West Virginia Football: Will OC Jeff Mullen Succeed in His Third Year?

A consensus is starting to form regarding offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen’s play calling in the season opener.

A plethora of fans have taken the short passes West Virginia University utilized in its opening season victory to conclude that Mullen is overmatched in his duties.

As many of those fans have pointed out, the short passing game is the same offense Mountaineer fans have seen for three years now. To be fair, that is a valid accord regarding Mullen’s approach.

Each of the last three seasons, the Mountaineer offense has begun the season in exactly the same fashion. Short passes and the dreaded bubble screens seem to be the only plays that Mullen calls.

To be fair to Mullen, the short, controlled passing game appears to be the nucleus of his offense. Coupled with an excellent running game, the WVU offense has generally owned time of possession in its respective games.

One critical piece to the puzzle is being overlooked by the Mountaineer faithful. The epiphany; WVU football is starting its third quarterback in as many years.

The revered Pat White was entering his senior season for the Mountaineers when Stewart and his offensive staff were hired.

After the first three games of that season, WVU sported a 1-2 record. Mullen scrapped his passing offense, and WVU returned to the spread rushing attack that White had made so famous.

Fans should remember that the Mountaineers rattled off five straight wins that season.

If Jeff Mullen could not coordinate an offense, he could not have switched offenses heading into the Auburn game that year.

Mullen slowly began to work his offense back into the game plan. Though there were two more losses that year, neither could be attributed directly to Mullen or his play selection.

WVU lost to the University of South Florida when Pat White was knocked from the game due to injury. Jarrett Brown simply did not play well enough in that game for WVU to win.

In the “Backyard Brawl” WVU was leading late in the game at Pitt. With the clock winding down, WVU gained a first down on a Noel Devine run. The first down could have signaled a victory for the Mountaineers.

Unfortunately, Ryan Stancheck, the Mountaineers' best offensive lineman, was called for holding on the play. Although that holding call did not seal the loss, it signaled the end for WVU in the game.

An interception by White was the final nail in the coffin for the Mountaineers in that game.

WVU ended the 2008 regular season 8-4 and earned a bid to the Car Care Bowl to face the University of North Carolina.

WVU won this game in large part due to the passing display that Pat White directed in the game.

Finally, after working with Mullen for an entire year, White understood the intricacies to his offense and used that knowledge to pass for a career best 332 yards.

Last year, Jarrett Brown took the reins of the Mountaineer offense from White. While Brown was a senior, he had limited experience entering the season, having been White’s backup.

It was thought that Brown possessed the necessary passing skills to make the offense hum at WVU. While Brown certainly had the required arm to throw the football, his overall understanding of the offense was not on par with his abilities.

Too often Brown would forego his progression reads on passing downs to tuck the ball and run for the necessary yardage. Like White, Brown was an excellent running quarterback.

Unlike White before him, Brown simply did not mature in the offense to the point that Mullen could progress with the play calling.

Ultimately, Brown was knocked from two games and knocked silly in a couple more. At one point in the season it was obvious that Brown was gun-shy, having taken too many hits to that point in the season.

Regardless of the offensive coordinator calling the plays, the quarterback must execute the offensive game plan.

Enter Geno Smith in 2010. Once again, Mullen is asking a first-year starting quarterback to run his offense effectively. As with the previous two years and two quarterbacks, a foundation has to be laid in order for knowledge to be built.

Smith played sparingly in 2009, completing 32 passes on 49 attempts for 309 yards, mostly in relief of the inured Brown.

As with White and Brown before him, Smith must work in steps to reach his full potential. Executing the base offense is one of those steps.

Against Coastal Carolina Smith executed the Mountaineers' base offense. Smith completed 74 percent of his passes and earned a quarterback rating of 158.3 by ESPN.

To further exasperate the offensive challenges at WVU, 2008 represented the third year in a row that the offensive line was being taught by a new coach.

Retired Marine Rick Trickett left Rich Rodriguez’ coaching staff at the end of the 2006 season. To say that Trickett was unique in his coaching practices regarding the offensive line does not do the man justice.

Rodriguez hired Greg Frey away from the University of South Florida to replace Trickett for the 2007 season. Although the blocking schemes were the same, the coaching style was completely different.

By the spring of 2008, Dave Johnson had been hired by Bill Stewart to coach his offensive line. This time, not only was the coach different, the blocking schemes were different as well.

Compounding the problem even further was the decision to change the type of lineman that the Mountaineers wanted to field. Rodriguez had recruited offensive linemen that averaged in the 280 pound range and were able to move in space.

Stewart prefers an offensive line that averages north of 295 pounds and dominates the space they occupy.

The 2010 version of the Mountaineer offensive line finally represents the type of line that Stewart envisioned.

Questions remain regarding the offensive line at WVU, for half of it. The right side of the offensive line has not yet progressed to the degree of the left side.

Geno Smith is a right handed quarterback. As such, the left side of the offensive line protects his blind side.

Friday’s game against Marshall will again see Mullen asking Smith to execute the Mountaineer attack. Having received an excellent rating for his previous game, look for Mullen to expand the responsibilities he places on Smith.

The Mountaineers will not be playing pitch and catch all over the field. Smith is still in his learning curve; Mullen will build slowly, though he will build on the first-game performance by Smith.

With Noel Devine on hand to pick up the slack, the Mountaineers will again ask the right side of the line to improve and open holes for Devine.

As with Smith, the right side of the offensive line is still in the process of learning. There will be improvement; how pronounced that improvement is remains to be seen.

Having resolved the special team woes of the previous two seasons and fielding an excellent defense, Stewart and Mullen can afford to err on the side of caution. Remember, the season is still in its infancy.

When the final gun sounds in Huntington on Friday night, rest assured there will be more questions than answers for the WVU faithful.

If a fan looks closely and pays attention, though, the question of whether Mullen is a capable offensive coordinator will be one positive step closer to being answered.