WVU’s Loss to Kansas Was Not Just About the Situation — It’s Deeper

The narrative entering West Virginia's Big 12 opener against Kansas was that it was a horrible situation for the Mountaineers and the exact opposite for the Jayhawks. You all know the story by now, with both teams having opposite results in their rivalry games and Kansas having a week to sit with that sour taste in their mouth.

While "the situation" could have played a factor, what happened on Saturday night was much deeper than that. The Mountaineers have serious issues along the offensive line, and with Tye Edwards out, they had virtually no explosiveness out of the backfield, putting starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol in a tough spot.

When asked in his brief, five-minute postgame press conference about effort, Rodriguez said, “I don’t know. I think to some degree, maybe. I’ll watch the film. I’ll be really disappointed if anybody was loafing. We weren’t overly physical at times. We missed more tackles than in any of the other games, especially in the second half.

“There’s nobody that’s happy in that locker room," he continued. "I know this is a process. We’re going to get better and better as we go along, if we can stay healthy. Like I told the team, I don’t know if we gave as much effort during the week as we did before, and we’ve got to make sure that happens because we’re playing a better team this weekend in Utah, so we’re going to have to have a better week of preparation.”

Lack of focus could have been a very real thing, but again, it goes back to execution or lack thereof.

The bad thing? They're going to get another ticked off team, playing Utah, who just lost by multiple scores at home to Texas Tech.

The good thing? They'll have the home crowd behind them this time and have played much better offensively at home for whatever reason. There's still a ton of football left to be played, but the Mountaineers need to find some answers and find them fast.