Between The Eers: The Morning After TCU
Between The Eers: The Morning After TCU
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello everybody, it is the morning after here
00:13 on the Between the Gears show.
00:14 I'm Skylar Callahan, and as we do every single day
00:18 after the game, we're gonna recap a little bit
00:21 of what happened the night before
00:23 and maybe a little peek ahead
00:25 as to what's to come for West Virginia.
00:27 So West Virginia last night, winners 24 to 21 against TCU.
00:32 And I've got to admit, I was wrong again.
00:35 This team finds ways to win games
00:39 and finds the way to do it ugly,
00:42 week after week after week.
00:44 And again, I don't know how sustainable this stuff is.
00:49 I don't know how sustainable it is to only run
00:51 or to only pass for 142 yards
00:56 than in the previous two weeks
00:57 that I don't even believe they hit 100 yards in the air.
01:01 But nonetheless, this team is four and one, folks.
01:06 They're four and one, two and oh, Big 12 Conference play.
01:10 And when you look at the schedule ahead,
01:12 which we'll go ahead and throw up here on the screen now,
01:15 they're gonna be favored in these next two games.
01:18 They got a bye this week.
01:20 So it's a much needed bye,
01:22 obviously with the injuries to Trey Latham,
01:25 Aubrey Burks, and a few others.
01:29 This is a much needed time for the bye.
01:32 But you look at the schedule,
01:34 they're gonna be favored in these next two games
01:36 more than likely against Houston on the road.
01:39 And then when they come home to play Oklahoma State.
01:43 And I don't want to get really too much further
01:46 into the games that are after that.
01:48 But I mean, you look,
01:49 there's winnable games all over this thing.
01:53 This is setting up to be a very weird season
01:58 for West Virginia in the fact that
01:59 this is a team that was picked 14th
02:02 in the Big 12 Conference prior to the start of the season.
02:07 And you've heard probably me and a whole lot of others say,
02:13 you know, if they can just get through that first month
02:14 with their head above water,
02:16 then they're gonna have a chance to get bowl eligible.
02:20 And that's kind of what the thinking was is,
02:22 you know, if this team becomes bowl eligible,
02:24 that's probably enough to save Neil Brown's job
02:28 and show that there's some progress being made
02:31 with this program under his leadership.
02:33 And like we're sitting here five games in folks,
02:37 and this thing is,
02:39 I mean, it's unique
02:45 because I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
02:49 Where a team just struggles so mightily offensively,
02:53 but finds ways to win games.
02:56 I mean, they may be setting football back 50 years,
02:59 but at least they're finding themselves
03:02 on top of these games.
03:03 I mean, you're talking,
03:04 since the Duquesne week,
03:08 they have not given up more than 21 points,
03:10 which is again, the most they allowed
03:12 coming last night against TCU.
03:14 They've won these games 17 to six,
03:17 20 to 13,
03:19 and 24 to 21.
03:21 This isn't your typical West Virginia football team.
03:25 And if I were to tell you before the start of the season,
03:29 that against Pitt, they score 17,
03:31 against Texas Tech, they score 20,
03:33 and against TCU, they score 24.
03:36 You're probably thinking they lose all three of those games,
03:39 maybe win one of them.
03:40 And a lot of that is because
03:43 of how the defense played a year ago.
03:45 Now, we all kind of expected the defense
03:47 to take a little bit of a step here in 2023,
03:49 but boy, have they ever taken a step here in 2023.
03:53 Jordan Leslie is
03:55 getting all the love in the world
03:59 on social media right now,
04:00 and as he rightfully should.
04:02 That first half last night
04:05 was atrocious defensively.
04:08 I mean, it was really, really bad.
04:10 Bad angles, poor pursuit,
04:13 a lot of missed tackles, a lot of reaching,
04:17 a lot of grabbing, not a whole lot of wrapping up.
04:19 Just wasn't a good half of football.
04:24 The good thing is, though,
04:25 they went into the half, they made adjustments,
04:27 they come out in third quarter
04:28 and just absolutely dominate TCU.
04:32 They outgained the Horned Frogs, 129 to one.
04:37 They got a single yard of offense in that third quarter.
04:41 Jordan Leslie,
04:46 I mean, I've said it before,
04:49 he is one of the better defensive coordinators
04:52 in the Big 12, okay?
04:55 Last year was an anomaly.
04:59 They had some injuries,
05:00 they were already lacking some depth,
05:02 and now we're really about to see
05:04 how good of a coach Jordan Leslie is
05:06 when he's probably going to be out,
05:08 Trey Latham, and maybe Aubrey Burks.
05:11 We're not really sure about his status
05:12 at the time of this taping,
05:14 but they've got some injuries they're dealing with.
05:17 But he caught a lot of heat last year
05:20 for the way the defense performed,
05:22 and everyone said that they made the wrong decision
05:26 about him a couple of years ago,
05:28 and he's done nothing but prove people wrong.
05:31 And I think that side of the ball,
05:35 regardless, they've lost Aubrey Burks, potentially.
05:40 They lost Monterey Miller for the season.
05:43 They've lost Keyshawn Cobb for the season.
05:46 They've lost Trey Latham, potentially, for the season.
05:49 I mean, that's some key, key injuries,
05:53 yet this defense plays good football.
05:57 And a very important part of that game last night to me
06:03 was how they overcame that adversity,
06:06 not only once, but twice.
06:09 You see your own brother get carted off the field twice,
06:13 Aubrey Burks gets carted off in the first half,
06:16 Latham in the second half,
06:18 and in both occasions, the defense stepped up
06:21 and got a stop.
06:22 That's a hard thing to do.
06:25 It's a very, very difficult thing to do.
06:26 I don't think people really, truly understand
06:29 how difficult it is to kind of recenter your focus
06:34 back toward the game after a serious injury
06:37 like that happens to your teammate.
06:39 And because, one, you're feeling for your teammate,
06:44 you feel bad for him, and secondly, you're kind of --
06:46 you're almost -- I wouldn't say you're playing hesitant,
06:49 but the thoughts in your mind are like,
06:50 "Oh, no, what if that happens to me?"
06:53 You know, and you start getting that thought
06:55 creeping into your head.
06:56 So it's a tough deal, but for his team to --
07:02 or his defense to go back on the field,
07:05 get a stop both times,
07:07 that says a lot about that unit.
07:10 Offensively, wasn't the best day for West Virginia,
07:15 obviously, but, I mean, the way this defense has played
07:19 and the way the special teams unit has played --
07:21 also, by the way, shout-out to Jeff Koontz.
07:24 Two-block field goals really did a good job.
07:27 His team did in kickoff and punt coverage.
07:31 But when you're playing that way on defense and special teams,
07:34 you don't really have to do a whole lot on offense.
07:37 But Garrett Green led the way, rushing 80 yards, two touchdowns.
07:42 C.J. Donaldson, 22 carries, 61 yards and a touchdown.
07:47 Jaheim White got a little bit of action,
07:49 five carries and then 46 yards, averaging 9.2 yards a touch.
07:55 So this is an offense -- again, at some point,
08:01 they're going to have to start pushing the ball down the field.
08:03 They're going to have to start showing some kind of progress
08:09 in the passing game,
08:10 and I think they actually did last night.
08:12 And here's why I'm going to say it's not time
08:14 to necessarily panic with it yet.
08:18 We saw that drive that Garrett put together
08:20 where he hit Cole Taylor.
08:22 Again, it was probably a bad throw, more so,
08:24 and it was a really damn good catch by Cole Taylor.
08:28 He threw it behind him. Cole's coming across the field.
08:31 He has to reach around and back.
08:34 Behind the back of a TCU defender,
08:36 he makes the catch.
08:37 Tremendous catch by Cole Taylor.
08:39 And we have talked about how these receivers,
08:41 these tight ends, they have to start making plays.
08:45 They're not making the routine plays,
08:46 and they're, shersheck, not making the contested catches.
08:49 Last night, on that drive in particular, we saw that.
08:52 Cole Taylor makes the tough grab.
08:54 E.J. Horton, the martial trainer who's had very limited snaps,
08:58 comes in, makes a huge play, making a catch over the middle.
09:02 Knows he's going to take a pop.
09:04 Holds on to the football for the first down.
09:07 Drive continues, and then Garrett Green hits
09:09 Hudson Clement for a touchdown.
09:11 Gets called back because he was down at the five.
09:13 But still, those three plays right there,
09:16 at least, as Chris said last night on the postgame show,
09:19 it puts something on tape for the defense to show,
09:22 "Hey, there is something here that they are going to be able
09:24 to potentially build off of this."
09:27 But it's not just for the defense.
09:29 Putting that stuff on tape also helps your own self out
09:35 because you can point to it and say,
09:36 "Hey, guys, like, look, this can happen.
09:39 This passing game can be successful."
09:43 So I think there are some glimpses of it last night.
09:45 And again, Garrett has not played a lot of football.
09:50 He played the Penn State game.
09:52 He played half of the Duke-King game.
09:54 He played a couple of snaps in the Pitt game.
09:56 And going into the night, that was it.
09:59 He didn't play against Texas Tech.
10:00 He didn't play 90% of the Pitt game, 95% of the Pitt game.
10:05 And as we heard from Neil last night,
10:09 they were going to roll with Nico Marchio.
10:12 That was the plan.
10:13 He actually rolled his ankle Thursday, I believe it.
10:17 They said Wednesday or Thursday in practice
10:20 because Garrett wasn't quite 100% yet.
10:24 He tells Garrett, "Go show me.
10:26 Go prove to me that you're ready to play," and he did.
10:30 So to me, I mean, they could say he's 100%.
10:35 And the way he moved around last night being able to run,
10:38 he may have got to 100% before the game,
10:40 but he wasn't 100% the entire week.
10:42 So now, like, for me at least,
10:46 you have to take that into consideration.
10:47 He wasn't 100% throughout the entire week of practice
10:50 getting all those reps or whatever limited reps
10:54 that he did have.
10:57 And let's face it, he had limited reps
10:58 because they were going to go with Nico.
11:00 So, you know, 10 to 21 for 142 yards passing,
11:04 I mean, again, not the greatest,
11:08 but considering the circumstances,
11:10 you have to feel pretty good about Garrett Green moving forward.
11:14 Now you get a bye week, he's got a chance
11:15 to recover fully from that ankle.
11:18 He's going to have so much time to develop some more confidence
11:22 and more chemistry with those receivers.
11:24 And hopefully West Virginia can find some answers
11:26 in that receiving room over the next nine or so days.
11:30 And then you also have the opportunity
11:34 to get some of those offensive linemen healthy.
11:36 So, I mean, again, he hasn't played a lot of football
11:40 since his first game back.
11:41 Even if he had the full reps, it was 100% all week,
11:45 it was still probably going to be a little bit of a rusty out.
11:48 So I think for the most part,
11:50 you like what you got out of Garrett Green.
11:52 C.J. Donaldson, it's been a rough go for him.
11:57 You know, last night he averaged 2.8 yards of carry, 61 yards.
12:04 Last week against Texas Tech, didn't run his best,
12:09 48 yards, 3.2 yards of carry.
12:14 But he played well in the pick game.
12:15 But these last two games have been a little concerning,
12:18 I think, in terms of C.J. Donaldson.
12:19 It's almost like he's being almost a little too patient.
12:25 I think he just needs to find the hole, make his cut,
12:28 go get downhill in a hurry and use that 240 pounds
12:34 and just really lean on that front
12:38 and not worry so much about trying to make people miss
12:42 because I think that's what kind of got him in that play
12:47 down at the goal line on third and fourth down,
12:50 more so on third down, where it looked like he was going to score.
12:54 And for whatever reason, he kind of turns back up
12:56 into the middle of the defense and gets stuffed at the goal line.
12:59 So I think, again, this could be a good time for C.J.,
13:04 you know, this bye week to kind of regroup and regather himself
13:08 and figure out what he needs to do to get back on track
13:11 because it's not been the C.J.
13:13 Donaldson we thought.
13:15 And that's maybe even more impressive
13:17 that this team's finding ways to win without C.J.
13:19 Donaldson at his best.
13:21 So lastly, I'll close out with this.
13:25 West Virginia is 4-1.
13:27 They're 2-0 in the Big 12.
13:31 Is it possible this team can make it
13:32 to the Big 12 championship game?
13:34 I mean, seriously, is it possible that this football team,
13:43 again, the one that was picked to finish 14th in the Big 12,
13:47 can they make the Big 12 championship game?
13:51 I'm starting to find, like, all these questions
13:59 that I had in my head about this team
14:00 and how they're going to handle some parts of the schedule,
14:03 and they're handling this, they're handling that.
14:07 And last night, before I went to bed,
14:09 I put my Big 12 power rankings together.
14:13 And I couldn't get myself to really put West Virginia
14:18 inside the top five of the Big 12.
14:20 I just couldn't do it.
14:23 But then I'm starting to look at some of these other teams
14:25 in the Big 12.
14:27 Central Florida lost.
14:29 They blew a 28- or 29-point lead.
14:32 Kansas lost to Texas.
14:34 He was just ahead a spot or two of West Virginia.
14:37 TCU was three spots ahead, and they beat them head-to-head.
14:42 Folks, I have West Virginia as the fourth-best team
14:45 in this Big 12 conference.
14:48 And if you know me, I'm very real with my stuff.
14:54 I don't just do it for fluff.
14:55 I'm going to be real with you.
14:57 This is the fourth-best team, as of right now,
14:59 through two games in the Big 12, this is the fourth-best team.
15:04 They've proved it. They've earned it.
15:09 So, again, there's a lot of football left.
15:13 You know, there's seven conference games left.
15:17 Your favorite, again, in these next two, more than likely,
15:20 there's a chance you win these next two.
15:23 Something special can happen in Morgantown this year.
15:30 And all of a sudden, Neil Brown goes from the hot seat
15:35 to potentially the coach of the year
15:37 and may already be on track for that.
15:40 So, that'll do it for me here today, on "Between the Ears."
15:44 This has been the morning after.
15:46 Be sure to hit subscribe, like, comment on YouTube, @MountaineersNow.
15:51 You can follow us on @MountaineersNow,
15:53 myself @Kellann_.
15:56 And we've got a lot of stuff coming for you on the bye week.
15:59 So, just because the Mountaineers are off doesn't mean we are.
16:02 We are going to still come back with all these shows
16:06 throughout the week, both on "In the Gun," "Between the Ears."
16:10 We're still going to have the "Walkthrough Game Day" show.
16:11 Even though there's no game to preview,
16:13 we will have a show previewing some of the games
16:17 around the Big 12 this week
16:18 and also kind of recapping these first five games
16:21 in West Virginia.
16:22 So, action-packed week for us here on "Mountaineers Now."
16:26 Don't miss out on any of it.
16:28 So, thank you guys for watching.
16:30 Thank you for tuning in all week, as you did.
16:33 And we'll see you back here in a couple of days.
16:35 Take care.
16:37 (upbeat music)
16:39 (upbeat music)
16:42 (upbeat music)
16:45 (upbeat music)