West Virginia Football: 5 keys to winning out in 2023

2. Win the time of possession

In each of the 10 games the Mountaineers have played so far, they have won the time of possession battle. This proved to be an especially vital statistic in their victories over Pitt, Texas Tech, TCU, and UCF. When Garrett Greene was sidelined early on in the Pitt game, backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol passed for just 60 yards. It was the Mountaineers 51 carries that allows them to chew clock and limit the possessions the Pitt Panthers had.

With Greene out the following week, the approach was similar against the high-powered Texas Tech offense. Marchiol threw for just 78 yards. However, 42 rushes helped to keep the Red Raiders off the field as the Mountaineers possessed the ball for nearly 35 minutes in the 20-13 victory.

The Mountaineers won the time of possession battle against the TCU Horned Frogs en route to pitching a second half shutout in Fort Worth in the 24-21 victory.

West Virginia possessed the ball for over 36 minutes in Orlando against the UCF Knights. Fifty carries helped to keep the explosive Knights offense on the sideline, en route to a 41-28 victory.

Time of possession has always been an important team statistic to be aware of. It is especially important for the 2023 Mountaineer football team. With the exception of wins over Duquesne and BYU, the victories for this team have come in tightly-contested games in the fourth quarter.

At times, it seems that attitude adopted by this team has been that of, “the other team cannot score points if they don’t have the ball.” Whatever the case, slowing things down on offense and running the ball effectively has allowed this program to have their best record through 10 games since the 2018 season.