Rich Rodriguez was visibly frustrated after West Virginia’s close loss against Arizona State. It didn’t feel like WVU was much worse than ASU, and at times, WVU played better.

“I didn’t feel like in the first half that they were better than us,” Rodriguez said. “They are better than us because they won.”

It all came down to a couple of plays down in the red zone, where WVU couldn’t convert, or for Rodriguez, the Mountaineers couldn’t pick up a yard. On three trips, WVU had only three points, after going for it on fourth down twice and didn’t pick up the first down. There was a point where WVU ran the ball three-straight times and couldn’t punch it in.

“You can’t get this much,” Rodriguez said, showing the short number of yards needed to pick up the first down. “You can’t get this much, seven to eight times in the game.”

Picking up a yard has been one of the issues WVU has had this season. There’s more behind Rodriguez’s frustration than just picking up the yard because that sounds simple. It’s picking up the yard on the ground when the other teams know you’re going to run it.

That’s the definition of hard edge and what Rodriguez wants his offense and team to be. Be physical enough to push bodies back and pick up the yard to gain.

“You should be able to run the ball this much,” Rodriguez said. “When everyone knows you are going to run the ball that much.”

The Mountaineers struggled to run the ball all afternoon. WVU only had 68 yards on the ground, which was the second-least on the season. The longest rush was a 14-yarder from quarterback Scotty Fox. WVU’s top running back Diore Hubbard was banged up, but still, the Mountaineers couldn’t get anything on the ground.

Fox was sacked and tackled for a loss, which contributes to negative rushing yards in college.

Without a rushing attack, Fox had to throw the ball a lot more, like he did against TCU. Fox had another career day in the air, throwing for 353 yards and two touchdowns. He threw the ball 31 times. Most of the yards came on long touchdowns, too.

Throwing that much is not what Rodriguez wants WVU to be. He said the identity of the team was running ball, so obviously, he’s frustrated his team couldn’t pick up just one or two yards when needed.

There have been times when WVU’s had success running the ball, and moving bodies when it needs a yard or two. The Mountaineers closed out the Colorado game by picking up a couple of first downs on the ground and won the Backyard Brawl on a rushing touchdown. WVU also ran all over Houston.

Most of WVU’s wins come when it runs the ball efficiently.

If WVU beat Arizona State, the hopes for a bowl game would’ve still been alive. The Mountaineers had a chance to keep the dream going one more week, but like Rodriguez said, it was just a matter of picking up those extra yards on the ground.

If WVU couldn’t pick up a yard against the Sun Devils’ front, it’s going to be a lot harder against the Texas Tech front out of the bye. The Red Raiders are in pursuit of a Big 12 title appearance and a higher seeding in the college football playoff, so they won’t go easy on the 4-7 Mountaineers

“You have to be able to run the ball this far to win the game,” Rodriguez said. “You have about seven opportunities to do it. You run for 68 yards. It’s embarrassing. You can’t run for 68 yards, you don’t deserve to win the game.”