WKU Football: Grading WKU’s 15–14 Win Over UTEP
WKU returned to action on Saturday following the bye week and avoided near disaster in a 15–14 victory over a winless UTEP. Let’s analyze…
WKU returned to action on Saturday following the bye week and avoided near disaster in a 15–14 victory over a winless UTEP. Let’s analyze what went right (and wrong) during the Tops’ third victory of the season.
Defense: C+
Lets start with one of the few bright spots on the day: The defense once again put WKU in position to win for the fifth straight game. While they were far from perfect, giving up 287 yards to an offense led by a back-up quarterback, Clayton White’s unit did find ways to get stops on third down and forced UTEP to make field goals that, luckily, they didn’t make. The bend-but-don’t-break tendency of White’s unit has me nervous for when the Tops play a competent offense, but any time you give up only 14 points on the road, you can’t criticize a unit too much, especially when your offense repeatedly puts that unit back on the field.
Pass Rush: D
A big reason that UTEP was able to maintain drives and outgain WKU is the continued non-existent pass rush. Against the Miners, the Tops had zero sacks and just four hurries. UTEP backup quarterback Zack Greenlee would regularly step up in the pocket to deliver a long pass or would keep it and pick up crucial yards (he ran for 46 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries).
Through five games, the defense has just four sacks.
While sacks aren’t the end all be all, a pass rush does take pressure off of defensive backs and takes opposing quarterbacks out of their rhythm. If WKU’s defense is going to continue to carry the water for the whole team, then the pass rush (along with forced turnovers) will be an area that has to improve as the schedule toughens over the last six games.
Mike White: C-
After five games it has become evident that WKU’s offense will go as far as Mike White will take them. On Saturday, besides two touchdown drives, he once again failed to live up to his preseason potential. White finished passing for just 208 yards and completed 24 of his 37 pass attempts. White eliminated the turnovers that have hampered the offense in the pre-bye week slate, but did misfire on passes and took a few bad sacks that killed drives.
While the lack of a running game and poor offensive line play isn’t his fault, White needs to elevate his play if WKU wants to have a productive offense. That means connecting on more deep passes and avoiding debilitating sacks that veteran quarterbacks shouldn’t take. The fact that he now has more rushing touchdowns (four) than passing touchdowns (two) on the season shows just how much he’s struggled to live up to his 2016 campaign.
Rushing Offense: F
The one glaring area that we all expected (or hoped) would improve after the bye week would be the rushing offense. Unfortunately, Saturday’s performance didn’t do anything to dispel what has become the worst rushing offense in the nation. Against a UTEP, team that had allowed an average of 268.8 rushing yards per game, the WKU running game combined to rush for just 74 yards on 33 carries. That 2.2 yards per carry continued to stall drives and put pressure on the passing game to pick up long gains that they repeatedly couldn’t convert.
For an offense that is built around running the ball, the lack of a running game has caused near irreparable harm to the entire team. Running the ball takes confidence and grit and when the Tops hand the ball off you can tell the offensive line and running backs have neither. The lack of a sustained rushing attack also allows defenses to pin their ears back on pass plays. WKU has to improve on this problem area since the passing game has proven they can’t carry the offense all by themselves.
Mike Sanford: D
The WKU fanbase had high expectations for Sanford heading into this match-up against the winless Miners and he greatly disappointed in what proved to be yet another example of his coaching inexperience.
WKU came out as flat as you could against a reeling team with an interim coach. With two weeks to prepare, the Tops punted on six of their 11 drives and only put themselves into scoring position three times all day. None of the problem areas that have plagued the team (poor O-Line play, pass protection or rushing offense) appeared to get better. The defense also came out lethargic, letting the Miners run down their throats in the first half and giving up 14 points (along with a missed field goal).
Sanford has repeatedly talked a big game since he arrived in Bowling Green but has failed to back up his words with the play on the field. The only area of the offense that has consistently worked is the up-tempo, hurry up offense that they occasionally run, but he has leaned too much on his ineffective ball control system when games get tight. UTEP outgained and outpossessed the Tops on offense. Sanford has to quit blaming inexperience and transition, and show tangible signs of improvement or this season could go south in a hurry.
Overall Grade: D-
There’s no other way to put it — this game was a near disaster. Against a winless team that had allowed 45 points a game heading into this one, WKU came out flat and slept walked to post just 15 points. They didn’t look like they wanted to be there and the team has lost all confidence offensively.
Without UTEP’s poor placekicking, they would have lost this game. There is really no way to spin this one other than the fact that road wins are tough regardless of who you’re playing. WKU has one more hapless opponent to prove they are starting to turn the corner (this coming week against Charlotte). After Saturday’s pathetic performance, the hope for a turnaround have been greatly diminished.
What say you? What would you grade yesterday’s performance in terms of individuals or overall? Were we too harsh on anyone? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.