West Virginia Football: 3 takeaways from pull-away win over Kansas

West Virginia football looked to be on upset alert on Saturday before pulling away with a 21-point victory over Kansas. What’d we learn?

A year ago, West Virginia was one of the bottom-dwellers in the Big 12. Through four games, this year, the Mountaineers are 3-1 after a 38-17 win over Kansas.

The Jayhawks may not be much of a threat in the Big 12 and haven’t been for over a decade, but Les Miles believes he can turn things around. That hasn’t happened yet as Kansas hasn’t had much of a pulse this season.

West Virginia is coming together at a good time, but there are still some tough ranked matchups left on the schedule. Kansas, on the other hand, is free-falling.

What did we learn from West Virginia’s win?

3. Defense is rising to top of Big 12

The Big 12 has been surprising this season for many reasons. One, the conference ranks near the top of the Power Five in terms of average points and yards allowed. And two, every contender seems to become a victim of an upset.

West Virginia has been following that first trend, holding teams under 275 yards per game and that continued on Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers’ defense ranks near the top of the league in terms of yards allowed and they allow just under 20 points per game. This group has been giving teams problems all season and Kansas found that out the hard way, finishing with under 100 passing yards and just 62 rushing yards.

Led by the Stills brothers, this defense is one of the best not just in the Big 12, but nationally.