The West Virginia Mountaineersstayed undefeated on the seasonwith a 52-7 win over UT-Martin. But it can be tough to evaluate how good a team really did against an FCS opponent. But one way to do that is by looking at the Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades, to see how well each player performed on their assignments and individual plays.
Let's take a glance at the PFF grades from Week 2 and see what we can learn from them about West Virginia's performance.
WVU's offensive skill players continue to shine
DJ Epps had a breakout game, hauling in two receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown. He was the highest-graded offensive player of the game for WVU, with a 92.0 offensive PFF grade. Mike Hawkins Jr.continued to excel, with over 260 all-purpose yards and four all-purpose touchdowns – he was awarded a 90.9 offensive grade.
Cam Cook also earned a 71.0 offensive grade on 21 snaps. It's quickly becoming clear that the Mountaineers are in good hands when it comes to their skill positions.
WVU's offensive line takes some steps forward, some steps backward
As a whole, the five offensive linemen who started for West Virginia in Week 2 improved, according to PFF – going from 61.8 average overall grade to a 62.6 average overall grade among the five of them. But while Kevin Brown, Wes King, and Carsten Casady improved their overall grades, the grades for Amare Grayson and Nick Krahe regressed.
Where the group significantly improved was pass blocking, as four of the five starters (Brown, Casady, King, Krahe) graded at 77.4 or higher in pass blocking – that's over a dozen points higher than what's considered 'average' (65.0), and an improvement on last week's grade for all four.
West Virginia's linebackers might be really good
Of the five highest-graded players on the defensive side of the ball for West Virginia, the linebacking corps occupied four of those spots – and their grades were really good. Ashton Woods led the way with an overall defensive grade of 92.5, and Tyler Stolsky came in second with an 86.6 defensive grade.
Isaiah Patterson and Cam Torbor were the fourth and fifth highest-graded defenders on the team, with defensive grades of 81.2 and 77.0, respectively. While there are certainly concerns to be had about the defense, the linebacker room might be one of the best units on the team.
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