PHOENIX — College football has a shortage of quality defensive tackles. Some teams try to fill the void with mediocre players. But West Virginia doesn't even try.
The Mountaineers employ a rare alignment — 3-3-5, with three down linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs.
Two of the safeties play on the same linear plane with the linebackers, so the alignment could be called a 3-5-3.
It works for West Virginia. The Mountaineers field a defense with a plethora of 210-, 240-pound players who can run.
"Our defense is pretty multi-dimensional, just like our offense,” Rich Rodriguez told the Detroit Free Press earlier this month, after resigning as West Virginia's coach to take the Michigan job.
The defense Oklahoma faces in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday has a strange look and exalted statistics.
The Mountaineers lead the nation in fumbles recovered and are fourth in turnovers gained, fourth in total defense, seventh in scoring defense, 16th in rushing defense, 12th in pass defense and 16th in pass efficiency defense.
"They do a good job against the run (107.1 yards per game),” OU quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel said. "They find a way to stuff the run.
Up front, they're very physical. It's going to be a difficult test for us.”
West Virginia's defense is built for speed. It works very well against teams that use spread offenses. OU, of course, often goes to a power game.
West Virginia adds a fourth down lineman not to plug the run, but to rush the quarterback on obvious passing downs.
The Mountaineers have blitzed from every position on the field.
"They're going to take some chances,” said OU flanker Malcolm Kelly. "They're going to do some blitzing. You're going to have some one-on-one chances.”
Pittsburgh upset West Virginia 13-9 on Dec. 1, knocking the Mountaineers out of the national championship game, and did it by controlling the clock.
Pitt ran for 158 yards on 52 carries, helping shorten the game, but
