In the most recent game for West Virginia football, the defense clearly struggled to contain the Oklahoma Sooners, leading to a dominant 59-20 victory. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley has taken responsibility for the game and he knows his group is better than what they showed on Saturday.
Along with the high scoring output, the Mountaineers' defense allowed the Sooners to score on every single offensive drive besides two and they allowed 644 yards of total offense. Despite all odds, Lesley understood that it simply wasn't good enough.
"We didn’t play very good. Didn’t play good at all, there’s no sugarcoating that," Lesley said. "I could sit up here and hash out the reasons but we just didn’t. I still have belief in this group. I’ve seen them at their best, I don’t feel any different about them. We just didn’t play well at all."
Related: Game Preview: West Virginia football vs. Cincinnati
From a scheme standpoint, Lesley has some answers behind the Sooners' dominance and it's firstly attributed to their run game, which accounted for 221 yards on the ground.
"They're very good at running the ball. Their statistics show that. They’re going to know who to block and get you in formations and motions to create angles and numbers," Lesley said. "The quarterback is a good runner, good at throwing on the run. I don’t think their record is indicative of who they are."
Facing a team like Oklahoma that's ranked in the top 20 nationally with an 8-2 record, Lesley knows just how challenging it is to plan for all the tricks that a team can throw at you, including motions and formations that he hasn't seen ahead of time.
"It’s a basic part of their offense. Schematically, and they have every week, is how they get to it with the formations and motions," Lesley said. "You’ll see something you haven’t seen and have to adjust to it but schematically they do what they do and they’re good at it."
Lesley's biggest reflection from the defensive performance is his unit's lack of answers against the Oklahoma offense. Lesley believes that in a game you have answers or scheme changes to match up against the opposing offense and it's up to them to adjust.
"You always have to have answers as you go throughout a game. The issue is when you keep trying to find them," Lesley said. "You can play zone, man, you can pressure, you can drop eight. That’s pretty much schematically what you can do on defense. It was just one of those nights where we couldn’t find it."
Lesley continued, "We went in aggressive and it’s probably the most we’ve pressured. You have your answers going in and try to adjust."
Going back to the week leading up to Saturday's loss, Lesley felt like his group prepared well and had a solid week of practice, but to him, it only matters once kickoff comes and he said it's a challenging situation to face right when the game starts.
"I thought defensively it was one of our better weeks of practice, I thought our preparation was good but it doesn't matter until you get to kickoff and how you perform," Lesley said.
"It catches you off guard when you feel you had a good couple of days. And you see it, you usually see it pre-game," Lesley said. "I didn’t know it until kickoff and you do everything that you can, whether it’s on the sideline, to adjust and find the answers. It’s just one of those things, it shows up and you go back and watch the tape and it’s just some of the mistakes and simple things you constantly work."
Another challenge comes with the long and grueling college football season, and Lesley wants to find the right way to get the best from his unit each and every week, especially when adversity strikes.
"Look at that same Oklahoma team and how they handle failure, it's the total opposite. The tricky thing is trying to get a whole big group of people to understand what it takes 12 or 13 weeks in a row to be at your best consistently," Lesley said. "When you’re not at your best, how can you find a way to get out of it when adversity strikes because it’s going to."
Lesley admits that the best thing is for West Virginia to move on and focus on the next matchup against Cincinnati, and this fifth-year assistant coach knows that his guys are better than what they showed on Saturday.
"We’re better than that, I know this group is better than that," Lesley said. "There’s nothing on that video, our guys didn’t tell them anything they don’t know. We came in here yesterday, it’s flushed, it’s gone and we have to get better."
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