MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There were both positives and negatives for West Virginia’s offense coming out of its 38-15 loss at No. 7 Penn State in this past Saturday’s season opener.
“I thought we played really good up front and in the running back spot. We did a good job straining across the board,” stated WVU offensive coordinator Chad Scott, whose unit netted 146 rushing yards against a Penn State defense that allowed an average of just 111.2 yards on the ground per game last year.
“We played clean football and took care of the football, not turning it over. Those were positives,” he said.
There were certainly negatives as well for a Mountaineer offense that mustered only two scoring drives and managed to convert just 4-of-14 third-down situations.
“The negatives would be we did not execute in critical pass situations; we couldn’t make the play when it mattered most,” noted Scott. “Also, there were minor things — though they were major at the time — where we had a couple of penalties when otherwise we might have had an explosive run. Those were the negatives.”
WVU didn’t turn the football over and was assessed with only five penalties for 55 yards — both good, especially for an opener — though some of those flags came at inopportune times.
After a first half in which West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene completed just five of 10 passes for 67 yards, the junior rebounded to connect on 11 of his 17 attempts in the second half for 95 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown pass, but he also didn’t throw an interception.
“For the most part, Garrett was seeing it well, but he has to do a better job of executing and making accurate throws,” said Scott.
“We have to establish a run early and find a way to get Garrett some easy completions early to help him settle in.
“We also need to capitalize on our opportunities, but one of the reasons we had opportunities this past game was because we didn’t turn the football over,” continued Scott. “Taking care of the football will give us a chance.”
The Mountaineer offense would also benefit from more explosive plays than it had at Beaver Stadium. WVU had five plays of longer than 15 yards — a 17-yard run by C.J. Donaldson, a 17-yard pass from Greene to tight end Kole Taylor, and completions from Greene to wide receiver Devin Carter that went for 37, 22 and 23 yards.
Penn State didn’t have a whole lot more 15-yard+ plays than West Virginia — six, all passes — but two of PSU’s went to touchdowns compared to none for WVU.
The Mountaineer rushing attack may not have had many long runs, but it still managed to do something that wasn’t done often against Penn State last year. The Nittany Lions returned seven defensive starters from a unit that was 16th in the FBS ranks last seson in rushing defense (111.2 ypg). Only four of its opponents ran for more than 100 in a game in 2022 against 11-2 PSU — Michigan with 418, Utah with 184, Minnesota with 165 and Auburn with 119. The Lions won three of those, all but against Michigan.
In the ‘23 opener, West Virginia gained 170 yards on the ground against State, but after subtracting 24 yards (17 of which came on three sacks), it netted 146.
Sophomore C.J. Donaldson had 81 of those rushing yards on 18 carries, while Greene accounted for 71 yards on 15 attempts. Jaylen Anderson had five carries for seven yards. Justin Johnson took one hand off, gaining 15 yards on it, but his run was wiped out by a penalty.
Scott was particularly pleased with Donaldson’s performance against Penn State’s highly-regarded defense.
“From an overall standpoint — physicality and everything — that was probably C.J.’s best game overall,” stated Scott, who also serves as WVU’s running back coach. “He was physical running the football, never got tackled by the first defender and was very physical in pass pro. We’ve seen that before, but he was really into it Saturday.
“I was excited by the way he played. I thought he was the best back on the field.”
Between his 18 rushing attempts and numerous blocks in pass protection, Donaldson’s body was in harm’s way quite often this past Saturday. In order for the 6-foot-1, 238-pound sophomore to survive the grueling season, Scott admits that he’ll have to manage the back’s workload.
“He played a lot of plays,” noted the WVU O.C. of Donaldson’s game reps on Saturday. “The way his adrenaline was going, he could have probably played about every snap, but we need him for the whole season, so we’ve got to be smart about how we play him. We don’t want to wear him out; we want to keep him fresh.”
True freshman receiver Traylon Ray caught two passes for seven yards Saturday, and he was targeted two other times. True freshman Ben Cutter also saw action at Beaver Stadium, as the young linebacker was used on special teams.
True freshman slot receiver Rodney Gallagher got on the field at the end of the game as well, though West Virginia head coach Neal Brown indicated that the plan is for Gallagher to see considerably more action this coming Saturday, when WVU hosts Duquesne (6 p.m. on ESPN+).
True freshman running back Jahiem White was sidelined by an injury the last couple of weeks of preseason camp, and he was unable to suit up against Penn State. The hope, though, is he’ll be able to go in the Mountaineers’ home opener this week.
West Virginia offensive coordinator Chad Scott describes the synergy between offensive line coach Matt Moore and himself in preparing for and making adjustments during the Penn State game.