Sep. 27—MORGANTOWN — It is easy to accept that Utah, in its 21st full season under the tutelage of head coach Kyle Whittingham, is and should be in a better position to compete than West Virginia under its current dire straits situation that stems from a severely thin depth chart at all positions.
The scoreboard at Milan Puskar Stadium certainly nailed that thought home Saturday, following a 48-14 victory by the Utes.
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Here’s what you don’t expect: The home crowd being so subdued that the beeping sound from some commercial truck backing up outside WVU’s stadium ringing throughout the arena as if it was being played over the PA system.
That is just how much the enthusiasm has sunk around this WVU program just five games into the Rich Rodriguez (Part II) era. Crying babies could be heard from 40 yards away, eh, maybe those weren’t all babies.
This is not all on Rodriguez, who has been outscored 89-24 over his first two Big 12 games. Instead, this funk or hangover or just plain bad juju that has hovered over the program like a thick Halloween fog has been festering since well before Rodriguez was pulled away from Jacksonville State to wake up the echoes in Morgantown.
In order for that to happen, you can’t have what happened against Utah, which at times was a comedy of errors by the Mountaineers, except no one wearing Gold and Blue was laughing.
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“It’s embarrassing how we failed to execute, ” Rodriguez said after the game. “We didn’t have anything that was really good. Coaching wasn’t good. Playing wasn’t good. (Utah) didn’t even have to punt one time.”
Getting beat badly for a second week in a row against a Big 12 team, fine. In the current situation with half of WVU’s offensive starters — as well as a few defensive ones — in street clothes, it is what it is, as they say.
But, at the very least, let’s see some discipline. Let’s see some sort of the fundamentals coming into play that’s been preached since spring practices back in April. There needs to be some straws to grasp desperately at, some hope given that brighter days lie ahead.
That hope came way too late, about the same time backup quarterback Khalil Watkins found Cam Vaughn for a 39-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter.
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That cut Utah’s lead to 35-7.
Prior to that, it was a combination of mixups, shenanigans, hijinks and just some bad decisions that you see associated with struggling football programs.
Like trying for a tush-push on third-and-short, only to have the quarterback think he’s going to hand the ball off, while the running back is trying to push the quarterback’s behind for a first down. That play resulted in a fumble that WVU recovered.
When you go with your jumbo package and put your biggest and strongest guys on the field on fourth down, there is no excuse for three Utah defenders holding a committee meeting in your backfield to blow up the play before it can even begin.
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Utah tight end Dallen Bentley is listed at 6-foot-4 and 259 pounds. He’s wearing a big white and red jersey, that on a 6-4, 259-pound frame, you’d think would stand out. Yet his touchdown catch in the back of the end zone in the second quarter came after WVU safety Fred Perry ran right past him to go and double team another Utah tight end.
And, man, this is not going to be a game WVU tight ends coach Michael Nysewander will want to remember, because his group just did not have a good day.
There was a potential touchdown pass — or at least a big play — to Grayson Barnes midway through the second quarter. It was called back after Barnes was whistled for a false start.
In the fourth quarter, Ryan Ward dropped what may have been another TD pass on a fourth-down play. Sure, the pass from Watkins wasn’t exactly well placed. Still, you just have to come up with that grab.
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An offensive pass interference call wiped out another WVU touchdown. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier did whatever he pleased. WVU’s offense had 95 yards at the half.
Damn … just damn.
This is what struggling college football teams do. They make things easier for the opponent, harder for itself.
That’s the part that has to stop, and that’s not exactly a big ask, no matter how many starters are injured. Catch the ball. Block the guy you’re supposed to block. Cover the guy you’re supposed to cover. Don’t jump offsides.
Until that begins to happen under Rodriguez, this is not a program moving forward. Rather, like that truck beeping outside of the stadium on Saturday, it’s a program still going in reverse.
