Oklahoma State vs West Virginia: Preview and Players

By: Rich Douglas

This Big 12 battle is equally important for both schools, as Oklahoma State battles to establish an identity and try to lock up the conference title.  West Virginia has to rebound after whats been a pretty disastrous start to the season.

When Oklahoma State  has the ball:

The Cowboys offense spent basically one half slumping this season, the first half against Mississippi State.  Since then they’ve rolled just as they have for years.  They currently average 6.6 yards per play, 4.8 on the ground and 8.3 through the air.  They’ve converted 55.6% of their third downs, and have scored on all 15 of their red zone trips.  It started with eh switch to JW Walsh, who is compelting 70.2% of his passes for 642 yards and 5 TDs with just a single Int.  Walsh brought the added threat of a mobile QB and one that was able to avoid the rush, averaging 7.28 yards per rush, while being sacked just twice and hurried only 6 times.  Wideout Josh Stewart has converted all of his third down catches for first downs, and has had 10 of his 12 catches result in firsts.  Walsh has also found Jhajuan Seales 11 times for 123 yards, while Blake Jackson has had half of his catches go for 15 yards or more.  Senior RB Jeremy Smith has averaged 4.76 yards per carry and scored 6 times, averaging 4.4 yards per attempt in the red zone.

The Mountaineers defense has actually had a very solid season so far.  They limited Oklahoma to just 16 points despite Maryland scoring 37 points, held them to just 4.6 yards per play.  They’ve been somewhat vulnerable to big run plays though, ranking 116^th after giving up 28 of those runs.  They’ve made plenty of plays in the backfield, with 28 tackles for loss lead by Will Clarke, a senior with 12 total tackles (5.5 for loss) and 3 sacks.  Sophomore LB Nick Kwiatkoski leads the team with 29 stops, and Darwin Cook who has 20 solo tackles from his safety position.  Cook also leads the team with 2 picks, while KJ Dillon and Daryl Worley both have 3 passes defended.

When West Virginia has the ball:

The Mountaineers offense came into the season with questions about whether or not they could sustain their start from last season without Geno Smith.  The answer so far has been a resounding no, as they’ve averaged under 6 yards per play on offense and converted just an abysmal 28.9% of their third down attempts.  Currently Ford Childress is going to continue starting, after completing just 57.1% of his passes for 6.7 yards per attempt with 3 TDs and 3 Ints.  He has been decent on third downs, converting 5 of his 17 attempts, and 4 of his 10 in the 4-9 yards to go range.  This Qb shuffle hasn’t stopped big plays from happening for the receivers though, as both Ronald Carswell and Ivan McCartney are averaging over 15 yards a catch (21.8 and 15.3 respectively).  With Daikiel Shorts playing the possession receiver with 12.6 yards per catch, they have made some plays.  The run game has actually been a strength this year, pcikign up 32 first downs so far.  Charles Sims and Dreamius Smith are both having good years, averaging 5.5 and 6.4 yards per carry respectively with a combined 4 TDs. 

The Pokes have been able to lock opponents down, allowing just 13.7 points per game.  They’ve held third down conversions to just 28.3%, despite allowing opponents have have an 11 minute advantage in time of possession.  They’ve also kept teams out of the redzone with just 8 trips, and only 5 of them have succeeded in scoring.  16 players have logged at least . 5 TFL, with senior LB Caleb Lavey leading with 3.5.  Lavey has 21 total tackles, tied for the team lead with S Daytawion Lowe.  Fellow Safety Shamiel Gary has 3 passes defended, and 4 players each have an Int.  The only place they could be improved is that they’ve only generated 7 sacks and 11 QB hurries so far, Calvin Barnett leading the way with 2  hurries and tallying a sack. 

What’s our take:

The Cowboys are the better team, and its not really close.  Their offense though matches up against a WVU defense that has been slightly underrated despite giving up some big plays.  The OK State defense is pretty good, and the Mountaineers aren’t scaring anyone with a RS Freshman starting at QB.  Should be pretty straight forward for Ok State to pull away in this one.