West Virginia's Passing Defense Has Become Their Achilles Heel

The West Virginia Mountaineers were soundly defeated by the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday by a score of 41-24 at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Mountaineers came into the contest 3-0 for the first time since 2018 and held a 14-13 lead over the Cowboys going into the halftime break. Unfortunately, that is when things fell apart for the Mountaineers, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Oklahoma State’s redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Mestemaker put on a show, going 20-for-27 for 389 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Mestemaker did most of his damage in the second half, with three completions of over 45 yards. The Cowboys' air-raid mentality and Mestemaker's deep-ball accuracy proved to be a nightmare matchup for the Mountaineers.

After the game, it’s safe to say that Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez knows the defense did not play well.

“Didn't give our guys a chance,” Rodriguez said.

“The plan we had failed, that's pretty obvious…. 609 yards obvious.”

One of the leaders of the defense, senior linebacker Ben Cutter, was seen after the game staying on the field to slap hands with every teammate and help them pick their heads up. Cutter was blunt after the game when asked about the defense's mentality after giving up over 600 yards of offense.

“I think that every single player is going to show up tomorrow pissed off.”

All of this to say that it does not matter how good the Mountaineers' offense is if the defense is going to continue to struggle. The Mountaineers' defense went from displaying its physicality against Virginia a week ago to giving up 609 yards. The main difference between the two offenses they saw was clearly the passing game.

West Virginia held Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula to -1 yard rushing. When the Mountaineers took away the run, the Cavaliers' offense crumbled from the inside out. It was the passing game that continued to plague the Mountaineers' defense.

We saw some of the same concerns after the Coastal Carolina game, in which the defense let up 373 yards through the air. This time proved to be too much for the Mountaineers, as they were able to compete with the tough Cowboys team. Rodriguez called Mestemaker an “NFL quarterback” after the game, and it’s hard to deny that after tonight.

It's hard to blame the Mountaineers' offense in this game, even though Rodriguez admitted he got a bit impatient and stayed away from the run game a little bit too much in the second half. Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook both ran for over 100 yards in the contest.

Defensive coordinator Zac Alley has his work cut out for him as the Mountaineers look to bounce back and pick up their first Big 12 victory of 2026 against Iowa State next weekend.

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