Mountaineers, Wildcats Open Big 12 Schedule
West Virginia won narrow game last season in Kansas
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MORGANTOWN -- It was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly a year ago when No. 12 West Virginia (2-0) held on for a 28-23 victory over Kansas State (2-1) at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The defense limited the host Wildcats to a 39-yard Matthew McCrane field goal in the fourth quarter while the offense -- led by Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Will Grier -- used the 'big play' to forge a 28-20 halftime advantage.
Then, there was the ugly -- two lost fumbles and two interceptions. It was a performance second-year offensive coordinator Jake Spavital attempted to explain during Tuesday's media conference.
"I really don't think we did a lot of good things throughout the course of the game," Spavital said. "I think we turned the ball over too many times. I thought we weren't efficient in running the football. I thought we had a lot of dropped passes. The thing that we did well was, in the second quarter, we big-played them.
"That's something that we've put an emphasis on all through the offseason. This is one of the games that sparked our talks about efficiency and high-percentage throws, high-percentage plays and making sure the run game is popping effectively. That's when you look back and see how they played us last year. They played us how they normally play people. I think once we didn't capitalize on running the ball efficiently and the dropped passes, then they started playing more man (coverage) on us. They, I thought, were more a physical team as well.
"That's something that we have to be on point with this week is making sure that we have a physical edge, we're taking care of the football, making sure we're taking high percentage throws, being efficient with the football and pick-and-choose when we want to big-play them."
And, the big play has been 'big' for the Mountaineers thus far in 2018.
In its season-opening 40-14 victory of Tennessee, Grier hit Alabama transfer T.J. Simmons with a 59-yard bomb in the opening quarter then found seniors David Sills V and Gary Jennings Jr. from 33 and 28 yards out before capping off his day's work with a 14-yard touchdown pass to junior running back Kennedy McKoy and a 10-yard score to Sills.
The next weekend it was Jennings on the receiving end of three scoring passes from Grier -- 11, 24 and 33 yards -- while senior Dominique Maiden was on the end of a 40-yard bomb.
"I think it's way too early to say, but I think we're on track to where we want to go," Spavital said. "I think a lot of that is the maturity of our team. I think that we're a different offense than what we were last year, just from the amount of snaps these kids have played. We have to make sure that we're continuing to improve as an offense each week."
And, it's that maturity at quarterback which has allowed West Virginia's offense to overcome defenses that want to mix up their coverage in an attempt to confuse the signal-caller.
"I think we have to be disciplined with our communication -- understanding what they're trying to accomplish on that play," Spavital said. "I think they caught us in a few things last year when we had run game called, and they shot a blitz or to a box that was outmanned. We just didn't get into any audibles.
"We just have to make sure that we have a good feeling with what they're trying to do to us and make sure we get into the right play. It's going to be a big week for Will in terms of managing that. You sit there and study a lot of tape on them, and there's not very many tendencies these guys have. You just have to make sure these kids are on point -- they're making sure they catch them in the right scenarios, communicate it out to everybody and make sure everyone is on the same page."