Zac Alley Addresses Accusations About WVU Football Defense Being Ill-Prepared

After a lackluster performance against Oklahoma State, WVU football defensive coordinator Zac Alley was not pleased with his defense.

He even echoed head coach Rich Rodriguez’s sentiment about the defense not being prepared enough ahead of the game.

“Giving up 600 yards makes me feel like we weren’t ready,” Alley said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “So probably a mistake and oversight on my end. Tried to do something different to affect the quarterback because he’s a good player.”

Alley gave two potential solutions to being ill-prepared: simplifying the defense and working technique.

“I think you simplify it for them, you know, keep them in some things they can match up and get going on. A lot of its technique. We’ve got to work our technique better,” Alley said.

“I think some of them, it’s not like the guy’s wide open. We’re getting beat in press man or we take our eyes off our guy in man coverage and they run a wheel route. That’s going to happen to you if you don’  strain to do your job with great eyes and great technique. And so I think that’s the number one thing.”

Alley also mentioned the idea of rotating more players on defense to keep the team fresh. And with safety JaCorey Thomas being added to the lineup, doing that will be even easier this week.

“We’ve got to probably got to play more guys. You get out there and guys are playing 81 snaps or whatever it is. I know I’m not as good the first mile of my run versus the 15th mile of my run,” Alley said. “I think we’ve got to play and get more guys ready to play, which I think we will this week.”

West Virginia and Iowa State will kickoff from Ames, Iowa at noon ET on Saturday, Oct. 3. The game is scheduled to broadcast nationally on TNT.

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