COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — “Trust the Climb” has become so cliche this season for the West Virginia football team that, despite it’s clear intent, was starting to get under the skin of even the most loyal Mountaineers fan.
Losers of five in a row, WVU looked like it was going to miss a bowl game for the first time since 2013. It needed to win out, and the first game of that stretch was on the road at Kansas State — the same Kansas State that streamrolled Oklahoma on the same turf just three weeks ago.
The Wildcats were the clear favorites, which makes West Virginia’s 24-20 upset Saturday night even more impressive, and is proof that coach Neal Brown’s slogan is more than that. This was the win Brown, this program and this fan base needed to prove that there is upward momentum heading into the 2020 season.
“This was a huge win, and it felt like a long time coming,” Brown said. “To come in here against the No. 24 team in the country, a team that beat Oklahoma, on this field … it’s big for our program. I’m proud of our guys. They competed and it wasn’t always pretty — that’s kind of what we are right now — but they believed the whole time.”
Getting the players to buy in to what the coaching staff is preaching was critical, and Brown believes it all came together Saturday night.
Let’s start with the obvious — Jarret Doege earned his first start with the Mountaineers after sitting out the first eight games so he could redshirt, and he was excellent. With 234 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers, he made plays that Austin Kendall hadn’t and looked poised every pressure.
Doege was the scout team quarterback all season and the coaches knew what he was capable of. They just had to bide their time until the final four games, preserving his redshirt, to put him out on the field, and he did more than deliver.
“We lost five in a row — we needed a change up and Jarret was playing well,” Brown said. “Jarret played under control, and he’s probably played in more football games than anyone on our offense other than maybe Colton McKivitz.”
Prior to the Texas Tech game, Kendall and Doege split the reps about 60-40 in favor of Kendall. This week, the roles switched, and on Tuesday, the staff decided it was worth giving Doege a shot.
“I wanted to just take this as another game — I’ve done this before — and just prepare like I’ve always prepared for this game,” Doege said.
If the Mountaineers can win their last two games against Oklahoma State and TCU, Doege will not play in whatever bowl game they get to. However, if WVU wins both of those games, it’s safe to say Doege once again proved he is the quarterback of the future.
It wasn’t always pretty — the running game was better but still struggled most of the game. As a team, WVU had eight penalties for 70 yards, most coming against the offensive line.
The defense is battling injury after injury, but with the amount of freshmen and new players forced to play, it’s another bright spot that could carry into the offseason. After a bad game last week against Texas Tech, the defense bounced back in a big way.
This season will still go down as mediocre at best, but most knew that would be the case. Steady improvement needed to happen toward the end of the season, and this one proved that Brown is making strides in the right direction.
