West Virginia can’t change what happened at Houston.
The only option for this team is to grow from that experience and use it as motivation moving forward over the second half of the schedule.
The Mountaineers fell 41-39 on the game’s final play but while many will point to that, there were close to 40 plays that could have altered the outcome prior to that Hail Mary.
In fact, head coach Neal Brown highlighted each of the plays to his team. After a loss like that there is a grieving process of sorts at first, but then becomes accountability. The Mountaineers had to take ownership for what occurred and what could have been done to prevent it.
The game came down to one play, but it didn’t need to.
Yes, the Cougars deserve credit for playing their best football game of the season and simply being more hungry than the Mountaineers but any way you slice it West Virginia lost that football game with their own miscues.
“Our guys will respond. They understand what we put on tape wasn’t good enough,” Brown said.
That response is the next stage of the process as while his team has done a good job accepting ownership for what unfolded they understand that how they bounce back will be the true judge.
“We can’t control what happens all the time but you can control your response,” Brown said. “So we better fight and put better stuff on tape.”
It’s a lesson in handling success and being able to sustain it.
“We talked about the 14th and getting a gift at the beginning of the year. Well they just handed you a lesson and in our league how you have to prepare and be ready because there is just not a whole lot of difference,” coordinator Jordan Lesley said.
Brown isn’t afraid to point the finger at himself either as he believes he did a poor job measuring the maturity level of his team and they didn’t respond during the bye week. Because of how the Mountaineers were beat up physically after four tough games, Brown decided to give his team some time off instead of the original plan of practicing hard both Tuesday and Wednesday during the bye.
That came back to bite them and as part of that Brown blames himself for that decision.
“We talk a lot to our players about love. To me love is telling people the truth and holding them accountable. We want to be a program that fosters love,” he said.
It was a tough break for a football team that has been one of the surprises of the early season in the Big 12. But now, the Mountaineers must move forward because it’s the only option.
West Virginia is halfway through the season and what unfolded last Thursday can either be a disappointing footnote or a moment that propelled this team forward.
“We’re not going to allow that to define us and what our season is going to be so we have to move on,” offensive coordinator Chad Scott said.
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