MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — We won’t wade into the GIFs of the now-legendary Charles Hayes dancing West Virginia to a comeback, because you really had to be there to feel his full force.
Still, there were plenty of other clips worth perusing from Saturday’s 46-35 survival test against Texas Tech, so let’s step inside this week’s film room:
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Tackle-eligible trickery
We highlight this two-play sequence because the 26-yard catch-and-run by Marcus Simms bled directly into the deception that followed.
WVU’s hurry-up approach compounded the confusion generated by David Sills lining up at left tackle, while all 6-foot-7, 306 pounds of Colton McKivitz splits wide right.
Jake Spavital was having some early-game fun, and the first of Sills’ three touchdowns clearly was the most devious.
“We had that play in all week and Coach Spav said he was going to call it,” Sills said. “The defensive end tried to hold me up, but I just did my best to get out of there and give Will a receiver downfield. I don’t even think they knew that I was eligible or anything.”
Along with tempo, the play requires a left-hash spot so Grier can roll right, and the circumstances blended perfectly.
“It’s a fun play and it keeps the kids entertained. I run it about once a year,” Spavital said.
The coordinator’s favorite aspect: “Sills gets in a three-point stance, like he’s going to run off the ball and pancake a guy.”
Unintended consequence: McKivitz pleading for Spavital to throw him the ball next time.
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Grier keeper
Skyler Howard averaged 150 carries over the past two seasons, a number the coaching staff does not want Will Grier to approach.
“Obviously I’m not going to turn Will loose like I did with Skyler,” said Dana Holgorsen. But neither is he willing to ignore the functional threat of Grier on designed runs.
This third-and-2 zone read, for example, capitalized on Grier’s mobility at a time when West Virginia didn’t trust its inside run game.
“We knew that we could unbalance the set, get Will on a linebacker and it would be a track meet to the sideline,” Spavital said.
Grier saw Notre Dame transfer Kolin Hill (13) crashing down at defensive end, faked the handoff and took off for the edge. Thanks to fullback Eli Wellman making a knock on linebacker Dakota Allen, Grier actually had to outrun safety Justus Parker (41) to the sticks.
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Texas Tech tames the Wildcat
Down 18 and devoid of its running-game mojo, West Virginia brought out the diamond formation on third-and-2 and motioned out Grier. Texas Tech didn’t care, completely ignoring the quarterback eye candy, and clogged up the line of scrimmage with an eight-man box. The direct snap to Justin Crawford went nowhere.
“Will thought it was disrespectful because nobody followed him,” said a laughing Spavital.
In case you’re curious, yes, WVU has a wildcat pass in the playbook, and Spavital even warned future defenses that “Crawford surprisingly has a pretty good arm.”
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Fake punt
On fourth-and-1 from its own 34, Texas Tech let loose its galloping 6-foot-5 punter Dominic Panazzolo. He gained 13 yards partially because blocker Kolin Hill (15) wouldn’t let loose of Derrek Pitts’ jersey.
“He got held up a little bit,” said special-teams coach Mark Scott, who nonetheless said Pitts needed to force the play back inside.
Given the fourth-and-short scenario, West Virginia wasn’t bailing to set up a return or caught be surprise.
“They came out in a formation they haven’t shown, which should put us on high-alert,” Scott said. “It wasn’t something where we were dropping out — we had people coming free off both edges. We just have to be a little bit better in our execution.”
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Cover 3 foiled again
Entering Saturday’s game, T.J. Vasher’s season consisted of two receptions for 16 yards, numbers he bolstered considerably against West Virginia with two touchdown catches for 113 yards.
This was Vasher’s second score. It came one snap after the fake punt. It came moments after Tony Gibson cautioned his defense about Texas Tech taking a deep shot. The call was Cover 3, which was the same coverage Kenny Robinson botched last week on a deep sideline throw at TCU.
This time Robinson looked beaten again, though it occurred in the middle third of the field, where free safety Dravon Askew-Henry had deep responsibility.
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WVU strings out Jet sweep
West Virginia doesn’t want to imagine an alternate universe where Texas Tech makes field goals or capitalizes on this opportunity before halftime.
A third-and-goal Jet sweep from the 6 came closer to scoring than it should. The Mountaineers had proper leverage to the field’s wide side and several defenders flocking to the ball, but cornerback Elijah Battle plays it too soft. Instead of firing across the line of scrimmage to take on the lead blocker Tre King (24), the cornerback slid and gave ground.
“We should’ve hit it for a 3-yard loss,” Gibson said.
Receiver Cameron Batson wound up reaching the 1-yard line, giving Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury a moment’s pause to consider leaving the offense out there for a fourth-down gamble. The safe choice ultimately backfired when Michael Barden doinked a 23-yard kick against the upright.
“To have the ball on the 1 and not score, that was definitely momentum we could’ve used,” Kingsbury said. “If I had known that he was going to miss it I would’ve went for it.”
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Long back at long last
While linebacker David Long played heavy snaps a week earlier at TCU, he didn’t feel completely back from that knee injury until Saturday, when he made a team-high nine stops and broke up a pass.
“Against TCU I was kind of hesitant sometimes on my bad leg, but this game I didn’t think about it as much,” he said.
Long started this two-play sequence by putting a 6-foot-1, 230-pound runner in reverse, and he followed by detonating a screen play Texas Tech had used for big yardage earlier.
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Ka’Raun White stokes Tech’s fears
After Ka’Raun White’s eight-catch, two-touchdown, 114-yard performance, Red Raiders linebackers coach Zac Spavital told younger brother Jake that Tech’s biggest fear came to fruition.
That may sound strange considering the touchdown gluttony being propagated by David Sills, yet White’s performance at TCU the previous week stood out. (“Ka’Raun was giving TCU the blues,” said WVU receivers coach Tyron Carrier. “He was just a grown man out there.”)
White made a grown-man grab in the first clip above, a leaping 32-yard touchdown over good coverage by cornerback Desmon Smith. Grier opting to hang up a 50-50 ball proved overly aggressive and entirely appropriate.
“I was surprised Will went to that,” Jake Spavital said. “I thought he would get to his other read and check it down, but he knew that Ka’Raun was getting better throughout the past couple weeks at making that jump ball.”
White struck again on WVU’s next drive, scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 17-yard post route. Desmon Smith’s press coverage, not so stellar this time, could have benefited from safety help, but Grier was “eye-drilling” Gary Jennings on the inside in order to keep Texas Tech’s Justus Parker (31) occupied.
That fifth touchdown matches White’s full-season output from 2016, and Spavital said, “He’s getting to the point where he’s starting to take games over.”
White’s older brother Kevin, currently IR’d by the Chicago Bears, was watching from Holgorsen’s box and told Ka’Raun “he loved what he saw out there.”
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Third option becomes two-pointer
Is it possible West Virginia had gone nearly five years without a successful two-point conversion? No wonder Dana Holgorsen said that’s one aspect of play-calling he doesn’t miss.
Spavital has been repping this one for two months and it proved handy with West Virginia trailing by five. There’s some creativity at work, beginning with Gary Jennings motioning for reverse action, and then the fun really begins. Does Grier dump it off to Crawford, throw to Ka’Raun White in the corner, or try to run it himself?
After dodging a defensive end, Grier made a perfect flip to Sills, who has crossed from the opposite side.
“I’m the third option, and I’ve got a long way to go,” said Sills, whose footwork at the start of the play is as important as the catch at the end.
With the cornerback shading inside, Sills set up the fade — a route he scored on earlier. “When I lined up I pointed to the (far left) corner of the end zone like ‘Hey, he’s going to hit me with the fade,’” he said. Once Sills worked inside, the cornerback is in trail position and the underneath linebacker can’t keep pace either.
Because 2-point plays typically offer one-time usage, Spavital’s ready to rep the next one.
“I’ll probably take that one off the board. We’ll find another one where we can do some exotic stuff.”
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Run game perks up late
Unable to run the ball much of the day, West Virginia churned out two first downs and chewed up clock late in the fourth quarter.
This third-and-2 was well blocked against a seven-man front, and Kennedy McKoy showed legs of steel upon meeting safety Vaughnte Dorsey (15) in the gap. Two plays later the Mountaineers made it a two-possession lead.
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Kyzir White seals it
A wrecking ball around the line of scrimmage, WVU’s Spur safety also is showing finesse skills in coverage. Kyzir White’s third interception of the season — tied for the second-most in the Big 12 — caught Nic Shimonek in a desperate moment and extinguished all hopes of a Red Raiders’ rally.
“The receiver did an out, and the corner sat a little bit,” White said. “I know the quarterback thought he had a window, so I just tried to get over there.”
Turns out older brother Kevin has been alerting White to indicators of certain receiver routes.
“It was cool having him here,” Kyzir said. “He hadn’t seen me play since my freshman year (at Lackawanna). He said he felt like I got a lot better at covering.”