West Virginia made the trip down to Orlando and came away with a 41-28 victory over UCF. West Virginia used five rushing touchdowns to propel the way to victory.
But how did the individual players grade out?
This article will take a look at the Pro Football Focus grades from West Virginia’s game against UCF. The list will be split into offense and defense and list the grades from first to worst then discuss the notable highlights from the grades.
Offense
- HB Jahiem White: 85.2 (20 snaps)
- QB Garrett Greene: 80.4 (75 snaps)
- HB CJ Donaldson Jr.: 79.1 (38 snaps)
- WR Rodney Gallagher III: 72.3 (14 snaps)
- LG Tomas Rimac: 68.2 (66 snaps)
- LT Wyatt Milum: 65.3 (76 snaps)
- WR EJ Horton: 64.9 (29 snaps)
- C Zach Frazier: 64.5 (76 snaps)
- HB Justin Johnson Jr.: 64.4 (20 snaps)
- QB Nicco Marchiol: 61.0 (1 snap)
- LT Johnny Williams IV: 60.0 (1 snap)
- RG Sullivan Weidman: 60.0 (2 snaps)
- HB Jaylen Anderson: 60.0 (1 snap)
- WR Devin Carter: 59.6 (31 snaps)
- WR Jarel Williams: 57.2 (17 snaps)
- WR Preston Fox: 55.1 (52 snaps)
- RT Doug Nester: 55.0 (19 snaps)
- LG Brandon Yates: 51.3 (70 snaps)
- WR Traylon Ray: 50.9 (40 snaps)
- RG Ja’Quay Hubbard: 50.5 (21 snaps)
- TE Treylan Davis: 45.5 (39 snaps)
- TE Kole Taylor: 43.8 (69 snaps)
- RT Nick Malone: 38.3 (59 snaps)
Jaheim White led the way amongst the offensive players this week. He had nine carries for 85 yards and a touchdown, leading the team with 9.4 yards per carry and an 81.5 rushing grade.
CJ Donaldson had his highest individual game grade since the Backyard Brawl against Pitt. He led the team with 121 rushing yards against UCF.
Rodney Gallagher had far and away his best performance of the season. He had two catches for 20 yards vs UCF after only having two catches for nine yards in the six games prior.
In his return, Tomas Rimac led the team with an 83.9 pass blocking grade. Every starter on the offensive line except for Wyatt Milum finished with a better pass blocking grade than run blocking grade.
Gallagher and EJ Horton had the two highest run blocking grades on the team as wide receivers with 77.6 and 75.1 marks respectively.
Doug Nester was in the midst of his lowest graded game of the season prior to exiting with an injury. His replacement, Nick Malone, didn’t fare much better as he also had his lowest graded game of the season.
Kole Taylor has had his lowest graded games of the season in back-to-back weeks. Part of it can be contributed to low grades in the passing game.
Defense
- LB Ben Cutter: 85.4 (45 snaps)
- LB Lee Kpogba: 79.8 (72 snaps)
- DL Edward Vesterinen: 72.0 (40 snaps)
- CB Jacolby Spells: 71.5 (17 snaps)
- CB Malachi Ruffin: 70.4 (61 snaps)
- FS Aubrey Burks: 67.5 (69 snaps)
- CB Beanie Bishop Jr.: 66.9 (69 snaps)
- DL Mike Lockhart: 66.7 (32 snaps)
- DL Fatorma Mulbah: 62.0 (21 snaps)
- DL Jalen Thornton: 60.4 (27 snaps)
- DL Hammond Russell IV: 59.2 (6 snaps)
- SS Marcis Floyd: 56.5 (47 snaps)
- SPEAR Raleigh Collins III: 54.1 (31 snaps)
- SS Anthony Wilson: 54.1 (67 snaps)
- DL Davoan Hawkins: 53.1 (24 snaps)
- DL Asani Redwood: 52.2 (12 snaps)
- DL Sean Martin: 51.9 (39 snaps)
- BAN Tyrin Bradley: 51.7 (30 snaps)
- LB Caden Biser: 50.9 (26 snaps)
- DL Tomiwa Durojaiye: 46.7 (14 snaps)
- BAN Jared Bartlett: 38.5 (43 snaps)
The defense according to the PFF data had eight pressures, five quarterback hurries, one sack, 12 missed tackles, three pass breakups, three interceptions, and two penalties.
Linebacker play led the defensive PFF grades this week. Ben Cutter had his highest graded game of the season, while Kee Kpogba had his highest graded game since the Penn State game in Week 1.
Cutter led the team with 77.7 and 78.9 run defense and coverage grades respectively. He was also credited with not missing a tackle for the first time since becoming a starter.
Kpogba led the team with 82.7 and 80.7 tackling and pass rushing grades respectively. He had the lone sack of the game for the Mountaineers and also led the team with eight combined tackles and three pressures.
Malachi Ruffin had two of the team’s three pass breakups this week, with Ben Cutter having the other one.
Beanie Bishop had the two interceptions for West Virginia, but also allowed a touchdown in coverage.
With both Hershey McLaurin and Lance Dixon missing from the lineup this week, Raleigh Collins saw extended playing time this week at the spear position. He had an 80.9 tackling grade but graded out at 51.1 in coverage where he allowed a touchdown.
Sean Martin has had his two lowest graded games in back-to-back weeks. Him having his lowest graded run defense grades of the season as well has played a factor into that.
Caden Biser saw his first action at linebacker against FBS competition this season. He had one of the lowest run defense grades on the team at 46.4.
Like Martin, Jared Bartlett has had his lowest graded games of the season in back-to-back weeks. His run defense and coverage grade were also the lowest on the team this week.
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