West Virginia didn’t look like the better team on Saturday against Ohio, and the Mountaineers lost 17-10. But WVU had multiple chances to win the game.

The defense was a major reason why WVU could’ve won. Multiple times in the second half, Ohio was driving and entered the red zone, but the defense made a stop by picking off quarterback Parker Navarro. Zac Alley’s defense picked off Navarro three times in the second half.

What did the offense do on those three turnovers? It went three-and-out, netting -7 yards.

After those three turnovers, the defense stepped up again and forced the Bobcats to punt twice, creating more chances for the offense to get positive yards. The Mountaineers picked up first downs on both drives, but again, came up with nothing to show for it.

The defense shut out Ohio’s offense in the second half and allowed only 149 yards. WVU’s offense in the second half had 120, for comparison.

“They played hard,” Rich Rodriguez said. “Played well enough for us to win. When you lose, everybody loses.”

It’s depleting for a defense to get a stop after a long drive and have the offense give the ball right back. Ohio’s offense had the ball for about 40 minutes, whereas WVU just 20. That’s a lot of time on the field for a unit.

When the defense passed the offense after the offense went three and out, the defense didn’t assign blame. They just put their heads down, ran out on the field and went to work again.

“It’s a team game, right?” safety Kekoura Tarnue said. “We don’t go out there and point fingers at what anybody so we also gotta keep on doing our job. At the end, it is what it is.”

After a while, Alley’s defense gave up some big plays. There were a couple of blown coverages, and Navarro was off to the races at times, picking up a first down on a long third down. There were also a lot of missed tackles in the open field.

Linebacker Ben Cutter, who had one of the three interceptions, didn’t have an explanation for why there were so many missed tackles.

“They had good players,” Cutter said. “We have good players, and sometimes we weren’t wrapping up like we should. Our feet weren’t moving on contact.”

The first half wasn’t the best for the defense, allowing 17 points and 280 yards. Tarnue said the defense didn’t come out as it needed to, but cleaned up in the second half. Alley’s adjustments worked.

This week is the Backyard Brawl against Pitt, which is a lot better than Ohio. The Panthers rolled Central Michigan 45-17, and quarterback Eli Holstein is a more complete version of Navarro. It’ll be another big challenge for Alley and the defense, so there’s no time to start slow. Starting fast will be one of the areas to work on.

For the most part, the defense has mainly done its job. It’s up to the offense to stay on the field longer than three plays, so the defense can get time to rest.

It’ll be interesting to see what offensive changes are made, especially without running back Jahiem White and wide receiver Jaden Bray.

Like Tarnue said, the defense can’t worry about the offense and just has to keep working, preparing for another tough offense in Week 3. Maybe the Backyard Brawl will provide some juice to the whole team and be a turning point.

“We’re gonna be fired up when we go to practice knowing our opponent next week,” Cutter said. We got to get better because of this loss.”