First thoughts on WVU's ultimate collapse on the big stage

The Coal Rush concept looked cool both on the field and in the stands, but the performance of the players in the all-black uniforms was a sight to behold. West Virginia fell to No. 11 Iowa State 28-16 on Saturday night.

Here are some of my thoughts afterwards.

After West Virginia's eight-minute scoring drive to open the game, Iowa State took full control, although it didn't show on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. The Mountaineer defense did well to keep the Cyclones on third down, but continually failed to find a stop and get off the field.

On offense, every time they found some momentum, there was a bad snap, a missed assignment, a bad play call, or a lack of execution. It was a one-score game for most of the night, but the way WVU struggled on offense never felt like it.

WVU had a chance to score two points early in the game, but a Rodney Gallagher drop in the red zone limited them to one field goal attempt. Michael Hayes hit a 36-yarder and went into possession empty-handed. Just a few plays later, Jaylin Noel hit his head against the goal post on a wide-open Cyclone touchdown.

In the second half, WVU's defense bent but didn't collapse, and the offense didn't help in the slightest to get back into the game, as Garrett Greene threw two picks. When the defense needed to step up late in the fourth quarter to get a stop on fourth down, it was unable to break through.

West Virginia is not 3-16 under Neal Brown when playing against ranked opponents. At some point you need to start winning these games more often to show signs of progress. Your three wins at the moment? UAlbany and two Big 12 teams that have a combined record of 0-6 in league play.

Getting hit is one thing, but constantly hitting yourself is a bigger problem. This is a coaching and discipline issue. Brown said his team didn't shy away on the big stage, and they may not have flinched, but they certainly stepped up and made winning plays. Neal will have another chance at a ranked opponent next week. We'll see.

Yates must have had at least ten bad snaps, and most of them put the offense in a tough spot. I understand that you don't want to take a sixth grader for a redshirt freshman in a game like this, but sometimes you have to roll the dice. I mean, it couldn't be worse, right?

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