After a surprising 4-1 start, the West Virginia Mountaineers lost two games in heartbreaking fashion. After losing on a last-second Hail Mary to Houston, WVU’s defense collapsed in epic fashion to drop another against Oklahoma State last week. West Virginia was looking for a “get right” game against the UCF Golden Knights. They powered their way to a 41-28 win. Just like that, the Mountaineers end their skid against UCF.
Mountaineers End Their Skid Against UCF
Throughout the week, Head Coach Neal Brown talked up the need for the Mountaineers to perform better in the first quarter. Brown lamented the team’s inability to score on their opening drives with regularity. This week, they had no trouble doing that. Indeed, they marched 75 yards over nine plays to cap off the drive with a six-yard touchdown run by Garrett Greene. Whatever Brown said to his team this week, they certainly responded by jumping out to an early seven-point lead, from which they never looked back.
UCF started with their own methodical drive, also going for 75 yards on nine plays to answer with a touchdown knotting the game at seven a piece. WVU followed with yet another easy drive that stalled in the red zone. Michael Hayes hit a field goal to recapture a Mountaineer lead. On the next drive, UCF again drove fairly easily, but John Rhys Plumlee decided to pick on Beanie Bishop on the right side of the field. This proved a mistake. Bishop plays physically against his receivers, and he caused a bobbled ball that he grabbed out of the air for his first interception of the game. West Virginia capitalized on the turnover on a scoring drive capped off by a four-yard run by Jahiem White.
UCF fought back on its next drive, closing the gap to 17-14. They forced a fumble on the next Mountaineer drive, but pressure in the face of Plumlee forced an errant throw that Marcis Floyd picked off. Neither team scored again in the half, and West Virginia went into the locker room clinging to that three-point lead.
Mountaineers Dominate Second Half
On the opening drive of the second half, UCF came out with a head full of steam. Plumlee, however, decided to pick on Bishop a second time. Again, Bishop played physically at the point of contact and forced another turnover for his second interception of the game. West Virginia capitalized on the next drive, with Garrett Greene scampering for a seven-yard touchdown building a 24-14 lead. Though UCF answered on the next drive to close the gap to three, West Virginia forced a fumble by Plumlee on UCF’s next drive. Greene punched the ball in again to build the lead back up to ten points.
In the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers kept their foot on the gas pedal to avoid a second-straight collapse. Indeed between forcing a punt and a turnover on downs, West Virginia added another touchdown and a field goal to build a convincing 41-21 lead with just over five minutes left. UCF did manage a scoring drive in the final five minutes, but the ensuing onside kick attempt failed. West Virginia ran out the clock to keep the 41-28 lead into the final whistle. With that, the Mountaineers end their skid against UCF.
Turnovers and Discipline Make the Difference
Prior to today’s game, West Virginia ran neutral on its turnover margin. Today, however, they forced four turnovers (five if you include the turnover on downs in the fourth quarter) while committing just one themselves on a botched trick play near the end of the second half. By capitalizing on three of those turnovers, West Virginia made the favorable margin count. The Mountaineers also moved back below their season average in penalty yards per game, committing just four for 35 yards (after giving up 55 yards against the Cowboys and 84 against the Cougars in the prior two weeks).
As we’ve discussed throughout the season, West Virginia wants to play a clock-control game that requires favorable running lanes and minimal penalties to accomplish. Given the lack of defensive depth, while dealing with multiple injuries across all three levels of the defense, the turnovers certainly helped swing this balance in West Virginia’s favor.
The final box score, of course, tells the story we saw on the field. The Mountaineers held the ball for an impressive 36 minutes. Thus, despite losing the total yardage battle (by just 13 yards), WVU controlled the game and never played from behind. Greene was not asked to throw nearly as often as the last two weeks, gaining just 156 yards on 23 attempts. The last two weeks certainly showed Greene can lead an aerial attack where required, as he threw for 640 yards on 68 attempts with four touchdowns to two interceptions in the two-game losing skid. Clearly, that is not how West Virginia would prefer to play.
Mountaineers Rumble on the Ground
Instead, West Virginia ran the ball 50 times to the 24 pass attempts. The 68/32 run-to-pass ratio certainly represents Brown’s ideal game plan for the Mountaineers. On those attempts, WVU rumbled for 286 total yards on the ground, spreading those yards pretty evenly. CJ Donaldson eclipsed the century mark for just the second time this season, finishing with 121 yards and a touchdown with an impressive seven yards per carry. White added a touchdown and 85 yards on just nine attempts, coming close to ten yards per carry. Greene also ran for 55 yards on eleven attempts and scored three times on the ground.
The balance on offense offered an impressive window into how Brown and Offensive Coordinator Chad Scott want games to look in the ideal scenario. The defense may have looked porous at times, but they forced turnovers and played an opportunistic brand of football to supplement the offensive attack. As a result, we saw the Mountaineers end their skid against UCF, climbing to 5-3 on the season.
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