Rich Rodriguez Sees Potential Moving Forward and Applauds Mountaineer Fans

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez gave some insight on the Mountaineers' loss to TCU

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

The West Virginia Mountaineers (2-6, 0-5) dropped their fifth straight Big 12 Conference game Saturday night 23-17 to the TCU Horned Frogs (6-2, 3-2).

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez met with the media following the game and was a little more satisfied with the team's effort this week and applauded Mountaineer fans and the atmosphere at Mountaineer Field.

Initial thoughts on the loss

Played harder, that was good. Guys didn’t quick. Probably going to be mad after we watch the film, we left a lot of stuff out there. Had chances to win the game, but we got a lot of things to clean up. But, you know, true freshman quarterback with 10 new starters around him, I thought the kid handled himself pretty well. The defense played hard against a pretty veteran group.

Freshman quarterback Scotty Fox Jr.’s career day (301 passing yards and two passing touchdowns)

He made some nice throws. There was some freshman stuff that was out there, but he’s a true freshman. The kid battled and competed.

We ain’t going to win the game when you run for 40 yards… there’s also lot of stuff we can take from here and grow from.

The defense’s effort

Especially early in the game when the offense couldn’t get a first down and the defense was hanging in there and battling. I thought we tackled better. He’s a hard quarterback to sack because he gets rid of it. We tried some pressure, and he gets rid of it pretty quick – he’s an accurate veteran guy.

The crowd at Mountaineer Field

I want to thank the crowd. We got a great crowd - it was a great atmosphere with all the stuff going on. I mean, they showed up. I didn’t know what to expect I wasn’t really thinking about it but it was a tremendous crowd, and I know some left at the end because it looked a pretty gloomy there, but we still had a chance at the end. Hats off to our Mountaineer fans because they showed up and I really thought it was a great showing from the fans. I wish we would have played better early and got them more excited, but I hope they know our guys are trying.

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