MORGANTOWN - Coach Rich Rodriguez felt better about WestVirginia's football defense Sunday after viewing tapes of Saturday's62-24 season-opening victory over Western Michigan.
"I'm more encouraged now than I felt right after the game," hesaid on his weekly media teleconference. "We did seven or eight three-and-outs. We were really close to executing. But, at the same time,our guys were really good against the run again.
"Our guys know there are a few things on third down that we've gotto get better at. There are a lot of ways we can do that, and I thinkthey will try to do that this week."
After allowing 12 first downs and 186 yards in the first half, theMountaineers gave up just six first downs and a mere 91 yards in thesecond half against WMU. For game, they intercepted three passes andrecovered a fumble.
While the defense exerted some pressure on the Broncos'quarterbacks, Rodriguez still thinks it's not enough. "We've got tocontinue to get better at that," he said. "What I didn't likedefensively was we didn't execute (well) on third-and long plays."
He thought the effort and intensity generally was good and thatthe players, for the most part, played pretty smart. There were acouple of missed assignments, but not as many as usual in an openinggame, he noted.
Offensively, Rodriguez noted that a couple of things could havebeen potential touchdown plays except for missed assignments.
"But I thought our guys stayed pretty focused for all fourquarters," he said.
He praised quarterback Patrick White and tailback Steve Slaton,who combined for 464 of the team's 542 yards and eight of the ninetouchdowns.
He's not surprised because he sees them every day in practice.
"They're so competitive that you kinda expect them to (excel),"Rodriguez said. "But sometimes they can make mistakes, too. Steve ishealthy now and Pat continues to grow each and every day."
Both are high in the Heisman Trophy mix this year.
Rodriguez also made these observations:
- The defensive secondary did a solid job generally.
- Center Mike Dent graded out as high as anybody on the offensiveline in his first start. It was a " very solid beginning" for him.
- WVU was penalized only six times for 34 yards, which is betterthan usual for a season opener. No penalty was what the head coachconsiders "silly."
- There hasn't been as much hype about next Saturday's WVU-Marshall game, though it's a sellout in Huntington. He expects thehype to pick up this week.
- Rodriguez thought all the true freshmen graded out about thesame. Those included tailbacks Noel Devine and Jock Sanders,linebacker Pat Lazear, and defensive back Sydney Glover.
- Linebacker Archie Sims, a junior-college transfer, has a sorehamstring. No one else was injured in the game.
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