WVU football’s offense has ‘outlier’ performance against Kansas
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MORGANTOWN -- It was in the fourth quarter at this point. West Virginia football was trailing 37-7 to Kansas, and the game was all but over. Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. snapped the ball, and after two seconds, he had to scramble. After the play that came up empty, Hawkins was visibly frustrated.
It was one of those days for the Mountaineers' offense that had been the sticking point for the team through the first eight games. The defense might be really bad, but at least the offense was the best in the Big 12, making them competitive. That best-in-the-Big 12 offense didn't show Saturday night against Kansas.
"Today was an outlier," Rich Rodriguez said. "Our offense had played pretty well all year."
WVU's offense had seven points and 98 yards of offense through the third quarter. The Mountaineers finished with 14 points and 262 yards, but that was in garbage time at that point. Even still, the total yardage was a season-low for Rodriguez's high-powered offense.
Rodriguez stated the scheme was different than what Kansas has normally shown. In the first couple of series, after WVU scored a touchdown on the second drive, the Jayhawks knew the Mountaineers' game plan. Kansas used a six-man blitz, while WVU blocked five, and instead of one player getting free, there were two that caused disruption in the backfield.
"It's not something that we haven't seen as coaches," Rodriguez said. "But it was a completely different deal than what they had shown before. Give them credit, it was good... There was a multitude of errors, and it starts with our coaching."
The offensive line had arguably its worst performance of the season. Hawkins had barely any time in the pocket and was sacked four times. Kansas had nine tackles for loss, too. There were a lot of Jayhawks players in the backfield.
The blocking wasn't great in the run game either. The Mountaineers rushed for a season-low 35 rushing yards. Running back Cam Cook, who was top 10 in the nation in rushing, was held to just 12 yards. Hawkins usually escapes when the play breaks down, but he couldn't find any running lanes, rushing for a team-high 36 yards. Hawkins had the only non-garbage-time touchdown on the ground for 20 on the year.
There were more misfires from center Wes King. On two occasions, Hawkins wasn't ready for the snap, and he had to fall on it or field a ground ball to start the play. King had problems a week ago against Texas Tech, too.
"We didn't block at all up front," Rodriguez said. "I knew their front was good, but it was bad from the start. Everything. Pass protection. The run game was awful."
It didn't help that starting guard Amare "Bubba" Grayson watched the game from the sidelines in a boot. Rodriguez said Grayson won't play the rest of the regular season with an ankle injury. Offensive line coach Rick Trickett said the Jacksonville State transfer was the best lineman on the team. He started in the first eight games before being injured in the Texas Tech game.
In Grayson's place, returner Nick Krahe played left guard, and Josh Aisosa slotted over to right guard. On back-to-back plays in the final drives of the game, Krahe and Aisosa were called for penalties, adding salt to the wound.
"Bubba up front, he's kind of a calming presence," Rodriguez said. "It was just one guy. I had some concerns; they're pretty good up front. But my gosh. I don't want to say there was panic that set in, but there was probably some of that that happened... We got work to do to fix it."
There are two games left to get the offensive line right, and hopefully that'll help get the offense back on track. WVU faces Houston's sixth-ranked defense and Utah's fourth-ranked defense, so it won't be easy. Kansas had the eighth-ranked defense coming into the game for reference, and one of the worst rushing defenses. Utah has the best rushing defense.
If WVU wants to get to a bowl game, it'll have to get things going offensively without Grayson on the line because the defense doesn't look like it'll be fixed before the season ends.
"We're going to have to go back, watch film," receiver John Neider said. "Figure out what went right and what went wrong, obviously. We'll get it done, fix it during practice this week."