West Virginia cornerback Rasul Douglas, top, grabs an interception over Kansas receiver Bobby Hartzog, Jr., (5) in the Jayhawks 49-0 loss to the Mountaineers Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, at Memorial Stadium.

When No. 14 West Virginia lines up in its 3-3-5 defense, the only thing opposing offenses can expect is the unexpected.

Kansas junior quarterback Montell Cozart and the Jayhawks (1-7 overall, 0-5 Big 12) will try to solve the conference’s best defense in hostile territory Saturday night at WVU’s Milan Puskar Stadium (6 p.m. kickoff, ESPN2).

In league games, no other Big 12 defense has matched the success of the Mountaineers (6-1, 3-1), who hold the top spot in scoring defense (20.0 points allowed a game), total defense (330.8 yards allowed), rushing defense (97.8 yards allowed) and passing defense (233.0 yards allowed).

Cozart said overcoming West Virginia’s 3-3-5 formation — three down linemen, three linebackers and some combination of five backs — is part of the challenge.

“They kind of have those overhangs and they have those extra ‘backers in there. We feel like they just try to keep all those guys inside the box,” Cozart said. “It makes it hard for you to run. It’s going to be on me as a quarterback and the receivers again to get open versus cover-one (one safety sitting back in a zone).”

Kansas defensive coordinator Clint Bowen appreciates all the quirks that come within WVU counterpart Tony Gibson’s attack. Bowen explained the confounding characteristic of WVU’s 3-3-5 is how it appears from the vantage point of the players on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

“I think the biggest challenge is it’s exactly balanced. Across the board you don’t have a stronger side and a weak side — everything is balanced,” Bowen said. “Everything looks the same, pre-snap. You can bring blitzes, you can drop eight, you can do a lot of things from that look. It’s really good. We’ve used it for a long time as a third-down package, going back to the early 2000’s, used to be our ‘stack’ defense. It doesn’t give away who your fourth rusher is, it doesn’t give away who your fifth and sixth rusher is.”

This season, WVU has forced at least one turnover in six of seven games. Dating back to 2014, Gibson’s teams have come away with a fumble recovery or interception in 25 of 33 contests.

Junior cornerback Rasul Douglas has thrived in the scheme, breaking up eight total passes this season, with three interceptions. But he’s not the only Mountaineer defender jumping to the ball when a confused QB makes the wrong throw. Senior free safety Jeremy Tyler (six pass breakups, one interception), senior corner Antonio Crawford (five breakups) and senior corner Maurice Fleming (five breakups, one interception) have maddened throwers, too.

Kansas ranks last nationally in turnovers lost, with 27 in eight games. The Jayhawks have forfeited 11 fumbles, while KU quarterbacks have thrown 16 interceptions.

Cozart enters the weekend having completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 951 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in six appearances. KU’s starting QB threw two interceptions last week at Oklahoma, the same total he had seven days earlier against Oklahoma State.