The sudden potency of West Virginia's offense, as exhibited in Thursday night's 34-17 victory against Auburn, was brought about by a respect for the opponent and concern the Tigers might prolong frustrations.
"I was afraid they were going to mash us up,"
Mountaineers Coach Bill Stewart said. "That's why we went with the 'check-with-me,' the leg kick, the hand signals and then went to the hurry-up. We wanted to get them off balance and get them showing their hand."
Throughout the game, quarterback Pat White prepared to take the snap from center, only to step back, look over to the sideline and either take another play-call or confirm the original.
The "check-with-me"
communication with the sideline was a staple in previous years, but somewhat rare this season. That it reappeared in such abundance against the Tigers was no coincidence. Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads was at Pitt the previous eight seasons.
"I thought, 'Same guy, same scheme,' "
Stewart said.
Stewart anticipated man-to-man defense in the secondary, but knew Auburn would be active and aggressive up front. The Mountaineers wanted to know when linebackers would blitz and when safeties would come to the line of scrimmage. To get that information required some trickery.
"We changed our signals,"
Stewart said.
All season, White has lifted and lowered his foot to give center Mike Dent the cue to snap the ball. Auburn was ready for that, but so, too, was WVU.
"This week the leg kick was the dummy (signal),"
Stewart said. "We leg kicked and then did a hand clap (to cue the snap). We'd leg kick, they'd come down and show their hand and then we'd get a play."
The Tigers kept reacting to the leg kick by showing blitzes or safeties playing the run and WVU kept reading and responding.
"We've had the 'check-with-me' at times, but we did it more this week to try to keep Auburn from having us in the crosshairs,"
Stewart said.
The Mountaineers ripped off more productive plays than they had in any game since the season-opener and found that much-discussed rhythm on offense that eluded them for so long.
Stewart went with it and WVU picked its spots with a two-minute offense that flustered the Tigers.
"Pat had that thing clicking and we caught them in a few things and hit the zone (read) a few times,"
Stewart said. "It kept them on their heels."
WVU improved to 5-2 and on Sunday morning found itself alone in first place in the Big East (2-0).
The Mountaineers hadn't received any votes in the Associated Press or coaches' poll since Sept. 21, but were No. 29 in Sunday's coaches' poll and No. 26 and just 16 points behind Maryland in the AP poll.
They play at noon Saturday at Connecticut (6-2, 2-1). The Huskies are No. 2 in the Big East in total defense and allow just 110 rushing yards per game.
"They know how to attack us,"
Stewart said.
The Mountaineers just showed they know how to attack a defense, or, at the very least, handle an attacking defense. They racked up 445 yards of offense, averaged 7.9 yards per snap and scored more than 27 points for the first time since beating Villanova 48-21 six games ago.
Stewart admitted the success must be taken into consideration as his team moves forward.
"We've got to do what we do best,"
he said. "I think it's going to help us. We like to go fast, but we also like to know what we have to do to get their defense in the crosshairs. We can't run around crazy, all helter-skelter."
* * *
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN Scooter Berry, who left the Auburn game with an injury, had an MRI on his knee, but the results were negative. Stewart said WVU was in good shape following the game.
"We're in better shape now,"
he said.
The same cannot be said for his son, Blaine, who broke his arm in a middle school game Tuesday. Blaine, who attends St. Francis, plays quarterback for Cheat Lake. He injured his throwing arm against Suncrest and had surgery Sunday morning.
"He's on the mend, so to speak, and resting comfortably,"
Stewart said.
