Oklahoma State football: 3 takeaways from win over West Virginia
By Phil Poling
No. 2: WVU is too talented to be this conservative
Neal Brown’s offensive play-calling reminds me of the video game franchise Madden. In said game, you can, “Ask Madden,” for play-calling suggestions. They’re glaringly obvious plays – four verticals on 3rd & long, a halfback dive on the goal-line — and they rarely work unless you manually make adjustments. And that’s simply not cutting it for the West Virginia offense.
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Too many times on Saturday were the Mountaineers pitted into 3rd & long situations, only to go Empty Set (with just the five linemen blocking; no help) and throw an incomplete pass. The Cowboys noticed this and sent more pressure than the ‘Eers could block nearly every time. This pressure forced quick throws, and all the Cowboy defenders had to do was come up and make a tackle — if the pass was completed at all. There isn’t even a hint of a run when a team goes empty. And the running game was working well for West Virginia.
Just before the half, West Virginia had an opportunity to get within a score. It was 20-7 and they were near midfield. It was 3rd & 6, and the Mountaineers just… handed the ball off. For the life of me, I have no idea why. They didn’t go for it on 4th down, so it wasn’t to get closer. Probably because every time they threw the ball they went empty and were unsuccessful. But what if they kept a running back in to block? Or even a tight end? I guess we’ll never know… unless Brown makes an adjustment moving forward.
Penalties played a massive role in West Virginia’s loss, too, so we won’t blame it all on the obvious and often-conservative play-calling. Very few teams will win when they rack up 100-plus penalty yards, though.