I don’t want to get too into the day Tony Gibson had Saturday, because he’s a prominent part of the G&B tomorrow, but I do want to bookend something.

I talked to him Tuesday and he, I thought boldly, said the Baylor game would be a measuring stick. Boldly, I say, because … well, to be honest, because Baylor.

That offense hasn’t looked that bad in a long time, and if we’re being honest, we didn’t think WVU would be the one to corrupt it. The Mountaineers had no chance and no clue last season, and I think it was fair to wonder if they’d changed or improved enough to be better, never mind victorious.

But Gibson was barometrically adamant.

“No doubt,” he said. “This will be when we see where we’re at. If we go out and execute and play hard and just don’t blow any assignments to give, we’ll have a good idea of who we are and what we are as a defense.” 

He made some good points. The Mountaineers were better, he said, because so many parts of a simpler game plan and a new-look defense had changed. That led to improvement, and an improved product was better able to negotiate the moments that devastated last season’s team.

He and Dana Holgorsen said these guys don’t and won’t panic, which is a key in the Big 12.

Six days later, it’s clear he was right. And right now, you’ve got a defensive coordinator who’s put a new scheme in that asks less of the players, and it’s giving teams trouble. He should have two shutouts and a scoring defense that ranks much higher than it does. He’s designing middle blitzes to cripple Texas Tech and a blitzkrieg attack to bother Baylor.

I think you have to heat up offenses that likes to play it cool, but as you appreciate what Gibson did Saturday, understand how risky it was, too.

The Mountaineers won their first home game against a top-five team since 2003 on the strength of those third downs. Petty was 4-for-14 passing for 59 yards and two first downs. That included a 63-yard touchdown to Antwan Goodley on one of the rare times WVU’s plan failed, but also on a play that saw the Bears block downfield to wipe out a cornerback and create the score.

Three of WVU’s four sacks were on third down, as well. One of Shaq Riddick’s three sacks came late in the third quarter and gave WVU the ball to take a 27-20 lead. Another was a one-handed feat by Brandon Golson in the fourth quarter that gave WVU the ball to take a 34-27 lead.

Entering the game, Petty was just 17-for-33 for 183 yards and 12 first downs on third down, and he and his receivers were erratic against the Mountaineers.

“I wanted to see if he could do it under extreme pressure,” Gibson said. “I thought our blitzes were good. Sometimes we weren’t getting home, but we were affecting the throw because he was seeing the rush and getting rid of the ball. Sometimes he was throwing under the route and the receivers kept running. Sometimes they’d pull up and he’d overthrow them.”

And let’s close today with this, which goes back to the preseason and the warranted worry over another defensive coordinator, to say nothing of one getting his first crack at it in the country’s most unforgiving offensive league. Whether he was worthy was the great unknown, and part of our first chat, but we’re starting to get an answer to a rather simple question.

We don’t know, but let’s remember he and Casteel engineered their 3-3-5. He worked with Scott Shaffer and Greg Robinson, who aren’t dummies, as well as Keith Patterson, who everyone seemed to love here last year.It’s been a good apprenticeship. What if he’s good?