COLLEGE PARK, Md.— Maybe Josh Lambert warranted a procedure flag for lurching forward before the snap on West Virginia’s game-winning kick.
Maybe Maryland warranted a replay review of a third-down spot in its previous drive.
Maybe Terps defensive lineman Andre Monroe summarized it best when he said: “Ain’t nothing to say. They won the game.”
Yet here at the MMSR, there’s so much to say, and so much to grade, from a 40-37 Mountaineers’ victory that Tony Gibson called “the most up and down football game I’ve ever been a part of.” We’re all about the ups and downs and sometimes neutral, so here goes:
QUARTERBACKS
After Dana Holgorsen said last week he hadn’t felt this confident in the offensive execution “since Geno,” Trickett put up Geno-like numbers: 37-of-49 for four touchdowns and 511 yards. The second-best passing performance in school history—accomplished in a steady rain—earned Trickett national player of the week honors from Walter Camp on Sunday, and he figures to add Big 12 honors when they’re released Monday. (Interestingly, he did not earn the in-house offensive champion nod—scroll down to the running backs for that one.)
Holgorsen also predicted Trickett will make “a heck of a coach someday,” which showed in his ability to exploit whatever alignment Maryland utilized. That meant exploiting single coverage on his outside receivers and checking into run plays when the defensive box was light.
He suffered his first interception of the season—and gave Terps linebacker Yannick Ngakoue a shot at another in the fourth quarter—but those were the only glaring mistakes.
RUNNING BACKS
Remember when five running backs seemed like a luxury? WVU utilized every one of them against Maryland, depth that proved vital after Rushel Shell (27 carries for 98 yards) sustained an apparent hand injury with 11 minutes to play.
Wendell Smallwood (eight carries for 28 yards) has yet to pop a long run but his receiving skills make defenses worry. Witness his 50-yard gain on the game-opening screen pass.
And witness the contributions from the backups.
Enter Andrew Buie, who made six carries for 25 yards before taking a shot to his knees on an incompletion. Enter Dreamius Smith, whose 24 yards on seven carries included a series of runs that started WVU’s game-winning drive from its own 5. Then there was Dustin Garrison—your team offensive champion—who surfaced on the decisive series with a nifty 11-yard catch-and-run on third-and-8. He also reeled off a 10-yard run for another first down as the Mountaineers moved into range for the tiebreaking kick.
“Dustin Garrison might have made the key play of the game,” said offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. “We knew at some point this year we were going to need all five of those running backs. We didn’t know when, but we knew we would, and (Saturday) was it.”
If there’s a ding on the backfield’s performance, fullback Elijah Wellman missed on a couple lead blocks—one of which ended with Trickett being sacked on a fourth-down rollout at Maryland 8.
RECEIVERS
When Kevin White failed to pull in a leaping TD catch on West Virginia’s second series, he said, “I was kind of pissed off at myself.” His mood soon brightened.
On his way to a personal-best performance, White made acrobatic grabs of 42 and 35 yards against tight coverage. He also raced 44 yards with a screen pass for his second touchdown of the season. It added up to a 13-catch day worth 216 yards.
“I don’t feel like there’s a DB in the Big 12 that can guard Kevin because of his size,” said fellow receiver Mario Alford, who enjoyed a monster day himself with 11 catches for 131 yards and two scores. “If me and Kevin are both on our game, I think we’ll be pretty hard to stop.”
The 5-foot-10 Alford’s TDs came on downfield grabs of 43 and 36 yards, proving there’s more to his game than the catch-and-run plays he excelled at late last season.
Daikiel Shorts (62 yards and a touchdown on four catches) returned to the starting lineup at slot receiver and delivered on the winning series—making a diving 17-yard grab at midfield.
OFFENSIVE LINE
All five starters played for an unfathomable 108 snaps and held up during the 13-play finale, though Holgorsen could see “they were dog-tired.”
The overall 3.1-yard rushing average wasn’t exactly robust and WVU settled for converting 2-of-4 on short-yardage fourth downs. The Terps made 10 negative-yardage stops, which is typically too many. But given the volume of plays and the physical competitiveness of Maryland’s defensive front, this was a sufficient performance on many levels.
One of those levels being 694 yards.
Trickett was sacked three times but rarely felt pressured otherwise in a game where he made 55 drop-backs.
Left guard Quinton Spain had his hands full in a battle against defensive end Andre Monroe (nine tackles and a sack). Right guard Mark Glowinski also allowed a sack but sprang Smallwood on a screen block. Center Tyler Orlosky made the key downfield block on White’s screen-turned-TD.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown flashed his 4.4 speed by running for 161 yards, though the bulk of that damage occurred on two option keepers that accounted for 112 yards. He was it for the Terps’ running game, as the other backs compiled only 2 yards on nine carries.
Lacking stars, this defensive line won’t wow any opponent, but it made a key stop Saturday. On third-and-1 in the final 3 minutes, Kyle Rose led a push that stuffed Kenneth Goins for a 5-yard loss. If Goins gets the first down, WVU’s winning drive never happens.
With a half-sack and another TFL, defensive end Noble Nwachukwu continues to be the line’s biggest surprise—and the biggest nightmare for tongue-tied PA announcers.
Christian Brown forced the defense’s only takeaway, bouncing up from a cut block in time to deflect a pass Daryl Worley intercepted.
In two games against FBS competition, transfer Shaq Riddick hasn’t registered a tackle.WVU needs him to become she sort of factor against the spread offenses that follow.
LINEBACKERS
Nick Kwiatkoski made three TFLs, 12 tackles total and broke up two passes to earn defensive champion honors. Isaiah Bruce became a starter again at Sam—with Wes Tonkery inactive—and made five tackles, two for loss.
Brandon Golson was apart of both West Virginia sacks but was also a part of the four-man cluster that failed to take down C.J. Brown at the outset of his 75-yard touchdown keeper.
Edward Muldrow had a quarterback pressure and Shaq Petteway had a quarterback ducking, jarring Brown’s helmet loose on a scramble. Without a more consistent pass rush, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson must continue to dial up riskier blitzes from defensive backs.
Take away Brown’s two big runs and Maryland’s 6 yards-per-carry average dips dramatically. But WVU can’t take those away. (He was coming off a minus-3 rushing performance on 10 carries at South Florida.)
SECONDARY
K.J. Dillon flushed Brown into a sack on Maryland’s first play, but the Spur safety also surrendered two first-half touchdowns.
One was a blatant bust that led to a 77-yard score—allowing Stefon Diggs to run free instead of walling him toward safety Dravon Henry. Despite a four-inch height advantage, Dillon also was outdueled by the 5-9 Jaquille Veii on a 26-yard catch in the corner of the endzone.
The good for Worley: He corralled the tipped interception (and now owns both of WVU’s turnovers thorough three games). He also finished off the late third-down stop of Goins after the runner was stacked up.
The bad for Worley: He was caught peeking into the backfield on a Brown rollout and was beaten deep by Malcolm Culmer. Only Brown’s badly overthrown pass negated a 52-yard touchdown. Worley, along with Karl Joseph and Henry, were among the group that whiffed on Brown’s long TD run.
Brown’s season-best 241 passing yards marked the second-highest total in his past 11 games. Considering he might not rank among the top five passers WVU will face in the Big 12, this secondary needs to button up its communication and technique woes.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Even Lambert’s game-winning field goal and Jarrod Harper’s blocked-punt safety couldn’t earn WVU’s special-teams a passing grade. Not when Maryland blocked an earlier field goal, saw Will Likely take back a punt 69 yards and recovered
Jordan Thompson’s fumbled punt at the WVU 8.
“It was spotty,” said special-teams/safeties coach Joe DeForest. “We covered kickoffs great. We blocked a punt. Then we dropped a punt. Then they returned a punt. And then we made a field goal, so it was a split. It was a wash.”
It wasn’t a wash.
COACHING
Though a flurry of mistakes made the fourth quarter more dramatic than it should have been, West Virginia ultimately won a road game as an underdog. A game that, had it gotten away, threatened to puncture all the early-season enthusiasm.
Holgorsen’s offense was stellar statistically, and 40 points typically is sufficient—except that WVU was primed to score 60. “I’m way more concerned with not finishing drives than I am happy about putting up 700 yards,” he said.
No gripes with any of his fourth-and-1 gambles. All four seemed reasonable.
A few blown assignments stood out defensively, but in a reversal of recent history, Gibson’s defense got stronger as the game progressed. Maryland’s final seven series netted 59 yards on 24 snaps.