West Virginia University football is known for its explosive plays.
Head coach Todd Graham talked about it. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey talked about it. Everyone knew what was at stake.
The game plan didn’t work.
On third-and-10 in the second quarter, redshirt senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington lost his man and gave up a 16-yard completion. WVU scored later in the drive.
On third-and-12 in the third quarter, WVU handed the ball off to redshirt junior running back Rushel Shell. He rushed for 13.
On third-and-22, WVU handed the ball off to junior running back Wendell Smallwood. Though he approached 1,500 rushing yards this season, ASU was holding him below 50 to that point, and WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen said it felt like the Sun Devils were blitzing “100 percent” of the time, but they weren’t this time.
“We finally got them playing off,” Holgorsen said. “Wendell (Smallwood) is a great player. He’s going to make that play when we have the numbers to make that play.”
Smallwood, who approached 1,500 rushing yards during the season, got a 24-yard gain. First down.
Through the air, WVU was especially effective. ASU was especially ineffective. A lot of this was due to multiple players missing in ASU’s defense. Redshirt sophomore linebacker Marcus Ball started at SPUR and sophomore defensive back Chad Adams started at free safety.
Adams struggled, blowing a couple coverages, but senior defensive back Kweishi Brown gave up more yards. He was the primary defender on seven huge gains accounting for 296 yards.
On a couple, a different defender was “credited” with the blown coverage, but he had been part of the defense against that receiver each time.
On the first drive, 56 yards and 16 yards. Later, a 26-yard completion. 31 yards.
Finally, Brown was beat by redshirt sophomore Shelton Gibson. With a stutter-step, he fooled Brown into going inside. Gibson shot to the out, caught a pass, and scored a 56-yard touchdown.
Brown checked out of the game, came back in and allowed a 10-yard floater above his head to go for a fade route in the back right corner of the end zone.
He was torched on a 64-yard touchdown. Later, he was almost five yards behind his man when Gibson caught a 37-yard gain.
WSU junior quarterback Skyler Howard avoided explicitly stating he was attacking Brown, but didn’t deny it.
“We wanted to take advantage of (the matchup),” he said. “We watched a lot of film. … We knew what we were going to get with that.”
It was just a year ago that Brown was being burned in a different bowl game. Jamison Crowder, a former Duke wide receiver and now on the Washington Redskins, beat him all game long. That is, until the end, when Brown forced a fumble and then clinched the game with an interception in the end zone to win it.
While Brown broke up a couple passes in the fourth quarter in the Cactus Bowl, he didn’t have much positive impact. It could’ve been worse: a defender beat him for a would’ve-been 70-yard touchdown, but Howard slightly overthrew him.
Graham was excited when Brown transferred from junior college. He called him athletic and said he would help the secondary.
Brown has experienced struggles all season, but this game really exposed him.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
