Mountaineer Postgame Show: Penn State 34, West Virginia 12

hello everybody and welcome into the Mountaineer postgame show I'm scy CI and that is former West Virginia running back Eugene Napoleon Penn State top 10 Penn State comes into Morgan toown and has their way with the Mountaineers the final score 34 to2 in this one to look at the numbers West Virginia 4 of 14 on third down they were out gained 457 to 246 222 to 85 on the ground as far as individual stats go Garrett green not really impressive today um 15 of 28 161 yards didn't really push the ball down the field but really the storyline was the rushing game 37 carries for the mountain years only 85 yards that's 2.3 yards per carry while the NY Lions ran for 222 yards in a touchdown Jean this officially snaps the longest streak in the nation of 140 yards or plus uh in a game on the ground which West Virginia had was 16 didn't come anywhere close to that today and to be honest with you Jean it felt like about Midway through the first quarter H maybe maybe so more so a few minutes into the second quarter Penn State kind of had a grip on this one and really didn't let West Virginia back in it even though it was kind of close there for longer than that well it seemed to me that and those a valid points it seems to me I knew that you come to the game you're going to be jittery you're going to be a little bit you're going to be a little bit nervous the team that settled themselves down first would be the team that will catch the composure and they will do what they need to do and it seemed like Penn State got on that road a little bit quicker than we did obviously the thing that got me that I was really surprised with that we couldn't run the ball efficiently I really surprised with that the other thing it's one thing when you can't push the ball down the field but even the mid-range game the midlevel game of our passing game didn't seem to click either so there's a lot of things we have to clean up man um if we're going to be contenders down the road it's a long season one game does not make a season right but absolutely we we we really didn't look good today at all no and at all to me if you're gonna win these types of games you can't afford to give things back like Penn State gives you that fumble early in the game the first quarter very next play you give it right back to them on a fumble and then you have another bad slap another bad snap excuse me later in the first quarter you have drew Aller I think it was some point early in the third quarter you had him stopped on third down twice or you had him you got him to third down twice and then he scrambles for a first down both times that can't happen West Virginia gets back in the game sort of towards the the uh beginning of the fourth quarter they get the touchdown they go for two they don't get it even though they don't get it they still have a chance to get back in the game with the stop and then all of a sudden boom another big play happens Penn State runs right down the field they're they're scoring again before I get more into the the depths of this what did you think about the decision to go for two there because for me I I think you just kicked the field goal and you make it a 14-point game I mean it's already a two-score game if you mi if you don't get the two conversion which they didn't now you have to get another extra an extra a two-point conver right no I would have I would have kicked the extra point yeah I would have kicked the extra point and it's easier said than done because I'm thinking Neil is thinking something totally different he's think let me get these points right let let me get the points now but the key to this is also is look I have no problem with Neil calling the plays Let me let me be clear right but here's the thing when you get inside I think we were inside the 15 to 12 yard line four times if not mistaken if I'm not mistaken at least three times and it's fourth and one if I'm not mistaken fourth and one and we do the old tush push you got to be creative with that play I wouldn't I would not have called that in that situation if you're G to go in that formation then have your slot come across the formation and Pitch it to him or have your back on the opposite side and Pitch it to him and have him run as we call it to the flag to get one yard to get a first or maybe break The Tackle and get in the end zone what I'm saying is that was a crucial point where we needed to con we should have converted there you know what I mean those things it comes back to haunt you when you look at the film and say you know what wow I know why he was mad he was mad because you're looking at your line and you're saying you can't strain to get one yard on fourth and one yeah I get it because I know it I remember the times with Coach NE and listen fourth and one oh you're going to get one yard I don't care who you're playing against yeah it's just saying it it was it was interesting decision making for sure I like I I talked to you at halftime I thought in a couple of those instances they should have bounced it outside because you're running right into the teeth of that defense good luck I mean even the best running back duo in the country Penn State's own offense could have probably struggled against that defense running it on fourth and one up the middle like I just don't see how that was a high percentage play and I think too the offensive line was was a huge disappointment and I get it it's going to take some time you lost Zack Frasier you lost Doug Nester and and the offensive coaching staff has been very you know pleased with Brandon Yates and Nick Malone throughout the the whole preseason but the reality is like you lost two NFL caliber players on that line it's going to look a little different and we saw that early on with Yates in a couple of bad snaps the def uh the defensive B for Penn State were getting to the quarter back they were they're forcing pressure for Garrett green it it just wasn't a smooth operation by any means and like you said if you can't run the ball that's your bread and butter you can't do anything else so if they take away your bread and butter I don't know how you're going to be able to open up the open up anything else downfield before uh we close out here though defensively this has been a unit where we felt like they were going to take a major step and it's it's still very possible that they could it's one game against top 10 team but they've been talking about tackling tackling tackling tackling all freaking Camp long and today it didn't look like they could tackle at all I mean Drew Aller slipped out of a few uh you know tackles in the back field escaped pressure got a first down it didn't look like their eyes were disciplined it looked like they were not fitting the Run game they just looked so confused on the field How concerned are you with the defense after today well I wasn't going in believe not he actually thought that we would play better than what we show today defensively well now looking at this I'm very concerned and and I'll tell you why obviously you have uh aubony next week right okay you beat albony and then you got a gear up for pit so here's the thing it gives you the force into reality when you go and you know and we'll have a good game plan against aubony whatever we'll do well and then you got again gar for pit to me the consistency of fixing these things within a two- week span right because next week I'm not and I I hate to say it I'm not discounting orany but it's orany let's stop okay let's be honest so we should be one in one heading into pit you know playing pit so we have to sh up a lot of things you have to sh up like you said the tackling is one thing the Run fit from from the linebackers into the line of scrimmage is another the defensive secondary it's an interesting called because nothing was clicking for us today no nothing was clicking MERS today let's be clear but when you look the way you look on defense it kind of gives you some worries because you got to be able to cover you know sideline to sideline dude I will say troter is something different he's a baller he's a baller you know we have to get pressure on the freaking quarterback which I was very surprised that we were not able to do that with the lack of dep that I thought Penn State had up front their offensive line played very well oh yeah they they controlled the on both sides of the of the of of the trenches without a well and that's what I was saying prior to whoever controls the trenches nine times out a 10 will control the the tempo of this game and ultimately will'll control the game and Penn State did that yeah absolutely again 3040 to 12 your final score in Morgantown number eight Penn State taking uh the win out of West Virginia or from West Virginia and the Mountaineers will head uh into week number two looking for win number one and as you said against Albany they'll be kicking that one off at 6 o'cl on ESPN plus uh another look here at the road ahead as West Virginia only has uh Albany coming up but then they also have the Backyard Brawl before kicking things off in Big 12 play against Kansas which is at home so this is a crucial part of the schedule Jean you you got to get to two and one heading into conference play if not things are going to look a little dicey yeah no you just said it you got we have to get the twoin one going in the conference play and uh I don't know how dicey it's going to look if we don't but U hopefully we won't have to have have that conversation exactly well thank you guys uh for tuning in this episode of the Mountaineer postgame show I'm Skyla count that is Eugene aoan thank you guys for also tuning into to our coverage this week to walk game do show we'll be back next week on that previewing West Virginia Albany uh next Thursday tomorrow I'll be back with the morning after with some more thoughts on this game after I've had some more time to think about it and kind of go through it all so make sure you hit that subscribe button on our YouTube channel at West Virginia on SI make sure to follow us on X SI siore WV and that'll do it for us today so thank you guys for take for watching and we'll see you guys tomorrow morning take care n