What I Think… As Utah Bullies West Virginia

I am sorry this article is just now getting published, much like the West Virginia Mountaineers, it is a day late and a dollar short, showing up too late to do anything of note, but alas, it is here and we have things to talk about. West Virginia got absolutely manhandled by the Utah Utes, and now fans are having an identity and personality crisis as they try to rectify and understand just what the 2025 season will look like. Does West Virginia now have a quarterback or are they once again trying to figure things out on the fly? Let’s talk.

Jaylen Henderson

I absolutely agreed with the benching, or demotion, of Nicco Marchiol and pushing Jaylen Henderson as QB1, given that he did do some things against Kansas that appeared to actually move the offense, though I wondered if Henderson had the capability to pass the ball, since nearly every pass he has thrown comes out at one speed — fast as possible — and there does not appear to be any touch or finesse in his throws. That fear was realized during the first half of the game against Utah, when Henderson just could not complete passes — he finished the day 3-of-12 for 22 yards.

The lack of passing is a detriment but more so, Henderson appeared to just not make the right reads or gives on plays. One play that comes to mind is a third down call when the Mountaineers rushed Henderson and the running back to the left and Henderson was cut down by the linebacker for a short gain. I wondered out loud: why would you run your quarterback to his weak side, with no blockers, and have what looks to be a pitch man cut inside and just stop? It seemed like it was an easy chase down for the linebacker — because it was. But more so, who designs a play that way?

Almost immediately after that play, Rich Rod was seen blowing a fuse at Henderson, and you have to wonder if Rod wasn’t happy simply because the plays appeared to have guys open and Henderson was not making the read. Credit to Mike Casazza at 247Sports, who articulated this point well, but you wonder if part of the slog of the offense is because Henderson just was not making reads or gives to players who had the ability to pick up yards. There were fake end arounds that Henderson didn’t give, there were dives that Henderson didn’t give, and there were throws that Henderson didn’t make that had chances. You have to give playmakers a chance.

Khalil Wilkins

I’ll go on record saying that I think Wilkins is the first guy this year who looks like a quarterback who has the ability to run Rodriguez’s offense. Wilkins did something that I think separates average from good or great players — he read blocks and gave those blocks time to set up and develop. On a particular quarterback draw, Wilkins took the snap, held the ball, then took off and waited, waited, and waited for his center to seal off the linebacker. When he did, Wilkins ran the correct direction and gained more yardage. Too many times players are in a hurry to get up to full speed and get moving without giving the blocks a chance to develop and seal.

This is something you see in basketball and lower-level football when players run the wrong direction on a screen, outrun their screens, or hurry up and get tackled before anyone else has a chance to actually set a block. Wilkins looked patient in his runs and gave his blockers a chance to make their moves before trying to advance.

Where Wilkins really seemed to shine was in the passing area, as he gave Cam Vaughn a chance to make a play, which he did, and Gallagher a chance to make a play, which he did before a phantom call. Not all of the plays were good, but even the bad plays — the overthrow and underthrow — look to be something that can be fixed. I’m encouraged by the overthrow because despite being rushed, he nearly made a great throw. The underthrow feels like a play when you know you have to make this throw and ohmygoshheswideopendon’tscrewthisup — you know the feeling — I have to make this play and holy shit it’s right there don’t screw up don’t screw up oh god I screwed up.

I think you have to give Wilkins the chance to be QB1, though I don’t think anything changes next week. I know for certain Nicco and Henderson aren’t it and won’t be the long-term answer, and I’d rather ride with Wilkins now and see if he has the ability to learn in this offensive system.

Defense

After three weeks of looking like gangbusters, and four weeks where the team seemed to have success on third down, Utah did whatever, whenever, however they wanted against our defense. I feel for Zac Alley, who I thought had a pretty good game plan. The defense didn’t try to rush Dampier much, given how fast Utah schemed to get the ball out of his hands. Rather, Alley looked to try and clog up the first read passing lanes, which is what I would have thought to do. Dampier had a helluva day, holding the ball and making his second and third read, delivering the ball downfield, and doing all of the things that he hadn’t done previously.

Utah did a very good job of running some sort of flow and misdirection plays. It seemed like many of Utah’s plays flowed one way, Dampier would come back to the backside, and that one player would be open. It happened again and again and again.

There is no sugarcoating this: the defense got their butts whooped. They didn’t wrap up on tackles, they were getting hit 3–4 yards from the line of scrimmage, and they just got bullied. It’s a bit worrisome after the start the defense had, and maybe the team is just tired from having to carry this anemic offense for four games. The dam was likely to break, and it’s possible it broke on Saturday. The good news hopefully is that not everyone is going to look like Utah and be as physical as Utah, but it’s possible that the defense has been figured out and Alley now needs to find a new way to create the havoc he was creating.

2025 and Rebuild Fatigue

Getting to the crux of this article, the community is once again at each other and throwing around all sorts of backlash. Some people are pointing out Neal Brown, some people are ready to move on from Rich Rod, and no one is happy. I get it. Seven years of watching completely inept football makes anyone tired. I’m tired of being bad, you’re tired of being bad, and we are all tired of being non-competitive.

Seven years is a long time to go from being ranked and near the top of the conference to not being ranked and now getting blown out at home by 30+ points. The fall from relevancy is a tough one to swallow, and we may be reaching a tumultuous point in this cycle. West Virginia is unable to get the attention of players good enough to change the tides because they haven’t been relevant in so long, but you need players capable of changing the tide to be relevant. It is a vicious cycle that we have to fix.

Do I know that Rod is the savior? No, I do not. There is a real chance this ends in three years and we are staring down the barrel of a decade of not being ranked. But there is also a chance that Rod finds the pieces this year, starts to get some things figured out, and what is a bad season this year turns into an acceptable season next year.

The current era of football is unsustainable, simply because the transferring and paying of players is killing the will of too many schools. Sure, the top 24 schools might survive and all get what they want, but is it good enough to have 24 haves, 110 have-nots, and not do something to try to make the field closer to even for everyone? If we are asking West Virginia and many other schools to raise 20–40 million dollars every single year just to get to the starting line, what are we doing with college athletics?

I have to hope that at some point this ride turns around because it is the eternal hope of fans that keeps athletics alive. If we all have to agree that West Virginia is never going to be good — and by good I mean win 8 games, be better than bottom four in conference, and make a bowl game that doesn’t start on December 23 — then why are we fans? It is the hope that kills you, as they say, but that hope has to be returned. I think it will, but it probably won’t be this year.

I think we can all agree this year is going to be bad. Ohio exposed the cracks, Kansas provided the proof, and Utah shattered the dreams. This year will not be a good year for us and in fact might challenge the school record for losses. Yet the hope that has to remain is that pieces are here but need time to develop and learn. And more so, new pieces will come in and we can find the diamond in the rough that we are missing.