West Virginia

In a Driving Rain, West Virginia Washes Out Oklahoma

Published

2 years ago

November 13, 2022

In a Driving Rain, West Virginia Washes Out Oklahoma

MORGANTOWN, WV — What else however a stirring end might come from such an unpleasant sport in ugly situations between two groups mired in an unpleasant season?

Saturday’s Oklahoma-West Virginia sport wasn’t a traditional within the ordinary sense. Performed largely in a driving rainstorm that stored soccer followers away from Milan Puskar Stadium, each offenses had been predictably dysfunctional, and each teaching staffs had been appropriately conservative.

Backup quarterback Garrett Greene led the Mountaineers on a last-minute game-winning drive that included fourth down move to Bryce Ford-Wheaton and three tackle-breaking runs of his personal.

Greene’s final run coated 7 yards on third-and-6 after OU exhausted its timeouts and arrange Casey Legg for the go-ahead discipline objective from 24 yards out as time expired.

OU suffered its first loss to the Mountaineers in Massive 12 Convention play. Saturday ended a streak of 9 in a row since WVU joined the league in 2012.

Oklahoma is 5-5 total and 2-5 in Massive 12 Convention play, whereas WVU is 4-6 and 2-5.

The ultimate minutes had been entertaining, however the halftime scoreboard was almost caught at 3-0 earlier than an unlikely flurry of factors within the ultimate seconds.

The Sooners allowed 205 yards complete offense within the first half, however WVU averaged simply 3.8 yards per rush and accomplished simply 9-of-16 passes for 106 yards.

OU’s offense, nevertheless, was sluggish within the first half regardless of one other incredible efficiency from Eric Grey.

The Sooners transformed simply 1-of-7 third downs and had been 0-for-1 on fourth down within the opening half-hour.

Dillon Gabriel overthrew Marvin Mims on a possible large achieve, however then Mims dropped what would have been a walk-in landing on one other deep ball. Gabriel accomplished simply 11-of-20 for 155 yards within the first half as a gradual rain fell on Morgantown.

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It was scoreless for a lot of the primary half — Zach Schmit was quick on a 54-yard discipline objective within the first quarter after which made a 32-yard kick within the second quarter — and after WVU pinned the Sooners at their very own 4-yard line with an ideal punt, it appeared the groups would go into halftime at 3-0.

As a substitute, they produced an surprising outburst of factors.

Grey received the Sooners off the objective line with a pair lengthy runs, after which Mims lastly hauled in an enormous ball from Gabriel, a 67-yard achieve to the WVU 12. Grey’s landing on the following play constructed the Sooners a 10-0 lead with simply 66 seconds on the clock.

However the Mountaineers received a 42-yard kickoff return on Schmit’s quick kick, and cashed it in three performs later when Greene ran for 33 yards, then scooted 5 extra for the landing to make it 10-6.

The additional level, nevertheless, was a distinct story, as Robert Spears-Jennings crashed into WVU holder Kolten McGhee, inflicting a unfastened ball, and Billy Bowman scooped it up and took it again for a 2-point conversion runback that pushed the OU result in 12-6 at halftime.

West Virginia took its first lead on its second possession of the third quarter when Greene connected with Bryce Ford-Wheaton on an 8-yard fade route landing to make it 13-12. On the earlier play, David Ugwoegbu batted down a throw by Greene on the line of scrimmage — a throw which may have been in any other case intercepted by Billy Bowman in the long run zone.

The Sooners opened the quarter with a robust possession — 10 performs, 45 yards, greater than 4 minutes off the clock — however had been stopped on downs when Gabriel’s fourth-and-3 throw was batted down on the line.

On Oklahoma’s subsequent possession, Eric Grey took over with runs of seven, 5, 21, 3 and 5 yards, and Gabriel accomplished passes of 8 and 10 yards to Marvin Mims. Grey’s 5-yard TD put the Sooners again in entrance, and Gabriel’s rush on the 2-point conversion gave OU a 20-13 lead with 1:22 to play within the third quarter.

Grey completed with a career-high 211 speeding yards and now has 1,113 on the season.

West Virginia wasted little time with their reply, although. The Mountaineers transformed a fourth-and-15 state of affairs when OU’s Gracen Halton was referred to as for offsides, and Greene adopted that up with a 15-yard completion to Kaden Prather. After one other 5-yard hookup with Prather, Inexperienced raced round the correct edge for a landing that tied it at 20-20.

The fourth down wasn’t with out controversy, as Greene’s throw into the top zone was intercepted by C.J. Coldon, however as Coldon tried to take a knee in the long run zone, he was clobbered by a WVU participant. The play was initially flagged for pointless roughness, which might have been offsetting penalties, however the second flag was picked up and the offsides name in opposition to Halton was allowed to face, giving Greene the Mountaineers second life.

OU’s subsequent drive was promising as Grey rushed for five, 5, 6 and 24 yards on 4 straight rushes. However the drive slowed down simply outdoors the pink zone, and Schmit’s 46-yard discipline objective banged into the correct upright, leaving the rating tied at 20.

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West Virginia

Score Predictions for West Virginia’s Senior Day Game vs. UCF

Published

9 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Score Predictions for West Virginia’s Senior Day Game vs. UCF

Picking up a win this weekend means the West Virginia Mountaineers are going bowling. It’s been an extremely disappointing season to this point, but WVU can put an end to their woes at home by taking down a UCF team that has lost six of its last seven.

Here is how we see this Saturday’s game going between WVU and UCF.

The challenge doesn’t get any easier this week for new WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz, who will have to gameplan for the nation’s third-leading rusher, RJ Harvey. UCF is and always will be a run-first football team under Gus Malzahn, but they have found an answer at quarterback over the last couple of games with freshman Dylan Rizk, giving them more of a balanced approach.

For the most part this season, West Virginia has had success defending the run. They rank fifth in the Big 12 in run defense and 50th nationally in yards allowed per carry (4.0). Although Rizk opens up UCF’s offense, I still believe Malzahn will want to remain confident in his superstar running back and try to lean on WVU’s front. With less-than-ideal weather conditions expected to be in play, it should keep UCF from wanting to spin it a bunch, which is great news for a weak Mountaineer secondary.

Whether it was the season opener versus Penn State, the Backyard Brawl against Pitt, the Coal Rush game versus Iowa State, or another primetime game against Kansas State, WVU has not handled distractions all that well this season. Senior Day can certainly provide a lot of distractions with all of the emotions that go into it, but I believe Garrett Greene, Wyatt Milum, and Co. will walk out of Milan Puskar Stadium as winners.

I’m going with the Mountaineers in a high-scoring affair.

Prediction record: 6-4.

UCF may have found its footing with quarterback Dylan Rizk – the Knights’ fourth starting QB this season. Rizk has made the last two starts for a team looking to remain bowl eligible. The freshman threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start and nearly pulled off the upset at Arizona State in game two. He’s been efficient in his passes, completing 74.6% of his passes.

The Knights have leaned on an effective rushing attack, ranking third nationally, and lead all Power Four programs, averaging 262.8 rushing yards per game.

Leading the UCF ground game is RJ Harvey. The senior has rushed for 1,328, ranking third nationally, with 19 touchdowns and was named a Doak Walker Award semifinalist for the second consecutive season.

Statistically, the West Virginia defense has been formidable against the run and is second in the Big 12 in rushing yards allowed per game at 126.8. However, last week against Baylor, the Mountaineers nearly allowed the Bears to reach their season average of 5.7 yards per carry, gaining 5.4 yards per rush. UCF is second in the country in runs of 10 yards or more with 86.

West Virginia was unable to keep pace with a surging Baylor offense last week at home and there is no indication they will be able slow the Knights down Saturday. The Mountaineers had an opportunity for a game turning interception against Baylor but what has occurred often with this unit, it was dropped. The defense will have to make plays for this team to win and they did it two weeks ago to steal a win in Cincinnati.

I’m reluctant to pick West Virginia for a multitude of reasons but what has been preached by the coaching staff since the arrival of Neal Brown, the lack of consistency in all three phases of the game, sums it up.

I’m going to go out on a shaky limb this week and pick the Mountaineers. It’s quarterback Garrett Greene’s last home game of his Mountaineer career and I think he will motivate and will this team to a win while the defense will dial up more pressure against a freshman quarterback and force mistakes, but it will not be easy.

West Virginia finds a way to win 27-24.

Prediction record: 6-4.

West Virginia

Who Steps Up for West Virginia at Receiver with Traylon Ray Done for the Year?

Published

18 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Who Steps Up for West Virginia at Receiver with Traylon Ray Done for the Year?

West Virginia’s passing game hasn’t struck fear into the hearts of its opponents all year long, but the Mountaineers lost one of their biggest receiving threats, Traylon Ray, last week in the loss to Baylor.

A Baylor defensive back landed on Ray’s leg on a deep ball in the second half, causing the sophomore receiver to be carted off the field. Over the weekend, Ray underwent a successful surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Prior to the injury, Ray hauled in 28 receptions for 426 yards and four touchdowns on the season, giving him an average of 15.2 yards per catch. He scored three of his four touchdowns throughout his final four games played and made some big catches deep down the field. He leads all Mountaineer receivers in touchdowns, is second in receiving yards, and third in receptions.

So, how do the Mountaineers go about replacing Ray’s production for the final two games of the season?

“I think similar to when Hudson (Clement) was out. We take a team approach,” head coach Neal Brown answered. “Now, we’re going to miss him. I think that by the time Traylon’s career is done here, he’s going to be a really high-level player, and I really think the NFL is in his future. This is a minor setback. He’ll make the full recovery. It looked bad, but he’s going to make the full recovery, and he’s in good spirits. We’ll miss him.

“But we also got some guys that we can plug and play,” he continued. “Preston (Fox) will take a bigger role. Jarel Williams will play a little bit more on offense. Justin Robinson needs to play more like he did against Cincinnati, not like he did against Baylor. And I believe he will. It will be a committee approach.”

DayDay Farmer is another one who will likely see more action, although he has been splitting reps in the slot with Rodney Gallagher III for the last couple of weeks. While Farmer, Robinson, Fox, Williams, and others may become a little more involved, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll see a significant increase in targets.

Instead, look for tight end Kole Taylor to see a healthy dose of targets in these final two games. Over the last two weeks, Taylor has combined for ten receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown. He’ll likely play a big role in the season finale at Texas Tech, but with cruddy weather in the forecast for Saturday, Ray’s absence shouldn’t impact the Mountaineers too much against UCF.

West Virginia and UCF will kick it off at 3:30 p.m. EST. The action can be streamed live on ESPNU.

West Virginia

2026 DL O'Neal talks West Virginia visit, offer

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

2026 DL O'Neal talks West Virginia visit, offer

Cleveland (Oh.) Benedictine 2026 defensive lineman Tyrell O’Neal had been in contact with West Virginia for several weeks but made the decision to come to campus to get a first-hand look at the school.

O’Neal, 6-foot-3, 270-pounds, was impressed with the atmosphere overall but was excited when he found out that the Mountaineers were jumping into the mix with a scholarship offer.

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