KU defense preparing for West Virginia’s high tempo

photo by: AP Photo/Kathleen Batten

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez reacts after a touchdown against Pittsburgh during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.

The last time the Kansas defense took the field, it had a hard time getting off of it. The Jayhawks had to run 86 defensive plays in their 42-31 loss to Missouri on Sept. 6, as the Tigers controlled the ball and in turn the time of possession.

KU’s players had some time to recuperate thanks to a well-timed open date last weekend, but they might not necessarily have a more restful game ahead.

This week’s foe, West Virginia, plays at the second-fastest tempo of any team in the country, averaging a play every 19.9 seconds, according to teamrankings.com. That urgency gave the Mountaineers the opportunity to squeeze in a whopping 90 total plays in their 31-24 overtime victory against Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“The pace at which they play is extremely impressive,” KU coach Lance Leipold said.

That pace is one key part of WVU’s new identity under veteran coach and play caller Rich Rodriguez, who also served as the Mountaineers’ coach from 2001 to 2007 and whom KU defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald called “one of the godfathers of that style of football.”

“I credit that to him,” McDonald said. “Urban Meyer was another guy that a lot of people kind of draw from there, and then Mike Leach, he was another one of those godfathers of this fast type of football.”

Indeed, it’s nothing new for Rodriguez, who ran a play every 20.3 seconds to lead the nation at Jacksonville State in 2023, and whose Arizona teams in the 2010s ranked in the top 15 nationally in tempo each of his first four seasons there — as did his Ole Miss and Louisiana-Monroe offenses later on. But it’ll all take some getting used to for the Jayhawks, whose own offense is 100th in pace this season as it runs a play every 28.5 seconds. The contrast in styles is stark, even if KU has itself run some successful no-huddle early in the season.

Leipold said he has seen coaches attempt all sorts of methods to prepare for such a challenge, such as having defensive players run to the goalposts and back between plays, or making them turn their backs to the line of scrimmage.

“We talked about all the ways ever since some of this has come into play, different ways you try to get your defense hustling, moving, reacting,” Leipold said. “It’s still going to come back to having a sense of urgency to get lined up, get the call, process, but more importantly communicate to one another that we’re all on the same page.”

Linebacker Bangally Kamara, a sixth-year senior with some past experience against WVU when he was at Pitt (albeit prior to Rodriguez’s arrival), echoed Leipold’s points about the importance of communication.

“You don’t want to be offsides,” he said. “You don’t want to be on the wrong side of the field or the wrong side of the blitz.”

Early in the week of practice, members of KU’s offensive scout team have tested their defensive teammates by running their best facsimile of WVU’s attack. (They won’t be 100% accurate in doing so because they don’t have a lefty quarterback to simulate the Mountaineers’ Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson or Khalil Wilkins, but they can still get up to the line of scrimmage quickly.)

“Utilization of unlimited coaches gets a lot more hands-on so you can do a lot more at the line of scrimmage, and we run plays where we rotate the skill positions and keep the linemen right at the line of scrimmage and run through,” Leipold said on Monday. “We ran a boatload of plays yesterday in practice, in fact to the point where we probably have to look and say we could slow this down just a little bit to make sure.”

When it comes to Saturday, KU’s defense can attempt to compel WVU to slow itself down.

“I think once you kind of make some plays, you can kind of slow down their tempo a little bit more, the more physical you kind of get,” Kamara said.

The Mountaineers haven’t always moved the ball effectively this year — they lost 17-10 to MAC school Ohio prior to their rivalry win over Pitt — but some of their key drives in the Backyard Brawl demonstrate proof of concept. With WVU down 24-14 in the fourth quarter, Marchiol and running back Tye Edwards got them in position for a chip-shot field goal with 12 plays for 72 yards in just four minutes and 20 seconds. Then they went 87 yards in 13 plays on a two-minute drill in 2:36.

Those sorts of series are where that 19.9-second number originates, and they will be a test of KU’s depth as the Jayhawks, somewhat healthier coming off their bye week but still waiting for some key pieces to return, attempt to withstand another test of their endurance and top-to-bottom defensive quality.

“We’re going to have to play a lot of guys on defense early and often,” McDonald said.

photo by: AP Photo/Kathleen Batten

West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marchiol (8) passes during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.