3 Key Takeaways from WVU Football’s Blowout Loss to Texas

When you you lose big to a team in your conference that entered the game with the same record as you, it’s going to be tough to find positive things to takeaway from the game. That’s the case for West Virginia after the Mountaineers 38-20 loss at the hands of Texas.

To simply the game and where the program goes from here, these are what instantly stands out as the main things to learn from WVU’s third loss of the season.

WVU’s two-game win streak was fool’s gold

Some thought Neal Brown’s team had righted the ship after wining two games in a row and was going to embark on continuing that trend. They were very wrong. Not only does WVU see their streak snapped, but Texas mopped the floor with the Mountaineers from start to finish. This loss shows that the prior two games were much more about the competition.

Beating an FCS opponent in Towson, even if you do it in convincing fashion, and then claiming a victory over a mediocre Virginia Tech on the road isn’t all that impressive when you follow up those performances with a loss to a team that was upset the week earlier and entered the matchup with the same record.

Unless WVU shows something in another tough contest against Baylor coming up after the by week, it will be fair to say this team has not fixed what it may have appeared was corrected recently.

The defense didn’t show up in a big game again

After bringing more of the heat that was missing on in the loss to Kansas in the last two games, the WVU defense had another night they want to forget in Austin. It wasn’t even about one particular unit struggling either, but that Steve Sarkisian and the Texas offense could do whatever it wanted, especially in the first half. The Longhorns carried a 28-7 lead with them into the locker room and never looked back.

WVU Football Report Card: Defense Can’t Afford More Growing Pains

Xavier Worthy’s speed was too much for a banged up secondary to handle, as the Texas receiver won his one-on-one battles all night. He added a surprise touchdown throw to his reception for a score and basically took over the game on his own.

Posting a shutout against Towson and dominating the Hokies just loses its luster when you allow Texas to march up and down the field on you the next week.

The pressure remains on Neal Brown

Neal Brown was no longer on lists asking which coach would get the axe entering WVU’s matchup with Texas in Austin. Back-to-back wins and retaining the Black Diamond Trophy seemed to calm the criticism surrounding Brown. However, a 38-20 loss to Texas, a Texas team that is only one win better at 3-2, just looks bad and makes it appear that the concerns about the future of the program are legitimate all over again. It’s now fair to ask if the turn around was more to do with playing an FCS team in Towson and taking advantage of a Virginia Tech team that is in the midst of dealing with their own issues.

Brown is still in need of that big win of his tenure, a tenure that is in its fourth year, and to be able to show signs that the program is actually climbing in the right direction.