MORGANTOWN — Here’s a statement no one has been able to say about West Virginia University’s football team for a while.
Saturday’s win was thanks to the defense.
As maligned as the Mountaineer defense has been this season – and deservedly so – that unit was the reason WVU walked into Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium and walked out with a 31-24 win it needed for so many reasons.
Now, was it perfect? Hardly. Did WVU’s defense still show evidence of the struggles it has suffered all season? Sure. But the Mountaineer defense played much better than it had in several areas, and that was the difference in a game West Virginia couldn’t afford to lose.
“I’m excited for our defensive guys, man,” WVU coach Neal Brown said. “It’s been a tough couple weeks for them.”
Brown’s last comment was an understatement. The Mountaineers walked into the football building halfway through the bye week last week with a new defensive coordinator leading them. That change was necessary. Under Jordan Lesley, West Virginia had devolved into one of the nation’s worst defenses, especially in the passing game.
WVU needed to hit the reset button and, with Jeff Koonz now at the helm of the defense, it looks like the move worked.
Brown said that, as much of a difference Koonz might have made on gameday, it was his work during the practice week that really helped turn things around.
“What he really did a good job with during the week was forming belief and creating buy-in with the staff, but also creating buy-in and belief with the players,” Brown said. “They wanted to compete for him. Anytime you have a change, you’ve got to go in as the leaders and you’ve got to create the buy-in.
“He was really intentional about spending time with the people,” he continued. “People don’t understand that, but you’ve got to go in and they’ve got to want to play and compete for you.”
Here’s Saturday’s most important statistic: WVU had forced just six turnovers entering Saturday’s game, tied for 125th nationally. The Mountaineers forced three against Cincinnati. Two were returned for touchdowns. The third led to a field goal. That’s 17 points right there.
Take those away, and the Mountaineers are trudging out of Nippert with another loss. Even if WVU missed that field goal, those scores off turnovers made the difference in the game. Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, pressured out of the pocket and in the grasp of the WVU defender, floated a pass that Anthony Wilson snatched from the air and returned 79 yards for a touchdown, tying the game at 7-7.
“Everybody did their job,” Wilson said after the game, “the defensive line, the linebackers, the secondary, and it’s just a routine play I made.”
But the ramifications of that play were anything but routine. That pick came on a fourth and 1 on WVU’s 20. Cincinnati could have gone up two scores early, but West Virginia instead pulled back to even.
WVU’s second defensive score came at another crucial time. Cincinnati scored with 9:42 left in the game to cut WVU’s lead to 24-21. Then WVU’s offense, which sputtered the entire game, gave the ball back to the Bearcats. But on first and 10 on Cincinnati’s 27, Sorsby, again under pressure, threw the ball backwards. Tyrin Bradley picked it up, sprinted 14 yards for a touchdown and gave the Mountaineers a 10-point lead.
Not to be ignored was Reid Carrico’s forced fumble on Sorsby that Kekoura Tarnue recovered in the second quarter. WVU kicked a field goal there for a 10-7 lead.
Those turnovers were a total team effort. The pressure WVU defenders put on Sorsby throughout the game meant as much as the act of recovering those turnovers itself. WVU sacked Sorsby three times and pressured him three more.
Now, there’s still plenty to work on for WVU’s defense. It still gave up big plays like the 80-yard touchdown pass from Sorsby to Evan Pryor. It still allowed Cincinnati to convert six of seven third downs in the fourth quarter. It still gave up four drives of at least 10 plays and allowed scores on three of them.
Yet there was plenty to be happy about as the Mountaineers return home for their next two games. The defense showed it can carry the pressure of the game on its shoulders when the offense struggles.
Keeping that up will be a relief for everyone in the WVU locker room, and it will go a long way in rehabilitating the defense’s reputation.
-By Derek Redd
