Three Reasons West Virginia Can Bounce Back and Beat Pitt

WVU dropped a crushing game, losing 17-10 to Ohio, but here are three reasons they can bounce back and beat Pitt.

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

The West Virginia Mountaineers dropped a crushing one on the road in Athens, Ohio, on Saturday. WVU was handed a 17-10 loss and lost their star running back, Jahiem White, in the first half with an injury. 

This loss crushed the chances of Pat McAfee and College GameDay coming to Morgantown. However, a bounce-back win over Pitt at home would quickly help this fan base blow off some steam after that brutal defeat. Here are three reasons Rich Rodriguez and company can pull off the win over Pitt in Week 3.

WVU Has Time To Fix Bad Tape

The Mountaineers obviously didn’t put out good tape against Ohio. Rich Rod admitted he’s very embarrassed by this loss. Rest assured, he will do everything in his power to learn from the mistakes and attempt to fix them. It’s going to be a brutal week of practice for WVU. The good news is that this loss should add extra motivation and desperation for this team to get the ship back on course.

Also, he will have time to prepare his offense without Jahiem and possibly Jaden Bray, rather than trying to find answers on the fly.

Zac Alley’s Defense Could Make Life Hard On Pitt Star QB

Eli Holstein is the star quarterback for Pitt. He’s having another great start to his season and will look to continue that in Morgantown. Zac Alley’s defense wasn’t perfect against Ohio, but they forced a talented quarterback in Parker Navarro to throw three interceptions. 

The offense didn’t score any points off those turnovers. If Alley’s unit gets after Holstein in a similar fashion, all the offense will have to do is answer this time. Of course, slowing down Holstein isn’t going to be easy.

Returning Home

Winning on the road is hard, even at Ohio. Just ask Iowa State. Two years ago, the Cyclones lost 10-7 to the Bobcats and then rebounded with a win over Oklahoma State the following week. They also won four of their first five Big 12 games and finished the year 7-5. There's still plenty of time to get this turned around, and having a fiery fan base backing them up on Saturday will certainly play a factor.

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