Say what? WVU’s defense better than offense
As this season wears on, I find myself growing more impressed with WVU's defense and less impressed with its offense, something I never saw coming.
First, some numbers:
- WVU is ranked 4th in the NCAA in total defense, behind only Ohio State, LSU and Southern Cal, allowing 254.7 yards per game. WVU's rush defense is ranked 12th, and its passing defense -- which finished the 2006 season ranked 109th in the NCAA -- is now ranked 5th.
- WVU is ranked 10th in scoring defense, allowing 16.6 points per game.
- The heralded and hyped WVU offense, on the other hand, while not too shabby, is:
- Ranked 12th in total offense, compiling 481.3 yards per game. It has the No. 2 rush offense (behind Navy) but the 103rd-ranked passing offense, behind just about everybody.
- Ranked 7th in scoring offense, at 42.1 points per game.
The WVU defense has improved with almost each game, allowing, respectively, 277, 387, 269, 160, 274, 202 and 214 total yards.
The offense has actually declined in production as the season has progressed, compiling, respectively, 542, 511, 448, 599, 437, 486 and 346 yards.
Coach Rod says the improved defense has to do with experience. I see a couple of key elements:
- A pass rush for the first time in a while, and dominating play along the defensive line, thanks to Johnny Dingle, Keilen Dykes and Scooter Berry. Yes, that Dingle-Berry combination really clings to opposing running backs. One could say they have taken opposing offenses and rectum. But that would be cheap humor, and I would never make them the butt of a joke.
- Significantly improved play by the secondary, which is obviously helped by the D-line, but also by the presence of 12th-year senior Michigan transfer, Ryan Mundy, who plays safety like a growed-up man.
Given all that, I am starting to become a bit, well, disenchanted with WVU's offense.
First, allow me to qualify: Pat White and Steve Slaton are spectacular players. Same with Darius Reynaud and the young 'uns. I don't think I'd take any other set of skill players in the country over them. And it is almost silly to take issue with an offense averaging more than 40 points and nearly 500 yards per game.
HOWEVER...
More than ever, it seems, WVU's offense begins five yards behind the line of scrimmage and goes sideways. More than ever, it's getting stopped. Teams are shutting down the boundary option on the zone read, even as WVU is still able to make hay up the middle on the option (See: White's untouched, game-opening 64-yard touchdown run against Mississippi State up the middle as he kept the ball when the defensive end crashed in, along with the rest of the defense, following Slaton to the sideline.)
It's hard to remember five deep pass plays WVU has connected on this season. There is a decent intermediate passing game, sure, but almost all of White's attempts are sideline-to-sideline to wide receivers and slot backs. I know the theory is to get the ball quickly to your playmakers and let them do their thing, but Coach Rod's "bubble screen" is getting punctured left and right.
And fans are noticing. I spent the first half of Saturday's game against Mississippi State in the stands. More than once, after a bubble screen got blown up, fans around me derisively yelled, "Not another bubble screen!" I spent much of the second half in a skybox, surrounded by better-heeled but just as knowledgeable fans. After another bubble screen got blown up, one fan in the box said, "Why don't you run another bubble screen, Rich?"
Naturally, fans should not be calling plays. But we're all seeing the same thing.
I was equally mystified and frustrated when WVU took over at Mississippi State's 1-yard line. Coach Rod ran Owen Schmitt right-tackle for no gain, Owen Schmitt left-tackle for no gain and called a deep route to a double-covered Reynaud, which White overthrew. WVU had to punt from the back line of the end zone and Mississippi State recovered inside the WVU 40. Not a problem when you're leading by three touchdowns, but a real problem when you're not.
Doesn't WVU have a fast and mobile quarterback? Does Coach Rod not have a roll-out play in his book that would allow White to fake to a back one way then roll out to the other, giving him the option of running or throwing to a receiver dragging across the middle -- just like LSU did against Auburn when faced with the same situation and a much-less mobile quarterback Saturday night? All legitimate questions.
The bottom line is: As counter-intuitive as it sounds, I'd like to see Coach Rod start to display the kind of variety and big-play chances on his balleyhooed offense that I'm starting to see weekly from his under-appreciated defense.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
WVU’s defense is levitating into elite territory.