Tag: West Virginia Mountaineers

Chiefs scouting report: West Virginia Mountaineers OT Wyatt Milum

West Virginia Mountaineers offensive lineman Wyatt Milum would be an ideal target for the Kansas City #Chiefs in the 2025 NFL draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs rostered four rookie offensive linemen for this season to solve depth concerns in their front five. The unit achieved mixed results in the Chiefs’ first four games when the rookies and second-year left tackle Wanya Morris saw the field.

Kansas City must continue investing in its offensive line to sustain its budding dynasty.

West Virginia Mountaineers offensive tackle Wyatt Milum would be an ideal target for Chiefs general manager Brett Veach in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.

He started at right tackle as a freshman and is in the midst of his third season playing left tackle. Milum lacks the traditional arm length measurements to play offensive tackle in the NFL, and his skills project well inside at guard.

Milum didn’t allow a single pressure during West Virginia’s first four games and posted standout performances against Kansas and Pittsburgh in recent weeks. He uses his play strength, controlled footwork, and patient hands to frame blocks well and build a strong technical foundation. Milum rarely suffers fundamental breakdowns in pass protection.

Milum drops his sturdy anchor once defenders engage with him and uses his combative upper body to knock pass rushers off balance. Milum looks for opportunities to torque defenders out of their stances and pancake them. That finishing mentality pops on his film in pass protection and the run game.

Milum’s open-field speed and movement skills help him pull and pick off second-level defenders for wide zone or gap runs. He uses his leg drive and motor to dig out defensive ends on inside zone runs and widen the B-gap.

West Virginia goes on the road to challenge 3-2 Oklahoma State at 3:00 p.m. CST this Saturday. The Cowboys lost each of their last two games while the Mountaineers are returning from their off week.

5 pettiest moments from college football Week 3: Kirk Herbstreit demands respect for Florida State

The battle between Herbstreit and Florida State fans rages on

For maybe the first time ever, college football saw Cal fans on social medai trolling Florida State fans about their Week 4 matchup before Cal had even played its Week 3 game against San Diego State.

These are strange times in the ACC, to be sure, but this new conference rivalry may be hard to top. What else would you honestly expect from an undefeated Cal team visiting a winless FSU program?

Sadly, we cannot technically count that as one of pettiest Week 3 moments. Fortunately, we have more than enough trolling of Florida State to hold us over until those powerhouses(!?) kick off in Tallahassee.

Kirk Herbstreit: Defender of Florida State’s integrity 

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Florida State fans did NOT like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit before this season and they probably won’t like him anymore after his tongue-in-cheek dig on College GameDay last week.

Herbstreit became the face of FSU’s contempt after the team was snubbed from the College Football Playoff following a season-ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis.

Well, with their season on the ropes before losing to Memphis last Saturday, Herbstreit mocked the “disrespect” coming from the rest of the GameDay panel who picked against Florida State. It was well played, you gotta admit.

https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1834984976691216554

Memphis Tigers: Destroyers of Florida State’s integrity 

There was trolling before the game. And there was even more trolling after FSU lost to Memphis.

Now, the Tigers could’ve chosen any number of ways to mock the 0-3 start by the program that poached their last coach, but they chose to focus on the very strange tactic of using water guns at practice.

This is an excellent troll because it not only shows they are paying attention to all the messiness in Tallahassee, but understood just how much FSU fans lost it when they saw the water gun videos.

https://twitter.com/MemphisFB/status/1835049306451058701

https://twitter.com/MemphisFB/status/1835038028202746225

 

Pitt never forgets 

Anyone remember when West Virginia was ranked No. 2 in the BCS poll back in 2007 only to get upset on its home field by unranked Pitt, which was a four-touchdown underdog before the game.

The final score was 13-9.

As former WVU fullback Owen Schmitt said, “We blew it against the [expletive] [expletive] team in the [expletive] world.”

In case you did forget, Pitt had a helpful reminder before hosting (and beating) WVU again on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/adavidhalejoint/status/1834958941391917074?s=46&t=hxe7_4LWfBXIIkZJrQK30Q

It, uh, also seems Pitt is leading the Big 12 — despite playing in the ACC.

https://twitter.com/Pitt_ATHLETICS/status/1836050020623147263

Alabama jumps all around Madison

https://twitter.com/CFBONFOX/status/1835026747076534429

The Crimson Tide hadn’t played in Madison since 1928, a full 64 years before House of Pain released “Jump Around”. So you can’t blame Alabama for embracing the tradition at Wisconsin games on Saturday as they beat the Badgers, 42-10. Especially since it appeared plenty of fans had already left the stadium before the end of the fourth quarter.

Washington State’s Apple Cup victory puts Cougars on the map

https://twitter.com/WSUCougarFB/status/1835109225728819401

Yeah, we’ve already gone over this one, but it’s too iconic not to include. Well done, Wazzu. That’s what this sport is all about.

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Which Big 12 team has been the biggest surprise through three weeks?

Updated breakdown on week-by-week FBS re-rankings for each Big 12 team.

It has been an interesting start for the Big 12 football season to say the very least. The trio of teams at the top with Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Utah isn’t a surprise, however, Arizona State looking better than its in-state rivals is. More on the Sun Devils shortly.

Other eyebrow-raisers include the slow starts by the Colorado Buffaloes and Texas Tech Red Raiders, who are both 2-1 but have had poor showings as of late. They both struggled in Week 1 against FCS opposition before getting blown out in Week 2 and coming back with blowout wins of their own in Week 3.

This week we are reviewing Paul Myerberg’s FBS re-rankings under a different lens. Here are the week-by-week rankings through the first three weeks of the 2024 college football season.

Big 12 football’s week-by-week re-rankings

Team Preseason Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Arizona 42 41 45 50
Arizona State 105 56 44 28
Baylor 92 86 86 77
BYU 64 62 55 46
Cincinnati 90 88 88 83
Colorado 89 101 102 88
Houston 80 98 98 94
Iowa State 31 29 14 14
Kansas 23 22 30 52
Kansas State 15 13 10 9
Oklahoma State 27 26 20 20
TCU 38 30 29 30
Texas Tech 41 52 80 75
Utah 12 10 9 10
UCF 20 21 18 15
West Virginia 40 48 52 65
Via Paul Myerberg’s weekly re-ranking

Big 12’s Biggest Surprise

Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Sun Devils have shot out of a cannon to begin the 2024 season already matching last season’s win total of three games through three weeks. Former Michigan State quarterback Sam Leavitt now leads them into their first-ever Big 12 matchup when they visit Texas Tech on Saturday.

Big 12’s Biggest Dropoff

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

We thought the Mountaineers turned a corner last season with the 9-4 finish with a win in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl over North Carolina. However, it looks more like the team that put head coach Neal Brown on the hot seat in the first place after dropping both Power Four matchups through three weeks. They face an equally struggling Kansas Jayhawks team on Saturday, another loss and the hot seat rumors might heat up once again.

This scheduling agreement between Penn State, Pitt, and West Virginia would rock

Let’s make this scheduling agreement a possibility for Penn State, Pitt, and West Virginia!

Penn State has taken it upon itself to rekindle some old regional and traditional rivalries in recent years with the non-conference scheduling with a four-game series with Pitt and a recent home-and-home arrangement with West Virginia. But following Penn State’s season-opening victory over West Virginia a few weeks back, there are no scheduling agreements with either historical rival for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, West Virginia and Pitt squared off this weekend and have one more game to be played in 2025 before picking up their Backyard Brawl rivalry again in 2029 with another four-year scheduling agreement.

Watching Penn State go against Pitt and West Virginia in recent years was great for longtime Penn State fans and newer fans that may have grown up without those fond memories of the matchups with the Panthers and Mountaineers. Many newer fans may scoff at the idea of playing future games against either school for a handful of reasons, but having an in-state rivalry to look forward to on a regular basis again would be fun. There is a scheduling solution that could work for all three schools as well.

The bottom line is I would love to see Penn State, Pitt, and West Virginia play every season in non-conference play, and there is an easy way to give each school a slice of the scheduling pie.

The easiest way to make this work would be to have each school host one game and play one road game on an alternating basis between the three schools. Here is how it could work;

YEAR 1 ROTATION

  • Penn State hosts Pitt
  • Pitt hosts West Virginia
  • West Virginia hosts Penn State

YEAR 2 ROTATION

  • Pitt hosts Penn State
  • West Virginia hosts Pitt
  • Penn State hosts West Virginia

No one school gets two home games in the mix in any given year, fans get one traditional and historical rivalry game each season to look forward to, and the travel for all three fanbases is feasible.

I would honestly love to see one of these rivalry matchups take place at the end of the regular season, although it would be more likely to see these games played earlier in the year.

Penn State will stray away from some of their traditional regional opponents on the non-conference schedule the next few seasons. Temple will return to the schedule in 2026 for a home-and-home series, and Syracuse will pop back on for a home-and-home series beginning in 2027.

The rest of the non-conference schedule through 2028 will consist of games against Nevada, FIU, Villanova (FCS opponent), Marshall, Buffalo, Delaware (which will be an FBS school by the time the game is played), Ball State, and UMass.

Would you trade some of those games for matchups with Pitt and West Virginia? I know I would in a second.

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Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi rips officials after thrilling win over West Virginia

Pitt ralled from 10 down to stun West Virginia

Eli Holstein lost his helmet. Nate Yarnell came into the game with the Backyard Brawl on the line and handed off to Derrick Davis Jr., who ran the football into the end zone from a yard out with 32 seconds left Saturday to give Pitt a 38-34 victory.

Holstein was magnificent on the game-winning drive. On a running play he got the ball to the one-yard line before what seemed like the entire West Virginia defense ripped off his helmet.

Pitt called its final timeout. West Virginia called a timeout. Yet, Holstein had to miss a play because his helmet came off.

Enter Yarnell, who did what he had to do and the Panthers had a victory in the rivalry.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi was fuming afterward, saying his team not only beat the Mountaineers but also the officials.

“I think our DBs did a heck of a job — period,” Narduzzi said. He then shifted his focus to the third team on the field, the officials,” Narduzzi told ESPN’s Dawn Davenport. “I mean, some of the calls we got. Late hit out of bounds. They catch a ball with a hands to the face. I’ve never seen anything like it. You know? Wow. We beat West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl. And we beat the officials, too. In one game.”

The Panthers trailed 34-24 with 4:55 left but rallied behind Holstein, who was 21-of-30 for 301 yards and three TD passes. He also rushed for 59 yards.

Alarming observations from College Football Week 1 results

Take a look at a trio of alarming observations when looking at college football Week 1.

Week 1 of the college football season is in the books, minus Florida State and Boston College who play Monday evening, and we take this time to discuss our most alarming observations from the first action of the campaign.

Here are the College Sports Wire alarming observations from Week 1:

Clemson Tigers have a TON of work to do

If Dabo Swinney wants to continue to be stubborn and not use the transfer portal, he has a TON of work to do with his team. The Clemson Tigers did not belong on the same field as the Georgia Bulldogs. Sure, Georgia does that to many teams, but for a game that was hyped as a Top 15 battle in Atlanta, the Tigers should be ashamed.

Clemson will need to figure out ways to get creative on offense. The offense seems to lack a true threat, and they cannot rely on a continual dominant run game, as they just don’t seem to have the line to do that. The Tigers will need to bounce back quickly, as Appalachian State will not lay down and die for them in College Football Week 2.

West Virginia Mountaineers are not in upper echelon quite yet

Just four field goals for the West Virginia Mountaineers. That is not going to get it done. Especially in the Big 12. The Mountaineers were hyped coming into the game as they were a sneaky pick to upset the Nittany Lions, but that never was a chance in the storm-delayed game.

Penn State coach James Franklin called an outstanding offensive game against West Virginia. The Nittany Lions were on upset watch and made quick and easy work to put that to rest.

Drew Allar was good when they needed him to pass the football. Just 17 attempts, but 11 completions and three touchdowns. Nicholas Singleton was sharp on the ground with more than 100 yards. The Nittany Lions showed why they are a third threat out of the Big Ten. Penn State will get to play four straight at home starting Saturday against Bowling Green. Their next road game is October 12th at USC.

LSU Tigers still not ready for the big time

Brian Kelly can pound his fist on the table following the loss all he wants. In the end, his team, the LSU Tigers are just not ready for the big time. The Tigers could not slow down the USC Trojans in the final two minutes of the game and force overtime. The Tigers still allowed nearly 450 total yards of offense to the Trojans. The pass defense was atrocious, allowing more than 375 yards in the game.

The verdict is still out on Gus Nussmeier, and the Tigers will see several other tests this season. Coach Kelly has work to do in Baton Rouge. LSU will get a cupcake when they head home and host Nicholls on Saturday. But, a road trip to South Carolina comes up following that one.

USA TODAY writer: ‘After one week, Penn State looks like legitimate Big Ten threat’

USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg included Penn State among his Week 1 winners.

Penn State seemed to turn some heads and open some eyes around the college football world in Week 1. Penn State’s 34-12 road win at West Virginia was an encouraging performance and will hopefully serve as a preview of things to come this season after the offense opened things up and generated some of the big-gain plays that were rare to see a season ago.

Following the results of Week 1 around the nation, with just a couple more games still to officially go in the books, Penn State was among the teams earning high praise in the weekly roundup from USA TODAY college football writer Paul Myerberg. In Myerberg’s first weekly roundup of winners and losers from college football’s weekend action, Penn State was singled out as one of the top performers.

“The No. 9 Nittany Lions’ new-look offense delivered 457 yards on 7.6 yards per play, led by quarterback [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag]’s 216 passing yards and three touchdowns on 13.1 yards per throw, in a 34-12 win at West Virginia,” Myereberg highlighted. “This a quick validation of James Franklin’s decision to hire coordinator [autotag]Andy Kotelnicki[/autotag], who previously worked wonders in the same position at Kansas.”

Penn State had just eight plays of 40 yards or more last season. On Saturday against West Virginia, Penn State had four, with two in the air and two on the ground.

“The turning point was a late touchdown drive to end the first half, a 73-yard haul in just three plays to put Penn State in front 20-6 at the break,” Myerberg went on to say. “After an extended weather delay, the Nittany Lions tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the second half for a convincing road win against Power Four opponent.” After one week, the Nittany Lions look like a very legitimate Big Ten threat and one of the top contenders for the playoff.”

The expansion of the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12 was expected to benefit a team like Penn State, but the schedule opens up the possibility for Penn State to make a run for a spot in the Big Ten championship game. This opening road win sets the tone for that objective, but Penn State still has some more challenges to come on the road this season.

Penn State will get Ohio State and Washington at home, but the Nittany Lions will have to make road trips to USC and Wisconsin this season as well. It may have just been one week at West Virginia, but the Nittany Lions sure had the look of a legitimate Big Ten contender in Week 1.

Penn State will play its home opener in Week 2 on Saturday afternoon against Bowling Green. The game will air at noon Eastern on Big Ten Network.

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WVU coach Neal Brown after loss to Penn State: ‘Our best players just didn’t play very well’

Here is what West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said about his team after losing to Penn State.

After winning more games than most people thought they would in 2023, West Virginia was as excited as ever to open up the 2024 season hosting Penn State, a top-10 team in the preseason polls making their first visit to Morgantown since 1992. The crowd was energetic and ready from the start, but Penn State managed to prevail with a big second-quarter outburst and controlled the game following an extended weather delay at halftime. After the game, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown did not shy away from saying his players did not play well in a 34-12 loss to Penn State.

“I’ll credit Penn State. (They’re a) good team. James (Franklin) does a really good job there,” Brown said in his postgame press conference. “He’s done it for a long time, but we played bad football. I can sit here and talk for a long time but that’s the deal.”

Franklin said in his postgame comments that his team excelled in some of the key areas they try to win every week. From the opposing locker room, Brown seemed to agree with that premise.

“You have three phases. You have offense, you have defense and you have special teams. Special teams is the only phase of the game today that we gave ourselves the chance to win,” Brown said. “So to say I am disappointed in how we played would be an understatement. We played really poorly, and it was on a big stage. We are very aware of that, and we played poorly.”

Brown take accountability as the head coach, saying the blame starts with him, as well as putting some of the responsibility on his staff for not having his players prepared to the level needed to overcome the Nittany Lions.

“It starts with me. I am the head coach, and I am responsible for it. Then our staff, we didn’t put our players in positions in some key times, especially in the first half I thought.”

Then Brown put the spotlight on some of his key players without mentioning any specific names.

“Our best players just didn’t play very well. Outside of, I would say, (redshirt freshman linebacker) Josiah Trotter. Just watching the game and having a chance to watch it during halftime, I thought he played at a high level. (Redshirt senior safety) Anthony Wilson is much improved. Then after that, I don’t think any of our players played at a level that is gonna be required to beat a team like that.”

Brown was complimentary of a couple of Penn State’s top defensive players, specifically Abdul Carter, before directing the reasons for the loss back on his team.

“Listen, they have two defensive ends that aren’t good players, they are great players. Especially rushing the passers. Number 11 (Abdul Carter) is a great pass rusher,” Brown said. “But with that being said, we didn’t give ourselves a chance. They did not necessarily beat us, we did not give ourselves a chance.”

West Virginia will get a chance to regroup next week with a home game against a much less intimidating opponent, the University of Albany (an FCS school). But every Penn State fan is hoping the Mountaineers play much better after that as West Virginia travels to Pittsburgh to take on their Backyard Brawl rival, the Pitt Panthers.

Penn State will be home next week for the home opener in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions will host Bowling Green form the MAC for a noon Eastern kickoff on Big Ten Network.

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Most Valuable Player from Penn State’s opening victory vs. West Virginia

With so many worthy candidates, who was Penn State’s MVP of the West Virginia game?

Coming into Penn State’s season opener against West Virginia, there were a lot of people out there who were doubting the Nittany Lions and their offense based on what had occurred last year.

From prominent media members to even some in the fanbase, a lot of the reason for skepticism was centered around [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag].

Well, for at least game, he quieted the doubters.

There was always the possibility that he would grow and turn into the five-star type of player he was considered to be coming out of high school, and with new offensive coordinator [autotag]Andy Kotelnicki[/autotag] at the helm, this was his opportunity to prove he can be a high-level quarterback.

Allar was the catalyst for Penn State’s dominant 34-12 victory over West Virginia.

Because of that, he’s our most valuable player from Saturday.

Not only was he efficient, finish the game 11-17 for a 64.7 percent completion percentage, but he also showed his newfound willingness to push the ball down the field by throwing for 216 yards that was filled with multiple explosive plays.

Those are going to be the highlights, and rightfully so considering what was taking place last season, but he did a bunch of little things that made him look like a completely different player than the version from 2023-24.

When the pocket collapsed on him or if there wasn’t a receiver immediately open, Allar didn’t panic. Instead, he moved shifted around his offensive line to buy some more time, or he smartly decided to tuck the ball and run.

He finished with 44 rushing yards on six attempts, some of that coming on pivotal third downs.

Allar looked more mature, confident, and ready to lead this offense, a major component that was missing from his game, and the team as a whole, last season.

Again, how he played on Saturday was always something that was possible, especially when remembering what he did to West Virginia in the opener just last year.

It’s the consistency that was missing for Allar previously, but if this is the new version Penn State is getting at the quarterback position for the entire season, then they will be a College Football Playoff team for the first time, and this won’t be the last time their star quarterback wins the game’s MVP award.

James Franklin on big pass plays: ‘Ducks accepted, spirals preferred”

James Franklin shared his thoughts on the big play at the end of the first half at West Virginia.

Penn State came into the 2024 season wanting and needing to get more explosiveness out of the offense and passing game. It was only one game to start the season, but the new offense being managed by [autotag]Andy Kotelnicki[/autotag] delivered in a season-opening win at West Virginia.

In all, Penn State had 15 plays that gained 15 yards or more either on the ground or through the air (the 15 plays combined for 346 yards of offense). [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] broke loose for two runs of 40 yards, including one that went for a touchdown to open the second half.

But the biggest game changers came through the air, including [autotag]Omari Evans[/autotag] coming down with a football over the middle of the field late in the first half. Penn State looked like they were going to run out the final seconds late in the first half after West Virginia cut the lead to 13-6 with a field goal. After handing off to Singleton for a short gain, Penn State rushed the offense back to the line of scrimmage and [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] unloaded a deep ball down the field in an attempt to catch West Virginia napping or grasping for a breather. The pass was a bit of a floater, but it worked and was followed up by a dart from Allar to [autotag]Harrison Wallace III[/autotag] for his second touchdown of the half (Wallace scored on a long pass play earlier in the second quarter too).

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“I thought Omari (Evans) coming back and making a play on that was huge,” Penn State head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] said in his postgame press conference following the 34-12 victory. “I think I said at halftime, ‘ducks accepted, spirals preferred’. I’ve chucked a bunch of those ducks up myself.”

Ducks accepted, spirals preferred. That’s a good way of looking at it. The timing of the deep pass caught by Evans is worth considering as well. It was a low-risk, high-reward situation for Penn State.

Had the ball been picked off by West Virginia, as floaters like that play in particular are most vulnerable to be, it might have been a low-risk, high reward situation West Virginia would have had roughly 10 seconds deep on their side of the field to try a Hail Mary play of their own, or simply take a knee and go to halftime down only 13-6.

But Penn State seized the moment and took a chance rolling the dice once more with a shot to the end zone. This time with a preferred spiral.

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