Instant Reactions to West Virginia Loss to Arizona

The West Virginia Mountaineers (2-4, 0-3) dropped their third straight Saturday afternoon after the Arizona Wildcats (5-1, 2-1) racked up 482 total yards for a 52-31 victory.

Here are my first initial thoughts following the loss to the Wildcats.

Turnovers

The two turnovers in the first half proved costly. Turnovers are always bad but allowing a scoop and score and a fumble at the goal line fall under the category of ‘worst case scenario.’ And when your defense has struggled to get off the field, the two costly turnovers gave a significant edge to the Wildcats.

In addition to giving the ball to the Wildcats, a turnover on downs on fourth and goal from the three on the third possession of the game left additional points on the field.

Mike Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook

The duo of quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. and running back Cam Cook are fun to watch and are nearly unstoppable. At this point, it’s unfortunate these two have to play near flawless football for the Mountaineers to pull off a win. And probably the wildest scenario imaginable heading into the season.

The offense accumlated 522 yards of offense and, at least, this group has been fun to watch.

Rich Rodriguez has not disappointed this season with is offense. He has evolved as a play caller, taking more shots down field and masterfully working off the read option for passes down the seam.

Defense

Yes, the defense has taken a lot of the blame the last three games and deservingly so. The unit did however win some of their one-on-one matchups up front, causing some chaos in the backfield, even a tipped pass deep in WVU territory resulting in a West Virginia touchdown.

The biggest issue with this unit, and I’ve said it nearly every week in our weekly predictions, they are undersized and are forced to come up with ways to bring pressure. You’ll find the defense gets in the back field more in the first half, but as the game continues, the men up front start to wear down in the second half having to go up against much bigger front and it was the issue again Saturday.

While the responsibility falls on the defensive coordinator Zac Alley, allowing the young guys grow in the system and bringing in some bigger bodies for the defensive line will go a long way to fixing the problems on defense.

The last time the defense showed a pulse is when the Still brothers were giving opponents nightmares.

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