Upset Alert: WVU Tied with No. 22 Houston at Halftime — Can They Pull It Off?

After weeks of struggles, the West Virginia Mountaineers appear to have found some success on the offensive side of the ball and have built on what they did a week ago against TCU. At the break, WVU is tied with No. 22 Houston 21-21.

A quick recap of the first half and some things to watch for in the second half.

Red-hot start

West Virginia strung together a long, 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game, marking the first time they've scored in the first quarter since the Backyard Brawl, believe it or not. The offensive line looked completely different from anything we've seen this season, mowing defenders out of the way, leading to 57 rushing yards on that opening drive, which is 16 more than they had all of last week.

Hello, Jimmori Robinson

Robinson made a nice tackle on a second-down play and then helped generate pressure on Houston QB Conner Weigman one play later and hopped on a fumble recovery. He almost made a couple of other plays where the ball just got over his stretched hand in the passing game. For a guy who has struggled to produce and didn't even play last week, this is quite the boost for WVU's defensive front.

Defensive struggles

Aside from the fumble recovery and the punt on Houston's first drive, the Mountaineers struggled to get off the field. Way too many missed tackles, poor angles, and have not been able to get all the way home to the quarterback despite being close on several occasions. This, so far, is a 180 from what Zac Alley's unit put on tape a week ago. If West Virginia wants to pull this off, they're going to have to force more punts and particularly early in the drives.

Early down success

WVU has had success sustaining drives when they're able to play ahead of the sticks. I know, shocking, right? But those first two drives, they were in 2nd and medium and 3rd and short quite a bit, making it hard for the Houston defense to know what's coming. Field position also plays a part in this.