MORGANTOWN – As the West Virginia University football team’s defense has struggled at several points this season, chief among them has been an inability to get off the field at the right time.
The Mountaineers sit near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision in allowing both third-down and fourth-down conversions. That inability to force a punt has kept opponents’ drives alive, often all the way to the end zone. It is a problem the team knows it must fix before visiting Arizona for a 7 p.m. Saturday game (FS1). And players and coaches say a way to solve the problem is to stand firmer on first and second downs.
West Virginia (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) is ranked 122nd in the FBS in opponents’ third-down conversions, allowing them at a 45.8% rate. The Mountaineers are 104th nationally in opponents’ fourth-down conversions, allowing them at a 64.3% rate.
The problem loomed even larger in WVU’s last two losses, nationally televised home night games against Iowa State and Kansas State. In those games, West Virginia allowed 16 of 26 third-down conversions (61.5%) and 3 of 3 fourth-down conversions combined to ISU and KSU.
Those conversions have come at some of the worst times for the Mountaineers. WVU and Iowa State were tied at 7-7 with 10:47 left in the second quarter when the Cyclones got the ball back. Within the first nine plays of the drive, they had converted a third and 3, a third and 2 and a third and 10 to keep alive what ended up as a 17-play touchdown drive that ate 8:08 off the game clock and gave Iowa State a 14-7 lead.
The third and 10 came at the ISU 31.
WVU coach Neal Brown said the Mountaineers’ defense on third and intermediate distances has been especially troublesome.
“That’s been our Achilles heel,” Brown said. “We’ve played pretty well on first and second down, but that third and 4 to 6, where you should get off the field at least half the time, we’re not doing that right now.”
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley agreed that third and intermediate yardage situations were hurting WVU’s defense. Opposing offenses have been able to find spaces within the Mountaineers’ zone coverage to convert them. Lesley said his unit had to find a way to keep those conversions from happening when playing zone.
“The biggest focus is trying your best to stay out of those,” he said. “And then you’ve got to try to adjust what you’re doing coverage-wise, to fit some of those sometimes without playing man coverage.”
Linebacker Reid Carrico said one of the keys to keeping third-and fourth-down conversions down is to end drives as quickly as possible. Offenses that can get to a second set of downs in a drive can gain enough momentum to keep the drive alive for even longer.
“You make a good play on the first down of the series and then you kind of get them to where they’re chasing the sticks,” Carrico said. “Then after that, they’ve got to make a good play on second down to where they can get to third and manageable or a first down. But once they get a first down off that first set of sticks, then momentum is playing in their favor a little bit.
“So if we can get more stops in the first set of chains, then that’s going to do a lot of good for us,” he added.
Arizona (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) might give West Virginia’s defense a break. As bad as WVU is at stopping teams on third and fourth down, Arizona is just as bad in converting them. The Wildcats are 98th nationally in third-down conversions (36.6%) and 121st in fourth-down conversions (36.4%).
Still, any errors on WVU’s part could let Arizona sneak some conversions by. Carrico said WVU’s defense must stay error-free, from the snap of the ball to the play-ending whistle.
“It’s all about just finishing plays,” he said. “It’s so crazy in football. It can be an eight-second play, and you can do everything right for seven-and-a-half seconds, but that half-second is the part where something gets messed up, and everybody remembers that. So it’s incredibly difficult.”
Injury updates
On his weekly radio show Thursday, Neal Brown said the status for quarterback Garrett Greene and offensive lineman Wyatt Milum have yet to be determined. Both suffered head injuries in last week’s loss against Kansas State. Running back Jahiem White will play, Brown said, as will defensive linemen T.J. Jackson and Hammond Russell. Defensive backs Ayden Garnes and Aubrey Burks will both be out.
— Story By Derek Redd
