Some more insight into what’s been missing from the offense lately, which is noteworthy because “WVU has a good offense!” isn’t news to anyone, least of all defenses. Yet the past three games have seen the numbers trend downward.

The Mountaineers play host to No. 12 Kansas State at 7 p.m. (Fox Sports 1) Thursday at Mountaineer Field. WVU (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) has seen its share of dignified defenses this season, but up until their loss to TCU two weeks ago, the WIldcats (8-2, 6-1) were leading the Big 12 in scoring defense and total defense. They now rank third in both, but by thin margins.

This is important for WVU because its powerful offense has dimmed as the passing offense has faltered. Trickett averaged 9.2 yards per attempt against Baylor, his second-best total of the season. It’s dropped each of the past three games: 7.9, 6.2 and 5.1.

There are explanations for the trend and for the worst averages of the season coming in each of the past two games. The first, Holgorsen said, is zone coverage, something each opponent has used with some assortment of success to keep WVU’s receivers from getting open down the field.

WVU has 43 pass plays covering 20 or more yards this season, but just six in the past three games. Trickett averages 11.69 yards per completion, but he’s been below that the past three games and had a season-low 6.89 yards against Texas.

White set a school record with 16 receptions against Texas, but finished with 132 yards and actually averaged fewer yards per reception than he did the previous two games, when he caught just six passes for 55 yards.

“People play zone coverage to be able to take away the deep ball,” Holgorsen said. “They put a lot of guys in coverage. That’s why it was disappointing not to be able to run the ball better than we did (against Texas), because we had favorable numbers. We knew we were going to have that against TCU. Kansas State is going to be the same way. They’re going to give us favorable numbers in the box, and they’re going to play off coverage.”

Programming note: Wednesday Walkthrough on Wednesday, You’ll Never Walk Alone on Thursday. I have no idea what we’ll do tomorrow.