As West Virginia fell to Penn State 38-15 on Saturday night, Mountaineers' linebacker Lee Kpogba strung together one of the best performances of his Division I career, and led a strong front seven in the defeat.
"I feel like I played decent," Kpogba said humbly following the game.
Kpogba, who played will linebacker versus the Nittany Lions in comparison to his normal middle linebacker position, put up an outstanding 13 total tackles, seven solo tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against Penn State's stellar two-headed rushing attack, which marched for 146 yards on the night.
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown had some high praise for Kpogba's performance on Saturday, but more importantly for the special role he plays in the Mountaineers' defense.
"He's the leader over there on defense, the emotional leader, he's the physicality leader and I thought he played well," Brown said. "I felt like he was going to be one of our most improved players and he played well. He belonged. There were a bunch of really good defensive players out there wearing blue jerseys and we had a couple in white jerseys and he was one of them that belonged."
Although the junior college transfer in his second year for WVU led a strong front seven on Saturday, the defense as a whole surrendered 38 points and Kpogba believes the defense should be tighter on routes down the field.
"I feel like as a defense we have to challenge the routes more. People run free sometimes, that could be to a lack a communication or us knowing where you're supposed to be that could lead to that," Kpogba said.
It was evident however that the Mountaineers in the first half were strong in defending the run and keeping Penn State off the scoreboard, holding onto a 14-7 lead at the midway break.
"I feel like we held them in the first half, but in the second half a few runs got away. I feel like overall we did a good job stopping [the run] until late in the game," Kpogba said.
Another layer for Kpogba and the defense was disguises in an attempt to confuse the young quarterback for the Nittany Lions, but he credits Drew Allar for his performance.
"We were definitely trying to [confuse him], that's why we were showing [blitz] sometimes, like when we'd bring everyone up to the line of scrimmage. Knowing he was young, we were trying to confuse him a little bit," Kpogba said. "He adjusted and made the throws so props to him."
"I feel like we got some pressure and I feel like they picked it up sometimes but I feel we got some pressure on [Allar] and we hit him a couple of times," Kpogba said.
When looking at the game holistically, Kpogba was confident in the team's energy and was hopeful in a win, but his contribution shouldn't be understated in the road defeat.
"We felt good from the beginning of the game, we came in here to win. We felt like we had a real chance at halftime and a couple plays got away from us," Kpogba said.
"I felt good. I feel like they [defensive line] got penetration and I feel like they did their job up front. Them doing their jobs allowed me to make some plays so I think they did a good job up front," Kpogba said.
With West Virginia now dropping to 0-1, the Mountaineers will head home to Morgantown to face Duquesne on Sat. Sept. 9, at 6 p.m.
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