The West Virginia Mountaineers entered Week 3 with all the momentum in the world on their side and a prime opportunity to end an AP Top 25 drought and prove they're legitimate Big 12 contenders with Rich Rodriguez back in charge. And while the Big 12 contender part might still be true, they wereclearly outmatched by Oklahoma Statein a 41-24 loss that moved them to 1-0 in league play.
Each week, we like to take a look at the grades issued by Pro Football Focus (PFF) to see what we can take away from West Virginia's performance. And after their first loss of the young season, the verdict is in after analyzing the grades: the Mountaineers weren't ready to compete with the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State's skill players shine
Drew Mestemaker complete 74% of his passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday. His PFF grade reflected that with a 91.0 offensive grade. His top target, Wyatt Young, earned an 86.1 offensive grade. And running back Caleb Hawkins wasn't far behind with a 78.3 offensive grade.
Two others Oklahoma State wide receivers, Terrance Lewis and Miles Coleman, earned offensive grade above 70.0, as did second-string running back Ayo Adeyi. Eight Oklahoma State skill players graded out above the average FBS grade of 65.0, with all of them playing 15-or-more offensive snaps. West Virginia clearly didn't have an answer to the top Oklahoma State talent.
Pass coverage, pass rush, tackling all weak points for West Virginia's defense
16 defensive players had at least one snap in pass coverage on Saturday for West Virginia. Just two of them, Geimere Latimer II and Chams Diagne, had above-average pass coverage grades. Nine West Virginia players gave up receptions every time they were targeted, with Diagne, Nick Taylor, Kamari Wilson, and Andrew Powdrell being players in that group who were targeted multiple times. Powdrell gave up 38.7 yards per reception allowed.
The Mountaineers had 11 players combine for 18 missed tackles, with eight players having a missed tackle percentage of 25% or higher. And in the pass rush, the Mountaineers garnered just one quarterback hit and no sacks on 28 drop backs from Drew Mestemaker. Those types of numbers and grades are just not going to cut it in Big 12 play.
West Virginia out-done in the trenches
In college football, games are often won and lost in the trenches. And West Virginia was not the better team up front Saturday. Three of Oklahoma State's offensive lineman graded out at 69.7 or higher, according to PFF – meanwhile, West Virginia had just two defensive lineman grade out above average, and neither achieved a grade higher than 68.0.
Meanwhile, West Virginia's offensive line had just one player (Wes King) grade out above average. The starting five offensive lineman averaged an offensive grade of 63.72. But four of Oklahoma State's six highest-graded defensive players were defensive lineman, and five defensive lineman graded out above-average – and all of them played 25-or-more snaps.
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