Inside Arizona Defensive Coordinator’s Nightmare About WVU Offense

While WVU football fans are losing sleep because of their team’s defense, Arizona’s defensive coordinator is staying up at night thinking of a different nightmare.

Arizona’s Danny Gonzales let reporters in on the secret of his recent reoccurring nightmare about facing Rich Rodriguez and the Mountaineer offense. In Gonzales’ dreams, Mike Hawkins and Cam Cook put up nearly 100 points on the Wildcats.

“It was nightmarish. And you know what? They’re more than capable of doing that, which is the scary part,” Gonzales told reporters. He then explained his appreciation for Rodriguez and his track record.

“I think Rich Rod is unbelievable. Schematically, I think he does unbelievable things with who he has. It does not matter who he has,” he said.

Gonzales’ worries are valid, too. Despite losing back-to-back games after a 3-0 start to the season, West Virginia just scored 42 points at Iowa State while racking up 518 yards. The Mountaineers even totaled 467 the week prior against Oklahoma State and 38 points on 437 yards in a win over Virginia. WVU enters the matchup averaging 37.4 points and 472.0 yards per game.

However, the reason why Arizona opened the week as a road favorite and what would make Saturday afternoon a nightmare for the home team stems from West Virginia’s struggles on defense.

WVU’s defense doesn’t rank dead last, but close to it in significant categories.

• West Virginia has allowed 456.6 yards per game, the sixth worst in terms of total yards in the FBS and the second worst among Power Four schools.
• WVU has allowed the sixth most passing yards per game at 288.2.
• Once a strength for the defense, WVU has even allowed the 31st most rushing yards per game at 168.4
• And points wise, WVU has allowed the 29th most in the country at 28.8.

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