The way West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen sees it, Tony Gibson’s defense has picked up right where it left off last year.
Gibson’s Gang has 12 seniors and 13 juniors returning from a unit last season that allowed just nine rushing touchdowns, ranked No. 2 nationally in interceptions, fifth in turnovers gained, eighth in three-and-out possessions and 11th in third-down defense.
On Saturday, the defense produced one turnover (a nice strip-tackle from behind by Adam Shuler recovered by Christian Brown) and a near interception when Kyzir White couldn’t hang on to an errant Drew Lock pass.
The Tigers were held to less than 50 percent on third down (10 of 24) and produced two three-and-out possession, including a critical goal-line stand near the end of the first half when Missouri got the ball on the WVU 7 following a William Crest Jr. fumble.
The defense did allow 462 yards but that was a little misleading because 185 of that came in the fourth quarter when the outcome was already decided and Gibson was substituting freely.
“They looked like the same defense that I’ve been going against the last five weeks,” Holgorsen said earlier today during his weekly Big 12 coaches’ teleconference. “I never doubted our guys. It’s the third year in the defense we currently have with Tony Gibson, who is asserting himself as one of the top defensive coordinators in the country. We lost a lot of guys, but we had a lot of guys who had been playing here for three or four years that were backups and it was time for them to step in and start doing things.”
Holgorsen singled out the play of defensive tackle Christian Brown and outside linebacker Justin Arndt, two fifth-year guys who have been with Gibson now for three years.
“Christian Brown, a fifth-year senior, really played well on the defensive line and Justin Arndt, a fifth-year senior, was our defensive player of the game,” said Holgorsen. “Both of those guys played well and that’s just an example of what I’ve said - guys that have been in the program for five years now. They understand what they’re doing, it’s important to them and it was time for them to step up and be leaders.
“Those were two and I’m expecting other guys to that moving forward.”
Having the same defensive scheme now for three years has really been helpful, and recruiting players to fit the scheme has made the transition from one year to the next much, much easier than those early years in 2012, 2013 and 2014 when Holgorsen was just getting started at WVU.
“I think our depth is really good. We’ve recruited well, added transfers that have helped out, and it looks like we are in position to be able to pick up where we left off last year,” noted Holgorsen. “I’m proud of those guys but not surprised at all.”
Briefly:
* Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman asked Holgorsen and some of the other coaches on today’s teleconference what they have done to defend against long returns following missed field goals like the one Houston’s Brandon Wilson made for a 100-yard touchdown in the third quarter of Houston’s 33-23 victory over Oklahoma Saturday afternoon in Houston.
“We cover that every week when we back up to kicking long field goals that’s something that we focus on having those guys cover it,” said Holgorsen. “Those big dudes don’t like covering like that very much, I can assure you of that.”
Holgorsen noted that it’s important for coaches to consider the range of their kickers to make sure the ball at least makes it to the goal post and not land in the field of play if it is missed.
“That is putting your team in a tough situation having a bunch of O-linemen and tight ends covering a kick,” Holgorsen said.
* Holgorsen’s Mountaineers contributed one of the two marquee wins the Big 12 collected on week one against Missouri Saturday, the other being Texas’ 50-47 double-overtime win over 10th-ranked Notre Dame last night.
The Longhorns blew a 31-14 third-quarter lead but were able to outscore the Irish 13-10 in the extra sessions to give Coach Charlie Strong his biggest win in Austin to date.
Holgorsen said he was rooting for Texas to upset the Irish.
“I think the Big 12 coaches think alike on this. Anytime the Big 12 is facing another conference I think we’re everybody else’s biggest fans,” he said. “I was rooting for Texas to be able to win that game and any time the Big 12 plays in bowl games or non-conference games, the bigger the venue the better, and I think we’re all rooting for those teams to win within the conference.”
* On Sunday, Holgorsen announced that starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury during the first half of Saturday’s 26-11 win over Missouri.
Cajuste is the third Mountaineer player sidelined with a knee injury this year, the others being No. 1 free safety Dravon Askew-Henry and backup outside linebacker Brendan Ferns during preseason camp.
Redshirt freshman Colton McKivitz stepped in and played well in place of Cajuste, getting all of the second half snaps going head-to-head against Missouri’s best pass rusher, Charles Harris, labeled by some a potential top 10 pick in this year’s NFL draft.
* West Virginia faces Youngstown State in a 2 p.m. non-conference game this weekend at Milan Puskar Stadium. The contest will be televised locally on Root Sports and tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to
WVUGAME.com. The early word on student ticket requests is WVU officials are expecting another strong student turnout for Saturday's Youngstown State game.
There are also
tickets still left for West Virginia’s interesting matchup against BYU on Saturday, September 24, at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
The Cougars opened the season with an 18-16, come-from-behind victory over Arizona on Saturday night in Glendale, Arizona in Kalani Sitake’s head coaching debut at Brigham Young.
This will be the first time these two long-time college football stalwarts have played each other on the gridiron.
