West Virginia’s Week 2 matchup with the Ohio Bobcats resulted in an extremely disappointing road loss for the Mountaineers by a final score of 17-10. They were outplayed in every facet of the game by the defending champions of the MAC, who picked up a win over a power conference opponent on their home field.
While a loss on the road against Ohio is alarming enough for the Mountaineers, the manner in which they lost is a cause for great concern. Just two weeks into the season, is it already time to panic in Morgantown?
Let’s put it this way: if the Mountaineers play as poorly as they did against Ohio in every game for the remainder of the season, they likely wouldn’t win another game. This was an ugly performance by WVU, and it starts with the head coach, who shouldered much of the blame in his postgame press conference.
Statistics
WVU
Total Yards: 250
Time of Possession: 16:40
Ohio
Total Yards: 429
Time of Possession: 40:15
Several elements of West Virginia’s Week 2 loss do not bode well for the outlook of the remainder of the season. While 'panic' is a strong word this early into the season, if the Mountaineers are unable to fix some of their glaring issues quickly, they could be in for a long season. Next Saturday, West Virginia will host 2-0 Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. Based on WVU’s performance in Athens, many Mountaineer fans seem to fear that this year’s edition of the Brawl could get ugly in favor of the Panthers.
While it may not be time to hit the panic button yet, it is close. If the Mountaineers come out and lay an egg at home in the Brawl, they will head into conference play with significantly lower expectations as far as the fanbase is concerned.
Based on the performance at Ohio, here are the three primary things that the Mountaineers need to fix, and fix in a hurry. Each of these is found on the offensive side of the ball.
Offensive Line
The performance of the WVU offensive line was one of our questions heading into Week 2. The performance that they put forth was not a strong one. Pro Football Focus (PFF) graded the Mountaineer offensive linemen like this:
Nick Krahe: 65.4
TyKieast Crawford: 61.7
Landen Livingston: 67.6
Walter Young Bear: 58.2
Kimo Makane’ole: 57.3
That's all works out to a pretty pitiful average of 62.08 among the team's starting five offensive line, and that just won't cut it. With all due respect to Ohio, their defensive front seven is not as talented as some, if not all, of the units that WVU will see starting next weekend and continuing throughout Big 12 conference play. If the offensive line unit continues to struggle in this fashion, so will the Mountaineers.
Running Back Situation
To add salt to the wound, star running back Jahiem White was carted off the field in the first half with a leg injury. The depth chart behind White has been a question all throughout the preseason and through the beginning of the regular season. If White is to be sidelined for any amount of time, the question still remains of who will get the carries.
Against Ohio, Clay Ash was only running back to get carries after the White injury. West Virginia also has Cyncir Bowers, Diore Hubbard, Kannon Katzer, Tyler Jacklich, Andre Devine, and Tye Edwards figuring to get in the mix at running back – but Katzer seems to be injured, and Hubbard and Devine didn't travel to Athens. While none of these players are likely to bring the level of production that Jahiem White can, the coaching staff must figure out which of these players they want to see playing time and what parts of the playbook can allow them to be successful.
Quarterback Situation
Nicco Marchiol, along with the entire offense, struggled in Week 2. Jaylen Henderson even took over at quarterback for a couple of possessions in the third quarter to try and provide a spark to the struggling offense. When White exited the game, the Mountaineer offense changed drastically, which raises the question as to whether or not WVU needs to go with a more mobile quarterback with White sidelined. In the matchup with Ohio, Marchiol struggled to deal with the pressure brought on by the Bobcats, and he struggled to run the ball effectively. Ohio had four sacks on the afternoon. Marchiol went 15-for-26 for 178 yards and an interception.
The Mountaineer coaching staff has plenty to work on with their units heading into Week 3’s Backyard Brawl matchup, and there is a great cause for concern should these three offensive issues not get resolved.