Chip Shots

I just knocked out 500 miles of driving and I’m ready to get on with my holiday week. This column will be short, and to the point. West Virginia University’s football team lost another home game, again in dramatic fashion. Two weeks ago it was TCU connecting on a 94 yard play inside of two minutes to force overtime. Last Saturday WVU took a 49-44 lead over Oklahoma with 2:53 left in the game only to give up a late touchdown in a 50-49 loss. That touchdown pass was Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones’ sixth of the night and it also gave him a school record 544 yards passing.

Some of you may already know this, but that effort was good enough for Jones to be named the Big 12 offensive player of the week. Some of you may already know this as well, but this was the fifth time in six weeks a WVU opponent has been named the offensive player of the week. The only glitch in that stretch was West Virginia’s open date week. West Virginia’s defense continues to be brutalized; there will be no mercy this year.

Now, back to Saturday night. Jones was magnificent for the Sooners, but, and everyone should understand the bias here, West Virginia’s Tavon Austin was clearly the best football player on the field. For four years Austin has primarily lined up as a slot receiver for WVU. He was a highly regarded running back in high school at Dunbar High in Baltimore.

Saturday night WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen gave Austin 21 carries from the tailback position and the senior responded with a school record 344 yards and two touchdowns. This guy made it look so easy against an Oklahoma defense, that is regarded to be much better than West Virginia’s.

Anyway, Jones’ numbers speak volumes about WVU’s issues on defense, while Austin’s effort was truly remarkable.