WVU offense can’t make up for defensive woes in loss to Arizona
Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia needed to respond to Arizona’s quick touchdown before the half of Saturday’s game at Moutaineer Field. The Wildcats had taken a 24-17 lead and would have the ball out of the locker room. The Mountaineers had just over two minutes to drive down the field.
Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. chucked the ball deep to USC and Boise State transfer receiver Prince Strachan. The ball was a bit underthrown, but Strachan adjusted and caught it through contact for a 40-yard gain. Just like that, the Mountaineers had a chance to put points on the board before the half.
Running back Cam Cook caught a pass to put WVU inside the 10. The next play, Cook received the handoff, and disaster struck, as he had it stripped out for a fumble.
Hey, one fumble, no big deal usually.
But the Mountaineers can’t afford to fumble, or punt, or even kick a field goal with a defense that can’t create a stop.
Arizona came out of the locker room and went 75 yards on three plays for a touchdown. Just like that, it was 38-24 and a two-score game.
“Offensively, there is probably a little bit of feeling like pressure,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t have a turnover. You got to score on every possession, and it’s just extremely frustrating.”
Every time the Mountaineers didn’t score, it was amplified.
WVU turned the ball over twice, on the Cook fumble and then a bad pitch from Hawkins, which resulted in a scoop-and-score. There were multiple other times the Mountaineers should’ve punched it in. WVU turned the ball over on downs deep in Arizona’s territory and kicked a field goal inside the 10.
“Offensively, you can’t win by turning the ball over when you have seven points down there, not where we’re at right now,” Rodriguez said. “I’m sure when I watch the film, offensively especially, there’s going to be some we had this, we had that. … It wasn’t just poor on the defense.”
Hawkins wasn’t perfect, either. He missed on some deep throws, and went 11-for-28 for 219 yards. He had a score on the ground and 98 yards to go with it.
The problem is Hawkins has to be perfect when the defense lets up 52 points and allows Arizona to gain almost a first down a play. The Wildcats’ six touchdown drives came on an average of four plays.
There is not a lot of rest for the offense.
Hawkins was forced to move the ball downfield and take shots because that was the fastest way to match Arizona on the other end. He said he didn’t feel pressure, but Rodriguez thought he saw it.
“I’m sure he’s pressing a little bit, too, at times when he’s behind, and then he made some really good throws,” Rodriguez said. “There’s some other ones that he overthrew or what have you that he’d like to get back.”
The bad defensive performance was affecting Rodriguez’s decision-making. The Mountaineers went for it on fourth down seven times. Three of those times were in the closing minutes, but on the third drive of the game, Rodriguez was going for it after Arizona put 10 quick points on the board. WVU converted twice.
Rodriguez knew field goals weren’t going to cut it.
“Every possession is so important,” Rodriguez said. “Even going for seven instead of three. We can get it fixed. We got good enough players and guys that know football. We got to get it fixed. It’s as simple as that. You can’t win playing that poorly on defense.”
The offense wasn’t perfect, but when you put up 30-plus points and 500 yards in three straight games, a team expects to win at least one.
Not with the problems on defense right now.
The Mountaineers can’t afford to come away on any drive with zero points. And, it’s getting to the point where even field goals aren’t enough.
“Offensively, when we had a couple turnovers, it really cost us,” Rodriguez said. “We couldn’t get the momentum that we needed.”