This week the Mountaineers begin Big East play as they take on the visiting Huskies. The Mountaineers are coming off a huge win, while the Huskies had a disappointing loss last week. When the Huskies lost to Western Michigan, the Broncos quarterback Alex Carder threw for 479 yards and 5 touchdowns which means, Geno Smith should have no problem throwing the ball.
Smith threw for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns last week in the rain nontheless, this week the weather is supposed to be warmer and nicer so he should be able to exceed what a lesser quarterback did against the Huskies' secondary. Last week, fans also witnessed that the Mountaineers do in fact have a run game. This week they hope to build on it by mixing it with pass in order to keep the Huskies’ defense off balance. Don’t expect running back Dustin Garrison to have a game like last week, but expect the Mountaineers to include him more as the year goes on.
The Mountaineers' defense last week showed much improvement as they were able to make some big plays. Keith Tandy had a monster game intercepting two passes and Terence Garvin had one interception. Julian Miller brought down the quarterback once and the Mountaineers’ were able to recover the ball. One thing the defense still has to improve on is getting sacks. They have had many missed opportunities this season and the defense needs to start capitalizing on easy sacks. The Mountaineers’ defense has come a long way since the beginning of the season.
One area the Mountaineers' are still struggling in is their special teams. Granted they did recover a fumble that lead to a Mountaineer field goal, but they allowed a combined 258 yards on kick returns last week. The special teams needs to do a better job at tackling and plugging up holes so that the return man will have nowhere to go. These are issues that have plagued the special teams all year and they will need to get it together soon if they hope to make the Mountaineers’ an all-around elite team. Another issue on special teams is the punting, while punt coverage is good the actually kicks have been horrendous. The one punt the Mountaineers’ last week went only 14 yards and then went out of bounds. Even though it was raining the punter still needs to put some more leg into his kicks.
Overall, the way the Mountaineers have been playing recently this game should be a walk in the park. Although that’s easier said than done since the Mountaineers have struggled in a quarter or two, but they seem to be able to destroy their opponents when it matters. Look for a blowout, but a somewhat competitive matchup.
Prediction: WVU-45 UCONN-17
Player of the Game: Geno Smith 25-40 415 yards 4 TDs
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