A Dominant Force

           College football and the Big 12 Conference are officially underway.  I watched several Big 12 games this weekend and they were all great to watch, but the game that was the most intriguing was West Virginia playing a non-conference game against Marshall.  It may have been a blowout, but it showed that they are a threat in the Big 12 right now.

            West Virginia showed that they have a lot of strength on offense and defense, this weekend.  First, I want to talk about their offense which dominated Marshall from the start.  The first strength West Virginia has is their offensive line.  They know how to block up front really well.  The offensive line makes holes so the running backs can make big gains.  Also, by protecting the quarterback they give him more time to find someone open to throw the ball.  This is a true testament to the coaching staff teaching them proper technique on how to block.  One of the other major strengths I saw from West Virginia was their running back Shawne Alston.  He is a force to be reckoned with because when he was carrying the ball in the game against Marshall it took a lot of the defense to bring him down.  If he has one defender tackling him, he lowers his shoulder and knocks them to the ground.  He can also evade tackles real well.  When I was watching the game and saw him run on the field, I immediately was stunned by his performance on the field.  I could not believe how strong he was.  I think the Big 12 teams have to prepare for his abilities.  West Virginia’s quarterback, Geno Smith, has strength for this team as well.  Smith is a big help to his team because he shows really good poise in the pocket.  What I mean by this is when Marshall’s defense was getting close to him he would either start running to avoid the sack or throw the ball away.  He would step up and make the throw even though he knew he would get hit by defensive linemen.  Even though I am saying West Virginia looked great on offense, this does not mean they were perfect.  They sometimes fumbled the football and were lucky to recover the ball, which is what the special teams did as well.  Their kickoff return team bobbled some of the catches on the return which is something you cannot have happen.  They may have had bad drives every now and then in the game but they were quick to recover from them.  When a play did not work, they forgot it and learned from it.  They were able to make a play on a 3 play drive for 83 yards in under a minute and play as a unit.

            Marshall is not a Big 12 team, but they showed how to get West Virginia off their game.  One way they did this was by forcing fumbles on defense and getting pressure on who had the football.  They were also able to block a punt to get the momentum to shift in their favor on defense and to motivate their offense to get a touchdown.  The real weakness on both sides of the ball for Marshall was they did not have the conditioning to keep pace with West Virginia.  The key for the Big 12 teams is to be conditioned for a long game against West Virginia.  They will also need to make sure they do not commit numerous penalties.  When playing West Virginia, the teams of the Big 12 need to stay composed and try not to have a bad penalty.   

The other strength of West Virginia was how they put tremendous pressure on the quarterback, Rakeem Cato, of Marshall with their defense.  Any time Marshall’s running back, Travon Van, had the ball, it did not matter which way he ran.  The West Virginia defensive players made it impossible to gain many yards.  The West Virginia defense may have looked good, but their defense did have a weakness of being too confident.  There were times they began to relax and Marshall was able to score by West Virginia’s lack of focus.  This is something a team would not want to have happen.  It could potentially unravel the work the team did and allow the other team to make a comeback.  An important thing teams need to do is play the entire sixty minutes of the game.  This is the type of strength Big 12 teams need to have if they want to beat West Virginia. 

The game’s final score was 69-34 West Virginia.  Later in the season the opponents for West Virginia will be tougher but if the opposing team does not prepare well, a loss will be in their future.  The coaches for the Big 12 teams need to review game tapes to be prepared to beat West Virginia.  West Virginia is a force to be reckoned with and a threat to all the Big 12 teams.  Here is a link for highlights of the game.  http://www.big12sports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?db_oem_id=10410&id=1040920&catid=undefined