Neal Brown did not come out of Thursday night’s stunning loss to Houston feeling sorry for himself or his team.
The Cougars’ game-winning 49-yard Hail Mary was nothing short of a miracle, but Brown knows that one play, even a play as spectacular as that, does not decide a football game.
Instead, Brown was upset following the loss because he knew his team had spent all night beating itself.
“We didn’t lose the game on the last play of the game,” Brown said. “We had multiple chances to win the game and we didn’t do it…Where we lost the game is discipline. That’s what has gotten us to this point and we weren’t a disciplined team (Thursday).”
Every time the Mountaineers had a chance to take control of the game Thursday, they did something to give Houston a chance. Whether it was allowing a 100-yard return on their first kickoff or having a touchdown that would have put them up 10 points in the second half turn into an interception.
“This isn’t a deal where I’m heartbroken that we lost the game on the last play,” Brown said. “We win as a team and lose as a team and we did not play well…We had multiple chances to take control of the game in the second and third quarter and we did not.”
Even after scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 12 seconds left, the Mountaineers got in their own way. Quarterback Garrett Greene’s unsportsmanlike penalty for taking his helmet off in celebration moved the ensuing kickoff back 15 yards, allowing Houston to start its final drive in range for the Hail Mary shot.
“That’s 100% on me,” Greene said. “For us to be a really good football team, like I know we are, the quarterback can’t make dumbass mistakes like that. I messed that one up. If they’re 15 yards back then the last play probably doesn’t happen so that’s on me.”
“The celebration penalty after the last touchdown is kind of a microcosm, to me, of the game,” Brown said. “If we don’t get that celebration penalty, which is completely asinine for us to take our helmets off, that gave them the opportunity to get into scoring position.”
Even WVU’s usually-stout specials teams faltered on Thursday. Houston had more than double the kick return yards as West Virginia and started six drives beyond its won 30-yard line. WVU only had such field position three times and started five drives inside its own 20.
“It’s disappointing because on offense we kind of controlled the game,” Brown said. “If you look at the stat sheet it doesn’t make sense, but that’s why you play the game. We just absolutely did not play well enough on defense and special teams to win the game.”
If there were any positives to take out of the stunning loss, it’s that the Mountaineers seemed to understand why they lost. There was no finger-pointing, no complaining. All three players who spoke to the media after the game held themselves accountable and vowed to be better, starting with Greene.
“I just got caught up in my emotions,” Greene said of his penalty. “I have to be more mature than that and I have to be better than that…I just have to be a smart football player. It was a dumbass mistake by me and I’ll learn from it and be better.”
The other two players, receiver Hudson Clement and edge rusher Jared Barlett, talked about accepting the loss and being able to move on from it.
“This doesn’t define us,” said Clement, who caught Greene’s 50-yard touchdown to take the lead with 12 seconds to play. “I think if we just stick together, don’t point fingers and keep playing the ball we’ve been playing, we’ll be just fine for the rest of the season.”
“It sucks,” Barlett added, “but we can’t let this define us. It’s all about how we respond against Oklahoma State next week.”
At the end of the day, WVU is still 4-2 on the season and in a much better spot than most people were predicting it would be after six games.
Bouncing back from this loss will be the ultimate test for this group. If they collapse, then we’ll know the four-game winning streak was more luck than skill. If they come out better and continue to show the improvements that they did through the first five games, then we’ll know they actually are as good of a team as they claim to be.