ITG 79 - Big Daddy Kicks Off Duquesne Week
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00:00 In the gun, episode number 79, it's time for a Penn State recap here as the first weekend
00:12 of results across college football week one are in the books here.
00:16 Wesley Euler, this is ITG, your new favorite WVU football podcast with the best teammates
00:21 in the business, the Signal College Jed Drinning and the runaway beer truck Owen Schmidt.
00:25 This episode of ITG, as always, brought to you in part by our friends at Bet Online,
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00:55 At Bet Online, where the game starts.
00:57 The games, I guess, technically started going last weekend, fellas, with some week zero
01:01 slate, right?
01:02 But this really the first kind of full jam-packed, full tilt here, full go weekend of college
01:09 football.
01:10 And a couple headlines here before we jump into the Mountaineer Penn State recap.
01:15 And I tell you what, big O, maybe not a bigger headline this weekend than Colorado and Deion
01:22 Sanders and what the Buffs were able to do.
01:25 They go down to TCU, a team that was obviously just in the national championship game last
01:29 year on the road.
01:31 First game of a brand new regime, almost an entirely new roster.
01:35 And they outlast TCU there, 45-42 in a thriller.
01:40 Yeah, what an absolute game, dude.
01:44 Shootout to the very end.
01:46 And Deion, getting it done.
01:50 I'd say.
01:51 I mean, absolutely getting it done.
01:54 Absolutely getting it done.
01:57 There was a lot of criticism about what he did when he came in, basically turning that
02:02 team upside down and got rid of basically almost the entire roster.
02:08 But if you think about what he did, if you think about what he truly did, in the old
02:16 era, a head coach takes over, it takes four years for him to basically flip the script
02:22 and get who he wants in there.
02:24 Now with what's going on in college football, he was able to bring the guys he wanted in,
02:31 right?
02:32 Get his team, gel as quickly as a team has ever gelled before.
02:37 Now he's basically turned the college football world upside down as far as how you can change
02:41 your team in a year and what you can bring in and what you can do in just a couple months,
02:47 honestly.
02:48 Yeah.
02:49 I mean, he absolutely gets it done on Saturday.
02:55 What an absolute thriller of a game against TCU.
02:59 The guys who played for the Natty last year, completely impressed.
03:03 Yeah.
03:04 You expected TCU to come into this game with really a ticked off edge.
03:08 The last time they were on the field, they were on the business end of that 65 to 7 shellacking
03:12 against Georgia.
03:13 Well, this wasn't the ticked off edge that we anticipated.
03:18 Now TCU hardly played a flawless football game.
03:21 I mean, Chandler Morris picked off twice in the end zone.
03:24 Both those should have been points.
03:25 They got an off-conference kicker that missed the 42-yard field goal, very uncharacteristic
03:30 for him.
03:31 But it turns out you can't blink against Colorado because they can score.
03:35 I mean, the biggest thing I walked out of that thinking, guys, was Shadier Sanders,
03:40 hats off.
03:41 I mean, he's legit five bills in his first Power Five start.
03:44 I mean, he was highly recruited.
03:47 People tend to forget that before he went to Jackson State because of his dad.
03:50 But he was absolutely legit.
03:53 Those weapons that they have on the perimeter, they might have not one, but possibly two
03:57 Heisman contenders.
03:58 Now, we're putting the cart before the horse because that's what you tend to do with week
04:01 one action and week one results, is overreact.
04:04 That's what it's all about.
04:06 But part of me looks at this thing and I think this might get really dangerous now because
04:11 with those 87 new faces in that locker room, they're all believing proof of concept.
04:17 Is now there.
04:18 So they're truly believing.
04:20 And part of building a program is handling success.
04:23 And I was thinking, who handles success better than Deion Sanders?
04:27 His whole life has been successful and handling that success very well to take the next step.
04:34 Hats off to me, guys, not only to Shadier Sanders, because again, I think he was the
04:37 player of that game.
04:39 But in addition to that, you've got an offensive coordinator that a year ago was the head coach
04:44 at Kent and Sean Lewis.
04:46 What we talked about when Deion took that job, can he assemble the appropriate staff
04:50 around him?
04:51 We know he has the leadership skills.
04:52 We know he's an inspirational type guy.
04:55 But can he put the guys in position?
04:57 Because I've talked to guys who coached against Deion when he was at Jack State, and it wasn't
05:02 exactly shored up with what you were facing schematically.
05:06 So that's obviously been addressed because offensively, at least, that game plan was
05:11 well thought out, well schemed, well devised.
05:14 Great job by Sean Lewis and that offensive staff.
05:17 Now, can they stop anybody?
05:19 That's going to be an issue right out of the gate.
05:21 I mean, giving up 42, but that's a very potent TCU offense that they had to deal with.
05:27 But hats off to Deion.
05:28 I mean, I was doubting this going in.
05:30 A lot of people were doubting this going in, how this was going to work in this crazy environment
05:34 against a good team with 87 new faces.
05:37 Well, it worked well enough to win a shootout.
05:39 So hats off to Deion, hats off to the staff, hats off to the 87 new kids.
05:45 Now, can he continue?
05:47 His track record would suggest that over the arc of time, he'll find a way to do just that.
05:51 Every coach in America, every conventional coach in America, hated to see this outcome.
05:56 Yeah, our boy Pat Narduzzi was pissed, I tell you.
06:00 Him and everybody else.
06:02 It almost speaks to a shortcut, like Owen said, that we've never before seen.
06:07 So, stunning on one level, but it's going to be exciting, and it's exciting that he's
06:12 going to be part of the new Big 12 starting next year, too.
06:15 We are, well that is absolutely true.
06:17 We are, football in general, as football fans, as football media, as ex-players in your two
06:25 guys' cases, like, one thing that has to be the grain of salt to kind of wrap up this
06:31 Colorado and Deion conversation is, it's one week.
06:37 I mean, we do this in every league, right?
06:40 But particularly college football, where you don't get a preseason.
06:44 There's only 12 games in the regular season, and we react to every single one of them like
06:48 it is, you know, the end-all and the be-all of a season.
06:53 Every single Saturday or Thursday or Sunday or Monday or whenever the games end up being,
06:59 right?
07:00 But, this could be as high as, I mean, legitimately, and I'm not saying, like, this could be as
07:05 high as Colorado's season gets this year.
07:07 They could come back down to earth this week against Nebraska.
07:09 You want to talk about an intriguing one with Matt Rule and Prime next week and two first-year
07:14 coaches and two programs trying to get back their status.
07:19 But it is one week.
07:20 We do this a lot in college sports.
07:22 We panic after one week or we crown somebody after one week, and it's a long season.
07:28 But I tell you what, for Colorado, for Deion, that was about as good as they could start,
07:33 and we'll see if they can keep that momentum rolling forward.
07:36 You absolutely, positively must overreact to week one.
07:40 It's the law.
07:41 Every, every time.
07:42 You guys, I mean, like, you guys probably remember, again, and you do this, I get it,
07:45 because in football, it's not baseball where your team plays 162 games.
07:49 It's not hockey or basketball where your team plays 82 games or something like that.
07:54 I mean, every year, right?
07:57 When Tom Brady was with the Patriots, every year, because those guys would never play
08:00 in the preseason.
08:02 They'd come out week one and week two, and they'd look flat.
08:04 And every national analyst, is this it for Tom Brady in New England?
08:08 Is Bill Belichick lost his magic touch?
08:10 And then they'd win like 11 of their next 12 games and end up as the top seed in the
08:14 AFC, right?
08:15 Week one in football is the ultimate overreaction, underreaction.
08:20 You're going 12 and 0 into the playoff if your team wins, and the sky is falling and
08:25 blow it all up if your team loses.
08:27 But like I said, this is about as good of a start as you could have had for Colorado.
08:32 You mentioned, I mean, they're big-time players, too, having a big impact on that game.
08:36 You mentioned Sanders, Travis Hunter as well, too, what he was able to do both sides of
08:41 the football, just incredible.
08:43 So certainly, whether you love them, whether you hate them, whether you're kind of in between,
08:48 that's going to be a story, the Colorado Buffaloes, that we will follow all year.
08:51 And obviously, as Jed mentioned, them heading into the Big 12, what, about 11 months from
08:57 now, 10 months from now as well, too, adds an even more intriguing angle to that for
09:01 all of us.
09:02 Another thank you to our friends at Toothman Ford.
09:04 Folks, we all know cars cost less in Grafton.
09:06 Make sure you're getting your butt to Grafton to support Toothman, who does great work for
09:12 our WVU student athletes and NIL.
09:16 Maybe the next biggest headline game conversation piece, of course, Sunday night, LSU and Florida
09:23 State down in Orlando Camping World Stadium there, where I know Jed's been there for a
09:29 bowl game or two in the past to cover the Mountaineers.
09:32 That was where that was the Russell Wilson NC State game was at that same stadium, correct?
09:36 Miami, Syracuse.
09:37 Yep.
09:38 Miami.
09:39 That's right.
09:40 Syracuse.
09:41 Yep.
09:42 Yep.
09:43 LSU FSU, man, a comfortable win for the NOLS.
09:47 And this gets back to again, Jed, what I was just saying.
09:50 Everyone's crowning Florida State now.
09:51 They're going to win the ACC.
09:52 They're going to the playoff and everyone's, well, LSU is Brian Kelly really the guy is
09:57 this, you know, are they going to be all right?
09:58 Are they going to, you know, go eight and four or seven and five or something this season
10:02 and have a terrible year?
10:03 It's one week.
10:04 It's one game, particularly when you start with a top 10 matchup like that.
10:09 But I tell you what, Jed, both those teams looked pretty sloppy early on, which you get
10:12 a lot in week one.
10:13 But Florida State really did look like that team that a lot of hype with them this year
10:18 coming into this season and how they finished last year and what they were able to bring
10:21 back and what they were able to add in the transfer portal.
10:24 And they started off with a bang, the Seminoles as well, too, down there in Orlando.
10:28 Yeah, I'll be quick because we got to jump right into some WVU content here before we
10:32 get to Big Daddy.
10:33 But my biggest thought was the concern with LSU coming into the season was can they can
10:39 they live and die without a feature back?
10:41 Can Jaden Daniels be the only thing in their run game?
10:44 And that seemed to be exposed against Florida State.
10:47 First of all, Florida State, I'm a true believer that Jordan Travis, he's the truth.
10:52 I mean, behind center for Florida State.
10:54 I mean, that kid is a player.
10:55 It's legit.
10:56 I think Trey Benson's going to find his stride didn't necessarily do it against LSU.
11:01 But for me, again, I'll be quick.
11:03 LSU was effective throwing the football almost three and a half bills for Jaden Daniels.
11:08 But Jaden Daniels was again, their leading rusher.
11:10 But what struck me, they didn't even try and establish a run game.
11:14 There wasn't even a pretense of a run game.
11:16 When you look at Josh Williams, Noah Kane, Trey Bradford, they each carried the ball
11:20 four times when Jaden Daniels was carrying it 15.
11:24 If you don't have somebody share the burden of that load with that quarterback, it's going
11:29 to be tough sledding in the SEC way.
11:31 That's all I got for that one.
11:33 Completely agree.
11:35 Impressive win for North Carolina over South Carolina there as well, too, in the Battle
11:38 of the Carolinas.
11:39 But week one, not the juiciest slate.
11:42 We'll have more headline conversations for you as we roll along in the season and obviously
11:46 when we get into conference play and we have multiple top 25 matchups every single week.
11:51 But obviously it is now time for some some WVU good and bad as the Mountaineers fall
11:56 to the Nittany Lions 38 to 15.
11:59 The final score out there Saturday night in Happy Valley.
12:03 Big O, you want to get us off started here?
12:05 You got a good, you got a bad.
12:06 Where's your kind of your initial reaction, your first thought on what we saw Saturday
12:12 night?
12:13 Oh, man, slightly bummed, obviously, the turnout or not the turnout so much, but just the overall
12:20 result of the game.
12:22 Would like to see a couple.
12:25 You know, we had some opportunities that we missed.
12:28 I thought our boys played tough.
12:29 I really did.
12:30 I truly, truly thought about till the end.
12:34 Man, can we run the ball between the tackles?
12:38 Man, CJ Donaldson is a tough SOB.
12:44 Our front, what I'd like to call the sphere, Zach and the two guards.
12:48 I mean, you talk about we can if we need a yard, we're getting a yard.
12:55 That was super impressive.
12:57 You know, versus the Lions, the Nittany Lions, they're coming into it and an impressive,
13:06 you know, capacity crowd.
13:07 What was it, the fourth largest crowd they've had there?
13:12 Is that is that true?
13:13 The fourth?
13:14 Yep.
13:15 Fourth.
13:16 Yep.
13:17 Fourth largest capacity.
13:18 And and, you know, just.
13:23 That's kind of, I guess, where there's missed opportunities, I thought.
13:27 Lamplighter, that's what I'm calling him right now.
13:31 He had a rough game.
13:33 He had a rough game.
13:35 And I thought, you know, he definitely needs some work.
13:39 He needs coached up.
13:40 I thought he left a little too much space and against a good team like that.
13:45 And that quarterback was impressive, I thought, from Penn State.
13:48 Did some really nice things.
13:50 He made us kind of, you know, obviously look a little, you know, a little rough in the
13:58 secondary.
14:00 But I thought our front guys played tough and I thought the linebackers played tough.
14:04 Lee Kova was all over the field.
14:07 But that's kind of my initial reaction.
14:10 Bummer loss.
14:11 But look, if this is what we got to go into the rest of the season, we have we have something
14:18 here and we have something to look forward to.
14:20 Keep our heads up.
14:21 Yeah, I think so.
14:24 Jeter, you want to hit it with us and I'll wrap it up.
14:28 Well, I think, oh, and I mean, that was that was a nice little synopsis there from Owen.
14:33 I mean, there was there was certainly enough to like there.
14:37 There was certainly enough to dislike.
14:40 I think all of us at halftime were thinking, all right, it's 14, seven game.
14:44 We got them.
14:45 You know, we're right in this where we want to be.
14:48 I you know, personally, we get the ball first, right?
14:51 You get a first down, you end up putting right stall, you stall out what, seven, seven plays
14:57 at six or seven plays, I think it was.
14:58 But you get that first down.
14:59 You don't go three and out.
15:01 You punt the ball back and you pin them at their four yard line.
15:05 And I was thinking, OK, you know, you flip the field there a little bit to start the
15:09 game other than scoring points.
15:10 That's about the best that you can do.
15:11 You got them pinned inside the five.
15:13 Let's go here.
15:14 And they go four plays.
15:16 Ninety six yards.
15:17 Was it right?
15:18 I believe to score a touchdown.
15:20 And I thought, oh, man, we might be in some trouble.
15:23 But the next thing you know, you look up a few minutes later and it's seven to seven.
15:27 And every time in that first half and even throughout most of the third quarter that
15:31 you thought, OK, this could get away from us right here.
15:34 WVU made a play or there, you know, were able to blow up like Jed always says down near
15:38 the red zone.
15:39 We force a field goal and they end up in Penn State, ends up missing that field goal.
15:42 Right.
15:43 So I'm with you in a game that we knew heavy underdogs, crazy environment.
15:50 I thought there were a few opportunities for that game to get away from us.
15:56 And they hung in there.
15:57 They found ways to make plays.
15:58 They did, like I said, got a little fortune with some uncharacteristic mistakes from Penn
16:02 State as well, too.
16:03 But you'll have that week one.
16:05 But I was very encouraged by like what Owen said as well, too.
16:08 I listen, if we can run the football like we did on Penn State Saturday night, I mean,
16:12 that's going to be the best defense.
16:14 That's going to be the best team we face all year.
16:16 C.J. Donaldson looks like he's healthy and recovered from that injury last season.
16:21 Our offensive line, I thought, very much so held their own.
16:23 They had some moments where they struggle, but they had some moments where they really
16:26 asserted their will as well, too, particularly.
16:29 I mean, you could see when when Zach Frazier was going, when C.J. was going, I mean, they
16:34 were you know, they were five, six, seven, eight yard totes in there.
16:38 Same with Garrett Green.
16:39 We can talk about through the air being a little a little bit of a mixed result there.
16:43 But on the ground, I think that was a great starting point for again, like we've talked
16:48 about what needs to be the strength of this team moving forward this season to have the
16:54 type of year that you want to have.
16:56 My biggest kind of negative takeaway, and this might date back to last year a little
17:01 bit as well, too, but you just need you need more pop on offense.
17:06 A lot of the games that we were able to win last season were games where our offense was
17:10 scoring those 40 yard, 50 yard, 60 yard touchdowns.
17:15 And I know that in this type of game, you couldn't make mistakes.
17:19 You had to limit those opportunities.
17:21 You had to play it close to the vest.
17:22 Like I'm not naive.
17:23 I understand what the game plan was.
17:26 But going forward, you got to have explosive plays to win in college football.
17:30 You got to have explosive plays to win in the Big 12 Conference.
17:34 I would like to see a little bit more of those.
17:36 I'm glad to know that we can run the football and we can grind it out.
17:39 But it seemed like every time there was an opportunity for those explosive plays, either
17:42 the throw wasn't there or the route wasn't there or the protection wasn't there.
17:47 And honestly, we just weren't quite often really looking to take shots downfield.
17:52 One game, I just talked about this a few minutes ago, the big overreactions, all these different
17:56 things from just 60 minutes of football now and a very small snapshot to start the season.
18:03 But that's one thing that I kind of thought myself thinking about yesterday, Sunday, Monday
18:07 as well too, Jed, was just find starting point from the offense, but they're going to need
18:12 some more pop going forward here this season.
18:15 I agree with that.
18:16 Again, I'll cut through it here.
18:19 Great daddy was there to smell it with me and he's in the waiting room for us.
18:23 So offensively, well, let's start defensively.
18:26 Defensively, we talked about it.
18:27 We swelled up and bowed up in the red zone.
18:29 That's what we did last year when we played our best football.
18:32 And this was against a premier offense, a big physical, big 10 offense.
18:36 And we bowed up in the red zone.
18:38 People said, well, yeah, they missed those field goals.
18:40 Well, guess what?
18:41 If you don't stop them on third down, there are no missed field goals.
18:43 You're creating your own luck there.
18:45 And in both those third down situations, one of them, I watched Lee Koba.
18:49 I put this on Twitter.
18:50 I watched Lee Koba perfectly time a big at blitz on third and eight and knock a six,
18:55 four, 348 pound guard straight on his can and flushed you out or out into a bad incompletion.
19:02 On the second one, it was third and 10.
19:03 We ran a stunt, executed it.
19:05 Perfect.
19:06 Perfectly.
19:07 Eddie V forced the double team, drew the attraction of the eyes of the left guard.
19:10 Here comes Trey Latham.
19:11 Boom, pressure out goes out or no chance.
19:13 I mean, they completely destroyed the pocket.
19:16 Those are two consecutive critical, critical third downs that the defense did a great job
19:20 with.
19:21 And oh, by the way, the question for Will linebacker was answered.
19:23 How was it answered?
19:25 Lee Koba played most of the game at will linebacker.
19:28 Trey Latham played the lion's share of the game at Mike linebacker.
19:31 So they swapped it out and we saw how that worked.
19:34 That worked very well.
19:35 That's why they cross train these guys all summer.
19:38 That's why they cross train them in camp.
19:39 So that worked out.
19:41 Who knows how it looks going forward, but now you put yourself with options.
19:44 The bad defensively, obviously we know the big plays.
19:47 I think you can summarize the game in microcosm was that 72 yard touchdown on the opening
19:54 drive.
19:55 We almost got to him.
19:57 We had him confused, drew out with the look that we provided.
20:00 They max protected, just like we talked about.
20:03 They ran the ball the first couple of times and they max protected with a three man route,
20:07 took a deep shot with deep crossers.
20:09 That's that old divide route that Alabama used to run with Sarkisian and Devante Smith.
20:15 Remember the success we had against Iowa State with Jarrett Deggie hitting Bryce Ford Wheaton
20:20 for those touchdowns back by the pylon, same divide concept, deep crossing routes.
20:25 And what ended up happening was we didn't quite get home with the pressure.
20:29 Allard keeps his eyes up field, sees a matchup that works in his favor with that guy streaking
20:34 past Robbie Burks, boom, 72 yard touchdown.
20:36 So too many big plays in the secondary.
20:38 I do like what I saw out of Beanie Bishop.
20:40 I think there's possibilities there.
20:42 Beanie Bishop made some plays for us.
20:45 And then the other thing is no turnovers forced.
20:47 Again, that was a shortcoming of ours defensively last year.
20:51 If you could have just tripped one, because we had some chances.
20:53 There were a tipped ball.
20:54 Beanie dropped a pick in the end zone.
20:56 Beanie almost had the pick that Tomy had.
20:58 I think it was Tomy that tipped that thing.
20:59 Or was it Hawkins?
21:00 One of the two, I can't remember, but there was a tipped ball.
21:04 We had some opportunities.
21:05 So we were playing the ball in flight.
21:07 And last year, we weren't doing that.
21:08 So that's a step in the right direction.
21:10 From a special team standpoint, and then I'll close with the offense, again, some good,
21:14 some bad.
21:15 We had, we penned them twice inside the 20, which is, you know, we've gotten very used
21:19 to that.
21:20 We've gotten spoiled by that.
21:21 So when the shanked punt comes up after the three and out to start the second half, you're
21:24 like, whoa, that's a bad situation to give them a short field.
21:27 And that's when they took that 21 to seven lead.
21:30 From an offensive standpoint, the good, obviously, you guys talked about it.
21:34 You can run the football against this defense.
21:36 Now you know when you show up, you can run the football against any defense.
21:41 So rushing yards, I think, turned out even, 146 apiece.
21:44 And when you're doing that against Penn State on their turf in front of their people, that
21:48 shows that you can really run the football and be effective when it counts.
21:53 We played a clean football game, five penalties.
21:56 That's not to talk about Penn State, okay?
21:58 One flag for five yards.
22:00 I'm telling you right now, they're not the first college football team in history to
22:04 go 60 minutes without holding.
22:05 I've watched the tape, okay?
22:07 And there's some egregious holds.
22:09 All we're asking is for one or two that are egregious.
22:11 I mean, even on the horse collar call, that wouldn't, it should have been offsetting penalties
22:16 because there was a hold on that that was pretty egregious, but that didn't determine
22:20 the outcome of the game.
22:21 We played pretty clean with this Big Ten crew.
22:23 There were only five penalties.
22:24 We didn't turn the football over.
22:26 Again, Garrett making a start in front of 110,000 people directing traffic operationally.
22:31 I thought we were pretty clean there.
22:33 Again, what I'd say is no big plays is one of the shortcomings.
22:37 We need some big plays in the pass game.
22:39 You get the sense they'll come in the run game, but in the pass game, they didn't come.
22:44 And I'll close with this.
22:46 Even though it was scoreless in the middle eight, we always talk about the middle eight,
22:50 the final four minutes, the first half, first four minutes, the second half, technically
22:53 it was scoreless.
22:55 But you kind of got the sense we lost some opportunities.
22:58 And why I say that, you had that missed field goal by Penn State.
23:02 It gave us the ball with two minutes to go in the first half down 14 to seven.
23:05 What did we do?
23:06 We three and outed.
23:07 So I revisited and really scrutinized that three and out.
23:10 First down, we had a quarterback counter.
23:12 We had linebacker Kobe King for Penn State.
23:15 He had great pursuit from the backside on a run blitz.
23:18 We still picked up four yards by Garrett, but I'll tell you what, had Kobe King not
23:22 got home and got a hold of his shoulder, there was a bit of a scene there.
23:25 And I think we're looking at 12, 15 yards, maybe make a safety miss.
23:29 And you know what happens with Garrett if he makes that safety miss.
23:32 So instead it's second and six.
23:35 Second six, they kind of busted things up with a run blitz.
23:38 They stunted.
23:39 We didn't respond to it very well and they held CJ to no gain.
23:42 So that turned into a third and six.
23:44 10 personnel, we go four wides.
23:47 We come out with basically a switch frowt, which is a rail by the slot and a slant by
23:51 the outside receiver on both sides.
23:54 And this is when they got us with one of those creeper pressures.
23:56 It looked like a true cover one, guys, but what they did was they showed a six man pressure
24:02 and instead of bringing six men, they dropped the linebacker out, Abdul Carter, and he read
24:08 Garrett's eyes.
24:09 And what was happening to the boundary, we had the slant open.
24:13 Cortez Bram was running the slant with the benefit of that mesh off of the rail route
24:18 by Preston Fox.
24:19 So he gets a clean release on the slant and he's open and Garrett sees it.
24:23 He's getting ready to hit him on a strike and maybe a big play, but instead the potential
24:28 sixth rusher was Abdul Carter, number 11, the backer.
24:32 And he drops from his blitz position into the throwing lane that choked down the throwing
24:36 lane to that slant because he was reading Garrett's eyes.
24:39 So they got us on that one.
24:40 That's one of those times those creepers got us.
24:42 Pocket collapses.
24:43 Garrett had to kind of struggle and lost a couple yards instead of a big completion.
24:46 And the same thing in the second half.
24:48 The defense played one of its better possessions the entire game in the second half.
24:52 You had a three and out to start the second half against Penn State's offense.
24:55 It started with a great play by Lee Koba, a great tackle by Beeney.
25:00 Then a third and three, we rolled the dice on that third and three, went press cover
25:04 zero and brought the house.
25:06 And we caught a break because it was an errant throw by Allard because he had the slant open
25:10 against our free safety, Aubrey Burke.
25:12 But it was an errant throw because of the pressure.
25:15 That pressure came clean off the edge and it rattled Drew Allard just enough to impact
25:20 that throw.
25:21 So we get the football back and we have a three and out.
25:24 And that was that same situation, that was that same possession where we had the false
25:28 start, illegal formation, whatever it was they ended up calling on Cortez Bray.
25:31 I mean, it was legit.
25:32 I went back and watched the tape.
25:33 It was legit.
25:34 So that run by Johnson should have come back.
25:36 But we put ourself in a bad spot there in the second and 12 after that play.
25:41 We had an opportunity coming off a play-action kind of RPO pass with a skinny.
25:46 They went with a combo coverage on the second and 12, or maybe it was the third now, one
25:49 or the other.
25:51 But they had a one safety look to the wide side of the field and we ran a skinny inside
25:55 of him and they had no deep player on the deep back half.
25:58 And we were getting ready to encroach on that.
26:00 And the next thing you know, they got too much pressure.
26:02 And again, they had a look that we didn't handle that well and it forced the quick throw.
26:06 Two quick throws in a row by Garrett, by good pressure by Penn State.
26:09 Two opportunities by the offense that were two, three and outs.
26:13 And those were both in the middle eight.
26:14 So that's something we have to develop and have to improve on.
26:18 So with that, back to you Wes.
26:21 Yeah, well said.
26:22 That's kind of a, that's I think a solid synopsis there of our first of 12 snapshots of this
26:30 regular season.
26:31 Easy to overreact, easy to crown people and bury people.
26:37 But just again, one of those snapshots against a very tough opponent in a tough environment.
26:43 Some good there to hang your hat on and some bad that needs to improve.
26:47 Again, if you're going to have the type of season that we're all hoping we can have,
26:51 we're going to take a break here and we come back on the other side.
26:52 We'll catch up with our buddy, big daddy.
26:54 We previewed the Penn State atmosphere with him.
26:57 We'll we'll see if it lived up to the billing whenever we get Sean here on the other side.
27:02 Wesley Euler, Jed Drenning, Owen Schmidt, you are in the gun.
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28:47 Let's go, Mountaineer fans.
28:50 You're tuned in to In the Gun with Wes, the runaway beer truck, and the signal caller.
28:59 Back in the gun here as we continue our Penn State recap, game number one in the books.
29:04 Joining us now, our friend, your friend, good friend of the program here, Sean "Big Daddy"
29:10 Mariner.
29:11 All right, Big Daddy, on the spot, right away here to get us going.
29:15 Last week, you guys talked about Inner Sam Man at Virginia Tech and how it was cool,
29:20 but maybe the hype was a little more sizzled than steak, right?
29:25 I think that's the phrase I'm looking for here.
29:27 I told you you wouldn't be disappointed by that atmosphere, 110,000 people waving pom
29:32 poms, crazy waves splitting and back and forth and this and that.
29:37 Talk to me, were you underwhelmed?
29:39 Were you overwhelmed?
29:40 Were you just properly whelmed?
29:43 What was it like out there at Beaver Stadium?
29:45 In honor of 10 Things I Hate About You, I think you can't in France just be whelmed.
29:51 It was right down the middle, I think.
29:53 They didn't do the wave, but the pom poms were crazy.
29:56 Yeah, there was no wave action.
29:59 When West Virginia ran out, it was absolutely like, that was it.
30:05 It was like, "Okay, we're here."
30:06 Definitely.
30:07 Yeah.
30:08 Think about it last week.
30:09 I grew up going there, but not for games.
30:12 I grew up not liking Penn State.
30:13 My grandfather was a Mountaineer.
30:14 My dad was a Mountaineer.
30:15 So, we grew up not liking them.
30:17 I was at the midfield during pregame, during warm-ups, filming some stuff, and I turned
30:22 around at the 50 and I saw Coach Sider, gave him a little wave.
30:25 I just looked and I was like, "Dude, this place is pretty packed during warm-ups."
30:31 I looked at the Penn State uniforms.
30:32 I was like, "This is surreal to be here with that."
30:37 Yeah.
30:38 The pom poms were wild.
30:40 It was just the right amount of booing when we ran out, right, Big Daddy?
30:43 Did you notice that?
30:44 It was just a ... They get it.
30:45 I mean, it was just enough booing.
30:47 First of all, you're right.
30:48 It was deafening when we came out, but then somehow, even in the midst of all the cheering
30:52 and screening for Penn State, we heard, definitely heard the booing, and it was just enough.
30:57 Yeah.
30:58 We're not Ohio State or Michigan, so they don't despise us.
31:01 Their record against us is 10,000 to one, so it's not like ... But they were still like,
31:06 "Yeah, we know it.
31:07 We get it."
31:10 I was told by a Penn Stater, a friend, season ticket holder, who has been going to games
31:19 for 20 years, that he was very impressed by the WVU turnout.
31:23 He said, "Other than Ohio State fans," he said, "I think that's the most opposing fans
31:28 I've ever seen at one of our games."
31:30 He said, "More than Michigan, more than Auburn," when they had that series with Auburn, "more
31:34 than Alabama."
31:35 They played home and home with Alabama a decade or so ago, I think.
31:40 He said, "I know it's a holiday weekend and all that, and those games at the beginning
31:44 of the year are usually like that, because people have extra time to travel, and it's
31:47 kind of like the last hurrah of summer and all that."
31:49 He's like, "But considering where you guys kind of are, coming off a back-to-back losing
31:53 season, not a ton of hype around the program," he was like, "I was very surprised by the
31:58 WVU represent ... Pleasantly surprised by the WVU representation."
32:01 He said, "Other than Ohio State, I think you guys were the best-traveled fan base that
32:04 comes to Beaver Stadium."
32:05 I believe it.
32:06 I believe it completely.
32:07 I told you guys before we started, I got 28,000 steps in.
32:10 I walked 12 miles Saturday, because I hit a couple different tailgates.
32:14 We got there early.
32:15 I just went to go see people, and just walking around all those tailgate lots, there were
32:20 so many West Virginia fans.
32:22 There were a lot of half-and-half t-shirts.
32:24 Mom was wearing West Virginia.
32:25 Dad was wearing Penn State.
32:26 The kids are in half-and-half, vice versa.
32:29 So I knew it would be a good turnout, and then when we got into the stadium and it was
32:32 packed, I looked around, and it was pretty solid.
32:35 Do we have the numbers?
32:36 Who won last week?
32:37 That's what we're looking at here, guys.
32:39 First, we'll give the official attendance here in a second.
32:43 I'll speak slowly, so I'll give you a chance to throw up your beautiful graphics as we
32:48 say this.
32:49 Let's start from low to high.
32:51 Owen, last week, picked 109,000 even.
32:55 That was for Owen.
32:57 Big Daddy, you picked 110,000.
33:00 Oh, excuse me.
33:01 Wes was second highest.
33:03 Wes picked 109,889.
33:04 109,889.
33:05 I was about 900 people off.
33:11 You were next highest, Big Daddy.
33:14 110,423.
33:18 And I was 110,000.
33:19 Now remember, the record's 110,889.
33:22 I predicted us to break the record because they hadn't opened at home in three years,
33:28 yada, yada, yada.
33:29 They had a lot of buzz.
33:31 110,900 was my pick.
33:34 And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the actual official attendance, drum roll,
33:40 please.
33:41 110,746.
33:42 Now, here you go.
33:46 We're playing by Price is Right rules.
33:47 So even though I was only 154 off, which was the closest, I'm over.
33:54 So my Price is Right rules, I lose.
33:56 Big Daddy wins at 110,423.
33:59 But graphic on the board, I texted everybody and I was like, "Who got it?
34:02 Please tell me it was me.
34:03 I think I was close."
34:04 Big Daddy and I were talking about it as we were looking at the board.
34:06 Yeah, we were on the sidelines.
34:08 And I kind of believe it.
34:09 It was so packed in there that Jed and I wonder, you know how there's a little bit
34:13 of fuzzy math sometimes with attendance, depending on what the score is.
34:18 Since we aren't-
34:19 Well, there's a university-
34:22 I wonder if we were a little higher up there, but they were like, "No, no, no."
34:26 Yeah, we thought we broke the record and they lied about it because we're not Ohio State.
34:30 And they'll just say, "Eh, we'll say it's a new record."
34:32 That was kind of my thesis.
34:34 That was my thesis last week, right?
34:35 It was that they won a Big Ten on Big Ten matchup to be the record because we know how
34:40 Big Ten and SEC people are.
34:44 When they're in the shower, they have happy thoughts about how great the conference that
34:48 they play in is and how, "Oh my gosh, oh, Big Ten, oh, SEC football."
34:53 So listen, I'm not completely against that conspiracy theory.
34:57 Although, speaking of conspiracy theories, I heard there was some unidentified foreign
35:03 objects flying around central Pennsylvania.
35:05 What was going on here?
35:07 I need it known that I am simply the mouthpiece for a litany of information that was handed
35:13 to me.
35:14 See, now that's exactly-
35:17 Oh, and that's exactly what somebody with insider information would say, right?
35:24 Or hedging.
35:25 So we stayed at the Bedford Omni Springs, never been to the resort before, lovely.
35:29 We pull up, it's about nine o'clock, so it's already dark out.
35:32 S4 has to go to the furthest corner to unload and get some of the people off.
35:37 We're walking over to our table outdoors to pick up our hotel room keys.
35:41 Oh, and you remember those days, slide to the table, get your key.
35:44 The director of operations goes, "Did you see it?"
35:47 I go, "Did I see what?"
35:49 He goes, "I don't believe in aliens."
35:51 And right there, I was like, "Okay, here we go.
35:53 We're off to a start."
35:54 I don't believe in them.
35:56 But I looked up in the sky and it looked like a centipede and it was like moving.
36:00 There were lights and I was just like, "Okay, all right."
36:02 And he goes, "You don't believe me.
36:03 You don't believe nutritionists."
36:04 One of the nutritionists comes over and she goes, "I saw it too.
36:07 I saw it."
36:08 So great.
36:11 Twenty minutes later, my cousins in Redding, Pennsylvania are drinking around their campfire.
36:17 I've been texting with them a little bit.
36:19 They send me a picture.
36:21 Skylar has the picture.
36:22 I've sent it out to everybody.
36:23 Sends me a picture of these lights aligned in the sky and says, "Dude, are we this drunk
36:28 or is this really happening right now?"
36:30 And I said back, "I've had multiple people here in Bedford, Pennsylvania tell me that
36:35 they saw the same thing."
36:37 Sleep, wake up the next morning.
36:39 First text I have from my cousins is a block script from a newspaper article that said,
36:43 "For those of you who may have seen a row of lights in the sky, that was the new SpaceX
36:47 satellite for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
36:48 I'm like, "All right, here we go."
36:50 Just blame it on Elon Musk, right?
36:52 Easy answer there.
36:53 Talk about hacking to watch it on Twitter.
36:55 For those listening and not watching it on Twitter, and oh, by the way, you need to go
36:59 to believe.com and get used to that.
37:01 But on YouTube, I should say on YouTube, not on Twitter, we're going to post the picture
37:05 that Big Daddy's cousins sent him.
37:07 So please, before the government takes the picture down, which I hope X-Files Music's
37:13 playing behind us right now.
37:14 As soon as Sean, Sean's going to get dragged back from his couch there and pulled away
37:20 and the screen's going to cut black here in about three minutes.
37:22 You said Elon Musk and my mind went to Twitter, but please on YouTube, check out the picture
37:27 from Big Daddy's cousins of what is it?
37:30 What is it not?
37:31 We don't know.
37:32 You decide.
37:33 You know what, Sean?
37:34 I mean, nothing like some Philly bows out in Redding, you know, about a dozen beers
37:38 deep.
37:39 Oh my goodness, you see that John up there in the sky.
37:41 Just crushing the back, forward, you see them lights in the sky.
37:45 Like, all right.
37:46 You see them lights up there, that John, I tell you what, it was nice and bright.
37:49 You see that?
37:50 It was like Kelly Green, it looked like the New Eagles jerseys.
37:52 I thought it was.
37:53 I got there around six.
37:54 I don't know, two, three hours for the team.
37:57 So I was kind of taking care of this, taking care of that.
38:00 And by the time the team showed up, the same individual who bared witness to what Big Daddy
38:05 was talking about was in the lobby talking to our football SID.
38:10 And I was like, wait, what?
38:12 So I walked up, no, I had to hear it.
38:13 And then somehow Big Daddy's name came up.
38:15 So I texted Big Daddy and I'm like, you got to send me this picture.
38:18 So I'm just the disseminator of information.
38:21 That's all it was.
38:22 That said, they did get into some conspiracy theories.
38:25 And I have heard one that I would like to share.
38:27 Again, I do not know whether I believe in this or not.
38:29 I simply think it's a wonderful theory.
38:32 There are not aliens visiting us from other planets.
38:36 Humans in the future have figured out time travel and they are coming back to study this
38:40 time period.
38:41 The tourists.
38:42 As much back to the future references as possible, then that's what I'm going to believe.
38:46 You said conspiracy theory.
38:47 I thought for sure you were going straight to Big Ten officiating.
38:49 That's right.
38:50 Since it was a Big Ten crew Saturday night.
38:53 I'll say this, guys.
38:54 When we got there, I thought we were off to something special.
38:57 And I viewed this as a very good sign.
39:01 When it was free valet, first of all, I drove up and I was like, I never use valet, but
39:05 when it's free, I do.
39:06 So I'm talking to the valet crew and the guy at the podium, when I went up there, I get
39:12 to discussing this with them.
39:14 And one thing leads to another.
39:15 And the next thing you know, I'm giving them my license or giving my name.
39:18 And this guy said, what's your name?
39:20 And I told him and he said, my name is Drinning, Chuck Drinning.
39:24 And I said, you got to spell that D-R-E-N-N-I-N-G.
39:28 I said, wait, what?
39:29 Now, to give you some frame of reference, I've never met a Drinning I'm not related
39:33 to.
39:34 I've met Drennons, all kind of different versions of the name, not D-R-E-N-N-I-N-G.
39:39 I said, where are you from?
39:40 Oh, we're right here in Bedford.
39:41 Grew up here.
39:42 Got a whole family here.
39:43 So there's a family up there.
39:44 I said, dude, I'm telling you, a coal miner slipped loose a hundred years ago and came
39:48 up here.
39:49 And there's a lot that happened.
39:50 So I met up with a buddy of mine who I played at Glenville with, who happens to coach in
39:54 Living Bedford the next morning.
39:55 He said, oh yeah, there's a Drinning family here in town.
39:57 I met the guy when we were checking into the hotel and I thought, all right, that means
40:01 something, right?
40:02 But not as much as I wanted it to.
40:04 Jed found a long lost relatives.
40:06 I did.
40:07 Wes, you were talking earlier.
40:09 We've got a bunch of Penn State friends, family that we all know, obviously so close.
40:14 So many people texted me about Zach Frazier during this game about what an absolute beast
40:20 he was.
40:21 And then Jed, you were posting clips earlier of, you know, some of the protection schemes
40:25 and everything.
40:26 The one where Frazier jumps out from center and swings out to the tackle spot to pick
40:31 up that end.
40:32 I was just like, that's what people are seeing who might not even know football that well
40:36 and going, oh God, this guy's a beast.
40:39 He's the best.
40:41 And Owen highlighted this for us earlier, but that short yardage play that we ran with
40:48 Garrett right behind him.
40:49 And I don't remember if it was, was it, was it Cole or was it one of the other tight ends
40:53 who gets right behind him and pushes like it?
40:57 It's like, it's like Jalen Hurts and Jason Kelsey and what the Eagles did in those situations
41:02 all year too.
41:03 And, you know, had the 95% fourth down conversion or whatever the heck it was.
41:07 Yeah.
41:08 Zach Frazier, dog.
41:09 He's going to be, he's going to be at the combine and he's going to be a top 60 pick
41:16 in the NFL.
41:17 60, 70 could start for Penn state.
41:20 And the ones that jumped to mind, you start with Zach, Zach starting for Penn state.
41:24 He's playing for Penn state.
41:25 He's starting for every team in the country, except for maybe the best center in America.
41:28 I think one of our tackles would start for Penn state.
41:30 Now they battle it out to start at right tackle, obvious opposite their left tackle.
41:34 Now, outside of that, I think Devin Carter would be right there with the best of the
41:39 receivers and his frames different than almost, almost was before he flipped his commitment,
41:43 right?
41:44 Yeah.
41:45 He almost did.
41:46 Yeah.
41:47 Flipped a commitment to come to West Virginia, but I would say he would start.
41:50 And then I think there's a possibility.
41:53 And this is what one of the things that hurt us is Aubrey Berks didn't play very good football
41:56 the other night.
41:57 And I think he could start for them potentially and that back end with them.
42:01 He's that type of player, but those are the names that come to mind.
42:04 We can explore others, but CJ, I mean, think about that.
42:06 CJ might struggle to start for Penn state and that says a lot, but, but it just speaks
42:11 to not just the level of talent, but the volume of talent is a very talented team.
42:16 But Zach, Zach's the best center in America.
42:18 I mean, I bar none in terms of consistency, you just expect him to show up and go about
42:24 his business and take care of it.
42:26 And yeah, if you, if you need 18 inches, if you need a yard or less I would say that barring
42:33 a couple of circumstances, you're probably going to find a way to get it.
42:36 If you have an athletic quarterback lined up behind Zach Frazier and a six foot seven
42:41 tight end pushing him.
42:42 So when you got all those pieces in place, why not?
42:46 Things work.
42:47 Maybe, maybe the only person that could stop that is that 400 pound defensive tackle from
42:51 TCU.
42:52 We'll cross that bridge when we get there in a few weeks.
42:56 Sean, last one I've got for you.
42:59 Did you get any creamery ice cream?
43:01 Did you get the creamery good stuff?
43:04 They had it upstairs in the press.
43:06 I saw everyone tweeting pictures of it.
43:09 Angelica and Ryan Decker from our friends over at Gold Blue went up.
43:11 I did not get to go up in the press box to get it.
43:15 And again, one of the people that was texting me about Zach Frazier just kept saying, did
43:18 you get creamery?
43:19 Did you get cream?
43:20 I've been to Penn State four times now.
43:22 Never been, never been.
43:24 And it needs to be at some point.
43:26 You didn't go to the meal room?
43:28 Even that, Big Daddy, we were a level below it and you had to go up to this other level.
43:35 You thought you were going the wrong way.
43:37 Migrate all the way down past press row and it's kind of hidden.
43:41 Back in this, you're like, wait, what?
43:43 You certainly thought that you're like, I can't be going the right way.
43:46 But sure enough, you end up fine.
43:48 It was just a strange setup.
43:49 Oh, but I need some creamery in my life.
43:54 Don't we all.
43:55 Don't we all.
43:56 All right, anybody got anything else for Big Daddy as we wrap this up?
44:00 Speak now or hold your peace.
44:02 Big Daddy closed with the thing that most impressed me with that environment.
44:06 I was impressed by their student section.
44:08 Yeah.
44:09 Oh, I mean, I talked about that one a bit.
44:11 Drove everything.
44:12 It was incredible.
44:13 There was not, even when they played some of the same songs over and over and over again,
44:17 even near the end, the student sections picked up the slack and were like, yo, we're still
44:21 going to keep this going.
44:22 It was shakers every single time.
44:24 Yeah.
44:25 Shakers.
44:26 Yeah.
44:27 Great.
44:28 That's right.
44:29 You don't call them pom poms, right?
44:30 You call them shakers because it sounds more manly.
44:31 It is football.
44:32 See, Owen.
44:33 Owen gets it.
44:34 Owen gets it.
44:35 Well, gentlemen, Sean, appreciated your time here.
44:36 Great.
44:37 Great insight.
44:38 Great recap, as always.
44:39 Let's let's kick some Duke Wesley butt here in a few days.
44:40 And then season really starts on September 16th.
44:41 That's what I kept telling that, like, as everybody was texting me Saturday night, I
44:42 kept I kept I said, I'm going to be on the show.
44:43 I'm going to be on the show.
44:44 I'm going to be on the show.
44:45 I'm going to be on the show.
44:46 I'm going to be on the show.
44:47 I'm going to be on the show.
44:48 I'm going to be on the show.
45:10 I'm going to be on the show.
45:11 I'm going to be on the show.
45:12 I'm going to be on the show.
45:13 I'm going to be on the show.
45:14 I'm going to be on the show.
45:15 I'm going to be on the show.
45:16 I'm going to be on the show.
45:17 I'm going to be on the show.
45:18 I'm going to be on the show.
45:19 I'm going to be on the show.
45:20 I'm going to be on the show.
45:21 I'm going to be on the show.
45:22 I'm going to be on the show.
45:23 I'm going to be on the show.
45:24 I'm going to be on the show.
45:25 I'm going to be on the show.
45:26 I'm going to be on the show.
45:27 I'm going to be on the show.
45:28 I'm going to be on the show.
45:29 I'm going to be on the show.
45:31 Thanks everybody for listening to this edition of ITG.
45:33 We'll be back tomorrow with our week 2 picks.
45:36 And then obviously later in the week with a Duke-Kwesney preview here in the gun as well.
45:42 So plenty to keep in tune for.
45:44 The one thing we ask of you is to be an ear and tell an ear about your new favorite WVU football podcast.
45:50 And as Jed alluded to earlier, make sure you're subscribing to the correct podcast feed, right?
45:55 The Believe podcast feed.
45:56 The one with Owen hurtling that poor soul, Devin McCourty, from Rutgers.
46:01 That's where we will live long term in the podcast feed land.
46:05 But of course for all the beautiful visual elements and graphics and Sean's magnificent beard and all these things that you want to see,
46:12 make sure you're subscribing on YouTube as well at In The Gun Podcast.
46:16 Take care everybody.
46:17 We'll talk to you tomorrow.
46:18 You've been in the gun.
46:19 [closing music]