BYU football squares off for their second Big 12 contest of the season this Friday, and fresh off a road victory against Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, Kalani Sitake and the Cougars get to play host under the lights of LaVell Edwards Stadium. Welcome to the spotlight, West Virginia! Come on down!
To prepare for this weekend's game, one must first familiarize themself with the foe. To do so, I had a conversation with Joseph Smith (yes, the irony is not lost on me), Site Expert of Hail WV on the FanSided network, to get to know the Mountaineers and let him in on what to expect during West Virginia's trip to Provo. Here's what I learned.
Interview with a West Virginia Expert: BYU vs WVU
Q: Back with Rich Rodriguez, what are the expectations for the coach’s second stint with the team?
A: The expectations seemed to vary, with excitement running high that our most successful coach in history was back and that a six-year tenure of mediocrity under Neal Brown was over. However, those with realistic expectations probably imagined a 5-7 win season with the roster overhaul of more than 80 new players and a first-year coaching staff.
After the last couple of weeks, 7 wins feels too gracious. 5 feels like it could be accurate, but maybe still too many. Our starting quarterback through four games is hitting the portal, the backup looked awful against Utah, and we’re likely down to two freshmen competing at the position. Our running backs keep getting hurt and our offensive line is abhorrent so far, to the point that at least two backups are expected to see significant playing time this week if not more.
Long term I’m not selling stock, but this season could get real ugly.
Q: The Mountaineers were run off the field by Utah last week, and are 20-point underdogs in this one. How can WVU overcome the odds? What makes them dangerous?
A: To overcome the odds, they have to find some sort of life in an offense that has been as stagnant as can be all season, except for a 10-minute stretch to finish the Backyard Brawl. Zac Alley is a good defensive coordinator, but the flaws with this current unit have been getting exposed in recent weeks because WVU’s offense can’t keep them off the field. Unless WVU’s offense gets better, this is a loss.
What makes them dangerous is when the run game is going. The Mountaineers are averaging 216 yards per game, and when the run game was going against Pitt the Mountaineers got their only Power 4 win yet this season. The problem is that starting back Jahiem White has been injured since Week 2, and the running back who tallied 141 yards and three scores against Pitt –Tye Edwards – has been missing in action with an injury since.
But reserve back Diore Hubbard looked good in the start against Utah last week and quarterback Khalil Wilkins is likely the next starter up at his position and had 39 yards on designed runs in the second half alone against Utah.
Q: What is the most overlooked aspect of WVU’s team this season?
A: It may not have been overlooked at the start of the season, but after giving up 89 points in the past two games, the attention probably isn’t on how WVU’s defense can hurt you. But the Mountaineers are 43rd in opponents’ third down conversions, 35th in sacks, and 33rd in forced turnovers nationally after those two performances brought down those numbers. Alley was mentored by Dabo Swinney and Brent Venables and is a rising defensive coaching star who WVU paid $1.5 million per year to steal from Oklahoma. If his unit gets back into a rhythm, watch out.
Q: If WVU wins this game, how does that change the Mountaineers’ season?
A: WVU has three winnable games on the schedule in the latter half of the season, and already has two wins – Colorado, Houston, and UCF seem like games they can pull off, while BYU, TCU, Arizona State, and Texas Tech seem like the tougher tests. If WVU can win the games they should and pull off one upset, they can go bowling. This could be that needed upset.
WVU also finally gets their first bye week after BYU, and if they can figure out enough about their team to pull off a win against BYU, it gives them a lot to build on during a week they get to reset and refocus on the latter half of its schedule.
Q: Who are the true contenders in the Big 12 this season?
A: My top four right now in alphabetical order are Arizona State, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Utah. My next tier includes Baylor, BYU, Houston, and TCU.
My stock is down on TCU right now and up on Houston, but I’m unsure if either BYU or Houston is as good as they seem yet. I had lower expectations for both coming into the season than I do currently, but BYU has last year’s success to convince me they are more real than Houston. But I trust Willie Fritz, and while Houston can still be an easily winnable game for teams, I’d peg them as my dark horse. I never count out a Baylor team with Sawyer Robertson’s arm, either.