MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider is ready to squash questions about West Virginia’s failed overtime series Saturday night and why top rusher Wendell Smallwood was absent for all but one play.
After gashing Oklahoma State for 147 yards rushing on 19 carries and adding three catches for 16 more in regulation, Smallwood said he ceded the OT possession to Rushel Shell, who finished with 48 yards on 19 carries.
“I’m tired of people asking about it. I don’t second-guess myself,” Seider said Tuesday. “Rushel’s a good player. He’s fresh. Wendell just played the last two series (of regulation). He’s cramping up. If we put Wendell in there and he fumbles the ball, we’re talking about why I ain’t put Rushel in there.”
Shell’s first two overtime carries produced 5 yards on first down and 8 on a fourth-and-2. He then netted 1 yard on second-and-goal from the 5 before suffering a 7-yard loss as Oklahoma State overloaded the right side.
On fourth-and-goal from the 11, Smallwood re-entered and circled out of the backfield as Skyler Howard attempted a scrambling incompletion into the end zone.
“Both those guys have done played a lot of football. Nobody said anything about the fourth down when he went up there and ran for 8 yards and moved the pile. We mixed some things up in the pass/run game (on the third-down 7-yard loss) and they stopped us. Hats off to Oklahoma State. Had nothing to do with whether Wendell or Rushel were in the game at that time.
“Put me in that situation again, I’m going to do the same thing.”
Smallwood, currently the Big 12’s second leading rusher at 117 yards per game, is netting 6.6 yards per carry this season and averaged 7.7 yards against Oklahoma State. All that after nearly being a pregame scratch because of an ankle injury that kept him from practicing last week.
“Even before kickoff, I didn’t think he was going to play,” Seider said. “But when the game is on, that kid plays. He’s got the heart of a lion. The way he gutted out—even in the fourth quarter, I could sort of see the medicine started wearing down a little bit.”