Texas’ Foreman presents challenge to WVU
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s primary goal in defeating Texas is simple yet challenging: Stop D’Onta Foreman.
The Longhorns’ star running back enters Saturday’s game at Darrell K. Royal — Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin second in the nation in rushing yards (1,459) following a career-high 341 against Texas Tech in a 45-37 victory. Foreman also had career highs in touchdowns (3) and carries (33) against the Red Raiders. Foreman gained 250 yards against Baylor two weeks ago and he was nine yards shy of Ricky Williams’ Texas record against Tech.
“They are going to try to run the football,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said during his weekly press conference Tuesday at the Milan Puskar Center. “I think they ran close to 100 plays against Baylor. They are very balanced, and when they throw it, they try to get big chunks of yardage.
“They are going to give it to Foreman 30-35 times a game and he is the premier back in the country right now. He is incredibly big, and what shocks you is when he gets in the open, I haven’t seen anyone bring him down. Obviously, we are going to have our hands full with him but you have to give their offensive line credit.”
Foreman’s stats are so impressive after eight games that WVU cornerback Rasul Douglas didn’t believe they were accurate the first time he viewed them.
“I really thought they were fake,” Douglas said. “He is one of the best running backs we will face all season for sure and we have to be ready to stop him.”
The Longhorns (3-3, 5-4) are not one dimensional on offense as true freshman quarterback Shane Buechele is 172 of 278 for 19 touchdowns and six interceptions, with a long of 80 yards. Armanti Foreman is Buechele’s favorite target with 33 receptions for 414 yards and three touchdowns. Jake Oliver (23-280), Jacorey Warrick (22-231-2 TDs), Jerrod Heard (18-227-3 TDs), Dorian Leonard (7-245-3 TDs) and Devin Duvernay (13-300-3 TDs) are potential threats when Texas goes to the air.
“Our safeties have to be careful because they will throw it over you,” West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “I stressed to the linebackers we have to get the ball out, and when they throw it, we will have opportunities to get some turnovers. Last year, we had five turnovers against them that led to 20 points. They have some receivers that can hurt you, and we will have to play a lot of guys and be prepared for their tempo.”
Douglas, who is the team leader with five interceptions, knows he and the rest of the secondary need to be prepared for play-action passing, especially if Foreman is running well.
“It will be a big challenge for us this week,” Douglas said. “We have to stop the run first, and we like our secondary when they pass.”
Mountaineers senior defensive lineman Noble Nwachukwu is eager to get an opportunity to play against Foreman and also would like to add to his sack total and shakeup the freshman quarterback Buechele.
“We have been hearing a lot about Foreman that last couple of weeks and we look forward to the challenge,” Nwachukwu said. “He’s a big dude but we are going to get him down on the ground. We will definitely try to put pressure on their quarterback, and hopefully force him into bad decisions.”
The Longhorns’ defense allows an average of 33.2 points per game on defense and 464.1 yards per contest. Texas allows an average of 193.6 yards per game on the ground and 270.6 yards passing by its opponents for head coach Charlie Strong.
“Charlie (Strong) took over the defense three weeks ago, but Charlie has had his hand on the defense since he’s gotten there,” Holgorsen said. “Defense is his background, and they are not doing a whole lot of different stuff, but they are getting better each week and constantly rotating guys in there and do a lot of different stuff to disguise and it’s going to be challenging.”
Texas’ Trent Domingue is 12 of 16 on field goals with a long of 43. He is 1 of 3 from 40-49 yards and 0 for 1 from 50-59. He has not attempted a kick 60 yards or over. Mitchell Becker handles kickoff duties for the Longhorns and has 24 touchbacks. Michael Dickson is averaging 48.2 yards per punt and has placed 19 punts inside the 20.
“We talk about the kickoff and punt coverage being the first play for the defense and we take pride in stopping teams from getting a big return,” WVU special teams coordinator Mark Scott said. “We are going to be facing some dynamic returners this week, and we need to stop them to win the field position battle.”
The Longhorns are coming into Saturday’s game on a two-game winning streak after having defeated Baylor (35-34) at home and the Red Raiders for their first road victory this year. Texas has lost in Big 12 play to Oklahoma State (49-31), Oklahoma (45-40) and Kansas State (24-21). The Cowboys are ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll while the Sooners are No. 9 in the AP and Coaches Poll. The Bears have fallen to No. 25 in both bolls but were No. 8 in the AP and No. 6 in the Coaches when the Longhorns defeated them.
“The thing that strikes me about this group is that they are incredibly competitive,” Holgorsen said. “You look at their 5-4 win-loss record, you can look across the country and find a bunch of good 5-4 teams. They are looking at a seven-point loss, a two touchdown loss to Oklahoma State, which is no different than us, at Oklahoma State, a three-point loss to Kansas State, a five-point loss to Oklahoma, and if the ball bounces different, you are looking at an 8-1 football team. They’re a good outfit.”
The Mountaineers, who are ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches Poll, improved to 4-1 in the Big 12 and 7-1 overall after a 48-21 victory over Kansas on Saturday under the lights on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Jayhawks remain winless in the Big 12 and WVU took advantage of its opportunities against a struggling team.
Senior starting running back Rushel Shell didn’t play against the Jayhawks with an ankle sprain, and his availability against the Longhorns is a game-time decision, but teammates Justin Crawford and Kennedy McCoy picked up the slack with both rushing for 100 yards.
Crawford gained 129 yards on 13 carries and scored one touchdown and McCoy had 127 yards on 18 attempts. Quarterback Skyler Howard even got into the mix with touchdown runs of 22 and 33 yards. The Mountaineers ran for 341 yards on 47 attempts.
“Justin (Crawford) is playing like Justin plays,” WVU running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “Kennedy (McCoy) is playing like I thought Kennedy would be playing this time of the year. I keep bringing back a mirror image of Wendell (Smallwood). We brought him along slow, and about mid-season we put more on him, and it was good to see him get more snaps. I think you see the more snaps he gets, the better he plays. He is starting to evolve into a good running back.”
Howard was just as effective passing, as the senior was 16 of 27 for 260 yards and three touchdowns without an interception against the Jayhawks.
Howard, who is a native Texan, doesn’t really look at Saturday’s game any differently than any other, but is glad his mother can attend this week in Austin.
“I really haven’t thought about it until you guys just brought it up,” Howard said. “It is really just another game to me. My mom comes up to every game we play in Texas.”
Daikiel Shorts kept up his consistent play for the Mountaineers against Kansas with seven receptions for 104 yards and one touchdown.
“He (Shorts) has improved every part of his game this year,” Holgorsen said. “I’m very proud of Daikiel. He is the most consistent leader, receiver and the hardest working guy we have on our offense.”
Shelton Gibson pulled in four receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns for WVU against the Jayhawks.
WVU kicker Mike Molina made two field goals last week, including a season-long of 39 yards, but also missed a 27 yarder. Molina played the first three games for the suspended Josh Lambert, who has since left the team after playing in Game 4 against Kansas State. Molina is strong on his kickoffs with an average of 60.0 on 53 attempts and 19 touchbacks.
Scott is confident that Molina will make the big kick this week if needed and is happy with punter Billy Kinney, who is ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in punting. Kinney is averaging 44.0 yards per punt with a long of 55 and eight of his kicks have landed inside the 20.
“The biggest thing with field goals is Mike not rushing things,” Scott said. “We want to make sure everything is perfect with the technique. We want him to limit the distractions and worry about himself. We tell him everyday to block out everything and just do his job. He has done everything right in practice and we need that to translate to the game, and if he has to make a pressure kick on Saturday, I have all the confidence in the world in Mike. People are going to remember the misses more than the makes, and we block that out as much of that as we can.
“We talk about field position each and every week, and the consistency that Billy’s had from Game 1 up until now has been awesome. He doesn’t get rattled, he is very even keeled. His kick location has been great, his hangtime has been great and he is very quick getting rid of the ball. I am pleased with his production but we still have four weeks to go.”