MORGANTOWN — The game of football looks a lot different today than it did even just 10 years ago. The fullback has been extinct for quite some time and tight ends are now used more as slot receivers than in-line blockers.
And yet, for as much as football has changed over the years, the 2023 West Virginia Mountaineers are proving that one thing is still true; games are won and lost in the trenches.
WVU (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) is by no means a flashy football team, but has taken a four-game winning streak into its off week due, primarily, to the strength of its offensive and defensive lines.
“I really knew that our strength was going to be on both fronts,” head coach Neal Brown said Monday. “I thought for us to really utilize our strengths, we had to be more physical.”
Brown believed so strongly in the Mountaineers’ fronts that he based the team’s offseason around them, focusing on increased physicality and discipline.
“We have some depth, so we’re able to go a little harder (in practice),” Brown said. “Sometimes when you don’t have depth, you can’t practice as hard as you want to. I thought it was the only answer for this team.”
On the surface, WVU does not look like it should be a 4-1 team. The Mountaineers have been outgained by FBS opponents 1,443-1,118, they’re last in the Big 12 in passing yards per game (155.6) by over 60 yards and they have just as many turnovers as takeaways (five).
Because of the play of its offensive and defensive lines, however, West Virginia is winning ballgames.
On an offense that lacks dynamic playmakers — no receiver averages more than 50 yards per game and running back CJ Donaldson is not on pace for 1,000 yards — it is a strong offensive line that keeps the engine running. The Mountaineers have run 338 offensive plays this season and only 21 have resulted in negative yardage (6.2%). For comparison, opponents have run 341 plays against WVU and 36 have been negative (10.2%).
WVU has also done a good job of keeping its quarterback clean, allowing seven sacks in five games. TCU entered last week’s game leading the Big 12 in sacks and still does despite not registering a single one against the Mountaineers.
That’s also helped WVU quarterbacks avoid major mistakes. The Mountaineers are one of only four teams in the Big 12 with two or fewer interceptions and starting quarterback Garrett Greene has yet to be picked off.
On defense, WVU has 36 tackles for loss and 12 sacks through five games. The Mountaineers are sixth in the conference in rushing yards allowed per game (114.8) and yards per carry (3.3). Opponents have only scored three times on the ground against West Virginia this season.
A strong rush defense has consistently put opponents in difficult third downs, where the Mountaineers are allowing a conversion just 27.8% of the time, one of the best marks in the country.
It’s not just one or two star players powering WVU’s front either. The Mountaineers lost two starting offensive linemen against TCU and backups Nick Malone and Ja’Quay Hubbard entered without missing a beat. The defensive line has routinely rotated seven or eight players into games this year. Seven defensive linemen have at least one tackle for loss this season.
”We had some depth in both of those areas,” Brown said. “Our defensive line has been showing us depth all year, but the fact that we lost two (offensive line) starters in the game and still did some good things in the second half speaks to some of our depth on our offensive line too.”
WVU’s next game is against a team that has not had very strong trench play this season and is off to a 0-2 start in conference play (2-3 overall), Houston. The Cougars have the fourth-worst rushing attack in the Big 12 (132.8 yards per game), third-worst rush defense (163.6) and have allowed the most sacks (13) with only nine of their own.
