As it roll overs to the second week of the college football calendar, losses don't define a team's season at this point. West Virginia has only one loss in the column and although to fans that may seem like a mountain, it's simply a learning experience. The most important outcome is how the team responds.
With a 11 football games left on the schedule, WVU's players and coaches alike accept that they must move on, clean up, and respond well to what went wrong in State College. It's up to them on how they can counter a loss out of the gates.
"I think team performance we did pretty good. Definitely got to clean up on a couple of stuff, attention to detail and making tackles," defensive lineman Mike Lockhart said following his best performance as a Mountaineer according to head coach Neal Brown.
But for West Virginia, it's a supreme challenge to jump straight into a elite Power 5 matchup unlike most other teams around the country, so a loss like this against a Top-10 opponent can be a gauge of the team. However, according to the players, there's a lot you can learn from this result specifically.
"That's going to be one of the best teams we play. That's going to be one of the best defenses we play," tight end Kole Taylor said. "I think we did a lot of things well up front. We did really good containing their edge rushers. We played with good effort, it's never fun to lose but we can learn and build off what we did Saturday night."
Taylor finished with two receptions for 31 yards on Saturday, and alongside fellow pass-catcher and wide receiver Devin Carter who recorded team highs with six receptions and 90 yards on Saturday, the team understands how important it is to capitalize on what you can gain and correct after a tough loss.
"They say you make the biggest jump from the first to the second week, so I feel like we are going to make a big jump this week. We’re not satisfied but I think we can get things going," Carter said.
To truly gauge the ability of the Mountaineers, it's important to Carter and Lockhart to clean up the little things and make those details turn into success.
"I'm just talking about cleaning things up. Whatever we had wrong, just clean up the little things," Carter said.
"Go back to attention to details, technique, we can't look like anybody. I definitely think a game like this is a test of will," Lockhart said. "I feel like a game like this can determine your character. What happens after this game? Do you sink the ship or keep building?"
Now that the hype that was building up to Penn State and the rivalry matchup is behind West Virginia, it's time to move on to Duquesne. It seems like the players and coaches both agree and understand that one loss doesn't define a season, it's how you answer.
"I think we need to trend in the right direction, we need to go upwards. Build off what we learned last week. This is a good team, we can’t look past anybody we play," Taylor said.
"The biggest thing is understanding that Penn State is over. We can’t get that back," Taylor said. "It’s going to be on our record together, but the biggest thing is looking forward. It’s never fun to lose, I hate losing just as much as anybody else does, but you look at what you can build off of. You correct your mistakes," Taylor said.
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