MORGANTOWN — A the beginning of the season, West Virginia’s defense was expected to be little more than a liability for the Mountaineers. After allowing nearly 500 total yards in a loss to Penn State in the season-opener, the Mountaineers’ defense looked like it would be in serious trouble this year.
In less than a month, however, that perception has completely flipped as the defense has turned in back-to-back impressive performances which have led to two Mountaineer victories.
“I think we’re fundamentally playing better,” defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said Monday. “In the environment of the transfer portal and when you get guys, nothing is more valuable than experience. That’s experience in the scheme of your defense and that just takes time.”
The biggest areas of improvement for WVU (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) have come in pass defense and on third downs.
The Mountaineers are currently fifth in the Big 12, allowing just 201.3 passing yards per game and they lead the conference holding opponents to just 25% on third downs (14 of 56).
“A complete 180 from what we did last year on third downs,” head coach Neal Brown said. “We’re getting into some more friendly down and distances. We’re better on 1st-and-10 and we’re getting teams into some 3rd-and-longs.”
The first true test for WVU’s improved defense will come later today when WVU takes on the TCU Horned Frogs (8 p.m./ESPN2).
Last year’s national runner-up, TCU (3-1, 1-0) is averaging 38.3 points and 501 yards per game on offense.
“The numbers are good, but we’ve left a lot of points out there,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said this week. “I think we’re a long way from playing at the level we need to play at. At least, we haven’t up to this point. My hope is we’ll do that Saturday.”
The Horned Frogs have scored at least 34 points in every game this season, but West Virginia figures to be the toughest defense they’ll face yet.
“I don’t see a weakness defensively,” Dykes said. “Typically when you go into a week you start looking at teams and say ‘we want to go after this guy’ or ‘they’re not good at this.’ You don’t really see much of that with West Virginia. They’re just a really solid defensive football team.”
Offensively, TCU is led by sophomore quarterback Chandler Morris, who has thrown for 1,121 yards and nine touchdowns already this season. He’s also added 184 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground.
Leading receivers JP Richardson (185), Warren Thompson (159) and Jaylon Robinson (120) are all already over 100 yards receiving, as is tight and Jared Wiley (120).
“They’ve got good weapons on offense,” Brown said. “They’re a real seasoned group offensively.”
Like WVU, TCU lost its season-opener — a 45-42 shootout against Colorado — and won its next three games.
“I think similar to us, they just got better,” Dykes said. “They played a pretty good opponent in week one and probably didn’t play their best game. They’ve had a chance to get back on track and just continue to get better on both sides of the ball.”
For the second week in a row, WVU’s starting quarterback is up in the air heading into kickoff. Starter Garrett Greene did not play last week against Texas Tech as redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol made his first career start.
WVU has not out-gained an FBS opponent yet this season, but it has won games over Pitt and Texas Tech thanks in large part to the way its defense has been playing.
“You can see, game to game, they get better offensively,” Dykes said. “They’ve become more certain of who they are and their identity and it’s the same thing on defense.”
