Mountaineers Now Postgame Show: Sooners Slam WVU
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Hello everybody, welcome into the Mountaineers Now post game show presented
00:13 by Country Roads AirDuck Cleaning, take me home to comfort on Skyla Callen.
00:16 That is Eugene Napoleon, West Virginia falling to Oklahoma 59 to 20 tonight,
00:22 an absolute blowout in Norman.
00:24 West Virginia drops to six and four on the season, four and
00:27 three in Big 12 Conference play.
00:29 Meanwhile, Oklahoma moves to eight and two.
00:32 A look at some of the numbers for West Virginia.
00:34 Garrett Green had obviously his worst game of the season going 10 of 27 for
00:39 154 yards, two touchdowns and a pick his third on the season.
00:43 CJ Donaldson, he left the game a little early,
00:46 looked like an ankle injury, potentially maybe a foot.
00:48 14 carries, 79 yards and a score.
00:52 And on the flip side for Oklahoma, Dylan Gabriel had himself a day,
00:55 23 of 36 for 423, five touchdowns through the air,
01:00 adding another three on the ground with his legs.
01:03 And then Gavin Sawchuck, 135 yards on 22 carries and Drake Stoops,
01:08 Gabriel's favorite target of the day, 164 receiving yards with three touchdowns.
01:13 Gene, I mean, this one was almost a disaster from start to finish,
01:17 outside of the opening drive where West Virginia's is pretty much
01:21 lost their way right down the field, got in the end zone, boom, seven nothing.
01:24 And you're thinking, okay, this is the best start you could have possibly scripted.
01:29 And even with Oklahoma answering that, you still felt, okay,
01:32 maybe this is just gonna be one of those drag race games where it's back and
01:35 forth your match and scores.
01:36 And it just never played out like that.
01:38 The offense went to bed right after that first series,
01:41 they went five straight three and outs.
01:43 And then they drove all the way down the field, get to the one yard line.
01:46 They had three cracks at it from the one, couldn't punch it in.
01:50 When you have that type of a night, it's gonna be hard to keep up with the Sooners
01:53 who are just, could be one of the most explosive offenses in the country.
01:58 >> We spoke about it in pregame.
02:00 We talked about the things that were necessary for West Virginia to do so
02:04 you wouldn't have this type of outcome.
02:06 We talked about making sure tackles,
02:09 we talked about winning the line of scrimmage on offense and defense.
02:12 We talked about not getting a lot of sleep and getting big,
02:16 big plays, which Oklahoma did all night long.
02:20 So the thing that surprised me the most, we came out flat.
02:24 Outside of that first drive, it's like we had no juice, no energy.
02:29 How could you not come into Norman, Oklahoma, primetime night game?
02:35 >> Big 12 elimination game, essentially.
02:38 >> Yeah, it just didn't look like we had it.
02:42 We didn't have the juice, you know what I mean?
02:43 In games like this, you have to come out and you have to play.
02:49 It's almost like just the consistency of how things go, good or bad.
02:54 When things are not clicking, you still gotta play up tempo in all phases
02:59 of the game because you will get a crack here and there, you will get a spark.
03:03 We had no spark tonight.
03:05 I'm really surprised the way we looked going into the second quarter.
03:12 We look like a defeated team going into the second quarter.
03:16 I remember I texted you and said, hey, the way we look, we might give up 50 tonight.
03:21 >> That was good, 60.
03:22 [LAUGH] >> It's like I'm not-
03:26 >> And if you remember a couple of days ago,
03:28 we had talked about what is Oklahoma's psyche gonna be coming into this one?
03:32 Because they lost two straight,
03:33 they've fallen out of the college football playoff picture.
03:36 You don't know where their minds are gonna be at in this one.
03:38 Are they gonna fold and just kinda hope they get to the end of the finish line and
03:42 maybe get nine and three or something like that?
03:46 And you thought West Virginia, the way they've played the last two weeks,
03:50 they were starting to go on the up and up.
03:52 And it felt like it was almost exactly what we kinda thought maybe would be
03:57 the case, and that's West Virginia got humbled a little bit.
04:03 They're not maybe as good as we had maybe initially thought a couple of weeks ago or
04:07 over the last couple of weeks.
04:09 And it felt like this team was, as I mentioned the other day,
04:14 it just felt like a team that didn't expect to be in this position this
04:19 late in the season.
04:20 And they weren't necessarily ready for this type of game.
04:23 Where Oklahoma, on the other hand, they were ticked off after what happened last
04:27 two weeks, and they were ready to come out and make a statement.
04:30 That's exactly what they did.
04:31 >> Well, you got a chance to see what was on the back of all their jerseys, unity.
04:37 Right, so you understood what the mindset was as soon as you stepped on the field.
04:41 That was one.
04:42 And then two, let me tell you something, there's levels to this.
04:45 There's levels to this.
04:48 Tonight really showed me where we are.
04:54 >> Yeah.
04:54 >> Tonight's game showed me exactly where we are.
04:58 So at the end of the day, you win and you beat the team that you're supposed to beat.
05:04 But in order to get back into the respect conversation of college football at that
05:10 upper echelon level, you gotta win games like tonight.
05:15 And if you don't win games like tonight, you can't give up damn near 60 points.
05:21 >> Hell, you gotta at least be competitive, right?
05:23 I mean, you gotta at least keep it a two score game.
05:26 I mean, the defense, this is the one thing I wanted to really ask you because
05:30 the defense, even though it looked good early in the season, if you kinda go back
05:35 and look at the early portion of the season where they're playing TCU and
05:38 Texas Tech and even Pitt, we kinda thought that was gonna be a tough stretch at
05:42 the beginning of the year before we knew anything was gonna happen.
05:46 Well, we found out TCU is having a down year.
05:48 Pitt is arguably the worst team in power five football, not in Vanderbilt.
05:55 And then you have Texas Tech who's just kinda been up and down, but
05:59 they've been dealing with a bunch of injuries.
06:01 The defense looked great in those weeks.
06:04 Since the bye week, where they played Houston, they gave up 41.
06:07 Even if you take the Hail Mary out, that's still a lot of points.
06:11 BYU, their quarterback, they made that late change in the week with
06:15 the quarterback with Jake Ratzlaff.
06:18 So I mean, yeah, you're gonna give up only seven points, you feel good about that.
06:21 But UCF moved the ball on you.
06:24 Oklahoma State sure as hell moved the ball on you.
06:27 What is the issue right now with this defense?
06:29 To me, it seems like they're playing too soft in coverage,
06:32 especially tonight against Drake Stoops.
06:35 This kid has been carving you over the middle of the field constantly.
06:38 Yet there's still 12 yards of cushion between him and the defender.
06:42 I don't understand that.
06:43 >> I personally think, and I could be totally wrong, watching the progression
06:49 and watching the growth throughout the whole season,
06:52 I don't think we are as good in the secondary as we thought we were.
06:59 Because Beanie Bishop is very good, don't get me wrong.
07:04 But the deal is, when you look at teams that are winning at a consistent rate,
07:11 and they may have an off game here or there.
07:16 But when it comes down to playing this type of game, they get up for the game.
07:21 It doesn't seem like we get up to play these type of games.
07:24 Now again, it's hard to, you've heard me say this, Skyler, many times.
07:29 It's hard to win at this level, let me be perfectly clear.
07:33 My point is, if you wanna get back into the conversation of being a respected
07:38 program like we was in years past, you gotta compete in games like this.
07:43 Now, what does that look like?
07:46 Is it a question of depth?
07:49 Is it a question of, if somebody gets in and you put the second guy in,
07:57 the second guy, the level is so far of a drop off skill wise.
08:03 Then you have to address that.
08:05 But see, again, here's where when you're paying guys, not just Coach Brown,
08:10 but any other coach in the top 25 to top 30 program,
08:14 these guys are making millions and millions of dollars.
08:16 You're supposed to fix those things.
08:20 You're supposed to have depth.
08:22 You're supposed to have a steady progression throughout the season of
08:25 what's gonna happen just in case you have a star player go down.
08:29 You're supposed to know and be expected to make adjustments during the game.
08:35 Not look like a deer in headlights when it's fourth and one or
08:39 fourth and two and you're not sure what play you're calling.
08:43 And then the play you do call is like Pop Warner-ish.
08:48 So these are the things and that's why I get so frustrated.
08:53 I'm not used to our program looking like this in a game like this or
08:58 national television.
09:00 I'm just not used to it.
09:02 >> Yeah, I mean, offensively, it was a nightmare.
09:04 I mean, again, outside of that first drive of the game where they went right down
09:08 the field.
09:10 There was one series, I think in the second quarter,
09:13 they were down two or three scores at that point.
09:15 But they were in plus territory around field goal range, and
09:19 they took two deep shots to the end zone.
09:22 And then they turn around and hand the ball off on third down, and third and ten or
09:26 third and nine, they didn't get much out of it, maybe a yard.
09:30 And then they go for it on fourth and nine.
09:32 So here's my thinking with that, Gene, is if you know going into that,
09:37 this is a four down situation, why the hell are you taking two shots to the end zone?
09:43 Number one, number two, then why are you running the ball on third and ten?
09:47 At least get a little slip screen out of the backfield or
09:50 a quick slant to get four or five yards.
09:53 You're running behind that offensive line tonight was not the solution.
09:58 >> Right, where's the thing?
10:00 Again, you make your passing game in this sense,
10:03 you make your screen game an extended running play.
10:07 So yeah, on first down, I'm gonna throw a screen, okay?
10:13 Whatever I get out of that, on second down, I'm throwing all curls, all right?
10:19 On third down, if it is a third down, if we don't get the amount of yards to get
10:23 a first down, I'm throwing another screen.
10:25 Because at least, I'm not gonna take two shots down the field.
10:32 >> Not because of the quarterback that is having his worst game of the season,
10:36 that's a low percentage patch that you're trying to complete.
10:40 >> Look at it this way, okay?
10:42 If the question is,
10:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:47 Garrett Green is not consistent as a fluid passer as you would like for
10:52 him to be right now, in the course of his career at WVU,
10:56 he's not a fluid passer, okay?
10:59 If that's the case, again, I'm not gonna put my player in a position
11:04 where it's gonna be counterproductive for him to make plays.
11:09 Then let's do the things that we need to do with him where he's really good at it.
11:14 And at this point in his career, the progression should have been at
11:19 a different place as a passer than where it is now, let's be clear.
11:24 >> Yeah.
11:25 >> Barring all of that, the play calling when it comes to these type of games,
11:32 these big games, is suspect when it comes to playing against a decent to good defense.
11:43 Oklahoma's not a great defense, let me be clear, good to decent defense.
11:50 >> They've really struggled the last two weeks tackling.
11:53 >> Absolutely, our play calling is really interesting when it comes to that
11:57 kind of stuff.
11:59 And keeping them off balance by doing certain things, like I said, screens,
12:04 you could easily, with the type of tight ends that we have,
12:07 which I tell you right now, I'm very impressed with Taylor.
12:11 >> What's Taylor?
12:13 >> Yeah.
12:14 >> Taylor, man, listen, I think that young man will wind up playing on Sundays.
12:20 He's pretty daggone good.
12:22 There's a lot of things that you can do that will help green out in
12:27 the passing game just by using your tight ends.
12:31 And again, it's just a scheme, like I said, it's the scheme.
12:34 What is the best way to beat an aggressive defense when you got a tight end that's
12:39 gonna be a mismatch with either a nickel, corner, or any linebacker?
12:44 The seam, the seam route.
12:46 >> Quick let up.
12:48 >> I mean, it is what it is, right?