WVU O-line looks to move on after disappointing performance vs. OU

Put another way, if Howard were President of the United States and the offensive line the Secret Service, we’d be swearing in a new President.

But Eric Striker, the Sooners’ rabid linebacker, would no longer be around to feast upon WVU personnel, and that had to be good news, as was the idea that the Mountaineers were coming home to play against Oklahoma’s cross-state rival Oklahoma State.

That, you felt, had to be good news, for as center Tyler Orlosky said following the Oklahoma loss, “Obviously, you can’t give up seven sacks and win games.”

The problem is, when it comes to sacks and throwing runners for losses, Oklahoma State is better than Oklahoma, better than Alabama, better than LSU. You name it, they are better for they rank No. 1 in the nation in sacks with 4.40 per game.

And tackles for losses? Yep, No. 1 there, too, with 10.2 per game.

It is a difficult situation looming for this Homecoming game.

“We played a very good team in a hostile environment against a very good defense,” coach Dana Holgorsen said of the Oklahoma loss.

“Oklahoma State brings a lot of the same challenges.”

As bad as that sounds, he sees it as a challenge that may spur the line to tighten up.

“With all kidding aside, it gives us an opportunity to work on things that we have to work on. We want to play with motivation and be a little bit smarter with our technique,” he said.

Offensive line coach Ron Crook is the type who prefers to see the sunshine that lurks behind the clouds and because of that, he isn’t looking to panic.

“We want to execute better over the course of the entire game than we did last week,” he admitted. “It was good at times, it just wasn’t good enough for long enough.”

The offensive line itself is well aware of what transpired at Oklahoma and that it well could happen again should they not do perform some quick fixes. See, they rank 123rd in the nation in sacks allowed, right there with Texas and Iowa State, neither of which is to be confused with Baylor and TCU.

The Mountaineers are 118th in tackles for losses, hardly an improvement.

And even though Striker is no longer around to torment WVU, the Cowboys offer Emmanel Ogbah, who is fourth nationally in sacks and tackles for losses and eighth in the nation in quarterback hurries.

All of this caused the group to gather to watch film with the coaches and to discuss matters on their own.

“The biggest thing is to stay positive,” starting left guard Adam Pankey said. “We knew that there was a possibility that we could meet a bump in the road during the season, because the Big 12 is a tough league. The biggest thing is to keep moving forward and move on to the next game. It’s about putting this one behind us and getting ready for the new challenge this week.”

And what came out of the linemen’s meeting?

“We get together and say ‘this isn’t good, we have to do better.’ We have to step up our game and help the team,” he said.

Just what has happened to cause this breakdown?

A major factor is growing pains. WVU is playing a freshman at left tackle in Yodny Cajuste, a promising prospect but who simply had his hands full being on the side where Striker was a responsibility.

It reached a point in the game where Holgorsen opted to move Pankey back to left tackle, where he started last year, and put Tony Matteo in the guard spot.

“It’s not too bad for me,” Pankey said of the interior shuffle. “I started all my games there last year. I’m confident bumping out there at times. It’s no big difference for me and it lets me give some relief to Yod when he needs it.”