What We Learned After Iowa State

Saturday’s loss to Iowa State eerily mimicked the 2017 regular season home loss to Texas. In the same way in which Will Grier’s first quarter injury forced West Virginia’s defense to not only stop the Longhorns, but also score points for an anemic offense, Austin Kendall’s injury sucked the life out of Milan Puskar Stadium and riddled an already struggling offense down to its simplest form with back-up Jack Allison at quarterback.

The extent of Kendall’s injury will further determine the short and long term outlook for the remainder of the 2019 season, but the probability of an 0-for-October became even greater, after the loss and Kendall’s unclear diagnosis. West Virginia faces four of its last six opponents on the road, including next week’s Bataan Death March to Norman, Oklahoma to face the juggernaut Sooners. All of the optimism following the Texas game’s close call went out the window, after freshman upon freshman were thrown into fray to plug holes for Mountaineers and Breece Hall and Brock Purdy took advantage of their inexperience.

So let’s try to simplify what we learned after the devastation the Cyclones left in Morgantown Saturday:

If redshirting Jarret Doege is set in stone, Austin Kendall gives West Virginia its best chance to win.

Kendall recouped few supporters following his four interception performance against Texas, but he probably gained them all back after witnessing what the West Virginia offense was relegated to once he exited after the game’s first series. Allison had one good series, when he moved the ball effectively with tempo, but outside of it, all he contributed were dinks and dunks that didn’t move the chains. If we thought Kendall had his deep ball struggles, Allison said hold my beer.

If Kendall is done for four weeks or more, it’s going to be interesting to see whether head coach Neal Brown burns the redshirt on Doege, he continues to ride Allison, or he finally give Trey Lowe III a shot. That decision is better served for another article.

The impact of Kendall’s injury permeated through the offense.

Recognizing that Allison couldn’t throw deep, Iowa State loaded the box, pulled the safeties up and swarmed the line of scrimmage and sat in a soft zone. The already fragile offensive line couldn’t block the extra pass rushers; therefore, Kennedy McKoy didn’t have anywhere to run and Leddie Brown was forced to create his own holes by running over people. The Mountaineers couldn’t utilize Sam James’s vertical ability. Instead, all he could do to contribute in the elementary offense was two-yard wide receiver screens. It was painful to watch at times.

TJ Simmons is becoming who West Virginia has wanted him to be.

Simmons ended Saturday with back-to-back games in which he caught a touchdown and had a reception of 25-plus yards. The move he put on the defender to complete the score will be on the end of season hype video for sure. He’s becoming a more reliable ball catcher, and if Allison continues to be under center, it appeared as if Simmons has developed some rapport with him. Through six games, it’s a fair argument to make that West Virginia has found its number-one receiver in James and its number-two in Simmons. Forget about the Oklahoma block out of bounds and show this guy some love.

When Hakeem Bailey was ejected for targeting, with Keith Washington out, the defense was in trouble.

Like Brown said after the game, the game became lopsided because West Virginia –namely its defensive line — ran out of gas. The tank dropped near E once Bailey was ejected for blatant targeting, and now he’ll be out for the first half against Oklahoma. The Mountaineers were forced to play true freshmen at that point, so Purdy was really able to do what he wanted offensively. Tykee Smith is a player whose collegiate career fans can be excited about, but unless Washington and Dreshun Miller can get healthy soon, Jalen Hurts and Charlie Brewer will be itching to take advantage of this cornerback group’s youth and inexperience.

West Virginia’s linebackers aren’t helping out the defensive line.

The Stills brothers are deservedly receiving national attention. Reese Donahue and Reuben Jones both collected sacks in this contest and are putting together solid final collegiate seasons. Jordan Jefferson is already playing beyond his years, and at the pass-rushing bandit position, Quondarius Qualls is becoming a reliable fit. West Virginia is finally getting what it’s been calling for for almost a decade, a tenacious defensive line. Unfortunately, if an opposing ball carrier gets through the first level, he’s almost certainly getting to or near first down yardage. The West Virginia linebackers, in back-to-back weeks, have given up 100-yard outputs to Texas’s Roschon Johnson and Iowa State’s Breece Hall, two back-ups. Don’t forget about what Kansas’s Carter Stanley did to them too. It’s time for someone to step up alongside Josh Chandler or its going to be a long rest of the season.

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