Between The Eers: How WVU Beats UNC
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00:10 Welcome back in everybody to Between the Years.
00:12 It's the final episode of the week.
00:14 We will have no post game show tomorrow for the basketball game, but
00:17 we will have the game preview on the walkthrough game day show for
00:21 West Virginia, North Carolina, the bowl game.
00:23 But today we're gonna take a small peek at that bowl game here with Chris,
00:27 as we do every week for West Virginia football.
00:31 It is our keys to the game or how West Virginia beats said opponent.
00:35 So today we're talking North Carolina and
00:38 those tar heels that may or may not wanna be in this bowl game.
00:42 So Chris, let's just start off with the elephant in the room.
00:45 There's a lot of people that are not playing in this game,
00:47 most notably Drake May, Tess Walker, Corey Gaynor, their starting center.
00:52 A lot of key pieces out.
00:54 So on the offensive side of the ball for Carolina,
00:58 what can you even expect from them?
01:00 And secondly, how do you even prepare for?
01:02 >> I mean, that's kind of the question everyone wants to know, right?
01:07 Even Neil Brown at this point.
01:09 I think he said he expects not a lot of changes within the offense.
01:14 And I mean, when you look, when you're doing bowl prep, how much can you change?
01:23 How much of that offense can they really use with this quarterback?
01:29 It's fresh McCoy, he's a big kid, he's a dual threat.
01:33 So I think you just kind of prepare for that.
01:34 It's nothing that West Virginia hasn't seen this season when you look at
01:37 the Big 12 schedule.
01:39 But the unknown is always scary, right?
01:42 You don't know exactly what he can do.
01:44 You know he's talented.
01:45 >> This kid could be the next great quarterback.
01:47 >> Right. >> First one to see him.
01:50 >> To me, it's like you know what you're getting with Drake May, but
01:53 you don't know what you're getting with this kid.
01:56 And you don't know what you're getting on the outside.
01:57 Like you mentioned, Tess Walker's out.
01:59 I believe all their tight ends are out of the-
02:01 >> At least they're top two, yeah.
02:03 >> Yeah, so it really is like, all right, well, who do you have?
02:06 [LAUGH] >> I'm already in Hampton,
02:08 that's about it.
02:09 >> And Neil Brown made a good point.
02:12 This is an opportunity for all these young kids to get to play a significant
02:16 role this season.
02:17 So I'm sure they're ready to go out and ball out.
02:21 They're underdogs, they wanna go prove that, hey,
02:24 just because these guys are gone doesn't mean that we can't play.
02:28 So, and you can kinda look at that from the West Virginia perspective as well.
02:32 So, it to me, I'm way more concerned because,
02:38 I know we talked about it yesterday, West Virginia doesn't handle success well
02:42 in every sport.
02:43 And it seems to me every time that the fan base is confident that they're gonna
02:48 win, and that's kinda what you hear on social media,
02:50 it's kind of our barometer right now is social media.
02:53 It's a concern for me.
02:56 Anytime a team's overly confident, it's a concern.
02:58 So they have to go play.
03:01 They have to be at their top, play at the best of their abilities if they're gonna
03:06 go knock off North Carolina, because North Carolina's done well in recruiting.
03:09 This isn't a team that, Mac Brown's been around for a while.
03:12 He knows how to coach, and he's gonna scheme up something on the defensive end,
03:16 even though they're missing a lot of pieces.
03:18 I know we're getting to that, but offensively as well as too.
03:22 This kid's a talented quarterback.
03:25 He hasn't had the reps yet, but I'm sure he's eager to show that,
03:28 it's cuz Drake Mays is not there, the future is bright.
03:32 >> Yeah, and Max Johnson, the two-time transfer now,
03:36 he's coming to Carolina next year.
03:39 They just got him in the transfer portal about a week or two ago.
03:43 So this could be Harold thinking, well, this is my audition before he even
03:49 gets to come to campus and play in a game.
03:52 And this is my opportunity to show that this is my job.
03:55 And because, I mean, look, he's young, he's got multiple years.
03:59 Johnson has one year left.
04:01 That's not to say that he could win this battle for 24 in a bowl game, but
04:06 first impressions mean a lot.
04:07 And I think if he goes out there and plays well,
04:09 he's gonna have a chance to keep that job going into the spring.
04:12 So going to outside of Harold for just a minute,
04:15 obviously, Mario Hampton is the guy to watch, I would assume, right?
04:21 I mean, he is their bell cow, he is one of the best running backs in the country.
04:26 Do you feel like that's what they're gonna have to do in this game is just turn
04:30 around and hand him the ball 25, 30 times?
04:32 Or do you feel like there's gonna be some sort of a balance?
04:36 >> You're gonna have to have some kind of balance.
04:38 I know everyone, you kind of look at what Ollie Gordon did to West Virginia in
04:41 the fourth quarter, but that was set up by Alan Bowman.
04:43 If you go back and watch that game, Alan Bowman,
04:46 it's probably the best game of his career.
04:48 >> He was phenomenal.
04:50 >> Where he was placing the ball, I mean, the guys were covered, but
04:53 he was just putting it in the perfect spot.
04:55 Those were just all time throws.
04:59 Again, it was probably the best game of his career when you go back and
05:02 watch that film.
05:04 It's just unfortunate it had to happen against West Virginia.
05:06 That's what really opened up the running game for Gordon.
05:09 I mean, what do you do when the kid's just throwing dimes down the sideline right
05:13 over the shoulder where Beanie was on that guy a lot of times and
05:17 he didn't have a chance to get to the ball.
05:20 So yeah, I mean, it's gonna come down to Harold having to make throws, but
05:23 you assume that they're gonna lean on the running game with Hampton.
05:26 And Harold's gonna probably, they're gonna do a lot of read option and
05:31 he's more than capable of keeping the ball and getting up field.
05:34 So yeah, I'm assuming they're gonna lean on Hampton a lot.
05:37 But at the same time, can North Carolina overthink and say, look,
05:42 they're gonna key on Hampton, we're gonna have to go out and throw the ball and
05:46 you can almost put yourself in a bad spot by putting too much on Harold.
05:50 So that's where these guys make their money.
05:53 It'll be interesting to see, obviously we're not gonna get to go watch
05:57 North Carolina practice, see how Harold's kind of handling the past game.
06:01 But I'm sure a lot of it has to do how he looks in practice and
06:05 how they scheme this thing, if he's capable of making the throws.
06:08 And of course, you have to have the receivers there.
06:09 And you just mentioned Tez being out and he only played, I believe, eight games.
06:14 Is it eight games he played and he led the team in receiving.
06:19 So yeah, I think so much of it's depending on Harold.
06:21 I'm sure, again, they're probably gonna lean on Hampton quite a bit.
06:26 But if he can't make the throws, it makes it easier on the defense.
06:29 But we've kind of talked about the deficiencies of the defense.
06:32 And this will be a good time for Ben Cutter,
06:34 who kind of was thrust into the position.
06:38 They're young at linebacker, can they hold up?
06:41 I know they have some guys out on the offensive line.
06:44 But again, we've talked about how well they've done in recruiting.
06:46 So it really is, you kind of look at it cuz the success of the running game,
06:53 the other B-12 opponents had against what's being in the running game.
06:56 So much was that dependent on the passing game.
06:58 So if they're able to load the box and
07:00 feel that Beanie can kind of lock down their top guy and
07:03 get some good play out of the safeties.
07:05 And I don't think they have the,
07:07 obviously not gonna have the mismatch the way Oklahoma did.
07:10 But can they spread it out?
07:13 Does Harold have the arm to be able to go side on the side line?
07:15 That's yet to be determined.
07:17 I think so much of it is depending on what Harold can do in the passing game to be
07:21 able to open it up.
07:22 And then again, West Virginia could load the box and they could still have success.
07:26 So he's a heck of a running back.
07:29 But I think a lot of that obviously had to do with what Drake May could do in
07:33 the passing game.
07:34 >> Yeah, I mean, and I think what's not being talked about enough is the absences
07:39 on West Virginia's defense.
07:41 Because I assume the guy, I mean, Mike Lockhart, he's going to SMU.
07:47 You've got some secondary guys that are not gonna be in there because they're in
07:50 the portal.
07:51 And some of them are depth guys, some of them have not played or
07:54 not played much.
07:56 But that's still a lot of depth that you're missing.
07:58 If you have an injury or two throughout the course of the next week in practice or
08:03 in the bowl game, you're really going to be up against it.
08:07 So I really wanna know what you feel about how this defense is constructed
08:12 going into the bowl considering that they've lost some pieces.
08:16 >> Yeah, it'll be interesting how they scheme up cuz we've talked about
08:20 in the recruiting show that they've been wanting to get versatile and
08:23 they have been able to be versatile.
08:24 Scheme wise, you think they're gonna kind of be the same, but
08:28 do they put an extra maybe linebacker in there?
08:31 >> Hershey McLaren is a big loss that no one really thinks about.
08:34 >> Absolutely, so it's not having the tight ends in there may help, but
08:38 you just don't know who, again, who's gonna step up and who's gonna scheme.
08:42 I would assume they're gonna make Carroll beat him with the arm, but
08:46 you can almost key too much on that in a sense in the running game.
08:51 Because the read option, if you crash down in,
08:54 guys don't stay in their lanes, he could have a big day on the ground.
08:57 So I think so much of it is just stay in your lane.
09:00 They struggle with that.
09:01 Again, you go back to Oklahoma State when they had the success in the fourth
09:05 quarter in a running game, a lot of it was just guys trying to make plays and
09:09 getting out of position and really opened up things for him.
09:12 So much of it is just gonna be about discipline and
09:14 not overplaying if they have success early.
09:18 Do they remain disciplined?
09:19 Do guys not get out of position by trying to make a play?
09:23 So for so much of it, it's just gonna be discipline.
09:26 Stay in your lane and just know your keys.
09:30 And that's where AB is gonna have a big part of that plan in the back end,
09:36 is recognizing what's going on in the slot and in the tight end,
09:40 if they even are able to use any tight ends.
09:43 But it really is just kinda wait and see, and
09:45 I think that's kinda how they're gonna have to play it.
09:48 We've seen them kinda just come in at a base and adjust on the fly, and
09:52 that's really where you're gonna have to put a lot of it on the offense.
09:56 >> Spending the block, West Virginia's offense,
09:59 obviously gonna be without CJ Donaldson and Zach Frazier.
10:03 I don't get the sense that this is gonna be an offense that looks completely
10:07 different without those two guys, because Jaheim White,
10:11 he took over those last two games against Cincinnati and
10:14 Baylor did an exceptional job, ran for 300 some yards.
10:17 So we know he can handle the workload, and we saw Brandon Yates step in that
10:22 final drive for Zach Frazier on short notice and performed perfect.
10:27 So I don't think there's concern really either of those two spots,
10:30 especially when you look at North Carolina's defense,
10:34 which has been suspect to say the least in every facet.
10:37 But I was talking to Eugene a little bit earlier ago, and we kind of agree that
10:42 this might be a game where you see Garrett Green take a lot of shots down the field.
10:47 This has the feeling of an up and down type of game for both teams,
10:51 because you don't really know what you're getting out of Carolina.
10:55 You think they're gonna go and lean on the run game, but
10:57 they may come out and just let the kid throw the ball.
10:59 And that could be the case, and I think with Garrett Green,
11:02 you're looking at this situation say, look, I've got these young freshmen that
11:06 are playing well, they're starting to get into their rhythm.
11:10 You're going up against a very average, below average defense.
11:13 You feel good about your chances throwing the ball deep.
11:16 What do you think about them throwing the ball downfield more?
11:19 >> Yeah, I mean, they're gonna be missing their leading,
11:22 the guy that leads the team in interceptions.
11:24 I think you gotta be careful a little bit, because if you miss it,
11:29 you do it on first down and second and ten already.
11:34 Probably the worst situation you can do is- >> You gotta pick your spots.
11:38 >> You start off three and out.
11:40 You wanna make them uncomfortable, but I think you have to go with what you have
11:44 in success and just move the ball down the field.
11:47 But they can, do you wanna be in an up and down game?
11:51 Probably not, but I think a lot of it has to do with the defense.
11:55 I mean, Jaheim White could just bust off 50 yard runs for a touchdown.
11:58 >> Yeah, you start a defense back out there.
12:01 So you really don't know, again, they're losing their leading tackler.
12:06 They're missing a lot of key pieces on North Carolina.
12:09 So I think if you're West Virginia, you kinda want that blend, right?
12:14 What they had at the beginning of the year where you can control the clock, but
12:17 at the same time, you just need to finish drives.
12:19 You don't wanna be conservative and not throw the ball deep,
12:22 cuz you're worried about your defense.
12:24 But you have to make the most of your opportunities offense and
12:29 just finish drives.
12:30 And I think that's the most important key.
12:32 And with Garrett, if it does become a back and forth game, just don't press,
12:36 don't force things, just continue to play within the offense.
12:39 And I think that's really where they're at.
12:42 I'm still concerned with the receivers.
12:44 They know that they can't get off press coverage, but
12:48 does North Carolina have the athletes to be able to do that?
12:51 There's a good chance they do.
12:52 Even though they haven't had a great season defensively, they still have talent.
12:59 And they may well, again, they've had 12 games to kinda look at West Virginia and
13:04 see their weaknesses.
13:05 And can they force West Virginia into bad situations in third and longs?
13:09 Probably, CJ Donaldson was somebody that could fall forward for
13:13 three or four yards and get you a second and manageable in third and short.
13:17 So it's not a big task for the offense.
13:21 There's plenty of guys.
13:22 I think with their linebackers that are out,
13:25 you can really utilize Cole Taylor over the middle.
13:28 And really kinda worked the slot a lot, especially with Devin Carter.
13:33 He moved over to slot, so he can also work the middle.
13:35 So I think if you work both seams,
13:37 it'll really open up things on the outside for Hudson Clement.
13:42 Or the other freshman, between him and Trey Lathan, I get those guys-
13:50 >> Trey Lynn Ray.
13:51 >> Trey Lynn Ray, I get those guys confused way too often.
13:55 But yeah, Trey Lynn Ray, I mean, he's done such a phenomenal job of selling things
13:59 to get open.
14:00 But yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you take your shots downfield with him?
14:04 So I think they have the tools.
14:05 Can North Carolina match it?
14:08 It's on paper, probably not.
14:11 But I don't think you wanna be overly aggressive and
14:13 just keep putting up points.
14:14 Cuz at the same time, how's your defense handling their offense?
14:17 Again, we don't know what Harold's capable of doing, but
14:20 they also have a really good running back who can break off big runs too.
14:24 And I think that's the worst possible scenario for
14:26 West Virginia is where it can get chaotic.
14:28 They haven't handled that the best throughout the season.
14:31 Is that a step that they take forward during a ball game?
14:34 Maybe, but I think you have to go with what you know, control the clock,
14:37 run the ball, and just kinda pick your spots in the passing game.
14:40 Just finish the drives, make the most of your drives, and
14:43 put the points on the board.
14:44 >> Yeah, I mean, I think this is, I think an opportunity to take those shots deep.
14:51 But I do kind of agree that you wanna lean on what's been successful.
14:54 You don't wanna just start getting cute just for the sake of it.
14:56 Just because it's a bowl game that isn't a New Year's Six or
15:00 a College Football Playoff game.
15:01 I think you still wanna be able to find a way to win the game, and
15:04 you gotta do what got you to this point.
15:06 To end, I feel like I know your answer to this, but I wanna ask it anyway.
15:11 One guy that you're excited to watch in the bowl game that maybe hasn't
15:18 got a whole lot of playing time yet.
15:20 >> You already know, it's DJ Oliver.
15:21 [LAUGH] >> Dang it, I knew it.
15:24 >> It wasn't DJ Oliver, yeah, you got it?
15:27 >> Yeah, that's what I thought.
15:29 >> I was excited about him when he signed.
15:31 They've been high on him, saw him in fall camp, break out some runs.
15:35 Just kinda see where NFC for us, it doesn't mean he's gonna play.
15:38 I'm sure he might get some carries and an opportunity.
15:41 But also like CJ Anderson.
15:43 It seems like he had that drop for an interception,
15:47 really haven't seen a lot of them since then.
15:49 >> You know his last play?
15:51 Do you remember what his last play is?
15:53 >> Was it the intercept, dropped interception?
15:54 >> No, it was another box play.
15:57 It was the hook, the lateral at UCF where he missed the pitch.
16:02 >> Okay, so yeah, I'm interested to see if he gets some playing time.
16:06 I know there's probably rumors that he might be entering a porter or
16:12 whatever, but seeing if he maybe get a chance in the game.
16:17 But outside of that, I think we gotta grab everybody on the receivers.
16:22 >> Yeah. >> As far as receivers go.
16:23 But yeah, I want to see all of them, he's big, he's fast.
16:26 I don't wanna say he's gonna take the place of CJ Donaldson,
16:30 that seems ridiculous.
16:31 But he is a big kid that can get you those short yardage situations.
16:35 >> He can take his place for this game, right?
16:37 >> [LAUGH] >> Cuz CJ-
16:38 >> As far as maybe the short yardage, but
16:41 we haven't really got to see him run in a game.
16:44 So it's different when you're in practice and CJ Donaldson was kinda slow,
16:49 a step behind at the beginning of the year cuz there was just so
16:52 much thrown out of him in the offseason.
16:55 He was thinking too much and DJ Oliver get to that point,
16:58 fall camp he was just running.
16:59 But he had a lot to kinda consume as far as what they expect from the offense,
17:04 from the running backs in the offense.
17:06 So kinda curious to see how he's handled it this season,
17:10 throughout the season and see where he's at.
17:12 Pass protection, the whole nine yards cuz he's kinda picked it all up.
17:17 Then you feel really good about your running back when we're going in next year.
17:21 >> Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun down here in Charlotte.
17:24 Chris will be spending a couple of nights after Christmas as my neighbor.
17:28 So we'll have a lot of fun.
17:30 I'm sure we'll have some memories and some stories to tell for sure.
17:33 So West Virginia, North Carolina in the Dukes Mayer Bowl,
17:37 December 27th at Bank of America Stadium.
17:40 Kickoff set for 5 at 30 PM.
17:43 So West Virginia looking to get to win number nine,
17:46 something they haven't been able to do since what, 2016?
17:50 Is that right?
17:50 So it's been a while since they've seen this kind of success.
17:54 So it'll be interesting to see if they can get that mark and
17:56 take that momentum into the offseason.
17:59 So again, no between ears for the rest of the week.
18:02 We are done here, no post game show tomorrow for the Toledo basketball game.
18:05 But we will have walkthrough game day show breaking down the matchup.
18:10 But once again, a little bit more from a different perspective from Eugene Napoleon.
18:14 And we'll see what next weekend holds for everybody.
18:19 So for Christopher Hall, I'm Scott Cal, you've been watching Between the Years.
18:22 Make sure you hit that subscribe button and give us a like on YouTube at
18:25 Mountain Ears Now, and give us a follow on X at the same handle.
18:29 Have a good weekend and Merry Christmas, everyone.
18:31 [MUSIC]
18:39 (upbeat music)