The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board (2024)

Not Sticks, the receiver, sticks, but the blocks. Two of the tinier players WVU will ever have on the field — technically, Tavon is smaller than Buie, who is sneaky not-that-tiny — are also increasingly adept at preventing defenders from making plays.

For Buie, it won him the team’s offensive player of the week award. For Thompson, it’s his greatest contribution early in a season that hasn’t given him many opportunities to contribute elsewhere.

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Last Friday the freshman from Apopka, Fla., bused with the ninth-best team in America to the Nation’s Capital to play in a NFL stadium. A day later, he made five tackles and damn near blocked a punt. A day after that, he was named the team’s special teams player of the week, which, if you’ve gotten to know Dillon, certainly matters to him.

That prize was the capstone to an active series of days, one that began with him in no way predicting it would end the way it did. Dillon spent the previous Sunday in the hospital.

“My diabetes was acting up,” he said.

He’d made a mistake and hadn’t monitored his blood sugar level as closely as he needed to, letting it get too high as he learns more about a life he’s just getting to know as a diabetic student-athlete.

“My body started to shut down,” he said. “I was in the hospital Sunday, but they released me. I was in class Monday. Didn’t miss any classes and I was at practice Tuesday.”

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I ask this because WVU’s offensive line, labeled as “soft” a few times by Dana Holgorsen Tuesday, but still owning no sacks in addition to the second-best yards-per-carry average in the country, was pretty ashamed of its performance Saturday against James Madison.

“They understand. They were disappointed. They were embarrassed,” Bedenbaugh said.

None of this would be obvious if you hadn’t seen the game. The statistics sheet certainly didn’t indicate anything was wrong, WVU piling up yardage, quarterback Geno Smith going without being sacked for a second straight game … but he certainly got pinballed around a lot in the backfield.

“We don’t care how many yards we had. If you look at the stat sheet, it’s crazy,” Bedenbaugh said.

“Look at the yards, no sacks, we rushed for about 5 or 6 yards a carry, which is good, but that stuff doesn’t matter.”

See, what happened was that the offensive line did not play up to its capabilities, no matter what the stats said.

“You have to compete with yourself and play the best you can every snap,” Bedenbaugh said.

This, more or less, is what Josh Francis was known for when he was a junior college All-American in Scranton, Pa., and his office was Lackawanna College. He made 95 tackles and had a greater reputation for sacks. I’d show you one, but he hasn’t had one yet at WVU.

Still, what he exhibits on this play — the straight-line speed, the pursuit off the edge — gives you an idea of what he’s capable of in WVU’s net 3-4’ish defense.

And so far, Francis has been good for these Mountaineers. Last week, he was, in the estimation of the coaches, the defense’s best player.

A year ago, he barely played for the defense.

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(Update: Chat transcript!)

The WVU Sports Chat is back.Join the fun at 11 a.m.

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We overlook, or altogether forget, this one little thing about coaching lifer Keith Patterson: He wasn’t a Pitt coach, either the defensive coordinator or interim head coach, before he was hired by WVU.

He was the defensive coordinator at Arkansas State.

Only a year after becoming the defensive coordinator at Pitt, and less than two weeks after taking a new job to be closer to family, Patterson decided to relocate one more time.

Ultimately, the opportunity to be a defensive coordinator in the Big 12 and work for another offensive-minded coach was too tempting to pass up.

“I knew my family situation was going to dictate what I did,” said Patterson, who is from Marlow, Okla. “I was going to try to get back as close as I possibly could to our hometown. I ended up going to Arkansas State with Gus Malzahn for almost two weeks. Then, Dana called. I flew out and talked to him and felt like, career-wise, it was a good move. My family’s roots are in Oklahoma and Texas, so it’s right in the heart of Big 12 country.”

I have no idea why it happens, because I can’t remember writing a story about something like this apart from the uniquely different experience at LSU, but it seems like every visiting team is asked about playing in Mountaineer Field, whether it’s their first or third trip to the stadium, whether it’s their media or the WVU media asking the question.

I mean, it’s a tough enough place to play, but I think even ardent supporters admit support can slack and the head coach even ripped the fans last year. But I suppose this is going to continue with all these Big 12 teams about to make their first ventures.

Well, Randy Edsall, who has been to WVU a lot as a player and head coach will now be part of a third team to travel to Milan Puskar Stadium when he leads Maryland in Saturday’s noon game. He, too, was asked to talk about the environment.

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How about that? Three sacks! And Sio wasn’t even the best defensive player against UConn. That was instead Yamin Smallwood, who had 14 tackles and 3 1/2 tackles for a loss and was named the Nagurski national player of the weekfor his work against Maryland.

Look, Maryland’s protection, be it for the run or the pass, has been lacking this season. Only six teams have allowed more than the 10 sacks the Terrapins have surrendered — and those 10 are in the past two games. Five sacks per game would be the worst in the country.

This is a chance for WVU’s improved blitz package to heat up Maryland’s freshman quarterback Perry Hills.

It’s led to a lot of early action for Hills. Removing sacks, he ran 11 times against Temple and 12 times against UConn.

“He’s been hit a lot,” WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen said. “That’s something that’s going to be important for us.”

The Terrapins don’t call plays for Hills to run the ball, but he is willing to scramble and he’s tough enough to do it. Hills is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound freshman playing only because presumed starter C.J. Brown suffered a season-ending knee injury in August. Hills was the state wrestling champion at 195 pounds in the PIAA’s Class AAA in May and is Maryland’s first freshman starter since Latrez Harrison in 1999.

“Defensively, we want to be aggressive,” Holgorsen said. “We want to attack him in a variety of ways, like you would any young kid. You want to give him specific looks and confuse him.”

I’d call some of this tough talk, but I don’t think Dana Holgorsen found his team to be very tough against James Madison.

Noted perfectionist Geno Smith, who introduced a new audience to his relentless quest to be all that he can be at Big 12 media day in July, has put together stunning performances in back-to-back games to start this 2012 season and assumed the lead position in the Heisman Trophy competition.

He is arguably the best quarterback and the best player in the country, but the guy consistently presents the idea he’s just getting started. So, as recourse, we wonder what he could possibly do better.

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