-, 19- and 20 year-olds aren’t always going to have great performances,” Rodriguez said. “For whatever reasons sometimes they are just not sharp. We certainly weren’t very sharp offensively. We made more mistakes in that game than the other four combined. It’s kind of baffling but after today we’ll get it corrected and move on.”
While it’s unrealistic to expect a team to play well for 12 straight games, Rodriguez noted that to have a great year you have to find a way to win games when the team is not at its best.
“You want to be able to play well every weekend but it’s nice to try to win some when you don’t play well,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously we didn’t play well in the last game and we got beat, but as poorly as we played we still had a chance to win the game down there at the end.”
Rodriguez notes that while watching all of the miscues on film, he saw nothing that couldn’t be corrected on the practice field.
“I don’t think there is anything there we can’t fix,” Rodriguez said.
