WVU defense turns up pressure, gets back to basics
The West Virginia defense struggled a week ago against a physical running team in BYU. So with another on tap against Kansas State, coordinator Tony Gibson went back to what he knows best.
“I called a blitz about every snap. I was just dialing it up and told my kids to just hold on,” he said.
West Virginia allowed a total of 280 rushing yards to the Cougars the focus this week was to stop the Wildcats run game, which is the engine to their offense. Kansas State came into the game averaging 197 yards per game on the ground and used the run to execute their run pass option.
Gibson held Kansas State to 1 yard rushing two-years ago in the meeting in Morgantown and used the same type of defensive look to combat the Wildcats again Saturday. That meant moving defenders toward the line of scrimmage to disguise the blitzes and appear to show the look of a bear front.
That resulted in some confusion in the Kansas State offense pre-snap as redshirt junior quarterback Jesse Ertz attempted to check into certain plays against the Mountaineers defense.
“We wanted to disguise what we were doing,” Gibson said.
Overall, Kansas State finished with a total of 120 yards rushing, 60 in each half and the Mountaineers limited the Wildcats to only 2.9 yards per carry. The Mountaineers consistently won on first and second down forcing the Wildcats to throw the football and step outside of their comfort zone.
For the game, Ertz completed only 10-30 passes for 166 yards and an interception. And the Wildcats finished with only a total of 286-yards in the contest.
But it was one the scoreboard where the Mountaineers made the biggest dent. The Mountaineers were able to hold the Wildcats to three field goals inside the red zone and allowed only one touchdown. Those stops proved to be the difference in the game as West Virginia recorded a one-point win.
After allowing 13 points in the first half, the Mountaineers only gave up three in the second frame.
“I told Dana Tuesday after practice that this was the best we’ve looked. It carried over to game day. We needed that kind of game,” Gibson said.
On top of what the Mountaineers were able to do against the run game, West Virginia also handled the run-pass option of the Wildcats with precision. One play in particular that stood out was when the Wildcats wanted to pop-pass to Charles Jones out of the backfield but the linebackers took him out of the play forcing Ertz to hold the ball with nowhere to go.
The result? A Kyzir White sack. It was one of three on the day.
“We watched a lot of film on that play. We were alerted to it. Whoever had the back had to make sure they stuck with him and didn’t give him a free release,” he said.
It was the most complete performance of the season for the newly retooled West Virginia defense.
“We feel like we could do that to anybody,” senior cornerback Rasul Doulgas said.