Rich Rodriguez understandably looked frustrated following West Virginia’s 48-14 loss to Utah on Saturday afternoon in Morgantown, West Virginia.
For the second straight week, the Mountaineers lost by 30-plus points against a Big 12 Conference opponent. That dropped West Virginia below .500 for the first time this season at 2-3 and leaves them 0-2 in league action.
Statistically, there wasn’t much for the Mountaineers to hang their hat on. Utah had 532 yards of total offense to 346 for the Mountaineers.
There was a wider gap in the first half, when the Utes had 278 to 95 for West Virginia, and as a result, Utah held a 28-0 halftime lead.
The Utes never punted in Saturday’s matchup and were much more efficient on third and fourth downs. Utah was 8 of 13 on third down — including 8 of 8 in the first half — and 3 of 3 on fourth down. That helped the Utes score touchdowns on five of their first six possessions.
West Virginia, meanwhile, was 4 of 14 on third down.
That inefficiency led to West Virginia leaning on more fourth-down attempts, and while the Mountaineers converted 4 of 7, many of the misses came earlier in the game when they struggled to get its offense into rhythm.
It led to Rodriguez giving a grim, albeit truthful outlook on the day the Mountaineers endured.
“It’s embarrassing how we failed to execute. Didn’t have anything that was really good, coaching wasn’t good, playing wasn’t good. Honestly, they never even had to punt. They didn’t punt one time,” Rodriguez said, leading off his postgame press conference.
With Saturday’s loss, the Mountaineers have dropped three of their last four games and are headed into a short week before playing Utah’s rival, BYU, next Friday on the road.
“Right now, we’ve got a short week against a good team. We’re not going to just sit back and say, ‘Woe is me,’” Rodriguez said. “We’re got to get back to work and come up with a plan to try and help us win.”
Going into the matchup against Utah, the Mountaineers were dealing with their share of injuries, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
Starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol was out, and his replacement, Jaylen Henderson, only lasted a half before being replaced after throwing for 22 yards on 3 of 7 passing.
West Virginia already lost its best running back, Rahiem White, for the season, and running back Tye Edwards and wide receiver Jared Bray weren’t available Saturday. The team’s offensive line had its share of injuries, too.
Rodriguez wouldn’t allow any excuses to be made when asked if, hypothetically, the game could have been closer if West Virginia were healthier.
“It makes it difficult, it makes it more challenging, but you can overcome them,” he said.
Those struggles extended over to the defensive side as well for West Virginia.
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, who struggled last week in a loss to Texas Tech, completed 21 of 26 passes for 237 yards, a career-best four touchdowns and one interception, while also rushing for 33 yards and another score on Saturday.
The Utes used a balanced offensive approach to control the game flow against West Virginia. Utah ran for 242 yards and threw for 290, while its 532 yards of total offense was the most the Mountaineers have given up all season.
The previous high had been 429 yards.
“Today, we were leaving guys wide open, missing tackles, giving up deep balls,” Rodriguez said. “I thought there was a couple times we had a chance to make a play on the ball, we didn’t quite do it. It was not good.”
That leaves Rodriguez and West Virginia searching for answers as the Mountaineers prepare for a trip out west next week to face No. 25 BYU and a shorter time frame to prepare.
“Coming in, I know we don’t have a big margin for error because we’re a little nicked up and stuff like that,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not saying you have to play perfect, but you’ve certainly got to play better than what we did today to beat a good Utah team.”