MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It all changed on one play. With WVU’s offense struggling for most of the first half, Kansas State knew it and the defense adjusted accordingly — or so it thought.
Early in the second quarter on a 3rd and 9, K-State didn’t have anyone in the secondary. It was lined up straight across and had everyone within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, and as most people call it, “Cover 0.”
WVU quarterback Jarret Doege had been off on almost every pass prior, and the bulk of the Mountaineers’ production to that point was squarely on running back Leddie Brown.
With the Wildcats keyed in on Brown, Doege finally took advantage with a strike on a post route by Bryce Ford-Wheaton, hitting him in stride for a gain of 59 yards.
After that played, WVU scored touchdowns on three straight possessions, and did it in almost every way possible. Doege completed passes to eight different receivers, Brown continued to shine in the running game and Alec Sinkfield finally got out of his funk with a long run himself. Screens, slants, post routes, flag routes, zone reads, delayed handoffs — it all suddenly began to work for the Mountaineers.
The only thing that stopped WVU in the second quarter was the clock, but while the offense slowed down a bit in the second half, it was too little too late for K-State.
The second quarter set the tone as the Mountaineers walked out of Milan Puskar Stadium with the upset, 37-10.
And it all started with one play to finally crack the code.
Prior to Ford-Wheaton’s catch, the Mountaineers had 73 yards combined on three drives — two ended in field goal attempts (one missed) and the other lost 10 yards on a three-and-out.
The fourth drive looked like it was headed down a similar path. Two plays, including a run for a loss, had WVU in 3rd and long.
“Our coach (Gerad Parker) always tells us if they’re in man coverage, then you’ve gotta make them pay for it,” Ford-Wheaton said. “I just did what I was taught, and then caught the ball and it’s just genetics after that.”
K-State rolled the dice and came up short on that play, and Ford-Wheaton said the Wildcats didn’t try it again after. Loosening up the defense worked to a T on that play, which helped the offense become more versatile, finishing with 217 total yards — 141 in the air and 76 on the ground.
“I noticed after that, they didn’t play us that way again, almost the whole entire game,” Ford-Wheaton said. “They played us a lot softer the rest of the game.”
Another result of Ford-Wheaton’s catch and run was it being a third-down conversion, which the Mountaineers finished 50% (9 of 18) on Saturday. Last week, they were at 27% (4 of 15).
“I thought we had a good plan coming in, and Jarret did good things to get us in good spots,” head coach Neal Brown said. “We avoided 3rd and long for the most part. Outside of the play to Bryce in the second quarter, we didn’t have many third downs when we scored three times. We didn’t play well on third downs last week, but this week, it was a complete 180.”
Drops, which were a big discussion a week ago after the receivers had seven, were put to rest. According to Pro Football Focus, the Mountaineers didn’t have any this week.
While it certainly isn’t a thing of beauty just yet, it appeared the offense is finally starting to work out the kinks as we head into November for the stretch run.
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