The West Virginia Mountaineers have been looking for solutions to their defensive woes over the past four weeks. On Saturday, it finally felt like they found some of the answers they needed in a 24-20 win over the TCU Horned Frogs.
There's no doubt about the fact that the Mountaineers won the game on the defensive side of the ball. The Horned Frogs have one of the best defenses in the nation, and were relatively effective at stopping West Virginia's offense on Saturday. But the Mountaineers got several defensive stops when they were needed the most, and Rich Rodriguez was quick to give them credit where it was due.
"I'm glad you brought that up. I'm so proud of them," Rodriguez said during the post-game sideline interview with ESPN2. "They've had a tough four weeks, but they won the game today. When they had to have a stop they had a stop. They made some great plays. I'm so proud of Cpach Alley and our defensiveguys. It's a great win."
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West Virginia's defense might not be fixed, but they did enough to win
Nothing about West Virginia's defensive performance was perfect. The Mountaineers still allowed 484 yards to TCU's offense, and gave up 5.9 yards per play. But they allowed much fewer explosive plays than they have in recent weeks, forced TCU to drive the length of the field, came up with several stops when needed, and forced three turnovers.
That all came together to allow West Virginia to hold the Horned Frogs to just 20 points – the second-least amount of points the Mountaineers have allowed to an opposing defense all season long. And now, the Mountaineers will be able to take that performance and build upon it during the bye week, which will be coming next week.
In the end, you cannot reply on your offense to win every game – especially when you run into a buzzsaw defense like TCU posesses. Eventually, you need your defense to step up. And West Virginia did that for arguably the first time this season against the Horned Frogs. Now, they will try to use that performance to pave a path to bowl eligibility during the final stretch of the season.
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