WVU DC Zac Alley not satisfied with defensive performance against Virginia, still areas to clean up
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football had a comfortable lead on No. 25 Virginia 38-21 with under two minutes to play in the game. The Mountaineers just needed one more stop on defense, meaning turning them over on downs, to give the offense the ball back, running the rest of the clock out.
Instead, quarterback Beau Pribula and the Cavaliers drove down the field 75 yards to score before time expired. Virginia's offensive drive was helped by a targeting from corner Nick Taylor and a pass interference from corner Chams Diagne. In eight plays, Virginia scored.
It didn't matter in the outcome of the game. WVU was still up 11 with under a minute to play. But it mattered to defensive coordinator Zac Alley.
"The last drive really made me mad, just not doing our job," Alley said. "You’re going to come down to critical moments in big games where you’re going to have to stop them on that series. We’re calling things we’ve done since the first day of fall camp, and we’re just making stuff up. I didn’t like that."
WVU's defense throughout the game was one of the bigger storylines. Through two games, although the Mountaineers were winning, the defense had questions. WVU's defense allowed Coastal Carolina to mount a comeback in the first game, and even if U.T. Martin didn't score any points against the defense, the Skyhawks had chances to score and racked up a ton of yards. The defense improved massively against Virginia.
WVU allowed 14 points and 113 yards on the ground in the first quarter. Virginia was doing whatever it wanted, looking like the unit from the first two games. From that first quarter on, the defense played its best game of the season. It allowed just one more touchdown, which wasn't in garbage time, and gave up just 44 yards of rushing.
Still, Alley wasn't satisfied.
"We’ve got some improvement to make from that standpoint," Alley said. "There’s still, in my mind, there's still a lot of things left to do to be to where we want to be as a defense. Improving every time."
Alley said the message to the team after the game and this week showed his dissatisfaction. He didn't want to get the team too excited after the win because there's still a lot of season left. Rich Rodriguez echoed the same sentiment, saying they’d celebrate for 24 hours before moving on to the next week and Oklahoma State.
"My message today to the team and the players is going to be: you can’t be complacent," Alley said. "It’s the biggest game of the year coming up because it’s the next one. Victories never go on sale. You got to pay the price. We’ve got a big challenge."
There were some improvements made, though, especially in regard to communication. The communication was an issue throughout the first two games, and was a big point of emphasis before the Virginia game.
Alley said there was a point on fourth down when Virginia looked to go for it. The Cavaliers kept swapping offensive looks, and the defense was responding and communicating changes. Eventually, the defense won the chess match, and Virginia called a timeout and punted.
"(Ben) Cutter was all juiced up because we talked through the three or four shifts we had and got it right," Alley said. "It was certainly improved, and we’re still working on it. I don’t think it’s ever good enough. That’s how I am, but it was definitely better."
Alley still thinks even the communication can be better. To his point, there are still areas that need to be cleaned up, like being more disciplined and keeping containment.
But, after a dominant win over Virginia, it's hard not to say the defense looked great at times. Even Alley can admit that.
"We showed our potential when we do our job and play well," Alley said. "What we can be and how we can play. I still don’t think we played to the standard where we want to be.