The game tomorrow is incredibly intriguing. Strengths are matched up against each other, and the respective staffs have to find narrow advantages to gain the upper hand.
As usual, turnover margin, winning the line of scrimmage, quarterback decision-making, and special teams play hold down the primary keys to victory. I call this the obvious first layer of things to watch, but everyone knows these.
The second interesting layer includes the adjustments made by the defenses to account for the losses of Ryan Simmons and Carl Joseph, respectively. Losing Simmons does not impact the OSU defense physically nearly as much as the loss of Joseph changes the WV defense, but both young men were the leaders of those units. Their onfield presence is not easily replaced. Chad Whitener has had significant reps this year and did well last week against KSU. He will have to be dialed in mentally from the start, but he has the ability to step up and partially fill the void left by Ryan Simmons. Jarred Harper will get first crack at taking Jospeh's place. He brings very good size and athleticism to the field, but he doesn't have the same ball-hawking instincts. The biggest change for the Mountaineers is that they will no longer have the physical enforcer on the back end. A strong case could be built that Carl Joseph was the most physical secondary player in the country.
Moving deeper, here are some specific match-ups to watch:
1) LT Yodny Cajuste vs DE Jimmy Bean/DE Emmanuel Ogbah--Last week, the red-shirt sophomore struggled with pass protection against the outside linebacker speed rushes and twist stunts of Oklahoma. He was so concerned with being beaten off the edge that he dropped too quickly and created levels in the pocket where the Sooners jumped in and got pressure in the B-gaps. A nice mix of speed rushes from outside blitz pressures and a speed to power rush of Ogbah could make it a very challenging day for him.
2) HB Wendel Smallwood vs LB Seth Jacobs/LB Jordan Burton--Wendel Smallwood is the player on offense that is most likely to turn small plays into big ones by taking advantage of mismatches, making a guy miss in space, and running away from the second level. He had a lot of success last year against the Cowboys, and the Mountaineers will get him the ball 20-25 times. Due to his skills as a receiving threat, the Cowboy backers are going to have a big job ahead of them.
3) Cowboy WRs vs CB Terrell Chestnut & FS Dravon Askew-Henry--Daryl Worley is a tall and long corner who should fare well in man coverage against the bigger Cowboy receivers, but the speedy Terrell Chestnut will be giving away quite a bit of size. Without Joseph, the Cowboys could see a little bit more of quarters coverage which could create some situations where route structure pulls in the free safety to isolate Chestnut vertically in a man situation with no over the top help in the middle of the field.
4) QB Skyler Howard vs Glenn Spencer--Bottom line is that if Skyler Howard is comfortable, he can be as efficient as they come at the position. When not under duress, the Mountaineers have been very good on third downs and keeping drives alive. Last week showed that when pressure gets to him, his mechanics and decision making breaks down. Glen Spencer needs to keep him off balance, feeling pressure when there is not any.
As usual, turnover margin, winning the line of scrimmage, quarterback decision-making, and special teams play hold down the primary keys to victory. I call this the obvious first layer of things to watch, but everyone knows these.
The second interesting layer includes the adjustments made by the defenses to account for the losses of Ryan Simmons and Carl Joseph, respectively. Losing Simmons does not impact the OSU defense physically nearly as much as the loss of Joseph changes the WV defense, but both young men were the leaders of those units. Their onfield presence is not easily replaced. Chad Whitener has had significant reps this year and did well last week against KSU. He will have to be dialed in mentally from the start, but he has the ability to step up and partially fill the void left by Ryan Simmons. Jarred Harper will get first crack at taking Jospeh's place. He brings very good size and athleticism to the field, but he doesn't have the same ball-hawking instincts. The biggest change for the Mountaineers is that they will no longer have the physical enforcer on the back end. A strong case could be built that Carl Joseph was the most physical secondary player in the country.
Moving deeper, here are some specific match-ups to watch:
1) LT Yodny Cajuste vs DE Jimmy Bean/DE Emmanuel Ogbah--Last week, the red-shirt sophomore struggled with pass protection against the outside linebacker speed rushes and twist stunts of Oklahoma. He was so concerned with being beaten off the edge that he dropped too quickly and created levels in the pocket where the Sooners jumped in and got pressure in the B-gaps. A nice mix of speed rushes from outside blitz pressures and a speed to power rush of Ogbah could make it a very challenging day for him.
2) HB Wendel Smallwood vs LB Seth Jacobs/LB Jordan Burton--Wendel Smallwood is the player on offense that is most likely to turn small plays into big ones by taking advantage of mismatches, making a guy miss in space, and running away from the second level. He had a lot of success last year against the Cowboys, and the Mountaineers will get him the ball 20-25 times. Due to his skills as a receiving threat, the Cowboy backers are going to have a big job ahead of them.
3) Cowboy WRs vs CB Terrell Chestnut & FS Dravon Askew-Henry--Daryl Worley is a tall and long corner who should fare well in man coverage against the bigger Cowboy receivers, but the speedy Terrell Chestnut will be giving away quite a bit of size. Without Joseph, the Cowboys could see a little bit more of quarters coverage which could create some situations where route structure pulls in the free safety to isolate Chestnut vertically in a man situation with no over the top help in the middle of the field.
4) QB Skyler Howard vs Glenn Spencer--Bottom line is that if Skyler Howard is comfortable, he can be as efficient as they come at the position. When not under duress, the Mountaineers have been very good on third downs and keeping drives alive. Last week showed that when pressure gets to him, his mechanics and decision making breaks down. Glen Spencer needs to keep him off balance, feeling pressure when there is not any.
