Rapid Takeaways: Scotty Fox's Day, Boom or Bust Defense + More

The West Virginia Mountaineers hung on to defeat Colorado, 29-22 on Saturday, moving to 4-6 (2-5) on the season.

A few thoughts from today's game.

Boom or bust defense

For the second straight week, West Virginia's defense did a good job of getting some pressure on the quarterback and creating some confusion up front. While there were flashes of really stout play, they gave up a fair share of explosive plays — 13 of them to be exact. It's been a boom or bust unit for the last three weeks, and while it beats the alternative of getting carved up all game long, it's an area Zac Alley would love to see improve.

You're never going to completely shut down an offense because they have guys on scholarship, too, but the number of explosives has to come down. Today, it was more of not passing some things off or not reaching the right mark in coverage as opposed to missed tackles being the root of the issue.

What happened to the ground game?

Last week, it looked like the Mountaineers had found some answers running the ball, and with Colorado's 132nd-ranked rush defense, everyone assumed, myself included, that WVU would be able to gash the Buffs and really lean on the ground game. At halftime, WVU had just 52 yards on 24 carries. They finished the day with 167 yards on 53 attempts.

The push wasn't there, and a big part of that stems from not firing off the ball as good as they did a week ago. That's all Rich Rod talked about last week was how they finally fired off the ball. This afternoon, they took a step back. It was also a little surprising to see Kimo Makane'ole get the start over Walter Young Bear at right guard, and while he did some decent things, inserting him back into the lineup disrupted that chemistry from what they did in Houston.

Up and down day for Scotty Fox

Some freshman mistakes popped up today, but it wasn't all bad. He made some good decisions and throws, many of which came in the first half. The fourth down interception reminded me of his second pick against Pitt, where he just tried to make something happen that was never there and just should have tucked it. You can never throw across your body back into the middle of the field. More often than not, bad things happen. The second one was partially on the right guard for allowing pressure right away, but I put part of the blame on Fox for throwing it. Not a massive step back for the youngster, just not his best day. After his second interception, Fox settled in and finished 5/8 down the stretch, albeit for 32 yards. He didn't let the two picks rattle him, which is a sign of growth.

Boom or bust defense

What happened to the ground game?

Up and down day for Scotty Fox

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