Sunday Morning Thoughts: WVU is Heading in the Wrong Direction

The 38-20 score is not indicative of how one-sided Saturday night's game was between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Texas Longhorns. From the get-go, the Longhorns won every facet of the game. WVU couldn't do anything right but more importantly, looked unprepared.

Coming out as flat as West Virginia did would be understandable to some extent if this game were played on a short week. What makes the result more alarming is that they had over a week to get ready for this one while Texas had the regular week in between games. The Longhorns not only had two fewer days to recover and prepare but they lost in overtime to Texas Tech, a game in which their defense was on the field for 100 snaps. When the two took the field Saturday night in Austin, it seemed as if WVU was the team coming off a crushing loss that exhausted its defense.

Bad penalties, drops, and burning timeouts after kickoffs have become the norm with this program over the last few years and it's led to several losses along the way. For example, West Virginia had Texas backed up inside its own 10 during the first half. The Longhorns had 1st and 20 and a facemask on Jordan Jefferson gave Texas an automatic first down. A few plays later on 2nd and 20, Lee Kpogba was flagged for a late hit out of bounds, once again handing the Longhorns a new set of downs. Hudson Card dropped a 45-yard bomb to Xavier Worthy and before you know it, Texas scored again.

One decision in the game that isn't being talked about enough, mainly because nothing happened off it, was the decision to squib kick right before the half. Grothaus' kick didn't travel very far as it hit one of the up men for Texas and it gave them a chance to add on a field goal with 12 seconds remaining. When you're trailing 28-7 with just seconds left in the half, you kick the ball deep. Texas is going to be content leading by three scores and will have no interest in trying to push the ball down the field and risk a turnover. Situational football, at times, has been a nightmare for WVU and that's just one example of it.

Sure, the Mountaineers "played better" in the second half but in my opinion, Neal Brown waved the white flag and did his best to control the disaster rather than try to fight to get back into the game. There was no sense of urgency, no hurry up, nothing. They ran the ball 16 times in the second half despite trailing by multiple scores, yet managed to only gain an average of 2.5 yards on those carries. Coming back from a 35-7 deficit is not easy, but crazy things happen in college football.

Does the bye week come at a good time for the Mountaineers? Maybe, but I'm not sure it really matters. When you come out and play that poorly on nine to ten days' rest, what makes you believe anything will change the next time they take the field against the defending Big 12 champion Baylor Bears?

I hate to keep bringing it up, but it's just the reality of the situation. It's year four and instead of climbing, this program is descending. How is it that Dave Aranda can turn Baylor around quickly and win the Big 12 in year two? How is it that Lance Leipold can lead KANSAS to a 5-0 record in year two? Kansas. But three and a half years in and absolutely zero progress has been made in Morgantown. Sure, the talent level is better. The depth is better. But the results are still the same and in some instances such as last night, the results are worsening.

Good, solid coaching can lead teams to victory in games they shouldn't have any business winning. Whether you're playing a superior opponent or you're just having a really bad day against a team you're expected to beat, quality coaches find ways to win games. And to this point, that has not happened.

There is still a lot of football left to be played, but that could be a bad thing if things don't drastically change during the bye week. The Mountaineers are going to be underdogs in every game they play for the remainder of the year, according to the ESPN FPI. Even if they do sneak out a couple of wins, they are likely to fall short of bowl eligibility. The last time WVU recorded back-to-back losing seasons? You have to go all the way back to 1978-79, the final two years of the Frank Cignetti era.

During the Walk Thru Game Day Show on Thursday, I said this would be the measuring stick game for where this program was at. It was hard to say the Mountaineers turned the corner because they took care of business against Towson and Virginia Tech - arguably one of the worst teams in Power Five. I didn't necessarily believe West Virginia would stroll into Austin and win the game, but I felt that if they competed, it would show that there is potential for this group to win games. After seeing the product that was put on display last night, it's hard to buy into that mindset.

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