Week 10 Offensive Helmet Stickers

Mountaineers Offense Flashed and Fizzled Against Baylor

There is pretty football and there is ugly football. I think it's safe to say that West Virginia's outing against Baylor was of the latter variety. To be fair, taking on an unbeaten opponent on their home turf is already a daunting task. Throw in a rash of injuries and the relative inexperience West Virginia is plagued by on both sides of the ball, and the task at hand is nigh insurmountable. So give the Neal Brown and his group some credit, then, for being able to hold an undefeated Bears squad to just 17 points. 

Thursday night's game produced more of the same for a beleaguered West Virginia offense. The run game continues to be lifeless and Austin Kendall, tough as he is, is still struggling to establish any real consistency with a receiving corps that isn't doing much better (hello, drops!) and isn't growing up as quickly as one might hope. You really feel for the seniors on this team. Veteran stalwarts like Colton McKivitz are probably finding hard to enjoy the climb when seemingly every other play results in a bevy of misfires. That's not to say that is was all bad, though. 

Let's hand out a few helmet stickers to West Virginia's few offensive stars from its 17-14 loss to undefeated Baylor. 

George Campbell, WR- Campbell has made the most of his targets in 2019, to put it plainly.  While the former Seminole has only pulled in six receptions this season, four of those have been for touchdowns. Some might consider that mark hyper-efficient and I would agree with that sentiment. Campbell's sixth reception of the season came midway through the third quarter when Austin Kendall aired one out to the middle of the field and Campbell pulled in a contested ball, shedding a Baylor defender in the process and taking it out the house. All told,  it was an 83 yard catch and score and (briefly) revitalized a West Virginia offense that looked dead on its feet. 

You can't help but applaud the irony that an offensive unit averaging a meager 302.3 ypg is the one that conjured up the program's single longest completion  since Geno Smith found Stedman Bailey for 87 yards in a stupefying 70 point showcase against Baylor back in 2012. Campbell doesn't get his number called very often, but when it happens- it counts.   

Winston Wright, Jr, WR- Wright by no means played a complete game.  Then again, neither did anyone else wearing gold and blue. The Georgia native and true freshman hauled in four receptions for 31 yards on the night. Those numbers on their own are relatively pedestrian, but that's not what we're here to talk about. A little over two minutes after George Campbell hit pay dirt, West Virginia's kick return team was on the field with Wright back deep to return and return, he did. 

95 yards later, the kid often times referred to as "jet" found himself in the end zone while a stunned crowd in Waco looked on in silence. Watching Wright streak past Baylor defenders was eerily Tavon Austin-esque. It was a shameless display of game-breaking speed and demonstrated how much potential the former track standout has to build off of. No, it was an offensive play, so I shouldn't even be mentioning it but it was arguably the most exciting play of the game and it put points on the board. Sometimes exceptions need to be made and this one warrants it. 

Honorable Mention: Wildcat Offense- This one definitely generated some strong reactions, I'm sure. The wildcat is no one's idea of a quick-fix and it rarely nets strong returns but give some credit to Neal Brown, Matt Moore and co. for mixing it up. At this point, anything is worth trying and getting the ball into Kennedy McKoy's hands is a solid play. As has been the case throughout the season, though, there was simply nothing clicking for West Virginia in the run game. It's a shame, given how talented West Virginia's backfield was entering the season and how effective McKoy has been over the course of his career. Still, you can't be mad at this staff for trying different things. It's evident they have not yet given up on this season and that's the most important fact of all.