Photo Courtesy WVU Sports
If squandering an opportunity in Norman isn’t the thing to fire this WVU team up, nothing is. At least I cannot think of anything. They came out flat and showed minimal effort in the home loss to Texas Tech. A team that gave up SEVENTY (70) points to Texas in week 3 held West Virginia’s real dangerous offense to NOTHING in the first half. There was a bright spot though. 20 second half points is the most second half points WVU has put up this season. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
Fans showed up. Fans stayed in the game. Fans got REALLY loud. And then fans were disappointed. But what’s new? We are Mountaineer fans. We go through this year in-year out, 365 days a year. It’s a repeated cycle of hope and heartbreak. Why do we still get our hopes up every season? We KNOW the drill. Should we lower expectations? It’ll save us from heartbreak. But we love them too much to do so. That is what makes being a WVU fan great. We always have the bar raised so high for these hardworking players. We love West Virginia Football, but we DESERVE to be frustrated.
We deserve to be frustrated at the coaching staff. The coaching staff that told us how improved this team was. The same coaching staff that hinted in the offseason that the defense has taken a step back. The defense is the reason we aren’t 1-4 right now. Were they lying? Were they just wrong? I don’t know. But ultimately, its frustrating.
It’s frustrating that we are watching a FIFTH YEAR QB make freshman QB mistakes with what looks like hardly any ramifications. We watch a second year QB who pretty obviously gives the offense a better chance to score get absolutely scolded after a failed 4th down attempt, even though the drive was longer and better than any other that half.
It’s frustrating to see players post things with the caption “keep that same energy when we back” or “don’t be back when we turn this around” AS IF we haven’t seen that caption a million times. A message to the players: We aren’t leaving. West Virginia fans are not leaving you. But we are mad. WE are frustrated at the current standing of the program and rightfully so.
It’s frustrating when you waste a timeout at the TWELVE minute mark in the THIRD quarter on FIRST down. I mean come on? Game management was just pure trash. It has been trash all season. Play calling has been trash. Screen, Leddie, incomplete pass, repeat. Collectively, through week five, this has been just as disappointing as how the 2018 season unfolded.
This brings me to my final question: Are we expecting too much? Should we be content with the fact(?) that West Virginia is simply a 6-9 win program yearly with the occasional 10+ win season? Let’s look at every season since 2005:
2005: 11-1
2006: 11-2
2007: 11-2
2008: 9-4
2009: 9-4
2010: 9-4
2011: 10-3
2012: 7-6
2013: 4-8
2014: 7-6
2015: 8-5
2016: 10-3
2017: 7-6
2018: 8-4
2019: 5-7
2020: 6-4
If you do a little math, WVU has averaged just over 8 wins per season since 2005. Not 10. Not 11. Not 12. 8. At what point are we going to realize that WVU’s football program is not Clemson. Not Alabama. Or Georgia. And I’m not saying we want to be. We want to be West Virginia. We are proud to be West Virginia. But, to all fans, why are we continuously getting our hopes way too high? Something to think about this week before WVU takes on Baylor.
