MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – What a difference a week can make, which is what makes college football such a compelling game.
Late last Saturday afternoon, West Virginia co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Matt Moore had the look of a man who had just watched his dog get run over by a mail truck.
His look hadn't changed much three days later on Tuesday when he met with the media. His guys had played that poorly in a 38-7 loss at Missouri.
But following yesterday's 44-27 victory over previously unbeaten NC State, it was difficult for Moore to suppress a smile. And there was good reason for him to smile, especially the way his young interior guys Briason Mays, James Gmiter and John Hughes performed.
Mays is a redshirt freshman center who had never taken a snap in a college game before yesterday. Ditto for redshirt freshman left guard Gmiter, who was a defensive tackle this time last year.
Junior college transfer Hughes saw limited action in the first two games of the season as a backup guard before making his first career start at right guard against the Wolfpack on Saturday.
When reporters became aware late Saturday morning that starting guards Josh Sills and Michael Brown were unavailable, and that Mays was going to be snapping for the first time in a live game, some of their tweets were pretty lively.
But those guys really held up, and veteran outside players Colton McKivitz and Kelby Wickline really helped them along.
"Colton, to me, is a dude," a very appreciative Neal Brown said afterward. "He prepares like a dude. He plays like a dude and he leads like a dude. Kelby Wickline had his best week of practice, and I think that showed."
Did it ever.
West Virginia ran the football 28 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns against a Wolfpack defense that had not surrendered a touchdown in two games.
The distance of two touchdown drives were covered entirely on the ground, one following fullback Logan Thimmons' freelance punt block in the third quarter that gave West Virginia possession of the football at the NC State 12, and the other on the game-sealing score late in the fourth quarter.
On that one, West Virginia actually used 21 personnel and ran the football right down NC State's throat. Leddie Brown, West Virginia's 212-pound tailback, carried the football from the 23 right into the end zone on fourth lethal bursts into the line.
Who would have ever thought that was possible one week ago after the way the offensive line blocked against Missouri?
Moore said a lot of credit goes to his older guys, McKivitz and Wickline, for keeping the younger guys grounded leading up to the game.
"Both of those guys talked to them all week and kept them calm," Moore said.
Credit the three young players for the way they held up and performed. Mays' snapping was pretty consistent and Moore thought the communication was much better on Saturday.
"I'm so proud of Briason," Moore said. "He's worked so hard. He's a great kid and he just comes in every day and works. Like coach Brown said, once his snaps became more consistent he settled down. He's got the strength and quickness."
Gmiter took every single snap at left guard in place of Sills and Hughes shared time with Chase Behrndt at right guard. All indications point to Behrndt really rebounding on Saturday following last Saturday's disappointing performance at Missouri.
"I haven't watched the film yet," Brown said on Saturday, "but my hunch is he played with a different type of edge than he's played with."
And since we're throwing around credit, Brown and Moore deserve to be commended for coming up with some new schemes that their guys could handle on Saturday.
They knew NC State was a blitzing defense so they put in some plays and protections to handle that – more east-to-west runs and slide protections where the interior guys were rarely asked to do one-on-one blocking.
That was left to the two veteran outside guys at tackle.
"When you slide and gap protect, it's a lot easier than man protecting with all of that blitzing," Moore noted. "We had that plan going in that we were going to work on some slide protection stuff for just a bunch of young guys to be able to pick that up easily."
Brown explained further.
"We felt like if we could get them going east and west then we could eventually get them north and south," he said. "We were more of an outside zone team today than we have been. You're just trying to figure it out. We played so poorly the first two weeks that you just keep trying to figure it out."
What they've figured out now is that Mays is their center moving forward. Gmiter and Hughes can now grow after the way they performed on Saturday and will provide a much more competitive atmosphere when Sills and Brown return to the field.
Moore said there were others he is not afraid to play at some point this season, which puts the offense in a much better place than it was just a week ago when Brown talked about making lots of changes.
"I had seven guys I played today and there were two other guys I wasn't afraid to play if I needed to," he said. "We had (Adam) Stilley there as our backup center. He didn't get in, but I wasn't going to hesitate to play him if it needed to be done."
Now, after the way Moore's guys performed on Saturday – helped by some much better downfield blocking and much more determined running by the backs – it appears things have finally stabilized up front.
Moore can finally begin to work on developing some continuity with his guys up front, and Brown can go back into his laboratory and come up with some more schemes for his guys to use.
"Hopefully we can pull together and continue to build on what we did (Saturday)," Moore concluded.
https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/1...structed-o-line-held-up-well-on-saturday.aspx
Late last Saturday afternoon, West Virginia co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Matt Moore had the look of a man who had just watched his dog get run over by a mail truck.
His look hadn't changed much three days later on Tuesday when he met with the media. His guys had played that poorly in a 38-7 loss at Missouri.
But following yesterday's 44-27 victory over previously unbeaten NC State, it was difficult for Moore to suppress a smile. And there was good reason for him to smile, especially the way his young interior guys Briason Mays, James Gmiter and John Hughes performed.
Mays is a redshirt freshman center who had never taken a snap in a college game before yesterday. Ditto for redshirt freshman left guard Gmiter, who was a defensive tackle this time last year.
Junior college transfer Hughes saw limited action in the first two games of the season as a backup guard before making his first career start at right guard against the Wolfpack on Saturday.
When reporters became aware late Saturday morning that starting guards Josh Sills and Michael Brown were unavailable, and that Mays was going to be snapping for the first time in a live game, some of their tweets were pretty lively.
But those guys really held up, and veteran outside players Colton McKivitz and Kelby Wickline really helped them along.
"Colton, to me, is a dude," a very appreciative Neal Brown said afterward. "He prepares like a dude. He plays like a dude and he leads like a dude. Kelby Wickline had his best week of practice, and I think that showed."
Did it ever.
West Virginia ran the football 28 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns against a Wolfpack defense that had not surrendered a touchdown in two games.
The distance of two touchdown drives were covered entirely on the ground, one following fullback Logan Thimmons' freelance punt block in the third quarter that gave West Virginia possession of the football at the NC State 12, and the other on the game-sealing score late in the fourth quarter.
On that one, West Virginia actually used 21 personnel and ran the football right down NC State's throat. Leddie Brown, West Virginia's 212-pound tailback, carried the football from the 23 right into the end zone on fourth lethal bursts into the line.
Who would have ever thought that was possible one week ago after the way the offensive line blocked against Missouri?
Moore said a lot of credit goes to his older guys, McKivitz and Wickline, for keeping the younger guys grounded leading up to the game.
"Both of those guys talked to them all week and kept them calm," Moore said.
Credit the three young players for the way they held up and performed. Mays' snapping was pretty consistent and Moore thought the communication was much better on Saturday.
"I'm so proud of Briason," Moore said. "He's worked so hard. He's a great kid and he just comes in every day and works. Like coach Brown said, once his snaps became more consistent he settled down. He's got the strength and quickness."
Gmiter took every single snap at left guard in place of Sills and Hughes shared time with Chase Behrndt at right guard. All indications point to Behrndt really rebounding on Saturday following last Saturday's disappointing performance at Missouri.
"I haven't watched the film yet," Brown said on Saturday, "but my hunch is he played with a different type of edge than he's played with."
And since we're throwing around credit, Brown and Moore deserve to be commended for coming up with some new schemes that their guys could handle on Saturday.
They knew NC State was a blitzing defense so they put in some plays and protections to handle that – more east-to-west runs and slide protections where the interior guys were rarely asked to do one-on-one blocking.
That was left to the two veteran outside guys at tackle.
"When you slide and gap protect, it's a lot easier than man protecting with all of that blitzing," Moore noted. "We had that plan going in that we were going to work on some slide protection stuff for just a bunch of young guys to be able to pick that up easily."
Brown explained further.
"We felt like if we could get them going east and west then we could eventually get them north and south," he said. "We were more of an outside zone team today than we have been. You're just trying to figure it out. We played so poorly the first two weeks that you just keep trying to figure it out."
What they've figured out now is that Mays is their center moving forward. Gmiter and Hughes can now grow after the way they performed on Saturday and will provide a much more competitive atmosphere when Sills and Brown return to the field.
Moore said there were others he is not afraid to play at some point this season, which puts the offense in a much better place than it was just a week ago when Brown talked about making lots of changes.
"I had seven guys I played today and there were two other guys I wasn't afraid to play if I needed to," he said. "We had (Adam) Stilley there as our backup center. He didn't get in, but I wasn't going to hesitate to play him if it needed to be done."
Now, after the way Moore's guys performed on Saturday – helped by some much better downfield blocking and much more determined running by the backs – it appears things have finally stabilized up front.
Moore can finally begin to work on developing some continuity with his guys up front, and Brown can go back into his laboratory and come up with some more schemes for his guys to use.
"Hopefully we can pull together and continue to build on what we did (Saturday)," Moore concluded.
https://wvusports.com/news/2019/9/1...structed-o-line-held-up-well-on-saturday.aspx
