Rich Rodriguez's exceptional offense is being wasted by West Virginia's defense

West Virginia football is throwing away a golden opportunity for success.

The Mountaineers fell to 3-3 on Saturday with a loss to Arizona – their third consecutive loss after starting the season undefeated. Now, the Mountaineers are completely out of the conference championship with nearly two months of the season remaining, and it's questionable given the remaining schedule whether or not West Virginia makes a postseason bowl.

But when you watch this team on offense, it's very clear that there is enough talent and potential for this team to have success. The problem lies on the defensive side of the ball, where the Mountaineers are one of the worst teams in the nation. And the more you think about it, the more infuriating it gets.

Rich Rodriguez's offense deserves a fair opportunity to win

The fact of the matter is that the talent on the defensive of the ball and the product Zac Alley has put on the field is not giving West Virginia's offense areal chance to win the team games. And the offense is certainly good enough to win.

It's hard to watch what West Virginia's offense has done in it's recent outings and argue it's notan offense cabable of winning several games – 518 yards and 42 points against Iowa State, and 522 yards and 31 points against Arizona. Those are offensive numbers that would have went 2-0 with even a decent defense on the field. Those are offensive numbers capable of 7-8 wins.

But West Virginia has given up a combined 1,668 yards and 138 points in their last three games, which all ended in losses. You have to go back to the end of the 2012 season to find a consecutive three-game stretch where West Virginia allowed that many points and lost all three contests.

And Saturday was just the second time in program history the Mountaineers have tallied over 300 rushing yards and 30 first downs in a game and still lost. Because this type of defense is one that barely seems capable of winning 3-4 games. And if they can't figure something out on that side of the ball, that's all they will likely end up winning.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow