After losing 55-42 to Kansas on Saturday, West Virginia has now dropped their first two games of the season.
The Mountaineers lost in week one to Pitt, and now open conference play with a loss at home. Next week, the Mountaineers will host Towson before traveling to Virginia Tech and Texas in back-to-back weeks.
Despite the bad start and tough road ahead, Neal Brown and his team are not giving up hope.
“We lose two games right there at the end in both games. One in overtime and one right there at the end. We’re driving to tie the game up. I get the frustration. I promise you that there is no one more frustrated than me,” Brown said.
Brown said after the game he told his team there is still a long season ahead and they are going to focus on getting better.
“I told our team, we’re two games into this, and neither are was a result we wanted it to be. It’s a long year. We’re going to get better. We have to get better,” Brown said.
Wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton said the team has a similar mindset to Brown.
Ford-Wheaton finished with 11 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns.
“Definitely disappointing,” Ford-Wheaton said of the vibe in the locker room after the loss. “But we’re not discouraged. Still 10 guaranteed games left. We can choose to bow up and flip this thing or feel sorry for ourselves and go down the wrong path.”
Quarterback JT Daniels threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns, while also throwing the final interception, losing the game in overtime. Daniels said his guys are so close, and feels they will get where they need to be.
“There’s some adjustments that need to be made. Some small execution things,” Daniels said. Again, there was good fight, not as much as we needed evidently.”
Daniels added he thinks the team as a whole are not getting beat, but rather just being a step behind.
“I think we’re this close as a team,” Daniels said. “I don’t watch the defensive film, but I would be willing to bet it is not guys getting beat, it is guys being one step in the wrong spot too many times. If you do that you’re going to lose.”
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
