WVU's Keys to the Game vs Kansas
Can West Virginia erase the loss to Pitt and get in the win column this week against Kansas? If so, they must do these three things.
Energy + Focus
The loss to Pitt may have been a heartbreaker, but WVU must bury that game in the past if they want to get in the win column this Saturday. The old adage of "don't let a game beat you twice" certainly comes into play here. It's easy to look at the schedule and think, eh, it's just Kansas. But if the Mountaineers have that state of mind going into it, they'll be 0-2. You can't take this Kansas team lightly and as Neal Brown has said numerous times this week, they may be one of the most improved teams in the country.
Help JT Daniels
West Virginia had seven drops against Pitt. Neal Brown had six, but I think he let Ford-Wheaton off the hook on one of them. Regardless, the receivers have to do a much better job of finishing plays. Obviously, it all starts with catching the ball but doing something after it as well. Most of WVU's chunk plays came from air yardage rather than yards after the catch. I'll even throw the offensive line in here as well. Brown noted that they didn't do a very good job of handling stunts and twists which is something they'll see every week. Pre-snap penalties were an issue at times also.
Pressure Jaylon Daniels
CB Charles Woods will likely miss Saturday's game and Wesley McCormick will be suspended for the first half due to a targeting penalty that occurred in the second half of last week's game. Andrew Wilson-Lamp, Mumu Bin-Wahad, and Jaylon Shelton will see an increase in snaps on the opposite side of Rashad Ajayi. You don't want those guys on an island all that often in their first game seeing a ton of reps, so the WVU defensive front needs to get after Daniels and force him to get the ball out quickly, keeping everything in front. Rushed decisions will give WVU's secondary a better chance.
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