Football, Sports, WVU Sports

Big 12 notebook: Tony Mathis will continue to get carries at RB for WVU; running woes hurt Kansas State at Texas

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU true freshman running back Tony Mathis stumbled and bumbled his way forward on his first few touches last Saturday against Texas Tech.

The Orlando, Fla., native saw his first game action with four games remaining — still able to keep his redshirt, and coach Neal Brown could tell there were some nerves at first.

“I thought he did some good things, but he was really nervous,” Brown said on Monday’s Big 12 coaches teleconference. “He lost his feet a couple times, but I thought the catch he had for the touchdown, he had a nice finish at the goal line.”

With the game out of hand against the Red Raiders, quarterback Jarret Doege and Mathis checked in toward the end of the third quarter to get their first reps. With struggles in the running game all season, Brown wanted to see what fresh faces could do, and Mathis fits that mold. He had just four carries for 14 yards as he struggled to keep his feet, but he did have three catches, including a hard run into the end zone with five seconds left for his first career touchdown on a pass from Doege.

With Kennedy McKoy and Leddie Brown as the top two options, Martell Pettaway redshirting, and Alec Sinkfield being relegated to special teams and lining up at receiver, there are valuable carries for Mathis during the final three games.

“I like his running style and we’re going to continue to work him into the game plan,” Brown said.

Up for grabs

Brown also made it clear the entire depth chart will be evaluated before Saturday’s game at Kansas State, especially defensively.

“When you play as poorly as we did defensively to start the game, you have to look at all things,” he said. “That was as bad a first half as you can play. We gave up touchdowns the first five drives and I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a game like that.”

Offensively, Brown liked what his unit did between the 20-yard lines, but red zone offense was brutal for the Mountaineers (3-6, 1-5). Texas Tech allowed opponents to score on 88% of drives that reached the red zone prior to the game — 112th in the country.

By the end of the game, the Red Raiders jumped all the way to 50th.

“If you struggle to run the ball in the red zone, it’s really tough because you run out of real estate, Brown said. “You have to be efficient running it down there, and we had negative runs in the red zone, which puts you behind the chains.”

In the passing game, Brown liked the play-calls, but not the execution. He said he will get clarification from the Big 12 on how his receivers can get defensive backs off of them within the rules.

“We have to do a better job of getting our hands off,” Brown said. “You get more tight coverage down in the red zone, so the receivers and tight ends have to do a better job of that.”

This week in practice, though, there will be several open competitions on both sides of the ball.

“I would say everybody and everyone is under evaluation,” Brown said.

6-day window exercised for Oklahoma State

The kickoff time for West Virginia’s final home game against Oklahoma State on Nov. 23 will be determined next weekend, Big 12 announced Monday.

KSU hopes to get running game on track

Kansas State was one of the hottest teams in the country heading into last Saturday’s game at Texas, especially when it came to running the ball.

The Wildcats (6-3, 3-3) knocked off previously unbeaten Oklahoma on Oct. 26, running for 213 yards and six touchdowns vs. the Sooners. The following week, KSU ran for 342 yards and five scores.

Its fortunes changed against the Longhorns — the Wildcats ran for just 52 yards on 26 carries, which is just two yards per attempt in a 27-24 loss.

“Our ability to rush the football was our biggest concern, and that obviously affected a lot of the passing game,” coach Chris Klieman said.