Notes on West Virginia

West Virginia recorded 8 sacks in their last game against Maryland.

West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith has pass for 800 yards in three games this season and he has completed just over 70% of the passes he has attempted.

Five different West Virginia players have a receiving touchdown this year.

Two West Virginia players, Tavon Austin and Jock Sanders, have more than 200 yards receiving this season.

West Virginia running back Noel Devine is one of the fastest running backs in college football  and has rushed for 354 yards in three games so far.

West Virginia is 3-0 this season and leads the Big East, a BCS conference.

Here is an excerpt of a Washington Post article by Rick Nelligan about West Virginia's most recent victory over Maryland:  "The Terps were completely shell-shocked by West Virginia’s speed on offense and aggressiveness on defense in the first half. On the fourth play of the game Noel Devine broke off a 50-yard run, setting the tone for what you just knew was going to be a long day."

and finally, here is a link to an article from ESPN about West Virginia entitled  "New stars feed West Virginia optimism" by Brian Bennett  I think the title is fairly descriptive of the article's content.

So why all the buildup without explanation?  This is for those LSU haters (some pretending to be fans) that said North Carolina should have been a pushover without the 13 suspended players, and said Vanderbilt was even weaker than usual, and said that even an improved Miss. State team was still below average.  West Virginia is a very good team.  

Those of you that the above facts are for do have some "outs".  West Virginia did have to go into overtime against Marshall University to win their second game.  West Virginia's first opponent was Coastal Carolina and all three of West Virginia's opponents combined only have two wins this season.  Maryland barely beat Navy 17-14 but slaughtered Morgan State 62-3.  But if the LSU detractors are honest they have not been impressed with any of LSU's opponents so far either.  So these are "outs" but probably dishonest "outs."

West Virginia has the 9th best scoring defense in the nation only allowing 12.7 points per game. However, LSU has the 5th best scoring defense in the nation and only has allowed 11.3 points per game and most of those points occurred in the first game of the season against a solid and not very depleted via suspension North Carolina offense. By the way that weakened North Carolina team lost again to Georgia Tech but trade leads and managed 24 points again. Throw out the North Carolina game and LSU is only allowing 5 points a game on average. 

There has not been one game this season that I could say without a doubt LSU would definitely win.  LSU has not played a "Coastal Carolina" yet.  LSU has played three at least better than average teams.  North Carolina is 0-2 but was much more evenly matched with Georgia Tech than LSU in their second 30-24 loss. Once LSU was up 30-10 in the first half the LSU offense decided to coast the rest of the game.  It would appear that since coasting in the second half of the season opener, LSU is determined to score points in the second half.  LSU almost never loses to Vanderbilt or Mississippi State.  However, Vanderbilt has proven to be tougher early in the season at home.  Vandy is only 1-2 but they lost to Northwestern by only 2points (23-21) and after managing only 3 points against LSU beat a Jeremiah Masoli lead Ole Miss. squad 28-14 at Ole Miss.  Mississippi State beat Memphis 49-7, lost to a ranked Auburn team 17-14 and then managed only one touchdown in the opening drive of the 3rd quarter in a 29-7 loss to LSU.  LSU collected only one sack (a season low) against Mississippi State but intercepted the ball 5 times.  The score in the LSU/Miss. State game was not indicative of how dominate LSU was in the game.  LSU lived in the red zone all night, only punted once all night but scored 5 field goals.  Probably four of those field goals should have been touchdowns.  45-7 is a score that is more reflective of how dominate LSU was versus Miss. State. North Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Miss. State are all solid teams and at least two if not all three of these teams are very likely to be bowl eligible at season's end.

While I feel that LSU has had a chance to lose any of the games this season, I have felt confident that LSU would find a way to improve from game to game and ultimately win.  I expect to see an improved passing game against West Virginia.  I hope to see Mike Ford and Spencer Ware get a couple of carries before the fourth quarter and I believe that LSU will find a way to win this game.  West Virginia ought to be the toughest team that LSU has faced so far this year but I think it is time for LSU to begin to show what they are made of and win big against top opponents.