For the last couple of years, the BG football team has played at least one difficult game a season.
In 2008 the difficult games were Pittsburg and Boise State; in 2009 it was Missouri and Boise, and last season it was Michigan. Next year it will be Florida and Virginia Tech.
This year, that game is against West Virginia, arguably the best team in the Big East Conference.
The Mountaineers gained large notoriety around 2004-05, when Rich Rodriguez largely popularized the spread option offense with Pat White at quarterback, and Steve Slaton and Noel Devine at tailback.
Rodriguez took that offense to Michigan, where he largely failed in the defensive aspect of coaching, which eventually cost him his job.
Fast forward a couple of seasons to the present and West Virginia has a new innovator running the show.
Dana Holgorsen has brought in a style of offense that is very similar, yet completely different at the same time.
Both offenses call for the quarterback to make a proper read with the back to decide where to go with it. The difference is Rodriguez’s offense was primarily run-oriented, while Holgorsen’s is heavily pass-oriented.
This style of offense has West Virginia third in the nation in pass offense with 383 yards per game.
Holgorsen took over the program this season after coach Bill Stewart was dismissed.
Holgorsen was supposed to take over head coaching duties next season, while spending this season as offensive coordinator. However, when it was discovered that Stewart attempted to pay a journalist to dig up dirt on Holgorsen, that process was expedited by a season.
That move has been largely beneficial to the Mountaineers so far this season, as they sit at 3-1 and are ranked No. 22 in the country.
Quarterback Geno Smith has been a big part of that. The junior quarterback has thrown 1,471 yards in four games, with nine touchdown passes and three interceptions. His passing yards have steadily increased with each game he has played this season, with him passing 463 yards last week against then No. 2 Louisiana State University.
His go-to receiver this season has been another junior, Tavon Austin. While Austin is small – listed at 5-foot-9, 176 pounds – he is quick and explosive, running a 4.47 40-yard dash coming out of high school.
He leads the Mountaineers with 31 catches and 423 yards this season after catching 58 passes last season. However, he has only found the end zone once in 2011.
Also serving as a prime target for Smith has been redshirt sophomore Stedman Bailey. So far, he has 23 catches for 344 yards and a team-leading three touchdown receptions.
With heavy focus on the passing game, the Mountaineers have not pursued much of a running game this season, causing them to be one-dimensional. As a team, they have run for 306 yards in four games, or 122 yards fewer than Anthon Samuel has put up by himself this season.
West Virginia is averaging only 2.7 yards per carry. Leading the charge for them in the run game has been freshman Vernard Roberts, who has 112 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries this season.
Defensively, the Mountaineers are 68th in scoring defense, allowing 25.8 points per game. However, that number was negatively skewed by them allowing 47 points to LSU last week.
Despite only allowing 366 yards to LSU, West Virginia has experienced some defensive breakdowns this season.
Just two weeks ago, they allowed 477 yards and 31 points to a Maryland team that was held to 240 yards and seven points by Temple last week.
The Mountaineers will look to throw the ball early and often against BG this weekend as they lead the nation with 49.7 pass attempts per game. Last season, they attempted only 29 pass attempts per game, on average.
