WV-Eulogy

I'm gonna get slapped in the face, and it's all your fault.

What a bummer this shit is.

9 days ago, West Virginia’s football season looked so much different. 9 days ago, WVU had a Heisman Trophy frontrunner at quarterback, and the nation as a whole was beginning to take notice. 9 days ago, WVU had 2 receivers that could have been in contention for the Biletnikoff Award. 9 days ago, WVU was undefeated, had just knocked off the by-God Texas Longhorns, and was being looked at as a dark-horse national title candidate.

9 days ago, WVU also still had an embarrassingly bad defense. Young, yes, but still bad. Still had a bunch of kids that, while they might be nice kids and get good grades and all that, had no business being on the field as part of a starting defensive unit for a major conference FBS team. Still also hadn’t really been tested by a quality defense, despite what Texas might be calling themselves these days. It seemed as long as the offense clicked as it did, though, none of these worries mattered. No one was talking about them, at least.

And here we are. 9 days later. 2 embarrassing losses have fortunately been able to rid us as Mountaineer fans of those delusions of a national (or even Big XII) championship, a Heisman Trophy, or a meaningful season. The best part is we as fans don’t even have the Gator Bowl to fall back on anymore. It’ll most likely be another bowl game the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and unless there is a sea change in the defense’s ability to make key stops, another embarrassing loss on TV that will damage recruiting no matter what kind of smiley face you put on it.

Awwwww. (via gif.mocksession.com)

 A strong D has been a WVU trademark for longer than a strong offense has been, yet after losing guys like Bruce Irvin, Najee Goode, and Keith Tandy, the cupboard seems to be bare. I could see maybe 4 of the guys currently starting for WVU (Karl Joseph, Terrence Garvin, Isaiah Bruce and possibly Darwin Cook) getting regular play on a major conference FBS team. I would say “You can’t run 4 guys out there”, but that’s what WVU’s pretty much been doing.

I made an allusion earlier to embarrassing losses taking some of the steam out of WVU’s recruiting, and I do believe that. If you’re a defensive player, though, one would think you would be champing at the bit (and it is CHAMPING at the bit. I looked) to come to Morgantown. Mainly because after watching Seth Doege and Collin Klein carve up the current excuse for a defense over the last 2 weeks, it seems to be a given that even a decent player can go in there and compete to play right away. I’m also not a believer in the train of thought that says “WVU can’t recruit in Texas and Oklahoma”.

"I'll recruit your mother AND your older sister to the Comfort Inn. Room 69." 

Dana Holgorsen spent most of the 2000s recruiting in Texas and Oklahoma for Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State. Aside from his offensive pedigree, a main reason he was brought in was to build a recruiting pipeline into Texas. He’s already signed guys like Tyler Tezeno to come in next year and provide line help (I know recruiting rankings tend to mean squat, at least until it's time for Pitt basketball fans to talk up Steven Adams, but still...). In addition, WVU seems to still have a huge pipeline into Florida, as most of the 2013 incoming class comes in from the Sunshine State. I think they know how to play football in Florida…

So there are some reasons to have hope for the future, I guess. Although the transition the defense is going through now will migrate to the other side of the ball next year, WVU seems to more often than not be able to bring in big-time players at the skill positions. The offense is proven to work, and the defense only has time to improve.

This year, though? This year’s a lost cause. 

@johnathanrush