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THE DEFENSES
| STATISTIC |  |
 |
| Passes Broken Up | 17 | 21 |
| QB Hurries | 5 | 8 |
| Fumbles Forced | 2 | 6 |
| Interceptions | 5 | 4 |
| Sacks | 9.0 | 14.0 |
| Tackles for Loss | 29.0 | 40.0 |
| 3rd Down Conversion % | 35.29% | 50.00% |
| Rushing Yards Allowed | 92.60 (12, 1) | 124.00 (37, 6) |
| Rushing Avg. Yards/Attempt | 2.89 | 4.91 |
| Passing Yards Allowed | 117.40 (1, 1) | 336.00 (117, 9) |
| Passing Avg Yards/Attempt | 4.7 | 9.1 |
A lot more pressure, sacks and tackles for loss than what I would have expected. I don't know what I was expecting, but those are some pretty good numbers in terms of big plays. Despite the loss the OU, Texas Tech did tack on a few more tackles for a loss and I do remember them now.
The yards allowed, especially for rushing is also interesting in that I wasn't expecting such good numbers. Of course, last year Texas Tech had a terrific pass defense, but it was because the rush defense was so abysmal. It may be the same way with the pass defense in that West Virginia is allowing so many yards passing, it may not matter. Still, overall, West Virginia is allowing over 400 yards a game.
And in case you are wondering, WVU allowed 135 yards against UT on 39 carries for 3.46 yards a carry. That's not bad. The much maligned pass defense was also very ineffective against UT, allowing 9.3 yards per attempt. The Baylor game obviously skews the statistics, but WVU is allowing a lot of yards through the air. The only game where they were pretty good was against James Madison where the Moutaineers only allowed 112 yards. Otherwise, they allowed 413, 305, 581 and 269 yards passing.
We're learning more and more about the Texas Tech defense and last week, the Texas Tech offense gifted the Oklahoma offense some short fields, so maybe the OU offense would have more yards than on Saturday if they were forced to go down the entire field, but that wasn't the case. Late in the first half and early in the second half OU got the ball on Texas Tech's 41 and their own 46, both of which resulted in scoring drives. Texas Tech allowed a season worst 6.5 yards per attempt against OU and a near season worst 4.17 yards per carry. This was not a situation where OU was struggling on offense because that's not the case.
THE OFFENSES
| STATISTIC | |
|
| Red Zone TD % | 70.37% (19/27) | 83.33% (20/24) |
| 3rd Down Conversion % | 57.75% | 53.45% |
| Passing Yards | 341.20 (7, 4) | 406.80 (2, 2) |
| Yards/Passing Attempt | 7.6 | 9.4 |
| Rushing Yards | 168.40 (60, 7) | 164.00 (64, 8) |
| Rushing Yards Per Attempt | 4.78 | 4.97 |
| Touchdowns | Turnovers | 24 | 9 | 36 | 3 |
| Turnover Margin | -2.00 | 1.00 |
| Yards/Play | 6.37 | 7.49 |
| Sacks Allowed / Pass Attempt | 32.00 | 27.00 |
Pretty scary numbers on that first line for West Virginia on that first line and I am surprised that they don't complete more on third downs. I think this is one of the more underrated statistics in the game, although you could point to Texas Tech's 9 of 15, which isn't bad against Oklahoma, but the offensive performance wasn't up to par. I'd love to know what that was 1st half to 2nd half.
The YPA is just a beautiful sight to see for WVU, pretty amazing to have almost 10 yards an attempt.
The rushing and passing numbers came back down to earth a bit and that's to be expected, but I do think that the the Texas Tech running game and the offense in general needs to average 150 yards or so from this point forward if they want to be remotely successful overall. This team cannot afford to not run the ball. Overall, the team did run for 107 yards (not including Doege's -18 in being sacked) on 29 carries. That needs to be better.
The turnover numbers are creeping up to a scary level. This team hasn't had a clean game in terms of turnovers all year. At least 1 per game and there were 5 turnovers, all interceptions, the past two games. That's discouraging.
I am surprised that technically, West Virginia is allowing a higher sack rate than Texas Tech so maybe that's a point of emphasis for Texas Tech, which is to get pressure on Geno Smith, but I'd also add that I don't think that a team should blitz Smith because I think he makes you pay dearly.
All helmet images via The Helmet Project and thanks to College Football Statistics for these stats.