WVU wants more aggressive play-calling
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football's offense in the first half against Coastal Carolina couldn't have gone any better. The Mountaineers had 24 points, 336 total yards of offense and averaged 7.5 yards per play. The ground attack, which is supposed to be the strength, had 223 yards on offense. Everything was going according to plan.
Coastal Carolina went into the locker room and made adjustments to stop the run. Suddenly, the Mountaineers couldn't get anything on the ground. The offense flipped to scoring seven points, averaging 2.6 yards per play and had 77 yards of offense.
WVU managed to squeak by and win 31-24, but the offensive performance in the second half raised plenty of questions from a playcalling standpoint.
Rich Rodriguez answered questions about his second-half playcalling on his radio show Monday night and went more into detail Tuesday during his weekly press conference, and admitted his playcalling could've been better.
“We probably played it too close to the vest in the second half with the lead," Rodriguez said. "Trying to calm us down a little bit."
The Mountaineers weren't playing on the offensive, trying to extend the lead. Instead, Rodriguez continued to run the ball, even though the Chanticleers adjusted, to kill the clock and end the game faster.
On the other side, the defense was being gashed by Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey, who was extending the plays and, as Rodriguez called it, 'running all over the place.' Rodriguez said part of his reason to continue to run was because he was frustrated with Bailey, and he wanted to give his defense a rest.
Coastal Carolina ran out of time in the end, so part of his plan worked, but it came at the expense of his offense putting up 77 yards and seven points in the second half, and letting the Chanticleers make it close, scoring 24 points.
Rewatching film, Rodriguez admitted he was playing a little too conservatively, and maybe he should've passed more, especially with the defense Coastal Carolina was showing. WVU threw the ball five times in the second half.
"If I look back at it, there were probably a couple times in the second half where I said, 'Okay, we're going to run and get a first down,' where we had opportunities to take a shot," Rodriguez said. "Trust our protection and our wideouts and our quarterbacks to try to get a pass play going right there."
There was the excuse for Rodriguez's playcalling that he didn't open the playbook because he didn't want to reveal too much to opponents down the road, like No. 25 Virginia, who the Mountaineers play in Charlotte on Sept. 19.
Rodriguez said he's never called a game with the thought of not wanting to display too much in mind.
"Now, there have been the end of the games where you had a comfortable lead, and you're just running the ball out," Rodriguez said. "But even then, you're doing it to get the game over with. Not so much, like we're going to hold this back. If we're being ultra conservative, it's probably because we're just trying to win the game, give our defense a little break and go onto the next thing."
It was a bit counterproductive because running the ball, while it did drain the clock, made the defense get back on the field a lot quicker.
There were a lot of areas the team needs to fix, which allowed Coastal Carolina back into the game. But part of the reason was playcalling in the second half, and Rodriguez realized he could've done more to help his team out. It's better to learn that now than later when the competition ramps up.
"I could have been more aggressive, especially in the third quarter," Rodriguez said. "I think we only had two possessions in the third quarter. One of those two possessions, I know one of them was up, but we could have been more aggressive in one of those two possessions."