WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.
Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.
3 things I learned:
1–West Virginia flattened at home. The Mountaineers had a bad week in terms of optics leading into the Kansas State game with some comments by head coach Neal Brown but that didn't compare to how bad things were on the field against the Wildcats. It was a rinse and repeat for West Virginia in a game at home against a ranked opponent as the Mountaineers fell 45-18 and largely weren't competitive after halftime.
The loss sends West Virginia to 3-4 on the season and now 2-2 in the Big 12 but the bigger problem is again the program failing to capitalize at all in a game against a ranked opponent and being soundly beaten at home. This is the third time that West Virginia has played a ranked team at home and in all three the Mountaineers weren't really in the game in the fourth quarter with the most recent example being the worst as the stadium was basically empty as the Wildcats were in full control.
It was a story that has been told before as West Virginia turned the ball over, had critical mistakes, struggled to make plays on defense and tagged with some critical penalties to shift momentum early in the favor of the Wildcats. But credit to the team for at least rallying to make it 17-10 with a chance to tie before the half although that was unsuccessful and again flipped the momentum back to the Wildcats.
The bigger issue here is West Virginia is now 3-17 against ranked teams under Neal Brown and sit at 34-33 in totality during that span. For as much as all the talk centered around taking the next step forward this season after a 9-4 finish last year, it's to this point been a disappointment all around with how things have turned out.
West Virginia was expected to take a leap forward and propel themselves into being one of the contending teams in this league after that strong finish but instead, it's been much of the same with critical errors and an inability to knock off quality teams.
Granted there are still five games left, but it's safe to ask that while things already were low was this loss to Kansas State the lowest point yet to the season? Time is running out here and the rumbles from the fan base are getting louder by the day.
In the end, this coaching staff needs to find a way to win football games and beating a ranked team in the past three years shouldn't be that much to ask. The truth is many of them at this point just want to see this team be competitive in these moments and even that has been a tough ask for this group.
