West Virginia’s Rodney Gallagher III carries the ball during a game against Utah earlier this season in Morgantown. (Photo by David Pennock)

After six long, grueling weeks against some of the best teams in the Big 12, West Virginia finally gets a much-needed bye week.

It couldn’t have come at a better time. The Mountaineers have lost three straight all against Big 12 teams. WVU hasn’t won a Big 12 game and is last in the standings. Something needs to change, or it’ll be a long rest of the season.

The bye lets the Mountaineers rest, get healthy, fix the recurring mistakes, and figure out what personnel will be the best to “help WVU win” going forward.

There’s a lot to work on, but here are the biggest areas that need attention.

Getting healthy

WVU is one of the more banged-up teams in the Big 12. The starting running back, who was All-Big 12 is done for the year, one of the top receivers is out, and now it doesn’t look like the four-game starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol is coming back any time soon. All three of those guys won’t play a down the rest of the season, but there are a lot more injuries on the team.

The first is running back Tye Edwards. Edwards played against BYU, but was definitely limited after an injury kept him out against Kansas and Utah. After the bye, Edwards should be a full go, and is still WVU’s best running back.

Then there’s the quarterbacks. Quarterback Jaylen Henderson was ruled out before BYU. Henderson started against Utah and wasn’t really efficient through the air. He was limited during the short week, and Rodriguez said it wasn’t going to be long-term. It’ll be interesting to see if Henderson will start again after Rodriguez called him his more experienced quarterback earlier in the summer.

Charlotte transfer Max Brown was also questionable last week. He hasn’t played much this season, battling through injuries.

Slot receiver Oran Singleton Jr. and defensive lineman Devin Grant were ruled out for BYU, too. Both were pretty active in the first five games of the season. Those two injuries were surprising, and there isn’t too much info on them.

There are past injuries, too. The right side of the offensive line was banged up the past couple of weeks, and center Landen Livingston didn’t play against Utah. He played against BYU and went down again during the game. He went back in and said he’ll be fine, but wants to use the bye is get healthier.

Figuring out QB

It’s been six weeks, and Rich Rodriguez still doesn’t know who his starting quarterback is. Marchiol started the first four, but he’s not coming back for the foreseeable future. Henderson started in his place against Utah, and now, Khalil Wilkins started in place of Henderson when he was injured.

In six games, there have been three different starters. And, in every game, the starters have been taken out at some point. Whether that was poor play, or the game was out of hand.

The closest to a QB going wire-to-wire was against BYU, when Wilkins was only subbed out at the very end. It seemed like Wilkins was going to be the guy going forward, then Scotty Fox came in and threw a dime for a touchdown.

After the game, Rodriguez said he’ll evaluate more this week and figure out who the starter is going to be. At this point, you might as well rock out with one quarterback the rest of the year, or at least give Wilkins and Fox the rest of the year to battle it out for the starting role next year, seeing if they are the future, or if you’ll need to grab a quarterback in the transfer portal this offseason.

This is the perfect week to settle on one and use the last six games to get game experience.

Patching big plays

Their defense has been a bright spot for WVU this season. Even though you wouldn’t think so if you were just watching the scoreboard.

The defense can hold for 90% of the time and force turnovers. It’s just one play every drive, an offensive player will break off for a big play, scoring a quick touchdown. BYU had 11 plays over 10 yards, and almost three were over 50 yards.

The big plays were an issue against Ohio and Kansas, too.

During the bye week, WVU can focus up and figure out why the explosives keep hurting the defense.

Linebacker Chase Wilson said it’s more technique than anything, and that’s what defensive coordinator Zac Alley told the team after the game, too. It’s a bit of not wrapping up, the pursuit angles, and they are not in the right spot.

Multiple defensive players owned up to sometimes they make mental mistakes and arn’t in the spot where Alley wants them to be. That’s why Alley gets fired up on the sideline.

There wasn’t much time after Utah with the short week before BYU, so now there’ll be more practices to patch up the holes.