It's not that WVU football necessarily overlooked the Ohio Bobcats and were caught in a 'trap game.' Last Saturday, the Bobcats were just better in all aspects and were able to pull out a convincing seven-point victory, sending WVU back to Morgantown to lick their wounds and prepare for the Backyard Brawl against Pitt on Saturday.
WVU defense was giving entirely too much cushion to a good quarterback who can hurt you with his feet and arm. The missed tackles came into play on several occasions, and not one or two missed tackles, but three or four. The plethora of missed tackles allowed Ohio to score 17 unanswered points.
Ohio quarterback Parker Navarro had five runs of 10 or more yards at one point during the game. WVU will face much better competition all season long in that aspect, and must find the right combination on defense that can be more productive in the tackling game and pressuring opposing quarterbacks.
WVU's offense relies on Nicco Marchiol too much as well when running untimely quarterback counters. It was a mixture of questionable play calling and underthrows by Marchiol on the offensive side of the football.
After scoring their first touchdown, WVU's would find itself with three straight three-and-outs, as well as only one third-down conversion in the first half. Twenty-five total yards of offense in the second quarter will not be good enough to beat any Big 12 team, let alone a Group of Five team. WVU would be unable to capitalize on any of its three takeaways. Again, not going to cut it during conference play.
It is tough sledding when you have 81 new players on any team and have to build a depth chart to compete at the highest level in the Big 12 conference, but the chemistry should have been present long before a meaningful snap was taken. Not every answer is obvious, but it's clear things must be fixed before The Backyard Brawl.
MORE STORIES: