MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — From guard to tackle and back again, offensive lineman Adam Pankey anticipates more series-to-series shifts when West Virginia hosts No. 21 Oklahoma State in prime time Saturday.
His versatility was the product either of coaching design or Yodny Cajuste’s missed blocks last week when Oklahoma piled up seven sacks and sent the Mountaineers (3-1, 0-1) to their first loss of the season. One more and WVU likely is eliminated from Big 12 championship contention.
“There haven’t been too many undefeated champions in this league, so we’ve still got a lot to shoot for,” said Pankey, a junior who played pivotal snaps the past two seasons during wins over Oklahoma State.
Matchup: Oklahoma State at West Virginia
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2
Gameday radio: 4 p.m. through 1 a.m. on MetroNews network
The Cowboys (5-0, 2-0) came within seconds of sharing the 2013 Big 12 title despite their upset loss in Morgantown. Mike Gundy’s club portends to be in the thick of this season’s race but narrowly avoided losses to Texas and Kansas State on last-minute field goals by Ben Grogan.
The midweek storyline turned abruptly following the season-ending injury suffered by WVU safety Karl Joseph, a 42-game starter whom Dana Holgorsen called “the heart and soul of the defense.” Conversely, Oklahoma State middle linebacker Ryan Simmons, a starter for two-plus seasons, also sustained a knee injury that will end his college career.
Touchdown favorites this weekend, West Virginia must slow down a pass rush statistically superior to what the Sooners brought in the last game. In fact, the Cowboys are statistically superior to every defense in the nation when it comes to sacks and negative-yardage plays.
That puts the onus on Cajuste to grow up quickly—and his linemates to make rapid pass-protection progress of their own. After all, the freshman wasn’t the only one to struggle against blitzers.
“We’ve got a young guy out there at tackle who’s going through things,” Pankey said. “But still, going through a game like last week should help him.”
Offensive line coach Ron Crook, who characterized last week’s performance as “not good enough to win,” said he had planned to shuffle the unit even before Cajuste allowed two first-half sacks.
“If you can save 20 plays on a guy, that’s 20 plays he’s going to play better at the end of the game,” Crook said. “By giving him a breather, you can settle him down, let him see (the blitz), let him start to understand it and not have him thrown into the fire on every play.”
Cowboys defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who made a violent sack on Clint Trickett in last year’s 34-10 West Virginia win, is having a splashy junior season with a Big 12-leading 6.5 sacks. The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder, emerging as an NFL prospect, works opposite senior Jimmy Bean, who has four sacks.
“With (Oklahoma’s) Eric Striker it’s all about speed,” Pankey said. “With these guys, they can transfer that power to speed and that speed to power.”