WVU defensive lineman Asani Redwood (2) gets off the snap during a game against Pittsburgh in Morgantown. (Photo by David Pennock)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s defense had been solid through the first three games. Zac Alley’s defense ranked second in the country in sacks and held defenses to little over 14 points per game. The defense kept WVU in games enough for the lackluster offense to sneak out wins.

In the first three games, there was a glaring weakness with Alley’s defense, though, and Kansas completely exposed it — the big play. Alley’s defense could go toe-to-toe with Pitt, Ohio and Kansas for most of the drive, but all of the sudden, the defense misses an assignment, doesn’t wrap up, or is out-coached and the offense breaks off for a 20-plus yard touchdown. Those are heartbreakers, especially on third down.

“I thought the defense played really hard in the first half,” Rich Rodriguez said. “Gave up one or two big plays.”

Unlike Ohio and Pitt, Kansas broke off a lot of big plays. On the first drive of the game, Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels hit Levi Wentz on a 41-yard touchdown. Quickly, the Jayhawks were up 7-0. That’s fine, Alley’s defense can give up one, or two big plays, and the offense should still have a chance to win the rest of the game.

It wasn’t just once, or twice. Alley’s defense gave up four scores of 10-plus yards and three were of 30 yards or more. The big play is becoming a problem for the DC.

“They made some plays and we made some mistakes that didn’t really help ourselves out any,” linebacker Reid Carrico said. “It’s a good thing that it happened. We obviously realize we have some problems out there and they got exploited.”

Kansas is an explosive offense. After throttling WVU, Kansas averages 37 points per game. With Daniels, Carrico and the defense knew they had to be on top of their game, and the Jayhawks weren’t doing anything new.

“If you didn’t have your eyes in the right spot, then they could mess with you,” Carrico said. “At the end of the day, we knew they were going to trade, shift and motion all around, try and confuse us. A couple of times, they probably did. Credit to them.”

Carrico said Sunday after Kansas is when WVU will make changes to correct the big play issues and there are a couple areas to fix.

All together tackling wasn’t the best again. On a couple of big plays, there were missed tackles, even on the kickoff return touchdown on special teams. That should be fixed easily.

Most of the big plays were either blown coverages or mismatches. WVU defensive end Jimmori Robinson, who was making his debut after not playing football all season, was lined up in pass coverage on the running back in the backfield. Robinson had no chance covering him. Kansas figured out how to make WVU uncomfortable. That’s defensive play calling, so the young DC has homework.

The Mountaineers’ defense has to correct the issues quickly. Utah comes to town, and then they head to Provo to play BYU, whose offense is clicking on all cylinders, and the Cougars are ranked in the Top 25. Then, WVU has a bye, which could be much needed after a long stretch of high-powered offenses.

The offense also needs to help out a little bit.

“They are a good football team and we are a good football team,” Carrico said. “Just have to get through some of these growing pains, and learn how to win these games.”