West Virginia entered this season with optimism abound.
Coming off a nine-win season and equipped with what head coach Neal Brown referred to as a contending Power Four roster, the Mountaineers had aspirations of taking the next step. The path was there, and the program had has much buzz heading into the year than at any point in the past six seasons.
The discussion revolved around finding a way to further elevate the on the field product from from nine wins to 11 given what returned from last season in order to keep that momentum going.
But now three games into the 2024 campaign, things have certainly gone in a different direction. If the flat performance in the opener against Penn State wasn’t concerning enough, what unfolded in the final five minutes against Pittsburgh certainly triggers those emotions.
The Mountaineers led 34-24 with 4:55 remaining but allowed two touchdowns during that span and for the second consecutive trip to Acrisure Stadium left with a disappointing defeat to their bitter rivals.
“Obviously disappointing. Should never lose a game up 10 with 5 to go. Credit Pitt. They made plays at the end of the game, and we did not. We did some real positive things in the game, but the bottom line is we didn’t win, and the game was there for us to win, and we didn’t,” head coach Neal Brown said.
West Virginia now sits at 1-2 on the season with their only win against a good, but outmatched FCS opponent.
“You’re 1-2 that’s what it is, and we’ve earned that. That’s what we are,” Brown said. “We’re 1-2 and we didn’t execute in the last five minutes in the game.”
There’s no way around it regardless of what expectations you had for this season, a 1-2 start is not good enough given the outlook that many had this off-season. And the way things unraveled against Pittsburgh is only going to further add fuel to that fire.
That is even further compounded within the fan base by the last time West Virginia traveled to Pittsburgh in another game where they lost late. Earlier this week Brown made it clear that game was one that was still on his mind, it’s a guarantee this latest one now will be, too.
“Oh yeah, without question this one is probably as bad or worse,” Brown said when asked about the two games in his press conference. “You’re up ten.”
But there’s no changing what has happened so far for West Virginia. The record is the record, and the Mountaineers now have nine conference games remaining on the schedule to attempt to change things. That will be no easy task but, what other choice does this team really have?
That’s going to start with finding a way to win close games with Kansas 1-2 coming to Morgantown and both teams still fighting for their collective lives. It’s not over for West Virginia, but I’m also not going to try to convince you that this team doesn’t have issues and will need to figure them out in short order before trying to plan a way for them to put together a run in the Big 12.
How these issues are addressed in the coming days and weeks will be the story of what unfolds this season and while the Mountaineers sit at 1-2 there’s still plenty of football left for better or worse.
“We got nine conference games, and our league is really good and the truth of it is they’re all going to be games just like we played today. And we’ve got to figure out ways to win,” Brown said. This isn’t over by any means. We’re going to fight our tail off and we’ve got a team next week that’s in the same predicament as us and both teams are going to come in with their back against the wall and that’s it.”
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