MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When it was announced Army was replacing Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl, WVU head coach Neal Brown relished the opportunity to right a wrong, giving the 9-2 Black Knights a chance to compete in a bowl game.
“There’s going to be a lot of attention on this game, maybe even say that it’s going to be the most-watched bowl game outside of the semifinals,” he said. “Our kids understand that there probably won’t be a whole lot of people outside this state who will be pulling for us. It’s going to be a fun afternoon and we’re looking forward to finishing the season down in Memphis.”
Playing Army, though, also means the Mountaineers will have to face one of the most difficult offensive schemes to play against, and one WVU (5-4, 4-4 Big 12) hasn’t seen in five years. The Black Knights, along with the other service academies, are famous for running the triple-option. Based off confusing opposing defenses with different looks and motion in the backfield, the option allows the quarterback, running back, fullback or wingback a chance to run the ball in a condensed space along the line of scrimmage, or pitch it out to make plays in space.
For Army, 22 players accounted for at least one carry this season. Out of 722 offensive snaps, 657 were runs, led by quarterback Tyhier Tyler (115 carries) and running back Jakobi Buchanan (111 carries).
The last time the Mountaineers faced a similar offense was in 2015, the season opener against Georgia Southern at Milan Puskar Stadium. WVU and then-defensive coordinator Tony Gibson shut out the Eagles, 41-0.
Brown, who faced Georgia Southern every year from 2015-18 while he was at Troy has part of the Sun Belt, went 2-2 against the Eagles. Brown said there are similarities between what Army and Georgia Southern do with their option attacks, but Georgia Southern operates out of the shotgun more often, while the Black Knights line up under center.
“This will be the first time facing a true, under-center option attack since I’ve been a head coach, probably going to back to when I was a player when coach (Tim) Stowers was at Rhode Island,” Brown said. “There are some similarities in how you defend it, for sure.”
The only defensive coach who was with Brown at Troy who is at WVU is defensive front coach Jordan Lesley. Lesley coached the defensive tackles at Troy from 2016-18.
Lesley’s best advice to trying to stop the option is simple: Keep your ankles taped.
“I don’t know if you can simulate it, to be honest with you,” Lesley said. “It’s a totally different offense in every aspect, from how they block, to schemes, to motions, to shifts, to traits you never see in 12 ballgames. Can you simulate that in 10 days? Probably not. You try the best you can and everyone probably has different ways of doing it.”
WVU’s scout team, though, is giving it a shot.
“What we’re trying to do is do the best we can,” Brown said. “Graeson Malashevich is playing quarterback for us this week. He did that a little bit at Spring Valley in a couple packages they had. He’s having a good time with that. Our scout team guys have embraced it. Anytime you do something different, our defensive guys are excited about the challenge just because it’s different.”
Seniors returning
Brown subtly dropped an important detail Sunday, saying a few more seniors are expected to announce their intent to come back in 2021.
Safety Alonzo Addae and kicker Evan Staley already said they were coming back.
“I’m kind of leaving those up to those guys announcing on their own,” Brown said. “We’re going to have, I think, four more off the top of my head. It could be three.
“We’re not going to have an official release or anything. I’m going to let them announce it on their social media channels or however they want to do that.”
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