Phil Steele Doubles Down on WVU After Oklahoma State Loss

Selling on the Mountaineers? Not Phil Steele.

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The first loss is always the toughest for a fan base to take on the chin. Your hopes of a perfect season — even if it was unrealistic — are over, and now you start to question how good the team actually is and if things are about to spiral out of control.

There were certainly a lot of overreactions to West Virginia's loss to Oklahoma State last week, and rightfully so. The Mountaineers gave up over 600 yards of offense to the Cowboys and had no answers to slow them down, particularly in the second half.

The sky isn't falling on this team just yet, and college football expert Phil Steele explained why he is still optimistic about WVU this season during his weekly in-season appearance on the In the Gun Podcast.

Phil Steele is not selling his stock on West Virginia

“Oklahoma State played Oregon, which is one of the best teams in the country, and they had a 25-12 first down edge in that game and put up 554 yards. They ran for 5.9 yards per carry, threw for 317 yards against the Oregon Ducks, who are a top-10 team. I think you’re going to see this Oklahoma State offense do that against a lot of teams. I think it’s just one where the key plays went against West Virginia in that game. I’m still very optimistic on West Virginia this year. If they beat Iowa State this week, things start looking a lot better. Then you get Arizona and Cincinnati at home, a couple of winnable games. I think it’s still going to be a very strong year for West Virginia. I’m not giving up hope. They did disappoint me last week, but I’m not going to give up hope on West Virginia this year. I still think they are one of the surprise teams in the Big 12.”

A chance to get right for Zac Alley's unit

Part of the problem last week is that defensive coordinator Zac Alley lived in a 3-2-6 dime defense, something WVU hadn't done all year, in hopes of trying to limit the Cowboys' passing attack. Even after seeing his group get gashed, he didn't come out of it, and Oklahoma State had their way. This week, they will face a more physical offensive attack that likes to drain the clock and run the ball. The Cyclones aren't nearly as explosive, which provides WVU with an opportunity to put a better product on the field.

Watch the full episode here