What We Learned from West Virginia's Loss to Texas

The defense is legit

Coming into this past weekend's game, Texas came rolling in with the No. 1 scoring offense in the Big 12 Conference. Ehlinger was held to just 15/31 passing for 184 yards and a QBR of 65.4. On the ground, Ehlinger averaged just 3.3 yards per carry and didn't really kill West Virginia's defense in that phase either. Aside from Bijan Robinson rushing for 113 yards, Texas struggled to be the offense we are accustomed to seeing from them. The defense will get another big challenge in two weeks vs Oklahoma and if they have another performance like this weekend, they could be in position to win that game.

The offense goes as Leddie goes

This is something that already seemed evident, but it proved to be true when Leddie Brown wasn't at 100%. He only ran for 47 yards on 15 carries and it made the Mountaineers a one dimensional offense. Alec Sinkfield averaged under one yard per carry and the offensive line, well, just see below for more.

Offensive line needs consistency

Where do I start? The first half was arguably the worst half of football the offensive line played all season. Meaningless penalties, missed assignments, poor pass protection, no push in the ground game. If there were a bingo card for playing poorly on the line, my goodness, West Virginia hit it. The 2nd half was a little better, but not by much.

Right guard Michael Brown who had been playing well up until this game had a really rough day. He let his man get a hand on the ball twice at the line of scrimmage, one of which may have been a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. Center Chase Behrndt had a couple of bad snaps that effected the outcome of the play and also didn't pick up a blitzer that would go on to sack Jarret Doege. Left tackle Brandon Yates looked like what a redshirt freshman should look like. Had some really good moments, then have some really bad ones. The biggest thing for him is just not getting rattled and playing with more consistency. This group can be good, they just have some things to work on.

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