What Rich Rodriguez Said Following the Loss at Iowa State

The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-2, 0-2) fell short in Ames (IA) Saturday afternoon 45-42 to the Iowa State Cyclones (3-2, 1-1).

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez was visibly frustrated following the game when providing his initial thoughts during the postgame press conference.

Overall thoughts on the loss

“We were too undisciplined. Not coached well enough to give us a chance. Penalties were atrocious and some of them were warranted and some of them were kind of close but pass interference penalties on long yardage situations.

“I mean, we had a couple legal procedures, and it was first time with some po posing noise, but you got to be better than that. And you got to stop somebody to win the game and we had a couple opportunities to do that and didn't get it done.”

Moving the ball down the field on the final drive until senior receiver DJ Epps fumbled the ball on a 22-yard reception

"I think DJ's just trying to make a play. At that point you got to be careful, you know, spinning around and stuff like that. I mean, just trying to make a play.

"We felt good. We moved the ball past midfield, whatever. Only need a field goal, but, you know, didn't happen. Give them credit."

Defensive tackling / all-around performance

"Just poor. I mean, it's two games in a row that's atrocious defense. They ran hard and they got some good players, but we thought we were fixing some of the issues. It certainly didn't look like it. So, we got to do a better job because that's 29 first downs, 577 yards, two game-winning drives. All we needed was a stop. It's hard to watch."

Iowa State’s two halfback option passes for touchdowns

"That's part of the same thing. I mean, you got to be kidding me. One was a zone coverage where you just - there's no reason. And then the other one, the guy just and watches, man. I mean, it's stuff like I hadn't seen in years, you know? I'm challenging them - everybody. I'm challenging the staff, but it's I'm sure if I'm a Mountaineer fan, it's hard to watch cause it's hard for me to watch."

"And you got to give them credit, but we're going to play some guys that that are really really good offenses and we got to shore it up. That's for sure."

Switching defensive personnel

"Looked like it. I guess they're just trying to find a way but I you know just - man."

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