UNBELIEVABLE: Penn State Nittany Lions Executes Harsh Contract Termination Of $480,315,00 Quarterback For Doing This Terrible Things
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Fixing much of what wrong in a season-opening loss to Penn State when West Virginia takes the field for its Week 2 matchup with Albany would hardly be a telltale sign that the Mountaineers have rectified the numerous issued that surfaced against the Nittany Lions.
Yet by going from facing a top 10 opponent in PSU to the only FCS team on the schedule in the Great Danes, the Mountaineers, in theory, figure to be able have the contest play out in a fashion they’d much prefer.
For the WVU offense, which managed only 246 total yards and one touchdown, there are no shortage of areas in need of improvement for the unit to reach its desired level.
“We were very disciplined the entire camp. That was very surprising,” offensive coordinator/running backs coach Chad Scott said. “We’ve worked a tremendous amount of red zone throughout fall camp and had a lot of success doing it, so that was surprising as well to not execute that. I talk about ball security every single day and the guys understand how they’re going to be targeted and defended in that regard. But those are all fixable things and we will fix them.”
The Mountaineers had three turnovers, though two came while the game was out of reach with a 34-12 fourth-quarter deficit. The first, however, which came when the game was scoreless and immediately after WVU’s defense forced its lone turnover of the matchup, occurred on somewhat of a freak play as center Brandon Yates was directed by quarterback Garrett Greene to snap the ball too soon, and it resulted in the snap deflecting off wideout Jaden Bray as he ran in motion. After the ball moved 19 yards behind the line of scrimmage, the Nittany Lions’ Jaylen Reed recovered.
With the game still scoreless, WVU lost 11 yards on the first play of its next series due to a snap issue, though the Mountaineers ultimately overcame that and gained a first down.
“We had ball issues repeatedly and you’re not going to beat quality people. That’s something we didn’t do last year,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “We had three turnovers and put the ball on the ground a couple more times. That’s bad football. We struggled with basic functioning football and snaps.”
Quarterback Garrett Greene accepted blame for both snap mishaps and Brown concurred.
Greene was off the mark throughout the matchup, and after much talk of his primary offseason goal being to significantly improve last season’s 53 percent completion rate, Greene hit on 15-of-28 passes for 161 yards. He did not account for a touchdown or throw an interception, though he lost a fourth-quarter fumble.
Greene’s passing numbers were nearly identical to the 2023 opener at Penn State when he again did not throw a touchdown or interception and completed 16-of-27 passes for 162 yards.
“Not real fired up,” was Brown’s description of the passing game. “We dropped more balls than we did a year ago. The first play of game would’ve been a 30-plus play. We miss a seam ball. The ball gets knocked out of Kole’s hand and another one we got our hands on. Those are all minimum 15-plus yard gains. There were plays there. We didn’t make them.
“We missed a really bad third down throw at the end of the half that you have to make. We missed a third down where we didn’t go to our running back and the read tells you to go to our running back. We were not as efficient. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into that. We’re not going to bail out just because we didn’t play well in the first game. There wasn’t the improvement we were expecting to see.”
For as lethargic as the Mountaineer passing attack was for much of the matchup, the team’s run game was hardly more effective. After leading all Power Conference programs in rushing yards per game a season ago, West Virginia managed its lowest total — 85 yards — since November of 2022, ending a streak of 16-plus games with 100 or more rushing yards. The number was somewhat skewed from the negative-30 rushing yards associated with the two snap mishaps, but Greene’s legs were never a factor as he managed 5 yards on 10 attempts. Last season, Greene rushed for 772 yards and 13 touchdowns, including 71 and a score in State College.
Tailbacks CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White were also held in check. Donaldson rushed 12 times for 42 yards and the only TD, while White managed 33 yards on eight carries. White suffered a minor injury in the second quarter, but ultimately returned, and Brown felt he wasn’t utilized enough.
“I didn’t get him carries late in the game because the game was decided,” Brown said. “It’s more of a second and third [quarter] deal. Most everything we do in the run game is read wise. There was a couple misreads where he should’ve got the ball and at least two passing plays where should’ve got the ball. But as a play caller, I should’ve called more plays to get him touches as well. He did get hurt and miss some time, but still should’ve got more touches.”
The misreads played into what both Brown and Scott felt was a performance that lacked enough discipline to hang in the game with a top tier opponent.
“Garrett missed some of the reads on those options and sometimes that happens and he makes a big play,” Scott said. “Obviously you want to get more of those reads right than wrong, but definitely have to get Jahiem the ball more — no question. We had some plays called for him that we had some misreads on — just bad decisions, a lack of execution, undisciplined.”
When White and Donaldson did touch the ball, there was a belief from the offensive coaches that those responsible for blocking on the perimeter could’ve done more to help spring longer gains.
White’s 12-yard run was West Virginia’s longest on 37 attempts, while Donaldson did not manage a rush longer than 10 yards.
“We have to be more consistent versus the movement inside and [tight end Kole Taylor] has to play a lot better for us in the run game. They’re playing man coverage and our receivers have to run those guys off,” Brown said. “We probably left 30-50 yards in rushing offense out on the field just because our receivers didn’t run off. That was disappointing. You can turn on our film from last year and we were as good as anybody at running people off. For whatever reason, we did not do that Saturday. Our quarterback made some poor decisions in the run game, which contributes to that as well.”
