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Army’s Option ‘Riddle’ Will Test WVU’s Discipline in Thursday’s Liberty Bowl

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WVU Football against TCU
(WVU Athletics/Ben Queen-USA Today)

When the teams for this season’s Liberty Bowl were first announced, it looked like West Virginia had drawn a favorable matchup against the 3-7 Tennessee Volunteers, who had won just one game since October. 24 hours later, however, WVU’s opponent had changed and the Mountaineers were now scheduled to face the 9-2 Army Black Knights, who have only lost one game since October.

Despite facing an apparently tougher opponent, WVU coach Neal Brown said the Mountaineers (5-4, 4-4 Big 12) welcomed the challenge.

“When Tennessee had their COVID issues, we were asked [to play Army] and we didn’t blink an eye,” Brown said Sunday. “We welcome the opportunity to play them, I think it brings extra exposure to this game. I think it’s a great fit, Army Playing in the Liberty Bowl. It makes sense to me.”

Running its traditional flexbone option offense, Army enters the Liberty Bowl with the fourth-best ground attack in the nation, averaging 281.3 rushing yards per game. The Black Knights had four players rush for more than 400 yards this season and five more rush for between 100 and 300 yards.

“I think the mistake people make sometimes is you go away from what your base defensive philosophies are,” Brown said of facing the option. “We won’t make that mistake, we’re going to run the base schemes that we’ve run all year. Now, we have to do it in a way that’s extremely sound, assignment football and we have to have edges.”

Army’s offense was led by sophomore quarterback Tyhier Tyler who, in only six games, rushed for a team-high 502 yards and two touchdowns. He only attempted four passes all year, but Army had six different players all complete passes this season. The Black Knights averaged 15.5 yards per completion this season.

“They don’t throw it a whole lot, but when they do it’s big plays,” Brown said. To limit those we’ve got to do a really good job in the back end with our eyes.”

WVU co-defensive coordinator Jahmile Addae said stopping the option requires a combination of aggression and discipline that is hard to achieve. Aggression to get to the ball and tackle the runner, but discipline to not be tricked by any misdirection’s or fakes.

“That is the riddle we are trying to solve,” Addae said. “It’s all about the passive-aggressiveness of it all. I think you play passively until you can diagnose where the ball is and then that’s where the aggressive piece comes in where now it’s just time to go make a play. There’s got to be a rhyme and reason to why you’re doing what you’re doing.”

On the other side, Army coach Jeff Monken said WVU’s defense will be one of the toughest the Black Knights have faced all season. The Mountaineers finished with the third-best rushing defense in the Big 12 this season, allowing 126.2 yards per game.

“Defensively they are as athletic and talented as any defense that we have faced all year,” Monken said. “They are an outstanding defense. They have the stats to back it up. They are just a strong, stout defense, so it will be a challenge to run the ball against a defense that we know is very good at stopping the run.”

Thursday’s meeting will be the first between WVU and Army since 1961 when the Mountaineers won 7-3 at Michie Stadium. The Mountaineers will also be trying to their current three-game losing streak in postseason bowls. WVU’s last bowl victory came in the Cactus Bowl against Arizona State in 2016.

WVU and Army will kick off at 4 p.m. Thursday from the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

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