MORGANTOWN — Some stats are are too “in your face” to ignore, even for those who say to just play the game.
For WVU, look no further than the running game the last three years under head coach Neal Brown.
This season, the Mountaineers (5-6, 3-5 Big 12) are 5-0 when they finished with over 100 yards rushing as a team. Why they don’t? 0-6.
Overall, they are 12-0 when running for over 100 yards the last three seasons under Brown and 3-18 when they don’t.
It’s not hard to figure, the running game, especially lead back Leddie Brown, play a huge role in WVU’s success. Last Saturday against Texas, Brown finished with 158 yards on a career-high 33 carries, easily surpassing the magic mark of 100 total yards on the ground.
Brown’s grind-it-out performance helped balance the Mountaineers’ offense as a whole — quarterback Jarret Doege admitted when the running game is going, it helps him in the passing game tremendously. WVU finished with 459 yards of total offense against the Longhorns.
“Things didn’t always go our way, but we kept fighting,” Brown said. “The o-line played physical. In order to win, we had to run the ball, and the line helped get that done. Thumbs up for that.”
The offensive line, which has had its fair share of ups and downs this season, has played much better since WVU’s bye week in mid-October. With the exception of the Oklahoma State game — the Cowboys have the Big 12’s bets defense by a wide margin — the run blocking and pass protection have vastly improved.
“We’re getting better, we’re getting better,” Neal Brown said. “We need another offseason all together and be able to play stronger. Oklahoma State got after us but if you look at Oklahoma State, they’ve gotten after a lot of people. But since the bye week, our offensive line has played much improved.”
Leddie Brown’s 33 carries are the most by a WVU running back in a game since Steve Slaton in 2006, and with a 4.8 yards-per-carry average and a long run of 26 yards, it was a hard-earned 158 yards.
Brown knows it doesn’t always have to be the big one, though.
“Not every run is going to be a home run,” he said. “Sometimes it may be a tough two yards or three yards, but then that goes to 10, 15, touchdown.”
Doege earns weekly conference honor
Doege was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Texas, the conference announced Monday.
Doege completed 27 of 43 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. His completions went to nine different receivers. Doege’s 556 career completions rank third in program history while the 238 in 2021 are 10th in single-season school history. He recorded his 11th multiple-TD pass performance in his WVU career, including his sixth with three scores. With 6,143 career passing yards, Doege is now fifth in Mountaineer records while his 37 career touchdown passes rank 10th.
