Despite losing in the Backyard Brawl, this year’s Mountaineer football team believes last Thursday was a turning point for what is yet to come.
Normally after playing in a rivalry game which ends up not going your way, your first reaction usually isn’t that of Mike O’Laughlin’s.
“That was the best I’ve felt ever after a loss,” O’Laughlin said of West Virginia’s 38-31 loss in the Backyard Brawl to Pitt.
O’Laughlin shared the same feelings many Mountaineer players felt following the loss in that the rest of the season is still ahead of them and they are hungry to get back on the field and compete.
“If we could have suited up the next day or the following day we would’ve. We were just antsy to play,” O’Laughlin said. “Guys were beat up, they were hurting, they weren’t feeling so good, but if someone said let’s go play tomorrow, you’d have hands everywhere.”
West Virginia defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley had a similar message to his unit, trying to tell his guys the whole season is still in front of them.
“It’ not going to make or break our season first and foremost. I know how extremely important this game is especially to our fans and even our players and people around our players. And it’s tough because we had opportunities, especially defensively,” Lesley said. “You’ve got to go on to what’s next. If we just correct mistakes and get better then we’ll be fine. Can’t let it linger, it’s the first game.”
Immediately following the game, quarterback JT Daniels said he loved the fight this group had and knew this is going to be a fun team going forward.
“Culture and fighting, like a team of fighters, you can’t fix that. And this team can fight. There’s a lot that I’m very optimistic about [with] this team,” Daniels said on Thursday following the loss.
Defensive lineman Jordan Jefferson has noticed that fight since the loss saying no one is thinking about the Pitt game, but the focus is fully on Kansas.
“Obviously that game didn’t go the way we wanted. We fought hard and we didn’t give up at all. That’s what I love about this team,” Jefferson said. “Forget about it, move on to this week and make sure we dominate this week.”
Jefferson added he feels there is something special on this team and all the players know that.
“There’s something different about this group. This group is special,” Jefferson said. “If we do what we did last week and we continue to prepare, continue to get better every week, we’ll be just fine.”
That hunger and fire is what West Virginia will look to use to beat Kansas this Saturday as they open their home schedule and their Big 12 schedule.
This is the earliest West Virginia has played a conference game since they played Oklahoma in week two of the regular season in 2013.
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