Loss to Maryland exposed WVU’s ‘brutal reality’
One of West Virginia coach Neal Brown’s favorite books is “From Good to Great,” a 2001 best-seller from Jim Collins that delves into why some companies, as the title suggests, make the leap to greatness and why others fail to do so.
Tucked within its pages is a quote from James Stockdale, the late United States Navy vice admiral and aviator. It’s a message Brown turns to often in times of adversity and uncertainty.
You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.
Known commonly as the Stockdale Paradox, those words are relevant to Brown’s Mountaineers team. Coming off a 6-4 record and a bowl win in 2020, West Virginia stumbled in its first game of the 2021 season, falling to Maryland, 30-24. It was an underwhelming performance marked by costly mistakes and crucial lapses, all of which added up to the program’s first season-opening loss to an unranked team since 2003.
Now, the Mountaineers have the delicate balancing act of learning from what caused them to lose while not dwelling on it for too long.
“I still have extreme faith that we’re going to prevail and we’re going to build a program here that’s going to have a great infrastructure and that’s going to be set up to win long term,” Brown said Tuesday. “But I’m also not blind to what our brutal facts are right now, which is that we’re 0-1 and we didn’t play very well. Outside of our kickoff return unit and our kickoff team, I’m not sure we won a whole lot of individual battles in the game, coaching or playing. That’s kind of our brutal reality.”
When trying to correct their miscues, there’s an obvious place to start: turnovers.
West Virginia gave up the ball four times — two interceptions and two fumbles — that led to 13 Maryland points. The circumstances surrounding the giveaways made them that much more troublesome. A bobbled punt return from Winston Wright gave the Terrapins the ball inside the West Virginia 40, a drive that ended with a field goal. A late thirdquarter fumble from Leddie Brown ended a Mountaineers drive that had gotten them into field goal range. Though Brown described it as a fluke play that he didn’t pin on his quarterback, Jarret Doege threw an interception after West Virginia had gotten to the Maryland 13 while trailing by just two, 23-21, with eight minutes remaining. With those errors, the Mountaineers had 62 offensive snaps. Maryland finished with 80.
The things upon which the
Mountaineers need to improve go beyond turnovers, though. As Brown saw it, his team wasn’t sufficiently physical up front.
“They’re way bigger than Big 12,” defensive lineman Sean Martin said of Maryland’s offensive line. “Way bigger than Big 12. … They’re just wider. Way wider.”
It didn’t get consistent quarterback play. It didn’t apply much, if any, pressure on the opposing quarterback. Defensively, poor communication and tackling allowed Maryland to record four plays that gained at least 35 yards, which included two touchdown passes from Taulia Tagovailoa that went for a combined 126 yards.
“I don’t feel any different about that group of guys,” defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said. “I’ve been excited about this group. I’m still excited about this group. It’s got to be a learning experience. It’s got to be a humbling experience. We’re not the group from last year. To say that we are, that’s wrong. We’re not. We have to be who we are. But those guys that you saw early on with those mistakes, they’ll be better.”
Difficult as those setbacks are to internalize, it’s far too early in the season to abandon hope. On Tuesday, Brown gathered his team to show to it how many teams have dropped a season opener in an evenly matched game only to rebound to have a successful season.
This Saturday’s matchup against LIU offers the Mountaineers an excellent and realistic (to the point of being virtually guaranteed) chance to notch their first win. Excited as the Sharks are to play a Power Five team in a stadium exponentially larger than anything they’ll see in the Northeast Conference, they’re a Football Championship Subdivision team coming off a 38-point loss last weekend to
Florida International.
The chance to begin to make things right starts now.
“We’re going to play a lot of games that could go either way,” Brown said. “The margin for error is really small. We can’t do things that hurt ourselves, which is the most infuriating thing about that game. It’s not that we lost. It’s how we lost and how come we lost.”
O’Laughlin still on shelf
Brown said tight end Mike O’Laughlin is “still probably doubtful” to play Saturday, though the plan is currently for him to get some snaps against Virginia Tech on Sept. 18. The junior led all West Virginia tight ends in receptions (15) and yards (137) last season, but an injury sidelined him during all of training camp. O’Laughlin did individual work Monday and Tuesday and Brown is hoping he’ll have a limited role in practice Wednesday.