MORGANTOWN - What's most frustrating for West Virginia defensivecoordinator Jeff Casteel is not that his side of the ball is capableof allowing 31 points and 221 yards of offense in a half, as theMountaineers did against Rutgers.
What puzzles him most is the same players seem just as capable ofplaying the way they did after halftime. WVU allowed just 165 yardson eight drives and turned the Scarlet Knights into the fourthoffense this season that couldn't score in the second half.
"They're going to end up probably killing all of us coaches asthe year wears on," Casteel said after the 24th-ranked Mountaineers'41-31 win.
Casteel's patience will be tested again at noon Saturday at homeagainst Louisville (4-4, 2-2 Big East). The Cardinals are last inthe conference in scoring offense and seventh out of eight teams intotal offense. Louisville fired its offensive coordinator after a 2-2 start and then lost two straight, but have won consecutive gamesagainst Rutgers and Syracuse.
"Hopefully what we saw in the second half is something we canbuild on and a level we can continue to play at throughout thecourse of the rest of the year," WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Norfolk State, Bowling Green and Connecticut were all heldscoreless against WVU in the second half. The Mountaineers hadproblems with all three in the first half, though on a much smallerscale than what they experienced against Rutgers.
WVU (6-2, 2-1) had chances to end drives with stops andturnovers, but instead committed penalties and let opportunitiesslip through its fingers. Defenders missed tackles and were beatenon pass plays. Pressure on the quarterback didn't find the target.
"The kids have got to learn to make some plays," Casteel said."There were a lot of - I don't know what else to say - dumb thingsin the first half. People are putting up points on you and you havea chance to make plays, but you drop an interception in the end zoneand they score a touchdown.
"You have a fourth-down penalty and they score a touchdown. Wehad two (pass interference penalties) on one drive. You're not goingto be very good if you keep doing those things."
In 52 games from 2007-10, Casteel's defenses have allowed justone 40-point game and four more 30-point games. In the first sevengames this season, the defense has allowed 40 points twice and 30points once.
Rutgers had 31 points by halftime.
"It's unacceptable," Casteel said. "You're not making anyprogress when you've got to come and fight your way out of a 31-point half. It's the eighth game of the year. That's over. We needto get better at it, but hats off to the kids for being able to hangin there and not throw in the towel. That's hard to do."
The defense that last week allowed more points than any WVU teamsince 1991 went into the locker room Saturday having allowed themost points in a half since Oct. 5, 2002 when Maryland managed 35 inthe first half. In 18 possessions against Syracuse and Rutgers, thedefense allowed 10 touchdowns and a field goal.
It was cold. The players were wet. The second half figured tofeature more the same.
"We tried to keep things from going the wrong way," WVUlinebacker Najee Goode said of the mood at halftime. "Once a teamgets momentum, they try to build on it. You definitely don't want itto keep going against you."
Defensive end Julian Miller said about half of the defense wasdown and nearly out.
"The other half was trying to pick everyone up," Miller said.
That other half spoke louder.
"We were telling each other we've got to start buying into theplan and start buying into ourselves," Goode said. "The coaches weretelling us we've got to make the adjustments and we've got toexecute. A lot of guys this year weren't making plays last year. Wedidn't execute in the first half, but we were able to make the playsin the second half."
The Scarlet Knights had one three-and-out in the first half.
WVU forced two to start the second half and the offense used oneto start a touchdown drive. Cornerback Brodrick Jenkins had thefirst of his two interceptions on the next drive and then theMountaineers followed by forcing a third punt in the third quarter,one more than the first half.
The Mountaineers did allow one sustained drive in the second halfand Rutgers moved from its 30-yard line to the WVU 11, but safetyDarwin Cool broke up a pass attempt in the end zone on a fake fieldgoal. Cook dropped the interception in the end zone in the firstquarter, but finished with 11 tackles and two pass break-ups.
"I know the talent level of the players around me and I know allthe guys around us can make plays," Goode said. "It's hard to do itsometimes, but it's more mental. The game is won when you play withconfidence. The big thing with the younger guys is playing withconfidence and believing you can keep doing it."
The confidence was contagious and affected the offense, which wonthe game.
After Cook's play, quarterback Geno Smith took the offense fromthe WVU 11 to the Rutgers goal line. On fourth down and behind 31-28, Holgorsen didn't hesitate to go for a touchdown rather than agame-tying field goal with 6:18 left to play.
"We were playing well on defense and if you don't get it, they'restill backed up inside the 1-yard line and you can use that to youradvantage on defense," Holgorsen said. "I just felt like the defensewas playing well and we had the right play called."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib (12) throwsagainst West Virginias Jewone Snow (56), Julian Miller (97) andCasey Vance (43) as teammate Antwon Bailey (29) looks on.
Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec@dailymail.com or 304-319-1142. His blog is at blogs.dailymail.com or 304-319-1142.
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