MORGANTOWN - Over the course of the last two games, it has become obvious what a world of difference it makes for West Virginia's football team to finally have a healthy defense.
MORGANTOWN - Over the course of the last two games, it has become obvious what a world of difference it makes for West Virginia's football team to finally have a healthy defense.
To wit: With the preseason's projected 11 best players in the starting lineup for the first time all season, the Mountaineers held No. 5 Cincinnati's bombs-away offense to its lowest point total of the season in a narrow 24-21 loss, then held then-No. 9 Pitt to just a touchdown and three field goals (also its lowest output of the season) in a 19-16 win.
Yet it is more than just the return to better health by three players - tackle Scooter Berry, linebacker Reed Williams and safety Sidney Glover - that has boosted the West Virginia defense.
It is how those three work with everyone else on the defense. Think of it as dominoes affecting all three levels of the unit and as a whole: Berry shores up the line, Williams the linebackers, Glover the secondary and, as a result, the entire unit is better.
It's more than just a physical thing, too.
"With Sidney and [free safety Robert] Sands back there, they're communicating and disguising [coverages],'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said Tuesday. "I looked out there [during the Pitt game] and thought, 'Wow, this looks like Wicks and Mundy in the Fiesta Bowl.' Remember that? We were lethal.''
Indeed, two years ago West Virginia's defense against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl was lights out, in part because of the experience and the way players like safeties Eric Wicks and Ryan Mundy meshed together. Take one of them out and a replacement might capably fill the slot, but perhaps at the cost of communication.
Ditto this year's secondary, which for much of the season saw Glover go in and out of the lineup with various injuries, not to mention Sands starting the season slowly.
"I keep yelling at them in the film [sessions], 'Quit standing there like statues. Do what your coaches tell you to do and be creative,' '' Stewart said. "They know where they have to get. Be creative and fly around and get where you're supposed to be on the snap. That's what we're starting to do.''
MORGANTOWN - Over the course of the last two games, it has become obvious what a world of difference it makes for West Virginia's football team to finally have a healthy defense.
To wit: With the preseason's projected 11 best players in the starting lineup for the first time all season, the Mountaineers held No. 5 Cincinnati's bombs-away offense to its lowest point total of the season in a narrow 24-21 loss, then held then-No. 9 Pitt to just a touchdown and three field goals (also its lowest output of the season) in a 19-16 win.
Yet it is more than just the return to better health by three players - tackle Scooter Berry, linebacker Reed Williams and safety Sidney Glover - that has boosted the West Virginia defense.
It is how those three work with everyone else on the defense. Think of it as dominoes affecting all three levels of the unit and as a whole: Berry shores up the line, Williams the linebackers, Glover the secondary and, as a result, the entire unit is better.
It's more than just a physical thing, too.
"With Sidney and [free safety Robert] Sands back there, they're communicating and disguising [coverages],'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said Tuesday. "I looked out there [during the Pitt game] and thought, 'Wow, this looks like Wicks and Mundy in the Fiesta Bowl.' Remember that? We were lethal.''
Indeed, two years ago West Virginia's defense against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl was lights out, in part because of the experience and the way players like safeties Eric Wicks and Ryan Mundy meshed together. Take one of them out and a replacement might capably fill the slot, but perhaps at the cost of communication.
Ditto this year's secondary, which for much of the season saw Glover go in and out of the lineup with various injuries, not to mention Sands starting the season slowly.
"I keep yelling at them in the film [sessions], 'Quit standing there like statues. Do what your coaches tell you to do and be creative,' '' Stewart said. "They know where they have to get. Be creative and fly around and get where you're supposed to be on the snap. That's what we're starting to do.''
The return to form of Williams might be even more significant. Limited by a combination of shoulder and leg injuries to a virtual part-time role since early in the season, the senior middle linebacker was on the field for almost every significant snap against Pitt.
"Reed's been playing 20, 25, 30 plays. [But against Pitt], Reed Williams played a lot of plays,'' Stewart said. "To have Reed Williams in the huddle, just on the field for 65 plays, it's immeasurable. You just can't, as a coach, script [a game]. You can tell them what's coming, but when Reed's out there [it's like a coach on the field].''
Berry's return from a shoulder injury and a suspension adds to the mix, too, and from more than just the standpoint of adding the team's most experienced lineman. It affects even Glover.
"When I'm in there, I don't think about who's there and who isn't there because the replacements we have worked just as hard as I did,'' Glover said. "But I'm used to seeing Scooter in there and I know he's a playmaker.''
All of which would seem to bode well for the Mountaineers as they head into Saturday's regular-season finale at Rutgers.
"We're getting better. It's all starting to tie together when you get them out there and they become comfortable with each other,'' Stewart said. "To have Glover and Sands on the field at the same time speaks volumes. To have Scooter in that defensive line with Julian [Miller] and Chris Neild, and to have Reed and the linebackers with Pat [Lazear] and J.T. [Thomas], we're clicking, man. We're pretty good. We're not bad. The last two games, we're not bad. Now, we've got a lot to get better at, but we're not bad.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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