NORMAN, Okla. – With the season more than halfway in the books, there is very little remaining opportunity for deception in college football. Teams have either been exposed, or a template has been created for that exposure to happen in coming weeks.
You are what you are, to paraphrase a thought from Bill Parcells.
And that means West Virginia’s running game may be hopelessly broken.
After a three-game stretch of respectability against North Carolina State, Kansas and Texas, the Mountaineers crashed back below the Earth’s surface against Iowa State and Oklahoma.
Of WVU’s 30 carries against Oklahoma, 20 went for 2 yards or less.
Sadly, West Virginia’s total of 51 yards represented a slight upgrade from the previous week in which they managed 41 yards on 28 carries against the Cyclones.
West Virginia has one of the nation’s most meager rushing offenses, ranking 123rd nationally with 2.9 yards per carry and 126th nationally with 88.1 yards per game. The Mountaineers have 19 runs over 10 yards. Only Purdue, Rutgers and Texas State are faring worse. West Virginia is also one of 17 teams yet to break out for at least one run of 40 yards or more this season.
After the Oklahoma game, Neal Brown sounded like he was resigned to his fate in 2019.
“It is what it is,” Brown said. “We’ve tried about everything. We knew it was going to be a struggle. We’re playing some guys that are just not as physically mature as the guys we’re playing against. What happens is we get 2 or 3 yards per carry, but then we have a negative play or procedure penalty and those 2 or 3 yards aren’t good enough.
“We have to do better. I think we will be better by the finish of the year. But it’s not going to be a position of strength until our guys are older and we’re able to make some personnel changes.”
At the moment, the only true personnel change would be quarterback Trey Lowe, who managed West Virginia’s only run over 10 yards against Oklahoma in garbage time. It sounds like we should expect to see Lowe in conjunction with Austin Kendall moving forward rather than in replacement of, however. The trust just isn’t there with Lowe as a passer yet, as evidenced by his final line: 2-for-2 for 2 yards.
“We wanted to use him more,” co-offensive coordinator Matt Moore said of Lowe. “But once they got up, we felt we had to stick with Austin and throw the ball more.”
In an effort to show how systemic West Virginia’s running issues are, we broke down every run that failed to crack the 2-yard barrier.
First Quarter
Situation: Second-and-15, WVU 47
Play: Leddie Brown 2-yard gain
Why: Oklahoma reads the play and has seven defenders to overpower five West Virginia blockers.
Situation: Second-and-8, WVU 24
Play: Trey Lowe 1-yard loss
Why: Left guard James Gmiter can’t get out to his man on a pull block, allowing defensive end Nik Bonnino to make the tackle.
Situation: First-and-10, WVU 25
Play: Kennedy McKoy 1-yard loss
Why: Numbers. Gmiter and Briason Mays are double-teaming Neville Gallimore, but Oklahoma sends enough men for a net 5-on-3 advantage to get into the backfield.
Second Quarter
Situation: First-and-10, OU 42
Play: Kennedy McKoy 1-yard loss
Why: Defensive end Ronnie Perkins beats left guard Mike Brown in a one-on-one matchup to get to McKoy.
Situation: Second-and-11, OU 43
Play: Kennedy McKoy 2-yard gain
Why: Poor vision by McKoy. There are a good 7-8 yards to be gained if McKoy bounces out to the left and runs behind Colton McKivitz, who has a block set up for him. Instead he rams it inside for minimal gain.
Situation: First-and-10, OU 32
Play: Winston Wright 2-yard gain
Why: Oklahoma had this end around diagnosed. Wright displayed excellent speed and some elusiveness to wriggle his way past the line of scrimmage.
Situation: First-and-goal, OU 4
Play: Leddie Brown 3-yard loss
Why: The Mountaineers go trips left with their receivers to try to open up space in the middle of the field. It still doesn’t work. Right tackle Kelby Wickline misses his assignment, and in the words of announcer Gus Johnson, “It’s almost like Oklahoma knew the play.”
Third Quarter
Situation: First-and-10, WVU 25
Play: Leddie Brown 1-yard loss
Why: The Mountaineers run a toss to the left, which should theoretically keep them away from Gallimore, the talented Oklahoma defensive tackle. No such luck. No blocker picks up one of the two best players on Oklahoma’s defense as Gallimore moves way out of his normal range to make the stop.
Situation: Third-and-20, WVU 32
Play: Leddie Brown 6-yard loss
Why: Gmiter doesn’t pick up linebacker Kenneth Murray, the probable Big 12 defensive player of the year. With a free release into the backfield, he destroys Brown in his tracks.
Situation: Third-and-3, WVU 9
Play: Leddie Brown no gain
Why: The offensive line finally gives Brown an honest-to-goodness hole, but he fails to see it. Rather than cutting to the right and burrowing through the path established by Chase Behrndt, he cuts left for nothing.
Situation: First-and-15, WVU 23
Play: Kennedy McKoy 1-yard gain
Why: There are four Sooners already in the backfield when McKoy takes the handoff.
Situation: Second-and-4, WVU 34
Play: Leddie Brown 2-yard gain
Why: There’s actually a hole here, and Brown hits it. However, Murray does an outstanding job closing the gap with his speed to make the tackle. This play failed only because a potential all-American was involved.
Situation: Third-and-2, WVU 36
Play: Leddie Brown 2-yard gain
Why: In this case, 2 yards is enough. Brown picks up a first down.
Situation: Third-and-15, WVU 33
Play: Austin Kendall no gain
Why: Kendall keeps it on a read-option, but doesn’t have enough quickness to get past outside linebacker David Ogwuegbu.
Fourth Quarter
Situation: Second-and-3, WVU 32
Play: Leddie Brown 2-yard gain
Why: Oklahoma’s Matt Overton beats WVU center Briason Mays to get to Brown and make the tackle.
Situation: Third-and-5, OU 12
Play: Leddie Brown 1-yard gain
Why: Gallimore gets through left guard Mike Brown to get backfield penetration.
Situation: Second-and-15, WVU 32
Play: Alec Sinkfield no gain
Why: Even though the Mountaineers send the tight end in motion to give Sinkfield an extra blocker to the right side, five Sooners end up in the backfield.
Situation: Third-and-15, WVU 32
Play: Trey Lowe no gain
Why: The exact same reason Lowe’s first carry didn’t work – Gmiter is too slow to get to the edge on his pull, allowing Bonnino to make the tackle.
Situation: First-and-10, WVU 21
Play: Alec Sinkfield 3-yard loss
Why: Three Sooners are in the backfield by the time Sinkfield takes Lowe’s handoff. The worst part? Oklahoma is playing its second-string defense while West Virginia still has its starters on the field.