The tale of two halves for WVU defense
The West Virginia defense seemed unable to handle TCU’s explosive offense in the first half, but turned things around in the second.
The Horned Frogs lit up West Virginia for four touchdowns in the first, three of which were over 50 yards, including a 71 yard and a 55 yard passing touchdown, and a 51 yard rushing touchdown. TCU’s other score came via a 30 yard rush with just 24 seconds to go in the half.
“The frustrating ones are the long runs, especially the one right before half. That burns you,” said head coach Neal Brown.
Along with the high scoring came an impressive yardage for TCU, highlighting an abysmal coverage from the Mountaineers. The Horned Frogs put up 332 yards in just 25 plays across the half, for an average of just over 13 yards per play. In theory, West Virginia was giving up a first down every play.
“We just didn’t do a good job of leveraging the football,” said Brown.
The second half was a different story defensively, however. The recovery of a muffed punt for West Virginia’s first defensive play of the half was a key representation of this.
“I thought defensively… the second half was the best we’ve played since Virginia Tech. We made plays, made a lot of plays,” said Neal Brown. “We were more aggressive, we won a bunch of one on ones, we pressured them more than they probably expected.”
The Mountaineers were able to hold TCU to 162 total yards of offense in the second, half of what they allowed in the first. Malachi Ruffin also grabbed an interception to aid WVU.
Some of the success can be accredited to a change in play-style, as referenced by Neal Brown.
“The second half we came out and we blitzed more than we’ve been blitzing, played more man coverage than we have. They did us on some plays, but we also made some plays, more TFLs. That looked more like the way we’ve played defense in the past.”
The other key determining factor in the much improved performance: effort.
“I think guys just played harder. Guys went out there and competed, that’s what it comes down to. You got Xs and Os, techniques and all that, but at the end of the day it comes down to winning your one on one matchup,” said cornerback Charles Woods.
West Virginia will hope to keep the defensive momentum going forward, next against Iowa State on Saturday, November 5.
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