2023-12-24 14:40:03
It will have been just over a month since West Virginia played their last game of the regular season when they kick things off against North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Wednesday.
Over the final seven games of the regular season, West Virginia’s offense was high powered. The Mountaineers averaged 503 yards of total offense per game, and were scoring just about 35 points per game.
“Kind of last seven games, our o-line, really, really, started playing at a very elite level. When they’re playing really, really, well, our run game is really good and the downfield passes and all of our quick game stuff falls into place after that. I think it all starts with how well our offensive line is playing,” West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene said. “As an offense, we all kind of felt in-sync and in rhythm and I think the results showed that.
The biggest question that looms over the head of West Virginia now is how will they return to form almost a month later when they play in the bowl game.
Greene said he think the time off could be an added bonus, contributing to fresher legs, but also knows the Mountaineers are going to have to be critical when they get close to the bowl game.
“I think that off time is good. We definitely needed it. The first practice back, our wide receivers had a little different gear to them because they had fresh legs and they weren’t really running a whole lot,” Greene said.
As for head coach Neal Brown, the month-long layoff has been at the top of his mind.
“The concerns from my perspective are two-fold. We’re a running football team and we got to get our work in while also being cognisant of we don’t want to be too physical. So we got to get our work in and we got to make sure our o-line is in sync and our tight ends are in-sync and they’re coming off the ball and doing those things. Our running backs, because they’re young, we got to make sure they’re in rhythm,” Brown said.
West Virginia will be deploying multiple young guys in the backfield due to CJ Donaldson being out with an injury and Justin Johnson being out as he recently entered the transfer portal.
That leaves true freshman Jahiem White, along with Jaylen Anderson, and true freshman DJ Oliver.
“It’s going to be Jahiem, he’ll start, and then Jaylen and DJ, will be the guys that play,” Brown said.
White has been a crucial piece to WVU’s offensive success over the final seven games, bursting on the scene in more ways than one. Over WVU’s final five games, White averaged a total of 142 yards per game on the ground and as a receiver. During that time, he also found the end zone four times as well.
“This is our first time to get to nine wins in a couple years, so this is going to be a big deal,” White said of the bowl game. “I’m going to be really excited to play against North Carolina, at North Carolina. I think that’s very hard. A big deal for real because playing [North Carolina] at [North Carolina] is crazy.”
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