This would have been more timely — and I would have looked much smarter — had it been addressed last week. Let’s talk defense, which for the first two games could not consistently tackle, couldn’t defend short or long passes and couldn’t pressure the quarterback. I honestly thought things would improve, perhaps noticeably, between the second and third games. Speaking with Jeff Casteel after the ECU game, I sensed he was … well, he wasn’t OK with the problems, but he thought they could be fixed. Missed tackles are bad, but that’s a correctable error.

Tackling wasn’t perfect and Colorado did get a lot of yards after contact, but there weren’t nearly as many whiffs and flat-out failures. With the exception of the one alarming opening drive, Colorado have very little luck against the defense and looked bothered by many things the Mountaineers were doing. That’s what you call progress — and let’s not underestimate the value of Reed Williams.

Let’s not call it a finished product, either.

The 3-3-5, by design, gives the linebackers and the secondary a lot of responsibility. They’re asked to blitz, cover in man, cover in zone, disguise, tackle, so on and so forth. What’s often overlooked is what the line is asked to do. Theirs are thankless jobs. Those guys basically make it possible for others to make plays. If they can occupy offensive linemen — especially at nose guard — then they can disrupt blocking on pass and run plays and allow other people can fly through gaps and get sacks or tackles for a loss. If they can bug the passer, it’s a bonus and it gives the linebackers and defensive backs a chance to do something.

One reason WVU likes the 3-3-5 is because it doesn’t require great talent up front — and I want to be careful how I say that. What I mean is there are so few NFL prospects among defensive linemen that it’s hard for WVU — or any school — to get them. You wouldn’t want a 4-3, for example, if you have three or four quality defensive linemen, but seven or eight great linebackers. The Mountaineers — and, again, other teams — are more likely to recruit more players and more talented players at linebacker and defensive back. Why not then build a defense around that? Everyone wants the offense to work with its strengths … why not the defense?

That’s what Casteel has done. His linebackers do a little of everything, including defensive end from time to time. The corners mix man and zone and area on their own a bit. The safeties play over top the action, but one position is basically a hybrid defensive back/linebacker. The talent is in a position to carry the defense. And it’s obscure enough that it catches opponents off guard every year. It’s not a bad plan and everyone’s major gripe — that there’s no pressure — is sometimes misguided.

Especially this year. A lot of what WVU does to get pressure is a matter of design and Casteel is not yet comfortable with doing many of those things. If it doesn’t work, the play goes bad and that’s not a smart gamble. That said, there were moments against Colorado, but look who it was. Scooter Berry slipping into the pocket. Zac Cooper twisting from the end and coming through the middle. John Holmes flying in from the outside on a blitz. All veterans. That’s a good sign for many areas, but the secondary in particular. A blitz puts the ultimate responsibility on pass coverage and that Casteel and his assistants feel good enough to call those plays shows they like what’s happening in the back.

Brandon Hogan played much better against Colorado and was in for most of the second half. Colorado stopped throwing toward Ellis Lankster in the second half — all 11 of his tackles were in the first half. Quinton Andrews had 15 tackles all over the field. Even Eain Smith and Sidney Glover, who had had their bad moments this season, were pretty solid as the game went on. Add the emerging Robert Sands and things look better now than they did two weeks ago.

It’s only going to get better. Once the defense gets the fundamentals and some slightly more exotic things down, Casteel can add and ask for more on defense. Will it be last year’s defense? No, but look how experienced that team was. Will it be the Week 1 defense? Definitely not.