Mountaineer Mistakes Costly in Stillwater
Stillwater, OK - A young West Virginia Mountaineer football made too many mistakes and suffered their first loss of the season 27-13 to No. 15 Oklahoma State Saturday. The Mountaineers where their own worst enemy committing 12 penalties for 106 yards, and two missed assignments were the difference.
“Today was not good enough,” said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. “I’ll say it probably a bunch, but that’s the story of the game, just wasn’t good enough. Extremely disappointing performance. We were an undisciplined football team today, and that’s on myself – that’s on our coaches.”
After suffering a lower leg injury last week in the season-opening win over Tulsa, Oklahoma State was without starting quarterback Spencer Sanders. The Cowboys went with true freshman quarterback Shane Illingworth, but the bulk of the work went to the workhorses in the backfield, Chuba Hubbard and LD Brown combining for 204 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
“Credit Oklahoma State. Really, a veteran football team. They’ve won a ton of games like this, and they got great players – great players at the skill positions. Their offensive line was obviously better today than they were last week.”
After a scoreless first quarter, LD Brown put the Cowboys on the board first, bursting through the left side untouched for a 66-yard touchdown run.
“That’s disappointing because again, that’s discipline, where we’re not in the gap we’re supposed to be. It’s different if we just miss the tackle. If we just miss the tackle that’s going to happen – we’re in the wrong gap. Our communication wasn’t great on defense.”
West Virginia was threatening on its next drive following Jarret Doege hitting TJ Simmons 12 yards down the field and scampering down the sidelines down to the Oklahoma State 33-yard line. Another 10-yard completion got the Mountaineers down to the 23 before a false start put WVU at first and 15 at the 28.
West Virginia quarterback Jarret Doege sacked by linebacker Calvin Bundage.
Pat Kennison - Oklahoma State Football
Two plays later, defensive end Trace Ford came off the edge and knocked the ball out of Doege’s hand as a reared back to throw it, then weakside defensive end Tyren Irby scooped it up and rumbled 54 yards for Oklahoma State second touchdown in just under three minutes and a 14-0 lead.
West Virginia again would drive deep into Cowboy territory and get just outside the red zone before being turned away on downs. After Oklahoma State added a field goal on the ensuing drive, it looked as if the game was about to get out of reach early.
However, the Mountaineers were continuing to have success in the middle of the field as Doege hit Winston Wright Jr on a quick slant and raced for a 70-yard touchdown, and West Virginia was right back in the game, down 17-7 with 3:48 left in the first half.
West Virginia almost caught a break when Braydon Johnson muffed the kick, but as the ball did all day, it bounced right into the Cowboys arms and fell on it at their 17-yard line. The defense did its job, though, and got off the field, forcing a punt to give the offense the ball back at their 31 with just under two minutes to play in the half.
The Mountaineers were facing a fourth and one at the 40, and as they were rushing to the line for a quick quarterback sneak, but about three players weren’t set before the ball was snapped, and another five-yard penalty pushed the offense back, and a three-yard loss on the play forced another punt.
Oklahoma State looked content just to run out the half, but a facemask put the ball at midfield and was able to work their way into field goal range to take a 20-17 lead into the break.
“Gave them 10 points on offense. Fumble – scoop and score, and then a procedure penalty on third and one that gave them the ball back right before the half. Just uncalled for - just undisciplined – receiver not getting lined up – quarterback not looking – we give them a field goal there. So, that’s 10 points we gave them on offense,” said Brown.
The West Virginia defense set the tone for the third quarter holding Oklahoma State to a three and out to begin the second half. Then the offense gave the Cowboys a hefty dose of Leddie Brown, and a pass interference penalty put the Mountaineers just inside OSU territory.
The offense was facing a third and six at the OSU 40, and the Oklahoma defense forced an incompletion. Whether or not Neal Brown would have gone for it was wiped away after Oklahoma State elected to push the Mountaineers back following a 15-yard penalty for a chop block and naturally were forced to punt following a draw play.
Late in the third quarter, West Virginia had first and goal from the eight but had to settle for a field goal, and on the ensuing drive early in the fourth, again, the Mountaineers got into the red zone down to the 13 but again had to settle for three, instead of six.
On Oklahoma State next possession, they shut the door on any West Virginia comeback, chewing up over seven minutes of clock on an 80-yard drive capped off by a 23-yard touchdown run by Chuba Hubbard as the Mountaineers drop their Big 12 Conference opener 27-13.
“Before we can win big games, we got to quit losing, and this was a big game – let’s not mix it up. This is a team that we prepared for. I thought we had a good plan. Not pleased with how we performed, not pleased with how we coached – extremely disappointing, Brown said”
West Virginia will have to regroup quickly as they host the Baylor Bears Saturday at noon on ABC.
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