Football

WVU football defense putting bigger emphasis on communication ahead of No. 25 Virginia

WVU\\\'s defense is \\\'really quiet\\\'

MORGANTOWN -- If you looked at the scoreboard during the U.T. Martin game, 52-7, you'd think the defense had a dominant perfermance. But, if you watched the game, you'd see there were issues, and it couldn’t looked a little bit closer. There were multiple opportunities for the Skyhawks to score. They fumbled the ball on a drive, had a touchdown called back and missed a field goal. In the end, the defense allowed an FCS school to rack up 318 yards of offense.

Rich Rodriguez said after the game he didn't think the defense was particularly sharp, and corrections needed to be fixed fast, because the Mountaineers face No. 25 Virginia as their toughest test yet Saturday.

"We got to clean up some of the mistakes," Rodriguez said. “There was some, I don’t want to say simple busts that we had, but there were some things that we’ve got to get corrected in a hurry... You get away with them against U.T. Martin, you’re not going to get away with it against Virginia."

After the U.T. Martin game, and in preparation for No. 25 Virginia, defensive coordinator Zac Alley went into the film room to figure out the issue. He didn't need his eyes to tell him the issue. All Alley needed was his ears.

"We're being really quiet," Alley said. "Nobody's talking."

There's no communication on defense. Once the play comes in, the defense doesn't talk, which creates issues when the offense adjusts, motions, audibles or brings in a different personnel. The defense knows how to stop the play, but they don't communicate to get into position to stop it.

Sunday during the walkthrough, Alley told the defense communication needed to improve, and is a point of emphasis this week.

"You can't just be like, 'I hope he knows what to do.' Like that doesn't work,” Alley said. “The challenge this weeks is we have to play with some anticipation. Like 'Okay, if he motions, what are we doing?' Not just 'Ah, well, I hope he figures it out. He's got it over there.' Talk to each other and communicate."

Senior linebacker Ben Cutter said not communicating can stem from a lot of different things. The two main ones is assuming everyone knows what to do, or not having the confidence in what they're supposed to do, so they don't speak up.

"We can eliminate that," Cutter said. "We're practicing hard. We simplified the game plan a little bit, so we're going to be get after it."

The communication starts with the linebackers. They are the leaders of the defense who get the calls in from the sideline through the headset communication.

WVU has veteran linebackers. Cutter returned for Year 2 in the system, along with junior Ashton Woods and redshirt freshman Cam Torbor, and the transfers Alley brought in are all veterans.

"We need to talk more for sure," Cutter said. "It's something that starts with us at linebacker. We're going to do our best today and throughout the week to improve that. It should show up in the game."

The rest of the team needs to be better at communicating, too, at all three levels: the defensive line, secondary and linebackers. Everyone needs to be on the same page, and the only way to make sure of that is by talking.

That's not to say the whole defense wasn't communicating. There are a few players who do.

"There's like two guys in the back end; they do all the communication," Alley said. "If they're not in, we got no shot if nobody else talks."

Communication will be crucial against Virginia's offense. The Cavaliers' offense averages 439.5 yards per game, averaging 6.8 yards per play. Virginia has a top 25 scoring offense in the country. The only way to slow down the offense is making sure the communication is on point.

"It's huge on our defense, communication," Cutter said. "If we aren't on the same page, stuff can go wrong; that's with every defense, but especially here, we have a lot of things going on out there. That was our big emphasis."