West Virginia again had opportunities at home to win a football game but in a theme that’s become all too familiar this season, the Mountaineers weren’t able to get it done.
The program fell to 2-4 at home this season after a disappointing 49-35 loss to Baylor, the first for the program to the Bears in the history of the series. Adding to the frustration was the support of the fan base.
“They’re upset and they should be. You know, we haven’t played well at home, and we’ll have a losing record at home,” head coach Neal Brown said.
That’s quite a difference from last season’s record at home and is a major culprit for the 5-5 record that the Mountaineers now face with just two games remaining in the season.
The Mountaineers cut the score to 35-28 before halftime and had three opportunities to potentially tie the game but were unable to do so each time despite moving the ball deep into Baylor territory on each of those possessions. It was a frustrating end to a game that was well within reach despite the struggles.
“The game was there to win in the third and in early in the fourth and we just didn’t get it done,” Brown said. “We’ve got a disappointed group downstairs – staff and players – and you know I told them I love them that’s unconditional, but we didn’t play good enough.”
One of the biggest frustrations is the fact that the Mountaineers simply haven’t been able to get all three phases of the football operating at the same time. In the first half the offense generated 28 points and 337 yards, but the defense gave up 35 points and 335 yards.
Meanwhile, in the second half, the defense allowed just 14 points, but the offense could only muster 7 of their own. Special teams had some bright spots but also had their own issues at various points in the game.
That divide was especially evident in the third quarter where the defense generated those stops, but the offense failed to put up any points to cut into the margin.
“Just talking about you got to control what you can control, and the defense has no control on the offense and the offense has no control on the defense,” Brown said. “You got to play each play as a singular action, and we didn’t do that.”
Pass defense continues to be an issue as the Mountaineers struggled to play the ball well allowing 329 yards in that department and a trio of touchdowns.
“That's been an issue all year and we've tried a bunch of different things and we've we just have not played very well back there,” Brown said.
West Virginia has just one game remaining on the season and the focus is on trying to close the year out with a strong performance despite all of the struggles to date. That’s especially important because a win over UCF would make the Mountaineers bowl-eligible on senior day.
“For whatever reason we've played better on the road, but we've got one more opportunity to fix it and that's what it's got to happen. We got to fix it,” Brown said.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to not only play better but to win,” he added. “That’s the goal and our people here deserve to see wins.”
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