West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen dramatically shook up his depth chart entering Saturday's game against No. 11 Oklahoma State, but there were no changes in the secondary. Those defensive backs justified Holgorsen's faith in the Mountaineers' 30-21 upset shocker over the Big 12 favorites.
Cornerback Ishmael Banks intercepted Cowboys quarterback J.W. Walsh and took it 58 yards the other way for a touchdown, while safety Darvin Cook added a fourth-quarter pick that set up the late field goal to make it a two-score lead.
Walsh threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns, but he needed 47 attempts to do so. Outside of a 73-yard screen pass to Josh Stewart for a touchdown, where the WVU safeties took bad angles in the open field, OSU was never able to create explosive passing plays and was stuffed on the ground (2.8 yards per carry).
The WVU defense has shown dramatic improvement after allowing 38 points and 472 yards per game last season, with the experienced duo of Cook and Karl Joseph on the back end emerging as cornerstones to help shave 20 points and nearly 80 yards off those totals coming into its home conference opener.
Even in last week's 37-0 debacle against Maryland, the Terrapins were held to a modest 330 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns on drives of 24 and six yards after interceptions, as WVU turnovers led to 28 Maryland points.
That mess prompted Holgorsen to make Florida State transfer Clint Trickett his third starting quarterback of the young season. Trickett responded by going 24-of-50 passing for 309 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Those numbers weren't anything to write home about, but the redshirt junior showed extraordinary toughness to finish off the win.
Trickett took a hard shot to his right shoulder in the fourth quarter and let off a few choice words after testing his throwing motion on the sideline before being taken back to the locker room. However, Trickett returned and made several key throws (7-of-10 for 74 yards after the injury) to keep the clock running, even as his arm was noticeably hanging at his side between plays.
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