Instant Reactions to WVU's Big 12 Opening Loss to Oklahoma State

Well, it started with a bang and ended with Mountaineer fans banging their fists on the table as West Virginia dropped its Big 12 Conference opener, 41-24.

A few thoughts from this one...

Cam Cook is still the best running back in America

It's easy to wonder if a guy who led the nation in rushing while at a Group of Six school can have similar production at the Power Four level. I believed he would, the staff believed he would, and just about everyone who follows this team knew it. But man, to watch him literally cook up special performance after special performance is a treat. Yeah, he had a heavy workload tonight, but he sure as heck never showed any signs of fatigue. Some of those runs he had were grown-man carries. Just plowed right through contact and oftentimes was the one initiating it.

Zero pressure on Mestemaker

There was a lot wrong with the defensive performance tonight, and the secondary deserves part of the blame, but it's not all on them. The Mountaineers rarely got to Mestemaker or made him feel like the pocket was collapsing on him. I can't wait to see what his average time to throw was in this one because there were many times when it felt like he had a day and a half to make something happen. The secondary can't hold up in coverage that long.

Miscommunicaton on defense

Zac Alley talked about this over the last two weeks, and it was an issue again tonight. Guys were trying to rotate and figure out what their responsibilities were while the ball was being snapped, which, of course, led to explosive plays and touchdowns. This is typical for a defense that has 11 new starters and so many newcomers, but we are a month into this season now. This should no longer be as big of an issue as it is. A pretty embarrassing effort, albeit against a high-powered offense.

Confidence in the pass game has to develop quickly

Mike Hawkins Jr. can throw the football. We've seen it. Rich Rod just has to trust him to make plays on first and second down every now and then. Look, I get it. The rushing attack was working, and you don't need to fix something that's not broken, but to really open things up, throwing it a little more and allowing your quarterback to get into rhythm is key. When you're having to throw it on 3rd & long, you need so much to go right — protection to hold up, someone to get open, the quarterback to make the throw, and someone to make the catch. Too much can go wrong. Once again, a Rich Rod offense became too predictable, and by the time the second half rolled around, Oklahoma State wasn't getting fooled. Their dudes are a little different than the ones UConn, Syracuse, and USF had.

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