Mountaineers Now Postgame Show: WVU Spoils UCF's Homecoming
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome in, welcome in everyone.
00:12 It is the Mountaineers Now post game show
00:14 presented by Country Roads Air Duct Cleaning.
00:17 Take me home to comfort.
00:18 That's Eugene Napoleon,
00:19 legendary West Virginia running back.
00:21 And I'm Skylar Callin,
00:22 just some guy that likes to talk about the Mountaineers
00:24 on a daily basis.
00:25 So West Virginia, how about this, Gene?
00:27 They get back on track, they snap the two game skid,
00:30 beating UCF 41 to 28.
00:34 And a quick look here at the numbers.
00:35 Garrett Green had a very effective day,
00:38 both through the air and on the ground, 14 to 23, 156 yards.
00:43 Three rushing scores on only 55 yards,
00:47 but he did make it count when he did tote the rock.
00:49 Jaheim White had his breakout game,
00:52 nine carries, 85 yards on the score.
00:54 CJ Donaldson bounced back with a hundred yard performance.
00:57 And if you look at the time of possession,
00:59 again, West Virginia dominating,
01:01 and that is no surprise.
01:02 They are one of the leaders in the country
01:04 in that category, 36 minutes to a shade under 24
01:08 for UCF, 286 yards on the ground
01:11 for West Virginia and Eugene.
01:14 When Mountaineers rush for over a hundred yards,
01:16 you like their chances, right?
01:17 When they rush for over 200,
01:19 you really like their chances.
01:20 When they're almost to 300,
01:22 it's almost impossible to beat this football team.
01:26 - Absolutely, and here's the thing.
01:28 We had talked about this prior to this game.
01:31 And I said this, if we control the ball,
01:34 control line of scrimmage, really run the ball well,
01:37 anything can happen.
01:40 And I'm so glad, first off, check this out.
01:42 When you are 100% in the red zone,
01:45 every time you get 100%, look,
01:49 I don't care who you're playing against.
01:51 You might be the New England Patriots playing like that.
01:53 (laughing)
01:55 I'm just saying, you get no better than that.
01:57 So I'm really proud of our ball club.
02:01 You go on the road, you get a much needed win.
02:04 And I had said this last week,
02:05 there was no way the Mountaineers
02:07 was gonna drop three games in a row.
02:09 There was just no way.
02:10 So there's a lot of tape to look at
02:14 and there's a lot to build on.
02:15 There's a lot that Coach Brown and his staff
02:17 in this team should feel good about.
02:20 You just continue to build on this performance
02:23 and build on this film and go from there.
02:25 They played really good football.
02:27 What, two, I think, two or three penalties
02:29 throughout the whole game?
02:30 - Yeah.
02:31 - That's disciplined football.
02:34 That's really good football.
02:35 That's what you have to do right now
02:37 down the stretch to build on,
02:38 to go in these last few games,
02:40 because now anything can happen.
02:42 - Absolutely.
02:42 I mean, we talked about it so many times
02:44 how the schedule sets up really nicely for them.
02:46 You get Cincinnati Baylor at the end of the season.
02:47 You go back home next week to play BYU.
02:50 Oklahoma, as of right now,
02:53 they're in a dogfight with Kansas 27 to 26
02:56 is the time we're recording this.
02:57 So, I mean, you just never know in this league.
03:00 There's so much parity in this league
03:02 that you can win every game, you can lose every game.
03:05 But going to, let's go and get the bad out of the way,
03:08 'cause I want to talk more about the good.
03:10 The defense for West Virginia,
03:12 there's still some problems there, right?
03:14 There's some alarming issues with the tackling.
03:17 The pass coverage was not good once again.
03:20 Part of that, because again,
03:21 you're not getting pressure on the quarterback.
03:23 And when you don't get pressure on the quarterback,
03:25 it's going to make the secondary look maybe not as good
03:30 as they have been in the recent weeks
03:33 where they were playing good defense.
03:34 But tackling to me is an alarming issue.
03:38 And I get it.
03:39 Look, there's injuries all over that defense,
03:41 significant ones at that.
03:43 But you've got to find a way to find answers,
03:46 whether that's designing certain things
03:48 to be funneled into Lee Koba and Ben Cutter
03:51 to put those guys in a position
03:52 where they're going to have to make tackles in space,
03:54 get Aubrey Burks closer to the box.
03:56 I don't know what they got to do,
03:58 but they've got to be able to make tackles
04:00 because you play,
04:02 there's really no dynamic offenses left on the schedule
04:06 for WVU, but Oklahoma.
04:09 And Oklahoma here in a couple of weeks,
04:11 they're going to make you pay for it if you can't tackle.
04:14 - Well, I'm going to tell you something.
04:15 I said this as far as the offense was concerned,
04:19 going into this game,
04:19 I'll say it again as far as our defense is concerned.
04:21 There are certain things that you have to do as a staff,
04:24 scheme wise, that's going to help put you in positions,
04:29 whatever talent you have on the field,
04:31 you could also scheme them in a certain way
04:34 to help them get what you need out of it.
04:36 In this case, yes.
04:38 We need to get pressure on the quarterback.
04:40 We really do.
04:41 So you're going to have to figure out a way
04:43 to scheme towards that to help you back in.
04:46 Because if you don't, again,
04:48 you're a hundred percent right outside of Oklahoma,
04:51 you're playing against teams that offensively,
04:54 you should be able to match up,
04:56 but you still have to get the ball carried to the ground.
04:59 You still got to get pressure on the quarterback,
05:00 regardless of who you're playing against.
05:02 I think this,
05:03 I think they're going to figure out some things.
05:06 We're going to figure out some things
05:08 after watching film of this particular game.
05:10 Because there's some things that I personally think
05:12 they can do scheme wise,
05:14 that's going to free up some things
05:16 and help get a little bit more pressure on the quarterback,
05:18 which we desperately need.
05:20 And if that happens in a secondary plays,
05:22 as well as they did today,
05:23 although we put the quarter,
05:27 we put enough,
05:28 we did enough in the secondary to show
05:31 we're not as bad as people would think.
05:35 But then again,
05:37 there's some things that we can do a lot better
05:39 to help our secondary.
05:40 So I really think,
05:42 and I'm hoping that we can grow from this particular game
05:44 and get the necessary things that we need done,
05:47 done to go out and really get on this serious winning stretch
05:50 because like we said,
05:52 the schedule really does match up very well,
05:55 very favorable for our Mountaineers.
05:57 - I mean, I hate to say it
05:58 and I hate to look in the rear view,
06:00 but I mean, when you win a game like this, right?
06:03 It makes you think like,
06:05 man, they're like literally this close to being like
06:08 at six and two or seven and one or whatever it would be.
06:10 And it's just,
06:12 it's a little frustrating at that.
06:14 But I mean, we talked about how so many bounces had gone,
06:18 actually Neil Brown actually talked about it
06:20 in his press conference last Monday,
06:22 that we just,
06:24 West Virginia has not had bounces go their way.
06:27 The Jalen Anderson touchdown turning into an interception,
06:30 the Cole Taylor fumble bounces right up
06:31 and goes right into an Oklahoma State defender.
06:34 And then you obviously have the punt return
06:36 or get trucked into by his own guy.
06:38 And it's just like one thing after another
06:41 was not going West Virginia's way.
06:43 Today, it did.
06:44 John Rice Plumlee,
06:46 I mean, the kid was hitting everything, right?
06:49 I mean, the ball never touched the ground
06:51 until like the third quarter or fourth quarter.
06:54 And the three interceptions that he had, Gene,
06:55 I don't know that you can even blame him
06:57 on any of the three.
06:58 The first one was a circus play, right?
07:00 The ball just bounces up in the air,
07:02 Beanie Bishop's right there,
07:03 makes the catch and takes off.
07:06 The second one, he had pressure in his face,
07:09 Eddie Vestaren did a really nice job
07:11 of getting pressure to the quarterback.
07:13 And I think the ball may have got tipped up into the air.
07:16 So again, you can't really blame him for that.
07:18 And in the third one,
07:20 his receiver downfield gets dragged down to the ground
07:23 and two other receivers crash into each other.
07:26 So it's like the kid could not catch a break.
07:29 He did have a couple of other chances
07:31 to throw a fourth interception,
07:33 which would have been on him.
07:34 But man, like if you're West Virginia,
07:39 you gotta feel good at least about the turnovers
07:41 to some extent.
07:43 But man, like if they don't get those turnovers,
07:45 this is a whole different ball game.
07:47 - Well, I'm gonna tell you this,
07:48 listen, I look at it this way
07:50 and thank God for the turnovers.
07:51 At the end of the day,
07:53 the mark of a good football team is this,
07:55 somebody turns the ball over,
07:57 they give you four extra possessions
07:58 and you don't do anything with those possessions.
08:01 That's a problem.
08:02 Today, we got the extra possessions
08:04 and we scored on every last one of them.
08:05 We scored on our possessions.
08:08 Those things are important.
08:09 That's what I mean by looking at the film
08:11 and really gaining something from this game
08:15 that we didn't get a chance to do prior to.
08:17 We didn't.
08:19 You start to look at it,
08:20 there's a lot of things that we didn't do well
08:23 in a lot of these other games.
08:24 You can gain on, you know what,
08:26 we gotta do this better,
08:27 we gotta block better,
08:28 we gotta do this better.
08:28 In this particular game,
08:30 you're looking at it in your film room saying,
08:34 I'm looking at it with a little bit of a smile on my face
08:37 'cause we won the game, convincingly.
08:40 But we need to build on this kind of stuff.
08:42 Probably through three picks.
08:46 - Yeah.
08:48 - Three picks today.
08:48 Okay, and we got a fumble.
08:51 We got four extra possessions.
08:52 Only thing I care about is we won the game.
08:55 - Right.
08:56 - I'm not feeling any kind of well-planned to it.
08:59 Look, I don't care about none of that.
09:01 We won the football game on the road.
09:05 It really was,
09:06 and I don't wanna sound all crazy about it,
09:08 it really was a must win when you think about it
09:11 because we lost two in a row.
09:13 - Absolutely.
09:14 - So you can't lose three football games in a row.
09:17 So I'm glad, and we won in convincing style.
09:21 - And if they--
09:22 - We got Justice White,
09:24 we got Jaheim going,
09:26 he's a good back, man.
09:27 He really is a good back.
09:29 - That's a good segue
09:30 'cause I'm gonna get to that right now actually.
09:33 But yeah, I mean, you're right on.
09:35 If you lose this game,
09:36 you're four and four,
09:37 and all of a sudden that nice four and one
09:39 start to the season,
09:40 it's well in the past,
09:41 and now you're on the ropes thinking,
09:43 "Oh my gosh, can you get two more wins
09:44 to get ball eligible?"
09:46 And that could have been a very hairy situation,
09:49 especially 'cause that would have meant
09:50 you lost to two of the newcomers in the Big 12 already,
09:53 and you got two more to go.
09:55 But you found a way to win,
09:57 and you dominated that second half,
09:59 I would like to say for the most part,
10:01 because of the ground game.
10:03 And yes, this is what we're gonna get to right here.
10:04 And by the way,
10:06 I think we have a new listener to the show,
10:08 and his name is CJ Donaldson,
10:10 because I don't wanna say we called him out last week,
10:15 but we brought it to everyone's attention
10:16 that he hasn't ran as well as he did
10:19 in weeks past or even last year.
10:22 Today, that man showed up and showed up big.
10:26 We talked about how he hadn't had
10:27 a 20-yard-plus rush all season.
10:29 That happened today at the end of the game,
10:32 where he bust,
10:33 so he had one early in the first half as well,
10:35 but he also had one that essentially iced the game
10:38 on that third down,
10:39 where he broke free and got inside the 10.
10:41 So huge bounce-back game for him.
10:43 It's good to see CJ back,
10:45 running hard, running well and effective.
10:47 Jaheim looks like he's gonna be a special kid,
10:50 especially once he gets more involved.
10:53 Justin Johnson sprinkled in.
10:54 This is starting to become a really good
10:55 running back for the Mountaineers.
10:57 - Absolutely.
10:58 I feel really good about that.
11:00 But I'm gonna say it again,
11:01 not because I'm a former running back myself,
11:03 but I'm saying,
11:04 whenever you can control the line of scrimmage
11:07 and you can run the football well,
11:10 you gonna win some football games.
11:12 Because you're controlling,
11:13 you're absolutely controlling the time of possession.
11:16 You're absolutely taking a lot of pressure off the QB.
11:19 You're doing some things where you're making it
11:22 easy on first and second downs,
11:25 if you're running the ball consistently,
11:26 because those third downs become third and shorts.
11:29 You know what I mean?
11:31 Third and shorts, depending on what you're doing.
11:33 If you're running a...
11:35 I enjoy watching this game.
11:38 Really do, from start.
11:40 The Mountaineers came out and played the way
11:44 that I expected them to play the last three weeks.
11:49 To be completely honest,
11:51 this is how you play big boy football.
11:53 - Yeah.
11:54 I mean, it looks like the offense is humming right now.
11:57 Like Garrett Green is finding his confidence.
11:59 He today became the first Western Union quarterback
12:02 to rush for three scores in a game
12:04 since your boy, Pat White.
12:06 So that's insane.
12:09 But again, when you have that type of a running game
12:12 and you have a quarterback that can run,
12:14 he's starting to,
12:15 it seems like he's really starting to grow some confidence
12:16 with his arm as well.
12:18 If the defense can just play
12:20 average to above average football,
12:24 I mean, this team can,
12:27 they can shock some people
12:28 and win some games down the stretch,
12:29 particularly the one in Norman
12:31 that probably not a lot of people
12:32 were expecting them to win.
12:33 So,
12:34 that's pretty much all I have.
12:40 Final thoughts on this one
12:42 as we roll into next week.
12:43 And BYU on the schedule next week,
12:45 we'll show the schedule here in a minute.
12:46 But any final thoughts on this game?
12:49 - I personally think if we move forward
12:51 and we're playing this way offensively in the defense,
12:55 we get an opportunity, you know,
12:57 to help to scheme them in a different way
12:59 where they could, like I said,
13:00 get some pressure on the QB.
13:02 This could be a very interesting
13:06 next four to five weeks, Scholar.
13:09 - Yeah, it definitely can be.
13:10 And it's going to be tough though,
13:12 because again, there's been some injuries
13:14 along the way defensively.
13:16 Today, Doug Nestor goes out,
13:18 he's got what looked like an ankle injury.
13:21 He's in a walking boot.
13:22 So there's no timetable for that.
13:25 I mean, just because a guy's in a walking boot
13:28 doesn't mean he's out for the season.
13:29 I've seen guys in walking boots at the Panthers
13:31 and they're back to practice on Monday.
13:33 So you have no idea what that's going to turn out to be.
13:36 We'll find out from Neil Brown and his press conference.
13:38 Maybe, maybe find out some more on Monday.
13:41 Quick look here at the road ahead for West Virginia.
13:43 Again, they return home next week to face BYU.
13:46 And then they wrap up with Oklahoma on the road,
13:50 or their final game at home against Cincinnati.
13:53 And then the season finale at Baylor.
13:55 So you'll like your chances at least in three of those four,
13:58 potentially four of four,
14:00 if you can find some answers on that defense.
14:03 And again, Kansas in a dogfight right now at the Sooners.
14:06 So it's possible, it's possible.
14:09 - It's possible.
14:10 Yeah, I'm doing the same exact thing.
14:12 I'm looking up at my screen right in front of me.
14:14 Anything is possible.
14:15 You know, I put that game on with some serious,
14:19 you know, looking at it like, hmm, okay,
14:23 we need something to happen here.
14:25 You know what I mean?
14:26 We need something to happen.
14:27 But listen, man, it's a great day to be a Mountaineer,
14:30 no matter where you are.
14:32 - That's right.
14:33 And again, West Virginia moving to five and three
14:35 on the year three and two in Big 12 Conference play.
14:38 And maybe I'll just keep picking the opposite team
14:42 that West Virginia plays, because I'm telling you, man,
14:46 the walkthrough game day show,
14:47 I have absolutely stunk it up
14:50 on the West Virginia picks this year.
14:51 I'm getting it wrong every single week,
14:53 whether I'm picking the Mountaineers,
14:54 whether I'm going against them.
14:56 And I've had a few fans telling me,
14:57 hey, just keep picking against them.
14:59 And the weeks that I do pick against them, it works.
15:02 So you know what?
15:03 BYU next week, baby.
15:05 So thank you guys for tuning in to this edition
15:11 of the Mountaineers Now post game show.
15:12 For Eugene LaPointe, I'm Skylar Callahan.
15:14 Make sure you hit that subscribe button
15:16 on YouTube at Mountaineers Now.
15:18 Give us a follow @MountaineersNow on X as well.
15:22 So we will be back tomorrow morning,
15:25 for the morning after, diving deeper into this one,
15:27 West Virginia winners 41 to 28.
15:30 Thank you guys for watching
15:31 and have a great rest of your Saturday.
15:34 (upbeat music)
15:36 (upbeat music)
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15:42 (upbeat music)
15:44 (whooshing)