West Virginia Mountaineers College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
West Virginia Mountaineers Biggest Key: Offense
Get more out of the offensive line. It had a few good moments for the running game, and it only allowed an average of two sacks per outing, but it needs to be a whole lot stronger at keeping defenses out of the backfield.
To be fair, the O line improved immensely after allowing 94 tackles for loss in 2019 with the running game averaging a pathetic 2.6 yards per carry, but things can be better.
Leddy Brown ran for more than 1,000 yards last season, but the team averaged just 3.8 yards per carry and the 76 tackles for loss allowed were still too many.
West Virginia Mountaineers Biggest Key: Defense
Third down stops. For a team that doesn’t have a ton of offensive explosion and lives on control, great defense and time of possession – holding the ball for 32 minutes per game – coming up with defensive stops means almost everything.
The D was amazing overall and was great at coming up with third down stops, allowing offenses to convert just 39% of their chances. However, the four losses also happened to come on the four worst days by the defense on third downs.
The Mountaineers allowed teams to convert 45% or more of their chances four times, and again, those were the four losses. In the two years under Neal Brown, they’re 1-6 when allowing teams to convert 45% or more and 7-9 when allowing 35% or more. They’re 4-2 when allowing fewer than 35%.
West Virginia Mountaineers Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Jarret Doege, Sr.
He has quietly carved out a nice college career. He pushed through at Bowling Green and there for over 4,000 yards, and he managed to work his way though a few decent options at West Virginia to become the main man.
Again, the stats are there – close to 7,500 career yards – and he’s careful with the ball, but can he do more for the attack? He’s been able to work within the offense – don’t screw it up and let the defense take care of the rest – but it would be nice if a little bit of Will Grier could kick in so the passing game can go from solid to sensational.
West Virginia Mountaineers Key Game To The 2021 Season
Iowa State, Oct. 30
Forget beating the loaded Cyclones; can West Virginia even stay in the game?
It’s a season full of marking point games for the Mountaineers. It starts with the date at Maryland to kick things off, the battle with Virginia Tech will be tough, and just to make things spicy, the Big 12 campaign kicks off at Oklahoma.
But Texas and Oklahoma State are home games, and so is the battle with Iowa State. The Cyclones won 42-6 last year after rolling 38-14 the year before and 30-14 the year before that. The Mountaineers won the previous four meetings, and this time around it starts a run of three home games in the next four.
– West Virginia Schedule Analysis
2020 West Virginia Mountaineers Fun Stats
– Fumbles: West Virginia 14 (lost 7) – Opponents 11 (lost 2)
– Penalties: West Virginia 82 for 741 yards – Opponents 60 for 518 yards
– Passing Yards: West Virginia 2,775 – Opponents 1,596