DC Zac Alley looking to alternatives in attempt to fix WVU’s defense
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MORGANTOWN -- Arizona scored 52 points on West Virginia football's defense. For the third straight week, defensive coordinator Zac Alley's defense gave up 40-plus points and well over 400 yards of offense being the major reason why the team lost. Heading into Week 7 and Cincinnati, the story of the defense performing poorly remains the same.
Alley was looking for a minute to himself after the game, but he had to tend to his post-game duties, speaking with recruits. But a minute alone would've been nice to dump his frustrations.
"It’s nice to get a minute or two to myself to punch a wall or punch myself or whatever that looks like," Alley said. "But then you got to pick yourself up and keep going."
Last week, Alley chose a similar route to show his emotions. During his press conference, he dropped an F-bomb and called his unit the worst in the country.
There will still be plenty of that sprinkled about this week, but Alley is using a different vice to relieve his stress. Alley has turned to his faith. The pastor who married him was in town this weekend, so he had conversations with him, trying to keep his mind off of all the negativity pointed towards his unit.
"We had some good conversations," Alley said. "I believe that everything we do, there’s a reason. I believe that when you’re having success, you’re having failure, it shouldn’t change how you treat yourself, treat other people."
The team had an event Monday night where multiple players were baptized out on the field. Alley poked his head out to witness it a little. It reminded him that in an era of college football that is so transactional, the goal of a college coach is still to prepare these players for life past football.
"Sometimes I got to go back to that message for myself as well," Alley said. "That the measure of your work is not always the measure of your worth, and you’ve got to be able to separate those things."
The work on the field has been bad, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. WVU’s made a lot of mistakes over the past three weeks, and luckily, Rodriguez said they are all correctable.
A week ago, Rodriguez said the team was going back to the drawing board, and now it's going even deeper, starting from scratch. Alley said all positions are up for grabs, trying to motivate the players to do their best.
"Nobody is solidified as a starter," Alley said. "Try and put the guys that are the most athletic guys we can to give us an opportunity in positions that you know we feel like they can be successful."
That'll hopefully develop the defense a little. Alley said the major problem is lack of execution. Arizona ran plays that WVU practiced for, and it didn't translate on gameday. There were times when the defense was in the right spot, but just didn't make a tackle. The Mountaineers had plenty of missed tackles against the Wildcats.
The defense has the information to make the play, but it's not translating during the game. Alley's simplifying the defense even more, trying to make them more comfortable, while making sure they can still win. He's moving players around, as well.
"There’s a gray area sometimes in the player’s mind of like 'Oh, well this split wasn’t exactly what we saw in practice. He’s two yards tighter, so I didn’t do what you said I was supposed to do on every play because he was two yards tighter.'" Alley said. "There comes indecision when there’s changing pictures and things, and so you’re trying to clear that up."
Alley believes the effort across the board can be better, too.
The 32-year-old coordinator, one of the youngest in college football, has experienced periods where his unit hasn't performed. Last season, the defense started off hot, played poorly, and got better. At Jacksonville State in 2023, Alley's defense allowed around 30 points in three straight games, and the next two weeks, the defense gave up under 20. Alley is capable of getting the defense back on track.
This year and the year before had the added challenge of massive roster turnover. Like Rodriguez, Alley is getting comfortable playing with 80 new players, and attempting to have them work in unison.
"There’s a learning curve there for myself," Alley said. "As well as our guys, to be able to execute the things we do."
The Mountaineers are halfway through the season and have gone three straight weeks where the defense has looked inept. In the past, this is when Alley's defenses usually start to progress. Maybe that'll be the same this year? If not, it could be a wrong rest of the season.
Alley will find out this weekend if his prayers are answered when his unit trots out to play Cincinnati.
"Nobody likes losing," Alley said. "I don’t like losing. I don’t like playing bad. I don’t like any part of that. You want to win... That weighs on you as someone who’s in a decision-making position, in a leadership position. You’ve got to be accountable to that... Why are we here? What are we doing? How do we fix this? How do we get better? Because that’s what we’re trying to do every day."