MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Oklahoma State’s plan to deny Kevin White seemingly worked. If you consider losing by 24 points working.
The nation’s most productive receiver entering the game, White caught only three passes for 27 yards while being bracketed by a safety and one of the Big 12’s best cornerbacks, Kevin Peterson. OSU’s defensive plan was roundly applauded, even as the double-coverage obviously created vulnerabilities elsewhere. West Virginia still gained 448 yards, converted 9-of-18 third downs and rolled to a 34-10 victory.
This wasn’t the first time White encountered tag-team attention—Maryland, Texas Tech and Towson tried it for long periods as well—but it was the first time White didn’t shred the defense anyway. He came in averaging nearly 150 yards a game.
As West Virginia enters the final month of the regular season preparing to face the league’s top two scoring defenses (TCU and Kansas State), will White continue to encounter twin coverage? And if so, will the Mountaineers settle for their potential first-round talent becoming a decoy?
“There’s a gray area,” admitted West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett, who threw White’s direction six times in Stillwater after 16 targets against Baylor. “You want to get the ball to your best players as much as you can. But if (defenses) are going to completely give it away, and let you do something else that’s going to be successful, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
White beat OSU freshman Ramon Richards for a 19-yard touchdown on West Virginia’s opening drive, a matchup Peterson said WVU created by flipping its outside receivers. (Richards only faced White a few times the rest of the afternoon, and never without nearby safety supervision.)
Apart from the early score, White’s pass-game contributions were minuscule: He caught a 4-yard button hook on third-and-7 and another 4-yarder on a first-and-20 crossing route, both against sagging zone coverage. (A 10-yard reception in traffic was negated by an offensive holding flag.)
On two other incompletions, White worked his way open more than 20 yards downfield before Trickett overthrew him.
If White was frustrated, he buried any sign of it. This isn’t fantasy football, after all. This is West Virginia aiming to keep winning its way up the Big 12 standings.
“I’m just happy we got the win—that’s what matters,” he said. “I like to do my part, whether it’s catching passes, blocking, being a decoy or whatever.”
If White was frustrated, he buried any sign of it. This isn’t fantasy football, after all. This is West Virginia aiming to keep winning its way up the Big 12 standings.
With Trickett afforded a run-pass option on most plays, West Virginia capitalized on OSU’s deep-dropping safeties by running the ball 44 times for 239 yards. (Four sacks diminished the team total to 210.) And even after White’s touchdown, the Mountaineers averaged almost 5.9 yards on their remaining 69 snaps.
After seven consecutive 100-yard outputs, something only two other FBS receivers had accomplished, White said it’s his job to beat even in the busiest coverages that defenses construct. That doesn’t mean WVU should set a quota for targets. With fellow receiver Mario Alford burring OSU for 136 yards and Wendell Smallwood grinding out 132 more, White praised Trickett for finding the soft spots.
“Clint doesn’t force anything. He’s really smart on the field,” White said. “Whatever he calls, 99 percent of the time he’s right.”
No. 10 TCU (6-1, 3-1) has been susceptible to deep plays at times. Oklahoma’s Sterling Shepard caught a 75-yard touchdown to highlight a 215-yard performance. Baylor’s Bryce Petty threw for 510 yards with scores from 67 and 66 yards and two more completions of 47. Three Texas Tech pass plays gained 50-plus.
White, still smarting from his one-catch 5-yard output at TCU last season, sounds stoked for the rematch. But what defensive game plan will he encounter: The Frogs daring WVU to make downfield plays before the rush reaches Trickett or a commitment to blanketing White with multiple DBs?
“What (TCU) will do, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But we’ll be prepared for whatever,” said West Virginia receivers coach Lonnie Galloway. “You don’t want to force it, but we’re not going to stop trying to get him the ball.”