While living through the ups and downs on both offense and defense this season, the West Virginia University football team has one aspect of its game that has enjoyed more ups than downs – its special teams unit.
The Mountaineers have been able to rely on special teams for most of the season as a steady part of their game. And in some spots – most notably last week’s win over Arizona – special teams has meant the difference between winning and losing.
In what eventually became a 31-26 victory over the Wildcats, a fake field goal run for a touchdown proved to be the difference. On fourth and 2 from Arizona’s 14 with 37 seconds left in the first quarter, holder Leighton Bechtel snatched the long snap, then took off around the left side, slipping away from would-be tacklers for a touchdown that gave the Mountaineers a 10-0 lead.
WVU coach Neal Brown said this week that he was ready to run a fake field goal sometime during that game, and actually wanted to run in on the Mountaineers’ first field goal attempt. That idea got scrapped after Nick Malone was called for a false start on third and 9. WVU then faced a third and 14, but got the penalty yards back on a short completion. Still, Brown considered fourth and 9 too much of a risk.
“I thought that was too long for the fake, so we just kicked that,” Brown said. “I told our guys on the headsets, I said, ‘hey, I still want to run this fake, so if we get another opportunity, let’s use it.”
The Mountaineers got their chance on their next drive. Brown credited a couple of people for that score. First was associate special teams coordinator Tony Thompson, who drew up the fake field goal play. The next was Bechtel, a punter by trade who has embraced the holder role as Oliver Straw has locked down the starting punter job.
Brown calls Bechtel the unit’s “Swiss army knife,” someone who can handle multiple jobs on special teams. He considers Bechtel an outstanding overall athlete, pointing out that he was a two-time high school All-American in lacrosse.
“He’s been a great teammate, and we’re very grateful for him hanging around,” Brown said. “I think Ollie is one of the better punters in the country, and Bechtel has some talent at punter as well. So he could have easily left the program and went somewhere else, but he’s attacked his role.”
Bechtel also made a difference in that game at his usual spot, Brown said. The snap on the extra point following his touchdown went awry, but Bechtel corralled it and got it set just in time for Michael Hayes to boot a successful PAT.
“I’ve done that job,” Brown said. “So I’m fully aware of how difficult that is. Kickers are finicky, getting them the stripes and all that stuff. So he’s done a great job in that.”
West Virginia’s special teams have excelled this year in multiple categories. Hayes is tied for 13th nationally with a 90% field goal success rate. Straw, at 44.1 yards per punt, would be a top-30 punter in the country, but his 19 punts are too few to qualify.
The Mountaineers are 27th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in allowing 16.96 yards per kickoff return and 28th nationally in allowing just 4.4 yards per punt return. They’re also 42nd with 21.83 yards per kickoff return.
WVU’s special teams coordinator is Jeff Koonz, who now has the added responsibility of being the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator for the rest of the season following Tuesday’s dismissal of Jordan Lesley.
“On special teams, we’ve played at a high level,” Brown said. “And other than the blocked punt versus Pitt, we’ve played pretty well special-teams-wise all year.”
– story by Derek Redd
