West Virginia appeared as if they had capped off an improbable 11-point comeback against Houston over the final 7:28 seconds.
The Mountaineers scored a pair of touchdowns on consecutive possessions with the second a 50-yard pass to Hudson Clement to put them ahead 39-35 with just 12 seconds remaining in the game.
A storybook ending, right?
Another dramatic win for a team that has lived on the edge for most the season?
Wrong. It turned out to be anything but for the Mountaineers.
After the touchdown, quarterback Garrett Greene took off his helmet and was hit with a 15-yard penalty which pushed the ball back to their own 20 on the ensuing kickoff.
West Virginia would allow Houston to return the football to the 43-yard line and after an 8-yard pass play only 2 seconds remained on the clock.
That was enough for Cougars quarterback Donovan Smith to roll to his left and uncork a throw into the end zone that was tipped into the air and into the arms of Stephon Johnson. Just like that the comeback was over and with no time left the game was, too.
“It’s football and those things happen,” said Greene, who took complete blame for the penalty.
It was a swing of emotions that only sports can provide and now instead of a five-game winning streak and sitting undefeated in the Big 12 with the six games remaining – the Mountaineers now must recover from a deflating defeat to a Houston team that had struggled mightily in league play.
Related: I Got Five On It: Houston
It won’t get any easier this coming weekend with Oklahoma State on deck. The Cowboys have had their share of struggles as well but have been playing better football of late.
This game is in Morgantown, but the challenge now for West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and his football team is to put it behind them and refocus for the stretch run. The Mountaineers can’t get this game back and while it’s certainly a lost opportunity, there are still more out there.
“Going back to fundamentals. The same aggression we played with at the beginning of the season, the same aggression and fundamentals we played with during fall camp and in the off-season just going back to those,” linebacker Jared Bartlett said. “We can’t let this define us.”
This game will be ironed into the memories of both the team and the fan base alike, joining an unfortunate collection of heartbreaking contests that ended in walk-off fashion. But how the coaching staff is able to turn this around and refocus this group will come to define this team.
And even in the suddenness of what occurred, the West Virginia players understood that.
“If we just stick together, don’t point fingers and keep playing the ball we’re playing we’ll be just fine for the rest of the season,” wide receiver Hudson Clement said.
West Virginia let one game slip through their fingers on a Hail Mary attempt, they can’t afford to let that become two with Oklahoma State coming to town.
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