The margin between winning and losing can sometimes be razor thin.
Especially in a league as jumbled together as the Big 12 Conference where you could shake up the majority of the teams in a hat and pluck them out to determine the order.
West Virginia was on the plus side of that through the early portion of the conference schedule, but now has suffered the opposite side of the coin with a Hail Mary walk-off to Houston and then crumbling in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State.
“Really just shooting ourselves in the foot. Missed assignments, missed opportunities and just making mistakes and mental errors. I believe they are correctable, we just have to focus on doing our job, our one of eleven and we’ll be pretty good,” defensive end Sean Martin said.
The loss to the Cowboys was especially deflating because the Mountaineers had been able to get a defensive stop leading 24-20 in the fourth quarter before fumbling a punt. Oklahoma State would score three plays later and dominate the final frame out scoring West Virginia 28-10.
The Mountaineers now must go back to the drawing board.
“During this time of adversity all we can do is stick together and make sure we’re on the same page defensively and offensively. Make sure we’re a cohesive group and make sure we’re playing complimentary football,” offensive lineman Doug Nester said.
Now, the Mountaineers will hit the road to take on a Central Florida team that despite being 3-4 is coming off one of their most impressive performances of the season in a 31-29 loss on the road to Oklahoma. The Knights are still looking for their first Big 12 Conference win, but have talent.
That’s not lost on the players because they can see the hairline difference.
“Really, especially in the Big 12, all of these teams are talented we’re all so close from top to bottom, the closer of the power five. It comes down to a few key plays whether or not who makes the play on their team. Who can make the more critical plays at that time and who can have less errors during those plays. Attention to detail how locked in the guys are how hard they’re straining,” Nester said.
Martin believes that West Virginia played with a chip on their shoulder in wins over Texas Tech and TCU inspired by the fact that the team was picked 14th in the league. But the line between winning and losing is something that the program must navigate.
“Losing everybody is down, winning is great. No team wants to lose,” Martin said.
Putting it all together and closing things out has escaped this club over the past two. There have been plus areas in some phases, but negatives in others as the team has struggled to play complementary football across the different sides of the ball.
Things are going to need to turn around in a hurry for this team with a road game on deck. The Mountaineers have been on both sides of the coin this season but need to find a way to change the script and get back on the winning side of things.
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