West Virginia football had a rough day on Saturday as they hosted -- and fell victim to -- No. 8 Penn State.
Following the matchup, the crew with the WV MetroNews postgame show caught up with WVU linebackers coach Jeff Koonz to discuss the loss.
"I think in the first half there were a lot of key opportunities we let slip by," Koonz said. "I think we have to do a better job of responding and taking advantage of those key opportunities."
While a number of those missed opportunities came on offense -- such as turnovers, missed fourth-and-short conversions, and dropped passes -- a number also came for the defense, which struggled to limit Penn State's offense. Koonz was open about the fact that he felt his defensive athletes missed plays as well.
"You got to be able to make those plays, and we got a little bit behind the eight ball," he said. "We had opportunities to make routine plays, and we didn't do that."
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar shredded the WVU secondary, going 11-for-17 through the air for 216 yards and three touchdowns, while also adding 44 yards on six carries, extending drives with his legs when his pocket collapsed and making the Mountaineers second guess thier coverage.
"We have good players that compete against really good receivers in practice every day," Koonz said. When you have opportunities to win a one-on-one, that’s what you got to do."
It seems as though the defensive coaching staff may have been taken off guard occasionally by Penn State's new and at times creative offense under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
"First game of the year with a new coordinator…everything that we saw today we probably saw a version of somewhere, but its a matter of narrowing down what you're going to focus on," Koonz said.
"We kind of expected the unexpected, so to speak. They did some good things and made some good plays."