West Virginia's defense is fixed, right? Well, maybe we shouldn't go that far yet.
The Mountaineers certainly looked a lot better in their win against TCU on the defensive side of the ball. After all, they did get several crucial stops, and mostly shut down the Horned Frogs rushing attack. They also forced three turnovers, and held TCU to just 20 points on the day. And it was their highest-graded performance against a Power 4 opponent this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Is West Virginia's defensive performance against TCU misleading?
Listen, all of those things we mentioned above positives. And heading into the bye week, it gives you a lot of momentum to build upon in the bye week. It's been nice enjoying victory for the past two weeks after a tough losing stretch in the middle of the season, and we're not here to diminish the fact that the defense played a massive role in securing a very important win.
With all that said, there's reason to believe West Virginia's defensive performance might not be the solution to all the problems that have plagued the Mountaineers this season. After all, TCU did accumulate 484 yards in the loss, and averaged 5.9 yards per play against West Virginia.
And it's not like they're a good offense. They averaged just 12 points per game against Power 4 opponents entering Week 8, and had one of the worst rushing offenses in the nation. They're arguably the worst Big 12 offense that West Virginia will face. And there were multiple points in the game it felt like they were beating themselves offensively more than it felt like West Virginia was in control.
TCU also fired their offensive coordinator after the loss, who was with the program since 2021, and with their head coach at a prior stop. Let's be honest: that's not the type of decision a program makes overnight. If it was, Zac Alley would have been fired himself earlier this season. So it's not like anyone was excited with TCU's offense before the game.
So yes, fans should celebrate the win. And yes, there's a lot of positives that can be built upon to continue to get the defense closer to where it needs to be. But if anyone saw the score on the board and walked away thinking that West Virginia's defense is suddenly fixed, you might want to think again – because there was plenty about Saturday's win that suggested that might not be the case.
Add us as a preferred source on Google