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West Virginia's Defense Ready For Another Tough Test In Stillwater

For the third week in a row, West Virginia's defense will go up against a dynamic offense with a good quarterback and a crew of talented skill players. They passed the first two tests with flying colors, but face the conference's best pocket passer this week.

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News Of Note

Football:

WVU defense ready for another tough test | The Exponent Telegram
For the third week in a row West Virginia’s defense will go up against a dynamic offense with a good quarterback and a bevy of talented skill players. It passed its first two tests with flying colors but this week it must stop the Big 12’s best pocket passer in Mason Rudolph.

West Virginia Mountaineers' schematic synergy propels playoff push | ESPN
Thanks largely to their defense (wish a push from their offense), the Mountaineers look like the Big 12's best playoff hopeful.

Does Oklahoma State pose the biggest threat left for West Virginia? | ESPN
West Virginia is unbeaten and threatening to earn a spot in the College Football Playoffs. What opponent could be the Mountaineers' stumbling block?

Holgorsen warns Oklahoma State ‘could very easily be sitting at 7-0’ | WV MetroNews
More from the coach on William Crest's special-teams experiment and disagreement on Elijah Battle's targeting penalty.

Several reunions set for Saturday when WVU meets Oklahoma State | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy has a deep background in offense. He was the Cowboys’ quarterback from 1986-89 and his entire coaching background is rooted on the offensive side. Yet he realized before 2010 season that his expertise wasn’t the perfect fit for his personnel. So he plucked Houston’s offensive coordinator, Dana Holgorsen, from the Cougars to direct OSU’s offense. It worked out pretty well for both sides.

Special teams play has improved for Mountaineers | The Exponent Telegram
West Virginia’s special teams revealed themselves as a potential issue as recently as a couple weeks ago. Now, two sound performances later, the Mountaineers are showing that a handful of personnel changes, and some elevated play, has them primed as a key contributor down the stretch.

WVU’s Gibson, Boone County and the ‘Pond Fork Defense’ | Charleston Gazette-Mail
In Boone County, they’re calling it "The Pond Fork Defense." With pride. The WVU Mountaineer defense, that is. It’s being called that in honor of Van’s favorite son, West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.

WVU flummoxed, frustrated over targeting penalties | Charleston Gazette-Mail
For the second straight week, West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen had to revisit a targeting ejection levied against one of his cornerbacks.

Basketball:

Bob Huggins again commands stage at Big 12 media day | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Bob Huggins did and did not disappoint Tuesday at the annual Big 12 media day at the Sprint Center.

West Virginia Athletics:

Early Second-Half Goal the Difference in Win | WVU Athletics
An early second-half goal by senior forward Felix Angerer led the West Virginia men’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory at Penn on Tuesday night.

Mountaineers Back at No. 1 | WVU Athletics
The West Virginia University rifle team ranks No. 1 in this week’s College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Poll.   This week’s CRCA Poll rankings are based off the last aggregate score shot by each team.   The Mountaineers (4-0, 2-0 GARC) move up one spot after being ranked No. 2 last week.

Mountaineers Complete Fall Play at Quail Valley | WVU Athletics
Freshman Etienne Papineau shot three under par through the final 18 holes as the West Virginia University golf team completed its fall slate at the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational at the Quail Valley Golf and River Club in Vero Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

Around The League

Around The Big XII:

Big 12 early look: Unbeatens hit the road for key tests | ESPN
West Virginia faces a challenge from Oklahoma State's high-flying offense, and Baylor travels to face a desperate Texas team.

Baylor Bears feeling fresh heading into defining 6-week stretch | ESPN
If you're not sure how good Baylor is yet, that's understandable. All will be revealed in the next six weeks.

Big 12 mailbag: Breaking down bad defenses, good candy | ESPN
The chances are slim that Baylor and West Virginia will meet with both undefeated; Texas and Texas Tech both continue to struggle on defense.

Around The NCAA:

UCF’s in my top 10 because of its incredible spite toward a made-up rivalry | SBNation
The Top Whatever is Spencer Hall’s weekly ranking of only the teams that must be ranked at this time.

James Franklin explains 5 important details about Penn State's upset of Ohio State | SBNation
The biggest win of the head coach’s career has the Nittany Lions ranked for the first time in five years.

Emails show a Nebraska regent was ‘embarrassed’ by Cornhusker football players’ protest | SBNation
Correspondence obtained by SB Nation shows Hal Daub’s private messages prior to publicly criticizing a September protest

Michigan’s defense has been historically great. Can the Wolverines keep it up this time? | SBNation
Also, the Wolverines are expected to beat MSU by an uncomfortable margin, OU-TTU looked like a different sport, and WMU might really be happening.

Video Of Interest

Video Of (Dis)Interest

Listen, this may be the best sketch Saturday Night Live has done in a long time, and you can expect to see David S. Pumpkins running around Morgantown on Halloween.

Miss Throwdown

Today's Miss Throwdown is a Argentinian model that has worked with Victoria's Secret and Vogue Magazine. CLICK HERE for Camila Morrone's Instagram.

A photo posted by Camila Morrone (@camimorrone) on