West Virginia grades out as impressively as you'd expect after upsetting Virginia

The West Virginia Mountaineersemerged victorious on Saturday nightover a then-ranked Virginia team, and they did so in rather dominant fashion.

We've already talked about the impact performances, the team's mentality entering the game and moving forward after the impressive upset, and how West Virginia looks like a legitimate Big 12 contender moving forward. Oh, and why the Mountaineers were left out of the Top 25. We'retalking about thattoo.

But now, the Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades are in for the Mountaineers, and we can take a look at how each player overall graded out during the win. So let's take a dive into our weekly series on what exactly we can learn about the Mountaineers and their win from the Pro Football Focus grades.

What we learned from WVU football's PFF grades in their win against Virginia

1. Mike Hawkins Jr. was an absolute monster

We'vetalked about Mike Hawkins Jr.'s performanceat starting quarterback. So did Rich Rodriguez after the game. The numbers speak for themselves. 10-of-17 passing for 190 yards and two touchdowns, and 123 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 18 carries. He scored all five WVU touchdowns, and his three rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns was last achieved in a single game at West Virginia by the legendary Pat White. But what do the grades say?

Well, they say exactly what you'd expect. Hawkins Jr. graded out with a 94.1 overall offensive PFF grade – he earn a 92.2 passing grade, and an 81.8 run grade. He was the top-graded quarterback in the FBS for overall offense, and the fifth-highest graded passer in FBS for Week 3.

2. Nick Taylor is turning into an outstanding defender in the secondary

Thank goodness for the change in the targeting rules this past year, because players no longer miss the first half of the next game when flagged for their first targeting call of the season in the second half of a game. That means Nick Taylor will be back next week for the full game for West Virginia after earning a targeting call on Virginia's final drive, after the game was decided.

That's really important, because Taylor looked incredible against the Cavaliers, and his grades lived up to it. He was highest-graded defensive player for the Mountaineers on defense, recording an 81.2 defensive grade. Once again, keep in mind that 65 is considered average here.

He was also the highest-graded player in coverage, the third-highest graded pass-rusher, the fourth-highest graded run defender, and the sixth-highest grade tackler. He recorded four tackles and one quarterback pressure. He was only targeted four times. He allowed two receptions, but they went for a combined seven yards. He had one forced fumble, one break-up, and no missed tackles.

This one feels like a slow burn, because we talked about him impressing with his grades on occasion last year, as well as earlier this season. Now, he's finally starting to come into his own.

3. West Virginia played a lot of defensive players, and several of them played above-average

West Virginia put 26 players on the field defensively on Saturday. More than you were expecting? Yeah, us too. But here's the thing: a lot of them played pretty well.

Tyler Stolsky saw the fewest plays, with just two snaps. Geimere Latimer II led the way with 73 snaps. And despite the defensive concerns from the first two games of the season, the Mountaineers, the Mountaineers had 10 players grade at-or-above the average grade of '65.0' – Nick Taylor, Ashton Woods, Matt Sieg, KJ Henson, Will LeBlanc, Andrew Powdrell, Corey McIntyre Jr., Da'Mare Williams, David Afogho, and Keyshawn Robinson.

Two more players – Emerson Joy and Taylor Brown – were both within one point of a 65.0 defensive grade as well. The Mountaineers clearly didn't spend as much defensively as offensively in the off-season, but enough of those "budget picks" and the few high-dollar prospects paid off Saturday.

The junior college players that felt like a gamble on the off-season are hitting big, even with Darius Wiley injured for the season. KJ Henson and Da'Mare Wilson chief among them. Your Division 2 transfer, Will LeBlanc, is playing limited but significant snaps. You spent a lot of money on freshman 4-star Matt Sieg, who was the second-highest graded player in coverage on 12 pass coverage snaps.

Transfer portal acquisitions from your first portal season, Nick Taylor and Ashton Woods, are your two highest-grading defensive players in this win. So is Corey McIntyre Jr. and Keyshawn Robinson, both recruits who signed with West Virginia years ago. That's long-term development. Whatever went wrong in the first two games looked like much less of a concern on Saturday, and the grades reflect that.

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