WVU is knocking on the door. Now it has to walk through it

A week later, I’m still not sure what to make of West Virginia’s loss to Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers looked like a team ready to take another step for most of the first half. They led 14-6. The offense was moving the football. Milan Puskar Stadium was rocking.

Coming off a win over a ranked Virginia team, it felt like WVU was about to announce that this turnaround was happening faster than anyone expected. Read more: WVU is knocking on the door. Now it has to walk through it.

Then everything changed.

An interception at the Oklahoma State 18-yard line completely flipped the game. The Cowboys answered with a quick five-play touchdown drive before halftime, and WVU never recovered.

The momentum from the Virginia win disappeared almost instantly.

Oklahoma State exposed a West Virginia defense that still hasn’t found its identity. The Mountaineers couldn’t consistently pressure Drew Mestemaker, and when you give a quarterback that much time, eventually somebody is going to get open. Big play after big play followed.

Final score: Oklahoma State 41, West Virginia 24.

But a week later, I don’t think my biggest takeaway is that West Virginia isn’t good enough. I think WVU is knocking on the door of becoming a good football team. Now it has to figure out how to get through it.

The process isn’t finished

Maybe the Virginia win changed our expectations too quickly.

That’s what happens when you beat a ranked team. We started wondering if Rich Rodriguez had somehow accelerated the rebuild. Maybe West Virginia was going to become one of those college football stories where everything changes almost overnight.

But most rebuilds don’t work that way.

Rodriguez inherited a roster that underwent massive turnover. WVU brought in roughly 70 new players. You can change schemes quickly. You can bring in talent through the portal. You can even win some games earlier than expected.

Building a culture takes longer.

That’s why I don’t look at the Oklahoma State loss as evidence that this isn’t working.

Actually, I see plenty of evidence that it is.

Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook have given this offense an identity. WVU has playmakers. Rodriguez knows what he wants offensively, and you can already see pieces of his old West Virginia teams starting to emerge.

The defense is another story. And strangely enough, that feels familiar too.

We’ve seen this before

Twenty years ago, West Virginia’s 3-3-5 defense wasn’t designed to dominate every snap. It created confusion, forced mistakes and tried to keep teams from consistently hitting the big play.

At times, it bent. Sometimes it nearly broke.  But the difference was that Rodriguez had an offense capable of turning games into track meets.

We may be heading toward a similar formula.

Nobody needs this WVU defense to suddenly become one of the best units in the country. Getting more pressure on the quarterback would be a good start. So would limiting the explosive plays that killed them against Oklahoma State. Keep opponents somewhere around or below 30 points, and this offense has enough firepower to win football games.

Do that, and this offense can win football games.

Classic Big 12, right?

Saturday suddenly feels very important

That’s what makes this trip to Iowa State so interesting. West Virginia doesn’t need to prove the entire rebuild works Saturday. This team remains a work in progress. But there is a difference between patience and accepting regression.

A win at Iowa State would move WVU to 4-1 and immediately change the conversation again.

A loss?

That would test the patience of a fan base that started dreaming a little bigger after Virginia. And maybe that’s the most encouraging part of all this.

We care again

For the last several years, losses didn’t hit me the same way. I almost expected them.

Oklahoma State bothered me.

Maybe that’s a good sign. We care again. We expect more.

Rodriguez has said all along that building this program the right way will take time. It will take recruiting, development and establishing a culture that lasts.

And I believe that’s happening.

WVU feels like it’s knocking on the door of becoming a good football team. But progress also brings expectations. Saturday at Iowa State is the next test.

And right now, there isn’t much room for a setback.