THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012
PAGE 78
FOOTBALL GAMEDAY WEST VIRGINIA PREVIEW
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousougian@kansan.com
6-5（3-5）
$ \textcircled{R} $
STARTING LINEUP
OFFENSE
College football fans are familiar with Geno Smith and what he's capable of. However, not many people are as familiar with the players who have helped Succeed this year. Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin are in the top three for catches and yards per game among all receivers in the conference. Smith is surrounded with a lot of talented players. He's not limited in his options and has an easy time finding a target. Running backs Andrew Buie and Cody Cayl will share duties in the backfield to help contribute to the offense.
West Virginia center Joe Madsen (74) blocks as quarterback Geno Smith throws a pass during the game in College Park, Md., on Saturday. This was the final home game for 21 seniors.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pos. NAME No. Year
QB Geno Smith 12 Sr.
RB Andrew Buie 13 So.
RB/TE Cody Clay 88 Fr.
WR Stedman Bailey 3 Jr.
WR J.D. Woods 81 Sr.
WR Tavon Austin 1 Sr.
LT Quinton Spain 67 So.
LG Josh Jenkins 77 Sr.
C Joe Madsen 74 Sr.
RG Jeff Braun 52 Sr.
RT Curtis Feigt 62 Jr.
K Tyler Bitancurt 40 Sr.
DEFENSE
West Virginia's 3-4 defense has experienced a couple of highs this season. Outside linebacker Josh Francis has terrorized quarterbacks and running backs behind the line of scrimmage, earning 9.5 tackles for negative yardage this year against conference opponents. Joseph Karl has the second-most tackles out of all of the defensive backs in the Big 12 with 70. But as a unit, West Virginia has been unable to play like a team, as many teams have lit up the scoreboard against Joe DeForest's defense.
Pos. NAME No. Year
DT Jorge Wright 99 Sr.
NT Shaq Rowell 90 Jr.
DE Will Clarke 98 Jr.
OLB Josh Francis 4 Sr.
MLB Terence Garvin 28 Sr.
MLB Jared Barber 33 So.
OLB Isaiah Bruce 31 Fr.
CB Ishmael Banks 34 So.
CB Terrell Chestnut 16 Fr.
FS Karl Joseph 8 Fr.
SS Cecil Level 24 Sr.
P Corev Smith 44 Sr.
MOMENTUM
Before West Virginia's last win, it lost five straight games. However, even with a 1-5 record in the last six games, West Virginia is still an offensive threat and has a lot of momentum going into Saturday's game against Kansas. The offense ranks sixth in the nation and has scored 40 points per game.
AT A GLANCE
West Virginia is great on offense, but bad on defense. The Mountain-eers rank last in the Big 12 in total defense and points allowed this year. The offense is tabbed as one of the best in the nation. Unfortunately, the bad has outweighed the good for most of this season. In Week 7, West Virginia was in the top five in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls. Today, West Virginia is having a hard time receiving a vote. It's obvious that the Mountaineers will spend a lot of time recruiting defensive players in the offseason.
COACHING
Before becoming the head coach of West Virginia in 2011, Dana Holgorsen worked with six different programs and served as an offensive assistant. He spent some time in the Big 12 at two different schools and established credibility as an offensive coach. Holgorsen assisted Texas Tech's offense for eight years and is responsible for the success the Red Raiders had with current NFI
players Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree. Helgorsen also coached Oklahoma State's offense in 2010, in which the Cowboys shattered five offensive school records.
Holgorsen
PLAYER TO WATCH
Wide receiver Tavon Austin leads the Big 12 in all-purpose yards and he's the only Big 12 player to have over 2,000 all-purpose yards this season. Austin recently has been active rushing the football. He's carried the ball 35 times for 418 yards combined against Oklahoma and Iowa State. Kansas
Austin
must bring its best effort on defense if it wants to limit Austin. The Jayhawks' special teams unit must also be ready for Austin, whose scored twice on returns.
SPECIAL TEAMS
QUESTION MARKS
Kicker Tyler Bitancur isn't the most reliable player to have on the field to kick a field goal. Bitancur has missed seven out of the 17 field goals he's attempted so far this season. But Tavon Austin has grabbed all of the attention on special teams. Austin, who won the Big 12 special teams player of the week honors in Week 6, returned one punt and one kickoff back for a
touchdown earlier this year. The scary part is, he's only done that on 43 total returns. Even though he is heavily active in the offense, he remains at the top of the depth chart for kick returning and punt returning duties.
Can West Virginia finish the season with one more conference win?
After West Virginia received a lot of attention and Geno Smith was a candidate to win the Heisman Trophy, the team declined and went through a five-game losing streak in its first year in the Big 12. The conference newcomers snapped that streak last Friday against Iowa State and look to finish its long season on a better note by beating Kansas.
BABY JAY WILL WEEP IF ..
Kansas can't score against West Virginia's defense. West Virginia has allowed over 40 points per game this season. Even though Kansas is ranked last in the Big 12 in scoring and has scored only 16 touchdowns, the offense has an opportunity to have its best offensive production of the season against a weak Mountaineers' defense.
35 WEST VIRGINIA
BY THE NUMBERS
334. 9 passing yards per game, sixth most in the nation.
points allowed in Big 12 games in 2012.
touchdown passes by Geno Smith, tied for second most in the nation.
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