How concerned should we be after WVU’s second-half collapse to Oklahoma State?

The West Virginia Mountaineers lost their first game of the season on Saturday night as they sacrificed a halftime lead and suffered a late-game meltdownthat allowed Oklahoma Stateto mount a comeback and secure an early-season signature win over the Mountaineers, severely dampening Pat McAfee’s “West Virginia is all the way back” take and putting the Mountaineers at an 0-1 disadvantage to begin conference play.

So with that all said, how concerned should fans be after watching West Virginia lose at home to the Cowboys on Saturday night?

The concerning aspects of the loss

Let’s start with the bad for the Mountaineers. West Virginia’s defense exhibited all the same issues as they did against Coastal Carolina, but instead of doing it against a phenom underclassmen, it happened against a veteran talent and NFL prospect. We said then that the Mountaineers would need to do better on defense against better competition.

Well, it caught up to them against Drew Mestemaker, as they allowed him to go 20-for-27 for 389 yards and three touchdowns in the win. And when it came down to it, what the West Virginia secondary was able to do was not enough. And that Mountaineers also gave up over 200 yards on the ground. West Virginia’s defense in total allowed 609 yards.

“We didn’t play well at all,” Rodriguez said. “We didn’t give our guys a chance.”

Mike Hawkins Jr. also looked much more vulnerable in the passing game than he had previously, going just 10-for-22 for 131 yards with one interception. A one-dimensional team can be difficult to beat, and the Mountaineers will need to be able to pose a threat in the passing game to do more against a team like Oklahoma State.

The non-concerning aspects of the loss

Let’s be real: Oklahoma State looks like a really good team. And what they did against the Oregon Ducks was no fluke – they dominated that game, and they looked competitive all night against West Virginia before pulling away easily in the end. This isn’t a team West Virginia should necessarily feel bad about losing to.

And the Mountaineers didn’t necessarily look awful offensively. They tallied 335 rushing yards in the loss, with both Mike Hawkins Jr and Cam Cook going for over 100 apiece.

And on the final possessions when the Mountaineers trail by two scores, fans were heading out of the stadium, and it was clear they likely were going to win, the team was still fighting for touchdowns on offense. That type of resilience is important, and was on display on Saturday night.

And yes there are reasons to be concerned. But also, if you had asked West Virginia fans at the beginning of the year if they would be happy with a 3-1 start, most would have said yes. And now, that's where the Mountaineers are. Many aspects of this team still look vastly better than last year's and the season is not.over yet. So maybe people shouldn't panic yet.

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