MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s offense was good enough for a good portion of last Saturday’s 41-24 loss to Oklahoma State.
But at the most critical points of the second half, and after falling behind for the first time, that was anything but the case. The Mountaineers managed three points across their last five series and went without a point over their final four possessions.
Altogether, the numbers were plenty respectable as West Virginia totaled its highest yardage output (466) against FBS competition this season despite finishing with its lowest point total.
WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said afterward that “he probably got a little impatient” pertaining to second-half play-calling, while the Cowboys reeled off 20 unanswered points to close the contest.
“I probably didn’t say it right,” Rodriguez noted Tuesday. “We probably could’ve taken some shots. The one series we didn’t get the short yardage thing [a failed fourth-and-1]. There are a lot of play calls I’d take back in every game, but I’d take some of those back and run different stuff there. We had some long drives. I’m not a big stat guy, but if we get 25 first downs or more, you usually control the tempo. If you run for over 300 yards, you usually control the tempo. We did both those, and it still didn’t feel like we were controlling the tempo of the game. That’s why everything seemed a little disjointed to me.
“We had some guys make some plays and the execution offensively wasn’t as far off as it was on defense.”
Indeed, defensive miscues were more prevalent and problematic as Oklahoma State totaled 609 yards and 28 points over a stretch of five second-half series to seize control of its sixth straight triumph in Morgantown.
Still, WVU was again overly reliant on its ground game and rushed on 65 of 87 offensive plays. Of 22 passes, 12 came in the fourth quarter and 10 over the final 5:41 when the deficit was multiple possessions.
The Mountaineers are fourth among FBS teams with an average of nearly 295 rushing yards and second with 57-plus rushing attempts. Yet only 20 of 138 FBS teams average fewer than West Virginia’s 165.8 passing yards, a figure that bodes well for the Mountaineers considering they’ve attempted the fifth-fewest passes (65) of any team.
Tailback Cam Cook is first nationally with 99 carries and leads all FBS players in carries per game by two. Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. is 17th nationally with 72 rushing attempts.
“I don’t go into a game saying we need to rush or throw for this much. It’s like, what do we have to do to get first downs and win? Inevitably, if you’re running the ball well, we kind of stick to that a little bit more, but there’s never a certain ratio, and let’s be 50/50 or 70/30 run to pass,” Rodriguez said. “Believe it or not, we have as many plays on our call sheet as we do run plays, but if you’re running well, we don’t usually get to all the pass stuff.
“It’s not a particular formula or methodology other than if they’re doing this, we have to be able to do this. I said it after the game, but the answer sheets in all three phases need to be something guys can execute. At times this year, it’s been that, and at times, like in the last game, it hasn’t been there. We have to fix that as coaches.”
Hawkins had been quite efficient over the first three games and completed 26-of-38 passes with five touchdowns.
But he struggled with accuracy against the Cowboys, hitting on 10-of-22 passes for 132 yards with a tipped pass resulting in his first interception this season on third-and-4 inside the red zone.
Rodriguez noted there were instances of catchable passes not hauled in, and the Cowboys did their part to diminish the impact of slot receiver DJ Epps.
Epps was limited to two receptions for 39 yards and the interception was intended for him on a play that otherwise looked as though it would result in a third-down conversion and potentially his fourth touchdown catch this year.
“We had a couple deeper balls that we didn’t catch that we had caught earlier. Our receivers have good hands. Some of it was underthrown and not an easy catch, but there were a couple of those that we had caught and kind of expect our guys to catch, but that’s going to happen. You have to be able to overcome all that. We can be a lot sharper offensively as well. It wasn’t just the defense playing poorly. I’m ready to move on, and I hope everybody else is, too, but we can play a lot better offensively.”