Unfortunately, through the first four games, two of the four opposing starting quarterbacks have been too mobile for the WVU defense to keep at bay.
In their week 2 loss to the Ohio Bobcats in Athens, Ohio, the WVU defense struggled to keep Navarro in the pocket and from making impactful plays with his legs. After the September 6 matchup against the Bobcats, Navarro finished with 87 rushing yards in addition to his 247 passing yards. Navarro finished the game with the most amount of rushing yards for either team.
Flash forward to the conclusion of Saturday’s game, a similar result, at least in terms of a win or loss, fell back on the Mountaineers, and a big area of concern reared its head once again. Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels rushed for 69 yards as well as throwing for 138 yards through the air, leading Kansas to a 41-10 win over WVU. This time around, the opposing quarterback was not the leading rusher in the game; that honor belonged to Kansas running back Leshon Williams, who ran over the WVU defense for 129 yards on 13 carries.
"You could have the perfect defense called... that's the problem, playing an athletic guy like that."
— Kole Emplit (@KoleEmplit) September 16, 2025
West Virginia HC Rich Rodriguez and DC Zac Alley had high praise for KU quarterback Jalon Daniels and know they'll have their hands full on Saturday.#kufball
Video via… pic.twitter.com/LOvYNFIRqE
One excuse that some WVU fans may be petitioning for is the fact that the Mountaineer offense had so many three-and-outs that the defense was on the field much longer than it should have been. And while the offense had way too many three-and-outs, it does not change the fact that the Mountaineer defense could not stop Daniels at any point in the game, not in the first quarter or any other quarter. Daniels missed several wide-open throws that could have made the 41-10 score even worse had he hit a couple of his wide-open receivers.
Daniels had three runs on third down that gave the Jayhawks a first down. One of them came early in the second quarter when Daniels picked up 14 yards on the ground on 3rd down and 12. Another came at the end of the second quarter on a 3rd down and 10, and Daniels picked up another 28 yards with his legs to help set up for a field goal to end the half.
At the end of the day, there was a lot that went wrong for the Mountaineers than went right on Saturday. That being said, you cannot reasonably blame this loss on the defense not being able to contain Daniels in the pocket. But this is the second time in four weeks that a mobile quarterback has been able to make plays with his feet while leading their team to a win against WVU. This is an issue that defensive coordinator Zac Alley must figure out before continuing Big 12 conference play.