The WVU Football defense brought unrelenting pressure to the Colorado Buffaloes and wreaked havoc all game long during Saturday’s victory. From the first snap, Zac Alley’s defensive game-plan was evident; they were going to get after true freshman quarterback Julian Lewis, and time and time again, the Mountaineer defense did just that. The plan was executed to near-perfection as the Mountaineers racked up an absurd 15 tackles for a loss and 7 sacks against the Buffaloes.
This attacking and aggressive West Virginia defense only allowed Colorado to rush for 51 yards in the game and gave up less than two yards per carry. The performance from this unit certainly helped assist WVU to maintain their lead for the entire duration of the game on Saturday.
Here are just some of the individual players that helped contribute to that defensive performance, according to their defensive grades (min. 20 snaps) provided by Pro Football Focus:
S Derek Carter Jr. (90.0 Defensive Grade)
Carter may not have played as many snaps as the others on this list, but within his 28 snaps in the game he made a huge impact. Perhaps, none of those snaps being more impactful than his “Peanut Punch” effort to force a fumble following a Colorado reception as the Buffaloes were driving in the third quarter.
In addition to his game-changing highlight play, he was extremely solid in coverage in the game as well, highlighted by his 89.2 coverage grade from the contest.
CB Michael Coats Jr. (82.3 Defensive Grade)
Coats was called upon extensively in the game on Saturday, and time after time, he answered that call. Totaling 60 snaps on the day, which is one of his highest snap counts thus far this season, he managed to only give up TWO receptions despite facing off against some highly-touted Colorado receivers. If that isn’t impressive enough, you could add in the fact that he also contributed THREE pass breakups in the game. When your PBUs outnumber the amount of receptions that you’ve given up, you know you’ve had a pretty good day at the office. Because of his solid play while defending the pass, he earned a 78 coverage grade on the day as well. With two players in the secondary grading out highly like this, the Mountaineers actually scored a season-high coverage grade as a team in the game against the Buffaloes with their performance netting them a 77 coverage grade collectively.
LB Ben Cutter (76.4 Defensive Grade)
Mountaineer linebacker Ben Cutter may not have been a starter in the game on Saturday, but you could definitely call him a finisher, as he recovered the onside kick attempt from Colorado that essentially slammed the door shut on any potential late-game heroics from the Buffaloes. This key recovery was not the only reason he graded out well however, as he also contributed to the impressive TFL and sack totals that WVU racked up in the contest. Within his 32 snaps on the day, Cutter accounted for 5 passing rush snaps, and on those 5 plays he generated two quarterback pressures and was able to get one sack as well. You will take that rate of production any day. Not only did PFF grade the WVU linebacker highly, but his performance also allowed him to earn player of the week honors from WVU this week.
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