West Virginia Defense Not Satisfied After Performance Against Liberty

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Football:

Defense still not satisfied after wins | The Daily Athenaeum
On paper, West Virginia’s defense was perfect through the first six quarters of the season, but a Liberty rushing touchdown in the third quarter of Saturday’s game put an end to the shutout streak. After the Mountaineers’ 44-0 victory over Georgia Southern and a 20-0 lead at halftime against the Flames, viewers and fans thought the West Virginia defense was as advertised. However, coaches and players felt their performance was not up to par and that a repeat of it would be disastrous when they entered Big 12 play.

After first start, Benton joins seniors in grumbling over defensive letdown | WV MetroNews
In a 41-17 victory over Liberty, the redshirt sophomore lived up to the moment, tying for the team lead with seven tackles and making two stops behind the line of scrimmage. But, like the rest of the West Virginia defense, he felt he could have performed better.

WVU Defensive Unit Serving as its Own Toughest Critic | WV MetroNews
Daryl Worley’s body language said it all. Following WVU’s 41-17 victory on Saturday over FCS foe Liberty, one would be led to believe that all was well within the Milan Puskar Center. However, for Worley, along with the entire WVU defense for that matter, it was far from a joyous atmosphere.

WVU looks to improve lackluster pass rush | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
hrough two games, both of them wins, it’s difficult to find too many flaws in West Virginia’s defense. It took 100 minutes — into the third quarter of their second game — before an opposing team scored against the Mountaineers, and even then, they have yet to give up a point at a moment when a game was remotely in doubt.

WVU offense going back to the future with read option | Beckley Register-Herald
Holgorsen’s attack has incorporated more of the run game every year, and fans who fondly remember the days of Pat White and Sleve Slaton probably had a few flashbacks Saturday as quarterback Skyler Howard and running backs Wendell Smallwood and Rushel Shell included some read option, the play that was the staple of the Rodriguez attack, in the game plan.

WVU QB Howard made adjustments, remained productive | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia’s first two offensive performances this season have a lot in common. The Mountaineers have sputtered at times in both first halves and scored 16 and 20 points, but they’ve also won both games in large part because they’ve found their way to at least 20 first downs, 485 yards and 40 points.

QB Howard's Legs a Threat, Too | WVU Athletics
Yesterday, the Mountaineers went up against a defense designed to take away the big play and force the opposition to move the ball methodically down the field. Instead of chucking deep balls, quarterback Skyler Howard was required to use shorter passes and operate more patiently against the Flames.

West Virginia notebook: O'Toole punts help set up scoring drives against Liberty | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
West Virginia senior punter Nick O'Toole is on a roll. O'Toole placed two punts inside the Liberty 5-yard line in the third quarter of Saturday's 41-17 win at Milan Puskar Stadium. Both punts helped lead to WVU touchdowns.

West Virginia Athletics:

WVU grabs two statement wins over weekend | The Daily Athenaeum
Following a weekend that featured an upset of No. 5 Penn State and a historic win over Villanova, the Mountaineers continued their win streak with statement wins over No. 15 Ohio State and Longwood University.

No. 5/8 WVU Women Extend Win Streak, Shut Out Longwood | WV Illustrated
The No. 5/8 West Virginia University women's soccer team (7-1) extended its winning streak to six games on Sunday, blanking the Longwood Lancers by the final score of 4-0.

Mountaineers roll to 6-2 win over James Madison | The Daily Athenaeum
Following a rough weekend that resulted in a pair of losses, the Mountaineers are back on track. Led by two goals in the first three minutes from Jad Arslan and Ryan Cain, they never looked back in a 6-2 rout against James Madison on Friday night.

Around The Big 12:

Big 12 bowl projections: Time for Week 2 redo | ESPN
After two weeks of solid data (and a few surprises), seems like it’s time to make a few flips in this week’s Big 12 bowl projections.

Big 12 Week 2 Power Rankings: Oklahoma Sooners rise after dramatic win | ESPN
The Big 12 Power Rankings after Week 2 feature TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma in the top three spots.

It's Texas, Texas Tech's turn to carry Big 12 torch after Oklahoma's validating win | Dallas Morning News
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops might deserve thank-you notes from the rest of the Big 12. The Big 12 is 2-2 this season against other power conferences and Notre Dame, so it's up to Texas and Texas Tech to maintain national respect this week.

Baylor’s Russell trying to balance fearlessness with making smart decisions | Waco Tribune
As a guy who spent the summer flying airplanes, Baylor quarterback Seth Russell is a risk taker by nature.

Around The NCAA:

Ranking the college football teams that looked the least like Arkansas on Saturday | SBNation
Welcome to the second 2015 edition of The Top Whatever, in which Spencer Hall ranks every team he feels like ranking.

What happened in college football Saturday, Sept. 13: 3 big things to know and ranked final scores | SBNation
Oklahoma and mighty Toledo shushed the SEC (for a few days at least), Michigan State's vengeance plan is halfway complete, BYU won on a Hail Mary *again*, and there was a lot of chippiness this week by players and coaches alike.

New 2015 College Football Playoff and bowl projections, with UCLA joining top 4 | SBNation
Now that we have multiple pieces of dubious evidence on every team in the country, let's update picks for every bowl game. No, let's.

10 Amazing College Football Stats from Week 2 | AthlonSports.com
Numbers and statistics are a huge part of college football. Every Sunday, reading updated box scores and stats is like Christmas for fans and media members. Some stats like total offense and total defense are overrated, but each help paint a picture for a team or particular game.

Rutgers suspends star receiver Leonte Carroo indefinitely | Sporting News
Rutgers coach Kyle Flood has suspended star wide receiver Leonte Carroo from the program indefinitely.

For some recruits, ‘flip season’ starting early | Charleston Gazette-Mail
When it comes to recruiting, nothing is final until the papers are faxed in come February. While many players make verbal commitments to schools and completely shut down their recruitments, others are just as likely to not only listen to, but reach out to other programs.

Everyone's favorite morning show is back with the best of week 2. It's time for Wake Up! College Football!

Today's Miss Throwdown is September's Playboy Playmate of the Month. CLICK HEREfor Monica Sims' Instagram.