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MORGANTOWN -- It's been a long week for West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and the No. 9 Mountaineers (5-0, 3-0 Big 12).
Not only were they facing a Kansas offense which returned junior running back Khalil Herbert, who torched the Mountaineers for 291 yards in WVU's 56-34 victory a year ago, but the Jayhawks had a new rushing threat in true freshman Pooka Williams Jr.
"Yea, I'm happy," Gibson said following WVU's 38-22 victory. "Our kids did a great job against Pooka (Williams) holding him to only 65 yards. Especially when you see where he held an NCAA record for 60-yard plus runs in every game until this one."
Even more satisfying to Gibson was that Herbert was limited to 46 yards on six carries.
"The kids worked their butts off this week," Gibson said. "And, this wasn't the week for us to face a strong running attack because we were a little banged up."
And, the prevent unit was also missing starting cornerback Josh Norwood, who was ejected in the second half of the Mountaineers' win at Texas Tech last week.
"We were short-handed. And, then we lost Toyous (Avery) during the week so we had to move Derrek (Pitts) to safety and I thought he played his best game with only two days of practice there."
The play of the defense, which came into the game as the Big 12's top scoring defense, holding the opposition to under 18 points a game.
"We challenged the kids during the week and they responded. That's what good defenses do. We weren't feeling very good after that second half last week against Tech and we wanted to go out there and show people we are better than that."
Kansas, now 2-4, 0-3 Big 12, finished with 286 yards on 60 plays and tallied their final eight points against WVU's reserves.
"They (the reserves) wonder why they're not playing," Gibson said. "And, they found out why. They scored their first touchdown on a busted play, but the second one was all on my call. I blew that one."
Perhaps the biggest tackle of the day came from WVU's quarterback,
Facing a third-and-goal at the Kansas 6, quarterback Will Grier dropped back to pass, but had his attempt picked off by the Jayhawks' Hasan Defense at the goal line.
The Kansas junior safety broke open and began racing down the visitors' sideline before being dragged down from behind by Grier at the Mountaineers' 40.
"That might have been the best tackle of the game. I'd take him anytime," Gibson laughed when told Grier might see more time on the defense.
West Virginia returns to action next Saturday when they travel to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State. The game will be televised on FS1 beginning at 7 p.m. (ET).
Grier, who completed 28 of 41 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns would have his last attempt of the half hauled in by KU's Davon Ferguson.
"Some of it was on him because he (Grier) was trying to force the ball into some very small windows," WVU coach Dana Holgorsen explained. "But, some of it goes on our receivers. Their guys were being aggressive after the ball and our receivers weren't."
One guy who did have a breakout game for the offense was freshman runner Leddie Brown. The first-year player rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and caught one of Grier's touchdown passes for a 15-yard score.
"He (Brown) is good," Holgorsen said. "He's not a freshman anymore and I'm glad he plays for us."