It came straight from the horse’s mouth after WVU’s 34-17 road loss at Kansas State on Saturday — the Wildcats did nothing to lose and everything to win, while the Mountaineers did everything to lose and nothing to win.
“Here’s the story of the the game in my opinion, and it’s a credit to them: They did absolutely nothing in the game to beat themselves,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said of K-State. “That’s hard, and they did that. Kansas State had no turnovers. They had one penalty in the entire game. Then you look at special teams, they were solid outside of the missed field goal.
“And then you look at us. We outgained them (345-299), but we had three turnovers and we we had a bunch of unforced errors.”
Over and over again, WVU shot itself in the foot, and it started early with what should have been a touchdown pass to wide receiver Winston Wright turning into an interception from quarterback Jarret Doege. And, like it did all game, K-State took advantage with a dominant touchdown drive.
Not long after, VanDarius Cowan inexplicably launched his helmet during into KSU quarterback Skylar Thompson’s head, wiping out a interception by Exree Loe and ejecting himself in the process.
After the defense got a stop, offensive linemen Zach Frazier and Wyatt Milum had a chop block on 1st down that put WVU behind the chains and ruined a drive.
Three plays later, a free runner wasn’t touched on a punt attempt and it was blocked for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 14-0.
All of this happened in the first quarter.
After the Mountaineers mounted a comeback in the second half, the mistakes again started to pile up.
On the biggest play of the game — a 4th and 8 for KSU from the WVU 39 — WVU’s defense allowed tight end Sammy Wheeler to slip through and get open for 35 yards (to be fair, it was a perfect throw by Thompson). KSU scored a play later to go up two scores again.
The last two drives for the Mountaineers’ offense ended with a Leddie Brown fumble and Doege interception, respectively.
Kansas State didn’t have a turnover compared to WVU’s three, and the Wildcats had just one penalty for 10 yards. While the Mountaineers had just two penalties (Cowan’s targeting foul and the chop block), both were in critical spots that led to WVU losing out on points and the Wildcats scoring a touchdown.
K-State head coach Chris Klieman was hired in December 2018 to replace legend Bill Snyder, just three weeks before Neal Brown was hired at WVU to replace Dana Holgorsen. Both are in their third years at their respective programs, and it’s hard to ignore the difference in the on-field product.
The Wildcats remain a disciplined group under Klieman, a staple under Snyder, sitting at 7-3 and remain in the hunt for the Big 12 title game with two games left.
The Mountaineers continues to make sloppy and costly mistakes that cost them football games. They are 4-6 and are fighting for their lives, needing two wins with two games left to become bowl eligible.
“That’s the story of the game,” Brown said. “It’s not an effort issue, guys played hard. It’s us not doing things we need to do to win games — ball-security, blocking, tackling. That’s what it is. Credit to Kansas State, but I’m mad about it because this was a game we did not play smart enough to win.”
With Texas coming to Morgantown next week, Brown’s message was simple trying to get over this loss.
“No one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to get our asses ready to play,” he said. “You line up and play. You get ready for it during the week. Nobody cares that things didn’t go right for us. Bottom line is, we didn’t get the job done.”
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