Several players helped WVU comeback
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MORGANTOWN -- If they were going to give out footballs to the heroes of West Virginia’s stunning fourth-quarter rally that produced what arguably was the most critical win of Neal Brown’s five-plus years as the Mountaineers’ coach, they probably would have had to dig deeply into the equipment room.
Quarterback Garrett Greene had to have one for his gutty performance with the season on the line, the team at 1-2 and losing by 11 points to Kansas with just four minutes remaining.
Kole Taylor, the tight end who had been nearly invisible for most of the long afternoon that included a two-hour rain delay, needed one, too, for he made a spectacular catch and then caught the two-point conversion pass that cut that 11-point lead to 3.
And if you had to give him, Traylon Ray also needed one for he ran a fake end around into that 2-point conversion completion to perfection, to say nothing of having a strong game at wide receiver.
Then there was Rodney Gallagher III, whose heroic effort came on what would prove to be the winning touchdown, a catch and run into the end zone from 16 yards out that produced his first collegiate score.
So much offense when it was most needed, yet when it was over Brown decided to begin his post-game analysis not on the offensive side of the ball at all, but on the defensive side for, in the final analysis and with the situation brought into consideration, this was the defense’s game victory to celebrate.
"I want to start with defense," Brown said. "Our players and our staff just got beat up all week."
Having been physically beaten by Penn State in the opener, and having let Pitt roar from behind in an eerily similar rally to the one the Mountaineers created to beat Kansas last week, the public was in the kind of uproar Mountaineer fans let loose when things go poorly.
There were calls for Brown to be fired, for his defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley to be tarred and feathered, for massive changes in the secondary, which had been embarrassed against both Pitt and Penn State.
To Brown and Lesley’s credit it, they "tackled" the situation head on, Brown making changes in his secondary by simplifying matters, by going to far more zone coverage and by inserting Jacolby Spells and TJ Crandall at cornerback and by Lesley volunteering to move up to the press box from his normal spot on the sidelines.
That honestly had a lot to do with football, but considering the attitude of the fans coming into the game, "out of sight, out of mind" was a phrase that fit the situation.
The truth behind that move was that Lesley had volunteered to make the move to the press box … and it wasn’t because the media meal is that good.
"It was Jordan’s idea," Brown said. "I thought it was good. When you go in the boxes, it takes the emotion out of the game and you can see."
It didn’t seem to disturb the functioning of the defense or bother the players any, according to Tyrin Bradley, who wound up the game’s defensive hero and earned in reality an honorary football.
"It made no difference," Bradley said. "We still got the same mentality, whether he was on the sideline or not. It’s the same expectations. Honestly, it’s still like he was down there. We don’t notice it. We expect the same results from ourselves as a defense.
They understood why he might become an eye in the sky, though.
"It gives him the ability to see things faster and give us the call a little bit faster," Bradley said. "But it’s no difference. We are just going out there and playing ball."
Certainly Bradley was playing the ball as Kansas had some left even though they took the ball over after Gallagher’s touchdown at their own 25 with just 26 seconds to play.
Two plays they were at the WVU 39 with the potential to complete a pass into the end zone -- West Virginia has been there before, you know, speaking of Hail Mary against Houston last season. Or, they could have completed a quick out to the sideline and set up a tying field goal.
But what mattered then wasn’t where Lesley was. It was where Bradley was, and that was bearing down on KU quarterback Jalon Daniels, knocking the ball from his hand and falling on it for the recovery that saved the day.
"I had a beat on the snap count maybe the start of the second half," Bradley explained. "I knew if I could get off the ball, I was going to be able to make a play. The right side is my favorite side to rush on, so being able to get off the ball, fighting and being able to make a play for my team.
As soon as he grabbed the ball, he set his sights on his family in the stands.
"My dad, he lives in Georgia. He drove maybe 10 hours. When I got the ball, my first instinct was to give the ball to him. I don’t know if he got to keep it or what, but that was my first instinct."
One suspects it would have been harder to get the ball out his dad’s hands than it was for Bradley to get it out of Daniels’, giving the game a nice, warm ending.