–For the second straight week, West Virginia did everything in its power to not only refuse to seize momentum but win this football game. And for the second straight week, the Mountaineers have lost a game that they very likely should have won. West Virginia just isn’t good enough to continue to try to win these one possession games without creating any distance between themselves and opponents. I wish I could point to one issue, but over the course of the last five years it’s a number of them that seemingly crop up at the worst possible times. Through five games West Virginia still had some luck on their side but still didn’t do anything to beat themselves. That just hasn’t been the case the past two weeks with inexcusable turnovers, penalties and just mistakes that will lose you football games. Ultimately head coach Neal Brown isn’t the one out there making the miscues, but it ultimately falls at his feet and some of the things that happen to this team are almost impossible to believe at times. Brown is now 26-28 in Morgantown more than halfway through his fifth year and that just isn’t good enough. The program had a great opportunity to really stake their claim among the rest of the Big 12 over the past two weeks but instead fell completely flat and now the Mountaineers have taken a 4-1 start and flipped into a 4-3 season with questions on just where does this team go next?
–I can’t even explain what happened on that punt return. West Virginia was leading 24-20 after getting off the field with a massive third down stop and somehow Andrew Wilson-Lamp laid the biggest hit of the season on his own player in Preston Fox. The ball has always bounced in a funny way in this series in favor of the Cowboys and while Wilson-Lamp looked to be pushed it’s hard to believe that happened. The Mountaineers would give the Cowboys the football and they’d score three plays later to take a 27-24 lead. More times than not when this team has had a chance to seize momentum or put themselves in a favorable position they find a way to let it slip away.
–Even after that West Virginia goes down and ties the game up on a field goal, which the play calling inside the ten on that sequence left a lot to be desired, and did it again. Aided by 30-yards of personal foul penalties on the same play, Oklahoma State takes the ball to the West Virginia 29. The Mountaineers again had a chance to get off the field and while there was likely a clear hold on that play, it wasn’t called and two missed tackles led to a touchdown. Then the offense is stuffed on fourth down at midfield to effectively close things up although there were some fireworks still left.
–It doesn’t matter in the end but credit this team for finding a way to respond after falling behind 10-0 with two bad turnovers to retake the lead at 17-13. Of course, we all know how it ended but I do think that the coaching staff was able to refocus the team and have them in position after the way that the Houston game ended the way that it did.
–West Virginia’s defense was able to keep Oklahoma State in check for large stretches in this game and were able to hold in the red zone, but looking at the final numbers it didn’t seem that way. The Mountaineers allowed 491 yards, 48 points and the Pokes were 8-14 on third down. Of course when you consider 28 points and 171 yards came in the fourth quarter. Missed tackles were a major issue at times in this game and some of that is credit to Ollie Gordon, but other times the Mountaineers simply missed plays where they had opportunities to get ball carriers to the ground. After allowing 40 points over a three game span against FBS teams, the Mountaineers have now allowed 89 points over the last two games. This team isn’t built to win shootouts and it’s shown.
–Ollie Gordon rushed 29 times for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns. That’s more production than the entire West Virginia team on the ground and I don’t think it’s even a stretch to say that Gordon broke more tackles by himself in this game than the Mountaineers entire team both rushing or receiving. That has been a real issue this season as there just isn’t any big play ability with this offense outside of scramble plays by quarterback Garrett Greene where he extends them and throws it. We all understood that the Mountaineers weren’t going to be explosive, but you have to make some defenders miss and that just isn’t happening this season at all. Those 282 yards are the second most since Khalil Herbert put up 291 for Kansas.
–Speaking of which, CJ Donaldson just has not been effective the past six quarters of football. He carried the ball 13 times for 39 yards in this game and there were chances for him to break bigger runs and it just didn’t happen. Donaldson isn’t hitting it as hard as he did last season and simply isn’t breaking any tackles. It was obvious that the coaches saw the same in this one and went to Justin Johnson who carried 14 times for 72 yards and looked noticeably more decisive and quicker. I don’t know the answer right now, but Donaldson has definitely struggled.
–Redshirt junior Garrett Greene was again the best player for West Virginia in this game. He completed 15-30 passes for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns with an interception and then rushed for 117 yards as well. He definitely didn’t play a perfect game but he was the best player for the Mountaineers and without his dual threat ability I wonder where this offense would even be.
–West Virginia finished with 475 offensive yards in this game. It’s the second time against an FBS opponent that the Mountaineers have piled up over 400+ yards and the second consecutive game. But West Virginia has lost both of those contests.
–EJ Horton needs to see the field more. It seems like he moves at a different speed than the rest of the wide receiver room and finished this game with 3 catches for 79 yards and a score. For an offensive lacking explosion, I’d find a way to get him more involved. Credit to Preston Fox as well. He has the ability to get open and is catching the football when it is thrown to him. It’s not the player you want on a go-route on third and 7, but he has proven dependable.
–Overall though, West Virginia has to do a better job getting open and creating separation at the wide receiver spot. It’s been an issue all season and in critical situations it presented itself in this one.
–Next up is a trip to UCF and it’s fair to wonder if West Virginia can’t find a way to win and the season is going to spiral out of their hands. This was a 4-1 football team at the beginning of the month that could leave it 4-4 with four games left if they can’t find a way to get a win on the road. The Knights are 3-4 themselves but are coming off a hard-fought loss to Oklahoma.