By Dave Morrison
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart is aware of his primary concerns coming out of Friday’s 30-19 loss to South Florida.
And one of those primary concerns is secondary. Or, to a point, the secondary.
West Virginia was badly burned by South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels, a redshirt freshman, and his group of wide receivers.
And on more than one instance.
The most glaring was a six-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Griffin, who was wide open and all alone in the end zone. It was one of three TD passes by Daniel, which included a 49-yarder to Carlton Mitchell.
“First of all, we’re going to show them the film, tell them the absolute truth and the whole truth,” Stewart said. “I want to show them our contain problems.”
Of which there were many.
One of the ones being picked on was 5-foot-10, 190-pound redshirt sophomore Keith Tandy.
“I’m not going to stand here and point a finger at little No. 8 (Tandy), I can assure you that,” Stewart said. “That’s not the way I operate, nor do my coaches. That ballgame did not rest on that little guy, because there are 10 other guys out there that can be getting better pressure (or) break on the ball.”
Daniel did a pretty good Pat White imitation against the Mountaineers, throwing for 232 yards and rushing for another 104.
Stewart said senior linebacker Reed Williams likely won’t be an “80-play guy” for the rest of the season, due to injuries that have hampered him this season.
“Will he play? Yes, he will play and (he) played very well from the time he was in there (against South Florida),” Stewart said. “Reed made a difference. I don’t think Reed will ever play a complete, every-play-game again this year.”
West Virginia (6-2, 2-1 Big East) now must prepare for Louisville (3-5, 0-3). The game kicks off at noon and will be televised on the Big East Network (WOAY-TV 4 locally).
West Virginia is 8-2 all-time versus the Cardinals and has won the last two games.
Steve Kragthorpe is in his third season at Louisville (14-18) and WVU’s Stewart is in his second full season (16-6).
— E-mail: demorrison@
register-herald.com
