A day to forget for WVU defense

Slurp — that’s what I did. I slurped it on down and when they opened the season with a shutout against Georgia Southern, I was ready to fire off a “told you so” to people who questioned my wisdom on the subject.

Well, someone please pass a napkin because I’ve got egg on my face today.

West Virginia’s defense is hardly great, now giving up 44 points to an Oklahoma team that can lose to Texas, 33 to Oklahoma State and then …

How do you say it?

Truth is, you don’t have to, because Gibson, the defensive coordinator who was preaching that his defense had the potential to be great before the season, said it for you after Saturday’s 62-38 loss to Baylor.

“Are we 62 points bad on defense?” Gibson said, the look on his face as dejected as I’ve ever seen it and I’ve known him a long time now.

Gibson waited a second, then answered his own question.

“I guess against them we are. It isn’t like we handed them anything. It could have been 69, but they took a knee.”

Well, actually the Bears just let the clock run out while at the doorstep of yet another touchdown, which was a gentlemanly thing to do, sort of like offering oxygen to a man upon whom’s throat you had been standing on all day.

Now it’s true that WVU was playing this game without Joseph, just as it had played the last game without him as he underwent college career-ending ACL surgery, but to think the Mountaineers would have defended Baylor much better with him is like thinking Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett would have successfully defended the Alamo if they had Gen. George Patton leading their troops.

See, West Virginia went into this gunfight armed with a cap pistol.

Baylor is special and the WVU defense — well, it’s just another WVU defense, folks.

The Mountaineers had no chance, right from the first time Baylor had the ball and went down the field in 58 seconds for a score.

It was like watching the Globetrotters against the Washington Generals, and you might have missed it, but the Washington Generals recently folded up shop and are no more.

Gibson tried everything he knew.

None of it worked, as evidenced by Baylor’s 693 total yards.

Gibson couldn’t stop quarterback Seth Russell passing or running. He threw for 392 yards and 5 TDs, and ran for 160 and another touchdown.

WVU couldn’t stop Corey Coleman, who Dana Holgorsen called “the best player in college football.” Coleman caught three more TD passes to give him an insane 16 on the season, which is a Baylor record — and he has half the year to build on that.

“Trust me. I tried everything. Nothing worked,” Gibson said. “You have to stop the quarterback. You have to stop the wide receivers. You have to stop the wideouts. If they let us play with 14, we might be able to do it.”

The operative word there is “might,” for there’s no certainty that even 14 could stop this Baylor offense.

Gibson could only watch ball carriers and receivers run by him on the sideline as if his head were on a swivel.

“I’d be shocked if we are not talking about them in December and eventually winning the national championship,” Gibson said. “I’ve watched a lot of film. I haven’t seen a lot of people who can do all the things they can do.”

The problem is, things don’t get a bit easier for WVU. TCU is next and it is No. 3 in the nation in total offense, followed by Texas Tech, who is No. 2.

Who knows, one might even be better on offense than Baylor.

“If there’s one better, I don’t want to play it,” Gibson admitted.

You can understand why.