Gameday: Can West Virginia turn the corner?

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Maybe the bar was set too close to the turf. Still, there’s no denying West Virginia has exceeded early season expectations.

Not by a whopping amount—that loss to Alabama still came by double-digits, and the white-knuckler at Maryland required a crazy-good day from the passing game. Yet, given the depths to which the program sank last year, the Mountaineers of here and now are more resilient, skilled and downright scarier than we guessed they’d be in August.

Not that Dana Holgorsen feels his team has arrived. When caller to his Thursday night show suggested this three-game stretch signaled the team—and the coach—had turned a corner, Holgorsen chuckled.

“We’re in a good spot right now,” he said, “but let’s see where we are in a week.”

A prime-time national showdown against the fourth-ranked Sooners (3-0) presents a chance for West Virginia (2-1) to ambush the league’s preseason favorites and launch its own campaign of contention. But Oklahoma has pulled out wins over WVU the last two seasons with presumably lesser teams, and now its defense looks saltier than any to come out of Norman in years.

Some storylines to ponder until they kick off at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday night:

Dana Holgorsen’s West Virginia team is 2-1 heading into Saturday night’s Big 12 opener against No. 4 Oklahoma.

 

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. (Fox)

Radio: Nine hours of coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. on MetroNews affiliates across West Virginia

Line: Oklahoma favored by 7

Remembering 2012: Quenton Spain, Cody Clay and Andrew Buie are the lone offensive returnees who started against Oklahoma in its previous trip to Morgantown. That 50-49 loss saw WVU hang up 778 yards of offense, including 426 by Tavon Austin, whip didn’t start. (The Mountaineers opened in a two-back, two-receiver set. Semantics.)

Point is, save for two Geno Smith interceptions, that night’s West Virginia attack looked unstoppable. And two years forward, Shannon Dawson thinks this offense is more dangerous than the 2012 version, thanks to the emergence of Kevin White and Mario Alford and the development of a more consistent ground game.

“Overall we’re probably better than we were then, because of being able to run the ball,” he said. “If you have two outside guys who can get vertical, but you can’t run the ball worth a crap, that’s not very threatening.”

Trickett must be quick: Oklahoma’s 3-4 features several quality pass rushers: linebackers Eric Striker and Dominique Alexander, and defensive ends Charles Tapper and Chuka Ndulue. That makes quick check-downs imperative for Clint Trickett, who also must be alert to Oklahoma’s athleticism on scrambles. He absorbed a breathtaking shot at Maryland while stretching for the pylon on the game’s first drive.

Then he went on to throw for 511 yards.

“Clint’s a great quarterback, and he’s a warrior,” said White. “He kind of got banged up a little. I know his body was hurting, but he fought through it.”

Knight’s transformation: On the Mountaineers’ visit to Norman last September, Trevor Knight didn’t impress. He left the game with a fourth-quarter knee injury but probably was close to being yanked anyway after two badly thrown interceptions and a lost fumble.

Back then, he seemed a long shot merely to keep the starting job. This week he’s among the top six Heisman candidates, according to Bovada.

“A year ago he was unsure of himself and struggled throwing, but they’ve done a great job developing him,” said West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. When coaches compared the Week 2 Knight to the guy who threw for 348 yard and four scores against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, Gibson shook his head. “He looked like a totally different person.”

Marathon day for O-line: After all five offensive line starters played all 108 snaps at Maryland, the West Virginia coaches made compromises to help the big guys recover. For a day, at least.

The staff replaced some of last Sunday’s running periods with more stretching in hopes of keeping the linemen fresh.

“That game was a lot of stress on our bodies, but any time you win it’s all right,” said center Tyler Orlosky. “The coaches and the strength staff treated us a little bit better than they normally do on Sundays.”







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