West Virginia sat at 3-0 on September 25, fresh off a ranked win over Virginia and even collecting some AP Poll votes. The next stop was a night game in Morgantown with a gold rush theme, and for a moment it looked like the Mountaineers might be ready to climb back toward the national conversation.
Fifteen days later, that optimism feels distant.
WVU has dropped three straight to Oklahoma State, Iowa State, and Arizona, and the stretch has left the fan base openly frustrated with a defense that has been, in the words of the source, “borderline comical.” Rich Rodriguez is clearly fed up too, and with the second half of the season ahead, there’s a growing sense that something has to change on that side of the ball.
The numbers from the last three games tell a strange story. West Virginia has averaged 502.33 yards per game, 32.33 points per game, 309.33 rushing yards per game, and 25.33 first downs per game over that span.
Those are the kind of offensive totals that usually win football games. Instead, they’ve come in three losses.
That’s how badly the defense has let the Mountaineers down.
And the concern goes beyond one bad stretch. The defense has been shaky from the start, beginning with the 24 points allowed to Coastal Carolina in the second half of the Week 1 game.
There hasn’t been much reason for confidence since. The Virginia win now looks more like “fools gold,” especially given how that offense has played since.
Against Arizona, Zac Alley shifted into the booth to call plays, but the Wildcats still hung 52 points on West Virginia and, according to the source, could have scored much more.
At this point, faith in Alley appears to be fading around the program, even with the obvious question of who would step in next. A midseason coordinator change might be coming, but the source makes clear that it probably won’t be a cure-all.
The defense has been bad all year, and the piece argues the issue goes deeper than scheme. It points to a missed evaluation of talent in the offseason, suggesting the problem lives in both the coaching and the personnel.
Still, there is at least one reason not to write off the season just yet: West Virginia is only halfway through it.
The offense, for one, has been excellent. The source calls it the best the Mountaineers have looked since 2018, maybe even longer.
Special teams have been strong too, aside from a few shanked punts. That means WVU has at least two phases working in its favor.
The schedule also offers some hope. Of the three teams that beat West Virginia, two - Arizona and Oklahoma State - are described as top-tier Big 12 teams.
Arizona’s only loss came against top-10 BYU, and both opponents have elite offenses. The next two games, against Cincinnati and at TCU, are presented as very winnable.
Arizona beat Cincinnati 34-7 the week before facing WVU, which adds another layer to that matchup.
If the Mountaineers can win both, bowl eligibility and even an eight-win season stay alive.
And if they can carry two straight wins into the bye week, the source suggests there could still be a path to making noise against Utah, Texas Tech, and Houston later on. Texas Tech and Houston are described as beatable, while Utah has looked sharp but has also been giving up points.
But all of it comes back to the same issue: West Virginia has to get better on defense to have any shot at adding another win, let alone more. Whether that comes from a different play caller or not remains to be seen. Given where things stand, the source suggests we may be about to find out.
In Other News...
Arizona Coach Just Framed WVUs Defensive Collapse Perfectly
Arizona left Morgantown with a 52-31 win over West Virginia, but the tone afterward from Brent Brennan was less about celebration and more about respect for what his team had to navigate. The Arizona coach credited the Mountaineers for their effort and singled out their quarterback while also pointing to the defensive moments that swung the game, including five fourth-down stops and two turnovers that helped the Wildcats keep control.
Brennan also pointed to Isaiah Mizell as one of the players who helped make the difference, while explaining how Arizona approached West Virginias defense and pressure throughout the night. For the Mountaineers, it was the kind of loss that leaves plenty to sort through, because the final score reflected not just Arizonas execution but the specific ways the Wildcats were able to answer the challenges West Virginia presented. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Let A Winnable Game Slip Away Before Fighting Back
West Virginia had chances to settle into the game early against Arizona, and for stretches it looked like the Mountaineers were in position to make it a clean afternoon. The opening quarters were shaped by a steady back-and-forth of first downs, touchdowns, penalties and turnovers, with both offenses finding some rhythm while the defense tried to keep the game from tilting too far in either direction.
What made the matchup feel so tense was how quickly the momentum kept shifting, especially as the win-probability numbers moved with each key play. WVU allowed a winnable game to drift away at points, but the response never disappeared completely, and the second-quarter sequence showed enough fight to keep the result from feeling settled too soon. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas States Big 12 Path Looks Tougher After A Brutal Week
Week 6 in the Big 12 brought a little clarity and a lot of trouble for teams trying to sort out the league race, and West Virginia was right in the middle of the mess. BYU kept rolling with a win over Iowa State, Arizona put up 52 points against the Mountaineers, and Houston turned in a decisive victory over Kansas State, a result that stood out even in a week full of lopsided scores. Around the conference, standout showings from Bear Bachmeier, Noah Fifita and Connor Weigman helped shape a Saturday that kept reshuffling the standings and the conversation.
For West Virginia, the Arizona game was another reminder of how quickly things can get away from a team when the other side is clicking. The Mountaineers had to absorb one of the weeks most eye-catching offensive outputs while the rest of the league continued to pile up results that could matter later in the season. In a conference where every loss seems to carry extra weight, the questions now are less about what went wrong in one afternoon and more about how WVU responds to a stretch that is already starting to separate contenders from the rest. [Read more 🡒]