COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Wendell Smallwood careened off the back of his own blocker and soon was backpedalling toward the goal line.
Tantalizingly close, the junior did again what he had done as a freshman. Did just what his own conscience and Dana Holgorsen warned him not do. He tried to stick the ball out, and then felt the football actually popping out.
Two years ago against Iowa State, it resulted in a turnover. On Saturday, Smallwood reclaimed his own fumble beneath a mass of men. Through several suspenseful moments of tugging, tussling and unstacking, he finally had his touchdown—the hard way.
“I just got on it as fast as I could,” said Smallwood, who maintained his clutch while the side judge dropped to his knees for a closer peek inside the pile. “One of my linemen helped me out, just getting people off me.”
There’s no bigger Smallwood fan than running backs coach JaJuan Seider, but Seider bemoaned the lack of situational awareness.
“Don’t reach that ball out,” he said. “It’s first down. Let us give you the ball again on second down. Don’t be a hero.”
If Saturday’s win over Liberty featured a subplot, it’s that West Virginia hasn’t quite mastered the art of self-discipline. Not when Rushel Shell, several plays prior to Smallwood’s fumble, made an ill-advised cutback into traffic and got himself yanked. Not when Daryl Worley played man coverage on a play where Tony Gibson called zone. Not when Liberty’s Zac Parker—he of the 11-yard career-long reception entering Saturday—ripped off a 60-yarder against a secondary that Gibson estimated to be “loafing.”
“We revert back sometimes to stuff we used to do,” he said, “and we can’t have that.”
From the chagrin in his voice, you might have confused Gibson for Will Muschamp, a coordinator whose defense barely dodged an FCS embarrassment Saturday. Only in West Virginia’s case, the final score was 41-17 and Liberty never drew closer than 17 points in the second half.
Given such a cushy margin-of-error against a lower-division opponent, the Mountaineers could withstand their lapses. Such carelessness won’t bode well in Week 5 at Oklahoma, but as Dana Holgorsen reminded reporters after the game: “It’s Week 2. We are a work in progress.”
And there were periods of progress on offense—from Skyler Howard making his most accurate throws yet to Skyler Howard making his longest runs yet. His 34-yard takeoff on a third-and-forever scramble turned a sure punting situation into a field goal.
Smallwood’s 88-yard rushing day transpired on only 15 carries and against a stacked box. Jovon Durante showed he has a short game when cautious coverage dictates. Shelton Gibson atoned for dropping one touchdown by scoring another—streaking 52 yards through a pack of defensive backs like Jackie Chan used to escape anonymous villains.
West Virginia scored seven times on 11 possessions overall (five touchdowns and two field goals), and scored touchdowns on 4-of-6 red-zone visits. The offense also deserves a helmet sticker for its hurry-up efficiency on the brief series before halftime, when it moved 43 yards in 31 seconds to set up a 54-yard kick that Josh Lambert missed.
Saturday couldn’t match the Georgia Southern game for complete annihilation, but outside of Columbus, Ohio, there’s no such thing as a complete team after two weeks. Count West Virginia among the rest of the pack that’s trying to focus, fix and fortify before the meat of the season arrives.