WVU defense looking to ride momentum from TCU stop into rest of season
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MORGANTOWN -- There wasn't a bigger pressure situation for West Virginia football's defense than in the final minutes against TCU. Horned Frogs were 14 yards from taking the lead with under a minute to play, and most likely winning the game. Fortunately for defensive coordinator Zac Alley and the defense, the ball bounced their way, and linebacker Ben Cutter jumped on the strip sack from defensive lineman David Afogho to close out the game 24-20.
"He made a great play there," Cutter said. "I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. He should get all the praise for that. We had pressure coming in. Try to get some pressure on him. Can't get the ball out, and he made the play."
For the second-straight week, the defense came up with a stop, leading to a WVU victory. The Mountaineers are now 5-3 on the season and are a win away from a bowl game, which looks feasible with Kansas at home on the schedule.
Alley's defense was a major reason WVU started 0-3 in the Big 12, and a lot of fans were calling for his job. It was deserved, since the defense was last in the Big 12 in most categories, and it made it worse that the offense was doing enough to win games.
These past two weeks were a big boost of confidence for a defense that was drowning.
"Especially for the defense, we really needed this," Cutter said. "I'm glad that we got the opportunity to win the game on defense, towards the end, to stop them on the last drive. That was great. Great confidence booster. We really needed that."
This week, WVU's defense held TCU to just 20 points -- the fewest against an FBS team this season. The Mountaineers’ defense created a lot of stops. WVU held the Horned Frogs scoreless on six of 10 drives, and two of the other drives were field goals.
The Mountaineers limited the big plays, which had been an issue the first three games of conference play. There were still busts, but not as many costly ones.
"I think we played good," Cutter said. "We played better. We played fast, which was huge. We didn't have all of these busts that had been coming up before. I think we played a lot faster today."
The performance was still far from perfect. The Mountaineers allowed quarterback Jaden Craig to throw for 372 yards, which was his season-high against Power Four opponents. TCU's offense totaled 484 yards. It makes it even worse knowing the Horned Frogs have the worst offense in the Big 12.
There are areas for improvement, especially since TCU doesn't have the best offense. The Mountaineers face some talented offenses in the final four games of the season. Utah and Houston are both in the top 4 in scoring offenses in the conference. Both have talented quarterbacks. WVU's defense has struggled against top quarterbacks, like Arizona's Noah Fifita and Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker.
Rich Rodriguez had been longing for the bye week because he wanted to spend a lot of time correcting the defensive mistakes. The bye has finally arrived to fix areas.
Cutter will spend time off resting and doing some hunting, but he knows it's important to keep this momentum rolling and keep improving to prepare for the rest of the season.
"Having a happy off week is always a fun time," Cutter said. "Huge for us. We really needed this. We still have some things to work on and fix. Really get to work and figure out who we are. We know who we are, but really implement that and try to come out every game and just attack an offense like we did today.”