3^rd quarter

14:50: Tandy on a combined tackle for a gain of 2, good instincts to come up and play the run.

13:57: Tandy in on a similar tackle near the line, gain of 3 or 4.

11:33: Tandy thrown on, inaccurate and incomplete.

5:46: Brandon Lindsey in on another sack, this time a combined sack, beating Barclay.

2:34: Julian Miller on a sack, almost a safety. Miller hasn’t been an every down end this year, but he could still get drafted late. He looked good part. His bookend Bruce Irvin also got pressure on the play.

1:37: Barclay with a pancake block.

0:57: Barclay overpowers Lindsey on a run play, pushes him off the line for a long way, plowing open a sizable hole.

4^th quarter

3:47: Julian Miller having a good game here, which will help him get drafted. He gets a tackle for a loss or at worst no gain here on a designed quarterback run. He also has a sack and a few other nice plays, especially against the run.

3:05: Bruce Irvin with a combined sack with sophomore defensive end Will Clarke. This is West Virginia’s 6^th sack of the night.

1:52: Julian Miller with another sack. His stock is on the rise.

0:00: The strength of West Virginia’s defense is it’s pass defense, with a strong pass rush led by seniors Bruce Irvin and Julian Miller, as well as a few rotational underclassmen, as well as one of the better cornerbacks in the country, Keith Tandy. Pittsburgh seemed to know this and decided to run a very conservative offense, running 58 times to 23 passes, although a whopping 10 sacks (more on those later), skewed those numbers a bit. Pittsburgh did this despite missing their two top running backs. Ray Graham was already out for the season and his replacement, senior Zach Brown, went down in this game.

Pittsburgh’s quarterback Tino Sunseri played very poorly, going 12 of 23 for 131 yards, no touchdowns, and a pick. He took 10 sacks and a good amount of those were on him holding the ball too long. Forcing Sunseri hold the ball too long was West Virginia cornerback Keith Tandy. Tandy had an excellent game as none of Sunseri’s 12 completions were completed against him. He played well in coverage all game.

Against the run was a bit of a different story. Tandy did have 5 tackles, but he was run over for a rushing touchdown. The 5-10 200 cornerback should be better against the run considering his size, and he looks like a physical imposing cornerback, but missed tackles seem to be a trend for him. He missed a couple against West Virginia, including one on Mohamed Sanu’s touchdown reception. There’s definitely a lot to work with with Tandy and I think he looks like a 3^rd or 4^th rounder, but he’s not a complete prospect yet.

Back to West Virginia’s 10 sacks, yes poor pocket presence and good coverage helped, but those 10 sacks really showed West Virginia’s awesome ability to get to the passer. Bruce Irvin had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss. Julian Miller, who isn’t even an every down end anymore, had 4 sacks and 4 tackles for loss.

Miller has good size at 6-3 265 and had 9 sacks and 14 tackles for loss last season, but he hasn’t been an every down end anymore this season, which is obviously hurting his stock. This 4 sack game obviously will give his stock new life as he tries to get drafted. He still looks like a day 3 prospect, but could get drafted towards the top of day 3, rounds 4 or 5, after this game.

Bruce Irvin had 1.5 sacks to give him 7 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss on the season. He has 4.5 sacks in his last 3 games, which is helping his stock. He had a huge season last year with 14 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, but his size at 6-3 245 will hurt him. He struggled against the run in this one as well, part of the reason that Pittsburgh ran the ball as much as they did. Pittsburgh’s 3^rd string tailback rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Irvin looks like a day 2 prospect as a 3-4 outside linebacker, but I still have about a borderline 3^rd/4^th round grade on him.

Pittsburgh has a great pass rusher as well, defensive end Brandon Lindsey. Lindsey was matched up with West Virginia’s Don Barclay, their 6-4 310 left tackle, for most of the game. Barclay is having a strong senior season, including a game in which he held Vinny Curry, one of the nation’s leaders in sacks, without a sack. However, Lindsey got the best of him for almost the entirety of the game. Lindsey got consistent pressure. Lindsey had 2 sacks and a 2 tackles for loss in this one, giving him 7.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss on the season.

Lindsey struggled earlier this season against two of the better offensive tackles in the country, Iowa’s Riley Reiff and Connecticut’s Mike Ryan, so having a good game against Barclay will help his stock. Lindsey looked like a potential 2^nd round pick coming into the season after 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss last season, but he had been struggling a bit this season. This game could help him get drafted in the 3^rd round, but he might still fall into the 4^th round. The 6-2 250 pound Lindsey is a bit small and weak against the run and probably will have to move to 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level.

As for Barclay, this game won’t help his stock. He really didn’t look athletic at all and at best he’s a right tackle at the next level. He looks like a mid to late day 3 prospect. Barclay was decent run blocking against Lindsey, who isn’t great against the run, but he should have been better considering his strength is run blocking and Lindsey’s weakness is the run. West Virginia was still in single digits in rushing yards at the half, though part of that can be chalked up to poor running. Barclay was better in the 2^nd half, generally overpowering Lindsey against the run, as West Virginia finished with 113 yards. Still, he didn’t play that well against the run and those 2 sacks allowed will hurt, as will his consistent giving up pressure.