MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Not only was the WVU defense down two linebackers before Thursday’s Liberty Bowl against Army even started, but the numbers continued to drop as the game wore on.
Leading-tackler Tony Fields opted out to prepare for the NFL draft and Exree Loe was forced to sit out due to injury. Safety Tykee Smith, who was named an All-American by several publications this week, did not play due to what head coach Neal Brown called an “accident.” Cornerback Dreshun Miller was unavailable and safety Sean Mahone was injured in the second quarter and did not return.
Still, the Mountaineers (6-4) held the Black Knights (9-3) to 239 yards of total offense and 182 rushing yards, about 100 yards less than their season average.
“Everybody did a great job of getting us familiar with the offense,” said linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo, who had the game-clinching interception on WVU’s final defensive play. “We probably repped Army well over 300 times. We saw the plays and knew exactly what we were going to get.”
Army’s vaunted option attack is difficult to prepare for, and while WVU had an idea what the Black Knights were going to do offensively, Brown said the Mountaineers needed to make adjustments on the fly.
“We tried to play our base defense — we didn’t try to recreate the wheel in about nine days, it just wasn’t going to be possible,” he said. “Usually you have about three weeks in a normal bowl season to prepare, or if you play them in the regular season, you get all spring and summer to scout. But that wasn’t the case facing this Army option. We practiced seven times and only one of those was in shoulder pads. I thought our staff did a nice job adjusting.”
Leddie Brown breaks 1,000 yards
With a carry early in the third quarter, WVU running back Leddie Brown broke the 1,000-yard mark in 10 games, capping off an excellent junior campaign and a stark improvement over his 2019 campaign, where he ran for just 367 yards in 12 games.
Brown, who finished with 1,010 yards, is the first player at WVU to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Justin Crawford finished with 1,060 in 2017.
Finally, bowl success
Bowl wins have been hard to come by for the Mountaineers since Pat White and company won four-straight from 2005-08, with WVU going 2-7 the last 11 seasons prior to 2020.
Thursday’s Liberty Bowl win is the first since the 2015 Cactus Bowl over Arizona State.
“We still have a lot of work to do and we’re very aware of that,” Neal Brown said. “The next eight months are going to be critical in our program’s development.”
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