Five Questions – West Virginia

 

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

If the fat lady isn’t singing about the Texas football team’s bowl chances after its 38-20 loss to West Virginia Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium, she’s dressed in her oversize gown and waiting in the wings to take the stage.

At times, the Longhorns looked like the best team on the field, but were doomed by five turnovers and a handful of untimely penalties. Combine those mistakes with indecisive play [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] calling and a rapidly improving Mountaineer team and the Longhorns find themselves on the cusp of missing a postseason game for the second time since 2010.

“We played hard today but we didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball and that cost us,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “We have two more to play. We have to learn from this and get better.”

Texas outgained West Virginia 439-379 and in every offensive category. But the Longhorns also allowed the Mountaineers 257 rushing yards and, again, couldn’t make the plays when they needed to the most.

“We moved the ball well ― we had almost 300 yards rushing ― and they never stopped us,” Strong said. “We stopped ourselves. You can’t make mistakes like we did and expect to beat a good football team.”

The Longhorns (4-6, 3-4 in Big 12 play) continued their year-long struggle on the road, dropping their fourth “true” road game of the season. Texas has now been outscored 150-30 in games away from home or at a neutral site, and has been outgained by an average of 204 yards in those four games.

Texas got on the board first, using a 30-yard pass from quarterback Jerrod Heard to tight end Caleb Bluiett to set the table for 31-yard field goal by Nick Rose. The Longhorns lead 3-0 at the 7:31 mark of the first quarter.

The Longhorns then all but handed West Virginia (5-4, 2-4 Big 12) seven points and the momentum when D’Onta Foreman dribbled a handoff from Heard on a sweep left. The fumble was scooped up by Mountaineers’ linebacker Jared Barber, who rumbled untouched 42 yards for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead with 3:39 left in the opening quarter.

Foreman immediately atoned for his mistake, streaking away on a 65-yard touchdown run on the ensuing offensive snap and a 10-7 Texas lead. At that point, it looked like the Longhorns were the best team and could have their way with West Virginia.

But the second quarter belonged to the Mountaineers, with a heaping of help from the mistakes made by Texas.

After a punt pinned the Longhorns back at their own 1-yard line and 19 yards of offense in six snaps, Texas punter Michael Dickson couldn’t kick the team out of trouble and West Virginia took charge at its own 44-yard line. The Mountaineers took eight plays to march 56 yards to a 1-yard scoring plunge by fullback Elijah Wellman that handed West Virginia a 14-10 lead with 8:17 to play until halftime.

Texas responded with a good drive as marshaled by Tyrone Swoopes, driving from its own 21 to the West Virginia 25. Unfortunately the Longhorns’ short-yardage quarterback fumbled while being tackled in the backfield. The Mountaineers took advantage of the turnover, as quarterback Skyler Howard hit Jovon Durante with a perfectly executed 53-yard bomb to push the West Virginia lead to 21-10 at the half.

“That play hurt us because we had a chance to go to the half with the game 14-10 if we had scored,” Texas defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said. “The West Virginia defense just made a few more plays than we did.”

The Longhorns showed some life on the opening drive of the third quarter, moving 80 yards in 15 plays to a 5-yard touchdown pass from Heard to Daje Johnson that cut the West Virginia advantage to 21-17.

But the possession used 6:21 of the clock, a scenario that would’ve been advantageous if the Longhorns were ahead rather than behind. With Texas’ style of run-first offense, it’s hard for the team to come from behind. Doing so means it’s imperative that Texas can switch the field with great punting or force turnovers to create short-field chances.

The clock worked even more against Texas when West Virginia added a touchdown on a 8-yard pass by Howard to Daikiel Shorts and a 19-yard field goal by Josh Lambert on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Longhorns took advantage of a short field after a bad punt to march into the red zone but had to settle for a 34-yard Rose field goal with 9:24 to play. Points are points, but the kick left Texas two scores behind with the time ticking away.

Any chance for a Texas comeback was extinguished by West Virginia on the following possession. The Mountaineers took over after Heard threw his second interception of the game and drove eight plays in 48 yards to Howard’s 2-yard touchdown run to boost their lead to 38-20.

 

1. What was the game’s most important play?

The most important play was likely the bomb from Howard to Durante that gave the Mountaineers huge momentum going into the second half.

Coming on the heels of a Longhorns’ turnover that ended a potential scoring drive, the touchdown pass actually represented a 14-point swing, which is likely too much of a difference to make up for a team as emotionally fragile as this Texas squad.

“That was probably the turning point in the game,” Strong said. “We had momentum; we were driving the ball and then we turned the ball over. Then they take the ball and go score right before the half.”

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said afterward he thought the game would come down to which team made the least mistakes.

“[Texas and West Virginia] both have offenses that are pretty similar and we both do a good job in the run game and not a great job in the pass game,” Holgorsen said. “Then we have two defenses that are pretty good. The name of the game was turnovers. Before the game, I thought it was going to be the telling grace, and it was.”

 

2. How did West Virginia beat the Longhorns at their own game?

Texas has won games when passing statistics were all but thrown out the window in lieu of near total reliance on the running game. And, for the most part, that’s been a good strategy for the Longhorns ― remember the wins against Oklahoma (12 passes, 55 yards) and Kansas State (16 throws, 99 yards)?

On Saturday, the Mountaineers turned the tables on Texas, passing just 12 times (and completing 10 of those) while gaining 122 yards and scoring two touchdowns. West Virginia ran the ball 51 times for 257 yards, with tailback Wendell Smallwood racking up a career-high 165 yards on 24 carries.

“We weren’t doing a good job of tackling,” Strong said. “We have to do a better job staying in our gaps because there were times we were over pursuing the ball. They have good running backs and the ball was getting behind us.”

 

3. Was Hassan Ridgeway even in Morgantown?

Strong has singled out the Longhorns’ defensive tackle for making plays that get his team going. But Ridgeway had just four tackles in the game and was never a huge factor.

The Mountaineers’ offensive line did a fine job of opening holes for Smallwood, running back Rushel Shell (12 carries for 53 yards) and Howard (34 yards on 12 totes). The indication of the good work by the West Virginia offensive front shows in who made the tackles for the Longhorns (linebackers Malik Jefferson, 11, and Peter Jinkens, 8, and safety Jason Hall, 6) and who didn’t (defensive tackles Poona Ford, 1, Tank Jackson, 3, Paul Boyette, Jr., 2, and Bryce Cottrell, 1).

West Virginia was able to limit the impact of any blitzing the Longhorns had planned by using an up-tempo attack that, at times, had the snap off before the Texas defense was even set.

“Our plan going into it was shorter passes and a lot of runs, all while doing it quick,” Holgorsen said. “By going up-tempo, I thought it could limit what they could do. Texas gives you a ton of different looks on defense, and if we could go fast, then I could eliminate some of the stuff that they could do. When we did, we were effective.”

 

4. What’s the worst thing that happened against West Virginia?

Committing five turnovers when Texas had just seven all year is a likely candidate. But the Longhorns may have been hurt the most by the injuries they suffered in the game.

The biggest might be the left-knee injury suffered by freshman guard Patrick Vahe, who had a brace on his knee and was walking with the help of a crutch after the game. Or it might be the one to running back Johnathan Gray, who blew out his Achilles two years ago in this stadium, and left the game with a left-foot injury. By the game’s end, Gray was in street clothes with his foot encased in a plastic walking boot.

Strong didn’t expound on either injury after the game or give any prognosis on the two players.

Five other players ― running back D’Onta Foreman, defensive tackles Boyette and Jackson, and cornerbacks Davante Davis and Kris Boyd ― all left for the locker room at some point during the contest but returned and finished the game.

Texas has been mostly turnover- and injury-free throughout the season, but all that changed Saturday in Morgantown.

 

5. What’s next for Texas?

Gone is the chance for the Longhorns to have a winning regular season, marking the second straight campaign under Strong that the best that can be attained is a 6-6 mark.

Is that enough progress to guarantee the coach another year to get things turned around?

That remains to be seen.

What stings the most for Texas fans is that no one, least of all the Longhorns’ coaches, have any idea of how the team is going to play from snap to snap, from series to series, from half to half or from game to game.

How is a team good enough to almost beat Cal and Oklahoma State and win against Oklahoma bad enough to get shutout by Iowa State and lose to West Virginia?

The Longhorns will have 12 days to nurse their wounds before returning to the fray at home against Texas Tech on Thanksgiving night. There’s no margin for error for Texas now ― it must win its final two games (versus the Red Raiders and on the road at Baylor on Dec. 5) to earn a spot in a bowl game.

“We can only continue to battle,” Strong said. “We have two more left and we just have to work to get better. We still have a chance.”

 

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