West Virginia left Fort Worth with something it had been chasing, and the defense was a big reason why. That’s a sentence that would have sounded strange a few weeks ago, but it fits after Saturday’s win over TCU.
The Mountaineers still gave up 484 yards of total offense and nearly 400 through the air, along with nine explosive plays in the passing game. That’s not a clean performance. But it was enough, and more than that, it came with the kind of late-game plays West Virginia has been missing.
The biggest one belonged to David Afogho. With under a minute to go, he strip-sacked TCU quarterback Jaden Craig, and a linebacker jumped on the loose ball to close it out for the Mountaineers. It was the sort of finish this defense has needed after a rough stretch in Big 12 play.
There were other moments that mattered, too. West Virginia forced a missed field goal late in the second quarter, picked off Craig at the 16-yard line, and stopped TCU on a 4th and 2 at the 22 to force a turnover on downs. Four times the Horned Frogs got chances to score, and four times they came away empty.
The run defense also showed something to build on. TCU came in depleted at running back and already had trouble running the ball, but the Mountaineers still had to handle it, and they did better there than they had in previous weeks. They flowed to the ball, took better angles for the most part, and finished plays.
What stands out most is that this wasn’t a defense turning into something it isn’t. It was a group doing enough to win.
West Virginia does not need Zac Alley’s unit to become perfect overnight. It needs winning plays, enough resistance to keep games within reach, and fewer busts that hand opponents easy yards.
That’s why the sequence over the last two weeks matters. The late stop against Cincinnati gave the defense a jolt, and Saturday’s finish at TCU backed it up. In both games, the unit came through when the outcome was hanging there.
Even so, the flaws are still obvious. Wide-open receivers as soon as the ball is snapped and missed fits against the run can’t keep showing up.
If an opponent beats West Virginia anyway, that’s one thing. The fixable mistakes are the ones this staff has to clean up.
Credit also goes to the defensive staff and players for sticking with it through a difficult month. There were moments against TCU when the game could have blown open, but it never did. They kept grinding until they got the stop that ended it.
Now the schedule turns brutal, with three of the final four games against ranked teams. But West Virginia also has one of the nation’s most productive offenses, which gives it a chance every week. Texas Tech’s defense ranks 86th nationally, Kansas is 61st, Houston is 68th, and Utah is 27th, so the Mountaineers won’t see another defense as strong as TCU’s the rest of the way.
That doesn’t make the road easy. It does make a strong finish possible if the defense keeps inching forward. If this group can keep improving and make enough plays, West Virginia still has a shot to end the season the right way.
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Rich Rodriguez Made WVU's TCU Win About Something Much Bigger
Rich Rodriguez and his West Virginia staff carried more than a game plan into Saturdays trip to TCU. They also carried the memory of Ike Morris, a longtime supporter of West Virginia athletics and one of Rodriguezs close mentors, who died at 88. In a small but meaningful gesture, the coaches wore hats with IKE written on them as a way to honor a man who meant a great deal to the program and to Rodriguez personally.
After the Mountaineers came away with the win, Rodriguez spoke emotionally about Morriss influence and what he meant to the program behind the scenes. The result on the field mattered, but the tribute gave the victory a different weight, turning an important road win into something more personal and much bigger than the box score. [Read more 🡒]