Pass Rush, Pass Defense Keys to Keeping Mountaineers Stuck at 13 on the Scoreboard

The overall defensive numbers were not as impressive and the Mountaineers actually converted some third downs, but Doege was on his back a lot and they scored one lone touchdown on a big play.

STILLWATER -- Give this Oklahoma State defense credit for paying attention. After the opening season win over Tulsa had media, fans, and even a few attentive national college football reporters bragging on the Oklahoma State defense and holding Tulsa to seven points and 0-for-11 on third down tries, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles had one complaint. The pass rush wasn't as explosive as he thought it would be and the Cowboys registered only one sack. Part of that may have been an offsides penalty on edge rusher Calvin Bundage that had Knowles dialing down the heat on passing downs. Saturday the heat was on and Mountaineers quarterback Jarret Doege felt all of it. 

"They did a nice job. They pressured us a bunch," West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said after the game. "They're good in the secondary. I thought their nose guard, Cameron Murrary, is a really good player. They did a nice job of getting on the edge, which we didn't really anticipate going into the game."

That is where that dialing down against Tulsa plays in. Oklahoma State dialed up the pressure resulting in five sacks, one a forced fumble and 57-yard touchdown return. There were nine quarterback hurries, most resulting in clean hits on Doege as he hung in there and threw the ball. 

"There were a number of times we influenced the quarterback though I don’t know if it will show up statistically because he got rid of the ball right before we hit him," Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy said when asked about the pass rush. "You guys might know better than me, but I bet we got 10 hits on him today. Sometimes those count, but he sat in the pocket and took a lot of hits today. Our pressure was really good.” 

"Great in that area and we were really focused," Knowles said. "It was something that we worked very hard on this week. The players bought into it and you have to be able to pressure the quarterback and Big 12 process sometimes takes that away, but I thought that we got after it today."

Team numbers that stood out for the defense were these: one turnover forced and it resulted in a touchdown. An average gain per play of 4.5-yards and just 1.6-yards per rushing play. The third down stops percentage was still strong as the Cowboys held the Mountaineers to just 6-of-17 on third downs and they failed on their lone fourth down try. West Virginia averaged 14.2-yards a completion that was greatly helped by the 70-yard touchdown pass. 

The Cowboys played a lot of man one and man-zone and corners and safeties manned up on inside receivers played a lot of outside leverage. Doege took advantage of that with inside routes. They could not get open on the verticals outside that they so badly wanted to make plays with. 

Senior cornerback Rodarius Williams was a big part of that with a career high of four break-ups and he continues to be a rock solid tackler. 

"There is definitely a lot of pressure on our back because we come into games expecting this (small) amount of yards to be thrown on us," Williams expressed. "you're going to challenge us, we're going to accept that challenge each and every game."

They certainly have so far and two certainly decent above average offenses in Tulsa and West Virginia have totaled 20 points (10.0 points per game). They are allowing an average of just 315-yards of total offense a game. They are making sure there side wins on the scoreboard.

“Our defense was really good again. They continued to go out there and, as we struggled offensively, they kept their head up and made plays," Gundy said. "We found a way to win again. The defense continued to get stops and gave us an opportunity to win the football game.”

Gundy told me after the game that this defense and losing quarterback Spencer Sanders for a little while, as freshman Shane Illingworth manages until, hopefully, Sanders is totally healed has changed the way he manages the game. Some of you boo birds voicing displeasure when Gundy didn't go for some fourth downs that he normally would need to ask yourself, do you go for it and potentially make things harder for your defense or do you appreciate all they are doing and punt the ball giving your defense a better chance. It's been awhile in Stillwater but the answer these days is punt and play defense.