Five Questions – West Virginia
By Steve Habel
After Texas made all the right moves to force an overtime against West Virginia — a team that just won an overtime contest against TCU — the cards still seemed to be stacked in the Mountaineers’ favor. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] After all, 17 years had passed since Texas played an overtime game and this particular one marked a first for Mack Brown. In his 38 years of coaching, he had never coached an overtime game.
That is, until Nov. 9.
The Longhorns handled the extra period like an old hat, dusting off a play they haven’t successfully used all season, and executing on some old favorites. In doing so, Texas beat West Virginia 47-40 before a crowd of 58,570 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.
Texas won when Case McCoy hit little-used fullback Alex De La Torre with a 2-yard touchdown pass in overtime.
“We took a chance on that play because there was no middle ground — either West Virginia was going to drop everyone [into the end zone and passing lanes] or we were going to score,” offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said.
After the Longhorns scored, West Virginia looked to do so as well. The Mountaineers picked up 20 yards on a nifty reverse run by Mario Alford to set up shop at the Texas 5-yard line. But the Longhorn defense stood firm, denying the Mountaineers on four plays — the final one coming on a fourth-down interception by linebacker Steve Edmond in the end zone.
The celebration immediately started. Edmond raced to the southeast corner of the stadium to strut his stuff with his teammates and the small group of Texas fans that made the 1,400-mile trip to Morgantown.
“West Virginia tried the same play on third down but to the other side,” Edmond said. “I almost had that one, and I thought then that I could’ve ended the game if I would’ve caught it. I was surprised they came back my way again.”
The win allows Texas (7-2 overall, 6-0 Big 12) to stay tied with Baylor atop the league standings with three regular-season games to play.
This game played out as anything but easy. The Longhorns basically spotted West Virginia (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) the game’s first nine points and slept-walked through the first quarter. Texas’ first four drives resulted in a safety on a blocked punt, a fumble by Daje Johnson as he maneuvered into traffic after catching a pass, an interception when the ball was jarred loose from Mike Davis and a punt.
The Texas defense kept the team in the game, allowing just seven points during that rocky stretch. They jumpstarted the offense by knocking West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett out of the game and forcing three Moutaineer fumbles on sacks. West Virginia also struggled with keeping the Texas defense out of the offensive backfield.
When Malcolm Brown rammed into the end zone from two yards out at the 10:48 mark of the second quarter for a 10-9 lead, the Longhorns looked ready to break away from West Virginia.
But the Texas offense couldn’t stay out of its own way, wasting two chances for touchdowns after taking possession inside the West Virginia 10. After starting at the 7-yard line, the Longhorns lost a yard in three plays and were forced to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Anthony Fera.
A 6-yard touchdown run by the Mountaineers’ Charles Sims and a Josh Lambert 30-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter gave West Virginia a 19-13 lead at halftime
The Longhorns, however, felt confident going into the second half.
“We didn’t play well in the first quarter and we didn’t capitalize on a few chances we had in the second,” Brown said. “But we were confident in our plan and our ability to come back.”
Texas cut the lead to 19-16 early in the third quarter. Another sack and West Virginia fumble set up Fera for a 29-yard field goal. Sims’ third touchdown run of the game came on the following possession. The score gave the Mountaineers their biggest advantage of the contest, at 26-16, but the rest of the quarter belonged to Texas.
First, McCoy went deep to Davis for a 49-yard touchdown pass and then Joe Bergeron rumbled around the left end for a 8-yard score, granting Texas a 30-26 lead.
The third quarter set the table for a wild fourth quarter and overtime. West Virginia retook the lead at the 14:01 mark of the fourth quarter on Dreamius Smith’s 8-yard run; the Longhorns countered with a 10-yard touchdown pass from McCoy to Jaxon Shipley (Shipley’s first touchdown catch of the season).
West Virginia wouldn’t back down. They swung back this time with a quick pass from backup quarterback Paul Millard that Alford nabbed at his own 40. Alford outraced the Texas defense for a 72-yard touchdown that allowed the Mountaineers a 40-37 lead.
But the end game belonged to the Longhorns. Taking over at its own 36 with 2:35 to play, Texas methodically marched down the field to Fera’s game-tying 24-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. From there, the Longhorns and their fans seemed to have little doubt that Texas would win.
“We had all the momentum with the way we tied the game at the end of regulation so I felt good about things,” Brown said. “Once we scored a touchdown with our possession, I knew the defense had a final stop in them. We escaped a tough place to play against a tough team to get a win. I sure wouldn’t bet against us.”
1. What was the game’s most important play?
Plenty of plays are candidates, including Fera’s game-tying field goal, Marcus Johnson’s 14-yard catch on third down in overtime and De La Torre’s winning catch.
But none of those plays would’ve been possible if not for McCoy’s 9-yard pass to Shipley. The play converted a fourth down-and-7 situation at the West Virginia 47-yard line with 52 seconds to play.
Shipley is always McCoy’s security-blanket receiver — the player the quarterback relies on to get beyond the chains or looks to when he needs a big play. Against West Virginia, McCoy threw to his lifelong friend eight times when the Longhorns needed to convert a third or fourth down. Shipley caught five of those passes — all in the second half — and all resulted in a first down or a touchdown.
“I just know where Ship’s going to be and he’s the first one I look for to make plays in those situations,” McCoy said. “I know that if I can get it to him, he’s going to catch it — now that’s real security.”
Shipley, who ended up with seven catches for 82 yards, was previously frustrated because he hadn’t scored yet this season. He made up for that against the Mountaineers, with his touchdown and huge conversion catches.
2. Will the Texas defense please receive some recognition?
The Longhorns’ defense made its share of highlight plays against the Mountaineers, but also allowed a handful of big plays that kept West Virginia in the game.
For Texas defense coordinator Greg Robinson, the blitz was both his boost and his bane. Bringing almost every defender after the West Virginia quarterbacks created its share of turnovers (the Mountaineers had six fumbles — they lost three — and two interceptions) but also left the secondary exposed if the pressure didn’t get there in time.
“We had to get pressure on [West Virginia] to disrupt them. I give a lot of credit to our defensive backs for hanging in there,” defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat said.
Edmond had a huge game (a team-high 12 tackles, seven of them solo, to go with a tackle for a loss and his interception) but other Texas players made big plays as well. Defensive tackle Desmond Jackson — who’s playing time increased after a leg injury forced Chris Whaley out of the game in the first quarter — had eight tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Defensive end Cedric Reed had five stops, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Cornerback Carrington Byndom and Jeffcoat added to the defensive stats; Byndom recorded eight tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and two tackles for a loss, while Jeffcoat had five tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss, a forced fumble and a recovered fumble.
“There were times that we played well, but we made a mistake or two. West Virginia was challenging us, too,” Robinson said. “They got us a few times on the blitz when we went to the well a little too often, but we stopped them at the end when we had to.”
3. What does Texas have to fix on offense?
The Longhorns have to get more than field goals when their defense produces turnovers deep in the opposition’s territory.
Four times against West Virginia, the Texas defense handed the ball to the offense at the West Virginia 27-yard line or closer (two drives started inside the Mountaineers’ 10-yard line) and the team settled for field goals on three of the four chances.
Texas, which ended up with 435 total yards (152 rushing and 283 passing) tried to run the ball to wear down the Mountaineers but never got the job done, especially after running back Johnathan Gray went down with a right leg injury in the second quarter. Malcolm Brown led the Longhorns with 89 yards on 28 carries.
“We need touchdowns instead of field goals,” Applewhite said. “We had opportunities down there but we didn’t convert most of them. We were a little stubborn running the ball in the red zone, and for the most part Case made some great decisions. We scored on every one of the chances down there, and the final drive made up for the others.”
If the Longhorns could’ve punched in a few of those chances rather than settling for Fera field goals, the overtime likely wouldn’t have been necessary. But all’s well that ends well, at least for the Longhorns.
4. Who is Texas’ most important offensive player?
The Longhorns’ offensive brain trust wants to get the ball in Daje Johnson’s hands as much as possible — so much so that it might be of detriment to the continuity of Texas’ overall attack.
Johnson caught seven passes (he was thrown to nine times) for just 28 yards. The West Virginia defense focused more on stopping him than stopping Shipley.
Johnson, who has great open-field moves and speed to burn, led Texas with 135 all-purpose yards (87 on kickoff returns and 20 more on punt runbacks); he had 15 total touches.
“Defenses have to account for Daje. We have a big package for him because of how quickly he can change the game and flip the field,” Applewhite said. “If focusing on him opens things up for other players, then that’s as important as him carrying the ball.”
His influence will be even more crucial in the final games of the season because of Gray’s injury.
5. What’s on the horizon for the Longhorns?
The season is now 75 percent over, and Texas (which re-entered the AP top 25 at No. 23 and BCS standings at No. 24, after the win against West Virginia) is atop the Big 12, just as expected.
Still staring the Longhorns in the face are games against No. 12 Oklahoma State this Saturday, Texas Tech (on Thanksgiving night) and the highly-anticipated showdown in Waco against fifth-ranked Baylor on Dec. 7.
The Longhorns will have to call on their resolve to finish the season strong, especially in light of the fact that Whaley (left knee) and Gray (right Achilles) will be lost for the season.
Add that to the earlier loss of starting quarterback David Ash, who is still suffering from concussion symptoms from an injury he suffered in Sept. 6 against Brigham Young, and Texas has lost three of its key cogs and leaders.
“We have the depth now that we haven’t had in the past. We have guys that are going to step up, just like they did to beat West Virginia,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of determination on this team. We have momentum and enough experience to be strong in this stretch of the season.”
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