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MYERS: WVU’s letdown hurts

The optimistic mindset of WVU football supporters, buoyed by a convincing win over Virginia Tech, lasted only a meager nine days.

Mountaineer fans are sophisticated enough to understand that losing to a more talented Texas team on the road might be expected. But the manner in which it occurred was not.

This was not an elite Texas squad, having lost the previous week at Texas Tech and playing without their starting quarterback. It is a team which had been defeated by West Virginia late last season with Jarret Doege as the Mountaineer quarterback. There was no reason to believe that WVU couldn’t be competitive.

But it didn’t take long for reality to set in. West Virginia, knowing it needed to score points to keep up with a talented Longhorn offense, had the ball at midfield on its second possession with a chance to take an early lead. But two dropped passes led to a turnover on downs, and Texas turned on the jets. In what could have been a video game montage, Longhorn receivers were running free all over the field, compiling a remarkable 256 passing yards in the first half alone.

Already leading 21-0, Texas committed a mistake on a bad snap and faced 2nd and 20 from their own 2 yard line. Perhaps here a chance to force a punt, get the ball in good field position, and maybe at least make the game somewhat competitive. But the WVU defense committed a face mask penalty and two plays later with Texas facing 1st and 20 were flagged with another personal foul on a late hit out of bounds. Those two plays were a microcosm of the night. Nothing can be more frustrating to a team supporter to watch a defense not be able to tackle anyone on the field of play but then drill a player two yards out of bounds drawing a penalty.

WVU could not run the ball, receivers were unable to get separation from their defenders, and when passes did hit their target many were dropped.

The Mountaineers did manage to make the final score a more respectable 38-20, but anyone watching knew that this was a game not even that close.

Freshman running back CJ Donaldson was seriously injured in the third quarter causing players and fans for both teams to endure a scary 15 minutes. Fortunately, however, the initial reports were that Donaldson was stable, alert, and had movement of his extremities.

West Virginia is off this weekend, with a Thursday night game against Baylor on October 13th next on the horizon.

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