While WVU quarterback Jarret Doege didn’t dive too deep into his postgame conversation with Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, Doege mentioned Gundy applauded Doege’s recent performances, but his defense was just too good in OSU’s 24-3 win at Milan Puskar Stadium.
It’s rare pleasantries after the game go deeper than “nice job, good luck the rest of the year,” but Gundy’s words to Doege proved he beliefs his defense is the real deal, and why wouldn’t he?
The Cowboys held the Mountaineers to their lowest yard-total since a shutout loss to Nebraska to open the 1994 season at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. WVU did do a little better than the 89 yards it had against the Cornhuskers 27 years ago, but the 133 yards it had against the Cowboys on Saturday was one of, if not the worst, offensive performances of this century.
“They just consumed us,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “They got us into 1-on-1 battles up front in a couple different ways. They got a fifth rusher and got us into 1-on-1s, and they just consumed us.”
It was the fewest yards the Cowboys have given up since 2000, but it didn’t look like it was going to start that way. The Mountaineers opened the game with a 64-yard drive that ended in their only three points of the game.
Over the course of the next nine drives, WVU had just 32 yards of total offense, an average of 3.6 yards per possession. Only twice during that span was WVU to get a first down and finished 2 of 14 on third down conversions.
“If we could get a first down, we could get some tempo going for some shot plays or some tempo plays, but going three-and-out didn’t really help us,” Doege said on conversations with his coaches. “We’re repeatedly three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out. We’re just trying to get something going and we can’t really get into our plays that we want to get into if we can’t get a first down.”
It was the first time the Mountaineers were held without a touchdown since the 42-6 loss at Iowa State to end the 2020 regular season.
The Cowboys came in with the top scoring defense in the Big 12, allowing 18 points per game, and had the No. 2 rush defense. Until a few garbage time carries with the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, WVU had just one yard rushing, eventually ending with 17.
A big part of that was Oklahoma State’s constant and relentless pressure on Doege, finishing with eight sacks. The Cowboys also finished with 12 tackles for loss, including a 26-yard loss on a Garrett Greene fumble.
While Brown mentioned his offense’s bad performance, he credited OSU’s defense and its game plan coming in. With nine senior starters, the Cowboys were able to out-man and out-play the Mountaineers in every facet.
“Offensively, we didn’t play well, but they had a lot to do with it — from a scheme standpoint and just winning 1-on-1s,” Brown said.
“They made it really tough on us.”
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