WVU is the 3rd best team in the Big East

The Mountaineers are 6-1 and and I can say with some degree of confidence they are the 3rd best team in the Big East.

Why, because of the secondary, specifically the play of the safeties.

I'm not a coach but I saw bandit Nate Sowers consistently get beat and miss tackles against the Huskies on Saturday. Robert Sands seemed to be better than Sowers but he looked out of place at times. Keith Tandy...well...I didn't see him much. Brandon Hogan seems to be playing better and everything I read says that Sidney Glover is a talent. I don't get to break down the game film or grade the position players but it seems to me that WVU will only compete against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh if the secondary plays well and right now that seems like a pipe dream.

So what's the solution? Pat Miller is a talent but is the true freshman ready? I can't imagine he would be a downgrade from what I saw from Sowers on Saturday. I also cant imagine that fellow freshman Jonathan Scott could do worse than Keith Tandy. But then again I don't see practice or watch the tape.

It seems to me that WVU can't blitz like in days past because to do so would be to expose the secondary and take away the help they need to contain the receivers. Maybe someone with more knowledge can correct me but this doesn't seem to be a flaw of the 3-3-5. Their receivers are just better than our coverage guys.

If we're lucky we'll split with the Bearcats and Panthers and share the Big East title. Our plan going forward would seem to be to keep the ball away from the other team and keep our defense on the sideline. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Stew has chosen to receive the ball more often that not when winning the coin toss.

What it comes down to is that WVU is a talented team with a glaring weakness. We can only hope our offense can keep that weakness from being exploited. The bright side is that on offense WV is loaded and fully capable of winning any shootout as long as they win the turnover battle.