Friday Morning Thoughts: What Are You Going to Do About It?

Discussing West Virginia's loss to Houston.

There is losing and then there is losing on a last-second Hail Mary as time expires. The problem is, it should have never come down to that. West Virginia is clearly a better team than Houston but it didn't show on the surface of TDECU Stadium Thursday night.

Garrett Greene played his best football as the Mountaineer starting quarterback and darn near had a legendary moment with the go-ahead touchdown to Hudson Clement on fourth down with the game on the line. Unfortunately, it's a play that everyone will forget about. Greene was penalized for removing his helmet on the field which forced WVU to kickoff from its own 20. It's a crucial mistake and one that gave Houston life.

This is the second time this season that a West Virginia player has removed his helmet following a touchdown. CJ Donaldson did it a few weeks ago against Pitt. Do I believe it's a dumb penalty? Yes. 100%. Let the players show their emotion for pulling off an incredible comeback with little time on the clock. But it is what it is. Everyone knows the rule and it just can't happen. There's zero excuses for it. 

But I'm not here to harp on that play because Greene played his tail off and if it weren't for him, West Virginia wouldn't have had a chance. Plus, there were so many plays throughout the game that led to the loss. It shouldn't be squarely pinned on him. 

For example, let's rewind back to the start of the game. Why are you kicking a returnable ball to one of the most dangerous returners in the Big 12 in Matthew Golden? By doing so, you're just asking for something bad to happen and it did. What's even more mind-boggling is they let him return two other kicks after that. How do you not learn your lesson? They're lucky he didn't make them pay twice.

Another example - Jaylen Anderson has to pull that ball down for a touchdown. Greene puts it on the money and it bounces off his chest and into the air for an interception. That would have put West Virginia up two scores and all of a sudden, you have the Cougars doubting themselves a little bit.

On the Hail Mary play, oh boy. So many things are wrong about the personnel they had on the field and the assignments of that particular play. But my biggest question is why in the heck is Lee Kpogba spying on Donovan Smith? If he takes off, so what? Once he gets past the three rushers at the line of scrimmage, he has to get past eight defenders and has to go 50+ yards to reach the end zone. What is the purpose of putting on a spy? Drop eight into coverage, rush three. 

There are so many things you could point to as to why West Virginia lost this game. It's not solely on Greene. Did the penalty play a factor? It certainly did. But for some folks to actually call for him to be benched because of it? Come on. Let's be real. 

As crushing as that final play may have been for the players and staff, the hardest part hasn't arrived yet. That's next Saturday against Oklahoma State. What are you going to do about it? Do you let the Houston game beat you twice and drop to 4-3 (2-2) on the season? Or do you do what good football teams do and use it as fuel to bounce back and take it out on the Cowboys?

We're only halfway through the season. How does this game impact the rest of the season? Are we going to circle back to this as the moment where it all went downhill? Or is it the one that humbled the Mountaineers and turned into a blessing in disguise? We're about to find out what this team and what this coaching staff is truly made of next week. If they want to be respected nationally and even by those who closely follow the Big 12, they have to earn it.

What Neal Brown Said Following the Loss to Houston

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