MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Tony Gibson woke up Sunday to find his unit ranked 110th in total defense. Considering that only 129 teams populate the FBS, that doesn’t leave much room to fall.
Yet Gibson also woke up to find the Mountaineers ranked No. 23 in the AP poll, a resurfacing made possible because of Saturday’s abrupt turnaround in a 46-35 win over Texas Tech. After building a 35-17 lead early in the third quarter, the Red Raiders failed to scratch over their final five series.
“I’m disgusted how we played in the first half and really proud how we played in the second half,” said Gibson, who essentially shredded his game plan once Texas Tech went up by 18.
He abandoned blitzing after Texas Tech’s Tre King sprang a third-and-9 run for a 30-yard touchdown. From there on, West Virginia rushed only three linemen and backed everyone else into a patient, low-risk zone that mitigated the Red Raiders’ screens and pick routes.
Quarterback Nic Shimonek, after throwing four first-half touchdowns, finished the game on 4-of-12 downturn, with his final pass intercepted by Kyzir White.
“We quit blitzing,” Gibson said. “I blitzed one time in the third quarter and they scored a touchdown on the run. So I said that’s it — we’re going to drop eight and make this kid (Shimonek) find it, and he didn’t do it.
“We just dropped eight on them and let guys go to the ball.”
Linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton knew the defense needed adjustments after allowing 338 yards in a near-devastating first half. A string of missed field goals by Texas Tech’s Michael Barden kept the deficit manageable, and the Mountaineers found their groove by allowing only 1-of-7 third-down conversions down the stretch.
It became a reversal of the second-half fades that WVU defense experienced in close losses to Virginia Tech and TCU
“This was one of those games where we just grew up. We had two opportunities in close games and weren’t able to get over that hump, but this game we did,” Benton said.
“Gibby said we’re going to stop rushing and just play base defense. He took the thinking out of it — just played base defense and let guys go play ball.”
Kingsbury on Grier
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury can appreciate exceptional quarterbacking, which he saw from Will Grier’s five-touchdown performance in light of four sacks.
“He kept coming — didn’t get rattled,” Kingsbury said Monday. “He got hit a bunch, got sacked a bunch, but he stood in there and made some big throws.”
The FBS leader with 21 touchdown passes, Grier set season-highs for completions (32) and accuracy (78 percent) against Texas Tech, with his lone interception coming on a third-and-26 heave that was tipped and wound up netting West Virginia 50 yards in field position. (Its average net punt was less than 34 yards Saturday.)
Grier ranks eighth nationally in efficiency and third in passing yardage (348.7 per game).
“What I keep coming back to is his accuracy,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “That ball’s right where it needs to be about 90 percent of the time.”
WVU double-digit favorite vs. Baylor
The Mountaineers (4-2, 2-01) opened as 10.5-point favorites for Saturday’s game at Baylor (0-6, 0-3)
”I don’t care who you’re playing in the Big 12 you can’t look past anybody,” Holgorsen said.
Noon kick for West Virginia-OSU
The Oct. 28 game in Morgantown between Oklahoma State and West Virginia will kick off at noon Eastern, though the network has yet to be determined.
TCU at Iowa State received the 3:30 p.m. slot with Oklahoma hosting Texas Tech in prime time.
Logan Holgorsen commits
Holgorsen’s son, Logan, a junior quarterback at Morgantown High School, tweeted Monday that he has committing to North Texas. He also holds an offer from Bowling Green.
Quotable
K-State coach Bill Snyder says the injury to quarterback Jesse Ertz isn’t season-ending: “Jesse will be able to play. I just don’t know exactly when it’s going to be.”
TCU’s Gary Patterson on the Big 12 championship game with five teams tied for second-place: “Everybody probably wishes they had paid more attention to how the tiebreaker would go during the conference meetings.”