WVU LB Chase Wilson Cites Lack of Defensive Discipline in Utah Loss

A bright spot for this season’s WVU football team has been the defense, but that was not the case on Saturday in a 48-14 blowout loss to Utah, dropping the team to 0-2 in Big 12 play. Redshirt senior linebacker Chase Wilson gave his take on the defense’s performance in his postgame press conference, saying the unit was “trying to do too much.”

“I think we were trying to do too much, and anytime you’re missing tackles is not going to go well for you, no matter how locked in you are to the game plan,” Wilson said. “You can’t miss tackles and expect to be successful. I think we were trying to do too much.”

The defense was a problem all game long, as WVU was down 28-0 at halftime. Utah also scored on eight of its nine drives Saturday.

Wilson said the defense had a good week of practice and preparation ahead of the Utah game, pointing out that Defensive Coordinator Zac Alley had defensive schemes ready for specific plays for Utah’s offense.

“I thought we had a great week in practice. I thought we did,” Wilson said. “There were even a couple plays that we had dialed up to the exact call that Utah ran to that call that Coach Alley put us in on defense, and we didn’t execute that. That’s on us. You know, we were prepared, but we did not execute.”

WVU is on a short week for the next game, as the Mountaineers will head to Provo, Utah for a Friday night matchup that will take place at 10:30 ET. Wilson said it is important to put this loss behind them and look forward.

“You learn from this and you flush it,” Wilson said. “We got a great opportunity next week to go into a good environment against a good team. Short week. You know, the best part about whether you win or you lose is you get another one to play next week.”

Find more coverage of Chase Wilson and the WVU Football program at WV Sports Now.