By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
When Jahiem White suffered a season-ending injury in week two against Ohio, the Mountaineers coaching staff relied on Clay Ash to be the main back against the Bobcats, and relied on him against the Pitt Panthers, but he wasn’t producing eye-popping numbers.
Against Pitt, Ash finished with 37 yards on 12 carries averaging 3.1 yards per carry.
On the flip side, the time that Tye Edwards entered the game against Pitt he took over and garnished all the momentum for the WVU offense.
On his 25 rushing attempts he tallied 141 yards with three touchdowns cementing himself as the top running back in the 31-24 overtime win.
When it came to the Ohio game, the Mountaineers rushed for a total of 72 yards on 28 carries with White carrying the load prior to his injury. Surprisingly enough though, Edwards did not see the field against Ohio in the 17-10 loss.
It was a completely different story against Pitt.
The offensive line that didn’t show up and got bullied around against Ohio, showed up and bullied Pitt’s defensive line.
WVU as a team rushed it 58 times for 174 yards with all three touchdowns being from Edwards.
This upcoming week against Kansas will be Edwards true breakout game for the Mountaineers. He may not score three touchdowns, but he will likely get more than 25 rushes. As a defense, the Jayhawks, per NCAA.com, is tied 57th in the nation giving up 117 yards per game on the ground and 3.97 yards per carry along with allowing five touchdowns.
I do think that Edwards will once break over the 100-yard mark for the second straight week against Kansas. If the offensive line plays like it did against Pitt, then this could be a game won in the trenches and WVU may have the slight edge, especially on the defensive front.
West Virginia enters the Kansas game with 12 sacks through three games played. The Mountaineers had a total of 20 sacks all last season. Over the span of three weeks, WVU had four sacks against Robert Morris, two against Ohio and six against Pitt.
Photo: WVU Athletics
