MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia was more aggressive defensively Saturday against Arizona.
Blitzing on 24 of 51 defensive snaps, however, did nothing to aid a unit that was desperately seeking and in need of improvement after allowing 86 points and 1,186 yards in losses to Oklahoma State and Iowa State the previous two weeks.
Instead, Arizona amassed 482 total yards and the highest point total (52) West Virginia has allowed this season as the visitors pulled away for a comfortable 21-point victory at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Arizona’s offensive production included an average of one touchdown on every 8.5 snaps and came despite WVU running an astounding 104 offensive plays.
But the Wildcats made the most of their 51 snaps offensively by averaging 9.5 yards per play and scoring touchdowns on four of 22 second-half plays, two of which covered 30 and 72 yards.
Ccoordinating the WVU defense for an 18th game over the last two seasons, Zac Alley moved to the coaches’ box from his normal spot on the sideline, but that did nothing to yield better results.
“That was his [decision]. I sign off on it, I guess,” WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I said you can’t expect a different result not changing anything, but the result wasn’t any different. We’ll have a lot of long conversations again [Sunday]. These guys know ball, and it’s not an excuse to say we’re still learning who our guys are. We’ve played six games, had most of them here since the spring and we know who our guys are. That part of it, we can’t use that as an excuse.
“We have to play better, put them in position to play better and work really hard and play better football. Just play better football. There’s a lot to that. It’s not my first rodeo, but it is as frustrated as I’ve ever been as a head coach with one side of the ball. It’s not like they’re not trying. Trying to figure it out, and not having progress like we need if that makes sense. We have to make that progress starting tonight.”
WVU again struggled mightily defending the pass, with veteran Arizona quarterback Noah Fifta throwing for 341 yards on 16 completions.
The Wildcats also had an effective ground game, rushing for 141 yards on 27 attempts, and tailbacks Antwan Roberts, Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig each ran for one touchdown.
Craig’s 40-yard rushing touchdown with just inside 3 minutes remaining in the first half put Arizona on top to stay at 24-17, while Roberts wrapped up the scoring when he broke through the line of scrimmage unchallenged for a 30-yard scamper to the end zone.
“I don’t blame the fans for being upset when a guy hands the ball off, one guy is out of a gap and then he runs for 60 yards,” Rodriguez said. “I inquired what it was. One guy is out of a gap. Well, where’s everybody else at? Does that mean there are 10 other guys that can’t rally to the ball? It’s ridiculous.
“Fifita is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s tough, competitive, he doesn’t take sacks and gets rid of the ball so quick. Second-and-1, and you go cover zero, he’s going to find a guy and get rid of it before he gets hit, and that’s exactly what he did. I don’t know if we didn’t think he would do that or what have you, but he’s really good and played really sharp.”
The Mountaineers now rank 124th among 138 FBS teams in scoring defense with an average of 32.7 points allowed. In five games against FBS competition, that mark jumps to 37.8, and in three Big 12 games, it’s at 46.
Through six games, WVU has allowed 44 plays of at least 20 yards, 22 of 30 or more yards and 14 that have gone for no fewer than 40 yards.
Rodriguez continues to lament his team’s lack of stops while insisting it’s on the coaching staff to find fixes, but to this point, there’s no sign of any as the Mountaineers remain winless in league play.
“The good part is it’s just half the season. It’s over,” Rodriguez said. “Move on to the second half of the season and we have to be a better team in the second half of the season, which we will be. We’ll get it fixed. I don’t want to just wash this away, because we have to learn from it. That’s the biggest thing. We’ll figure it out. We owe that to our program, owe it to our school and owe it to our fans. That’s our job as coaches to figure out how to get it right.”