Know Thy Enemy: Gobbler Country Talks With Smoking Musket

The game is in 3 days people! Gobbler Country had a chance for some Q&A with the Smoking Musket. The Smoking Musket is SBNation’s dedicated West Virginia site. We learned a few things about the Mountaineers, and hope you do too:

Gobbler Country: Dana Holgorsen is entering his seventh season at W.V.U..How happy do you think the fan base is with his performance? Is he on any time of hot seat?

Smoking Musket: Any sort of hot seat for Holgo was extinguished after last year's 10-3 campaign and his shiny new contract extension. Dana's taken more of a CEO role with the comfort of extension and Jake Spavital taking over playcalling duties, and it seems to be suiting him nicely. He still has his detractors and flaws, but he's set up nicely in Morgantown for the next few seasons.

GC: What are overall impressions of Will Grier so far? How has his camp been?

SM: He's been everything he was advertised as so far. Grier is far and away the best quarterback on the roster and a strong season could set him up for a one and done career at WVU. The biggest question for Grier are whether or not he'll have enough big play threats at receiver.

GC: What players on the West Virginia offense should Virginia Tech fans look out for?

SM:It's the backfield. West Virginia has a three headed monster in Justin Crawford, Kennedy McKoy, and Martell Petteway who each bring differing skill sets. Crawford will be the primary back and will put up big numbers, McKoy is a balanced back with a strong presence out of the backfield, and Petteway is a bruising power back who had a coming out party against Iowa State when we had to burn his redshirt due to injury. Holgo has learned to stop worrying and love the running back, leading Mike Leach to kick him out of the Air Raid for good.

GC: Playing in the Big 12 generally means high scoring ball games. Do you think W.V.U. will be able to hang a big number on the Hokies?

SM: I don't expect a huge number, mostly because I feel like the first half is going to be a feeling out process, with someone up 10-7 or so. The second half may break out a bit more, but I expect a 27-24, 24-21 kind of game.

GC: Who is poised for a breakout season on the defense?

SM: It's definitely the safeties, who have a chance to be the best pair in the Big 12. Dravon Askew-Henry is coming back from injury but had two very strong seasons as a freshman and sophomore and Kyzir White is a hammer at the Strong Safety position.

GC: What will the final score be and why?

SM: Like I said, I'm expecting a slow start that leads to a game in the 20s or so. I think that Grier makes a few huge throws, Crawford breaks a big run, and the 3-3-5 causes Jackson to make just enough Freshman mistakes to give West Virginia a close win.

Special thanks to Matt Kirchner from @smokingmusket for answering our questions!