(Monday Morning Quarterback - Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

The West Virginia Mountaineers entered their first bye week with a disappointing 2-2 record and many questions remaining about the direction of the 2024 season. Although the dramatic fourth quarter comeback against Kansas gives fans hope, WVU now enters a difficult stretch of their Big 12 Conference schedule.

Offense was expected to be the strength of the team, and there have been some good moments. But consistency has been lacking. The rushing attack with outstanding running backs Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson has been somewhat disappointing. The Mountaineers have averaged only 140 rushing yards per game, and many of those have come from scrambles by quarterback Garrett Greene. And while Greene has demonstrated the ability to take his team down the field in the waning minutes, we would like to see better ball control with the running game.

We knew defense would be a question mark, and the performance over the first four games has raised a lot of red flags. West Virginia ranks 81st in the NCAA in pass yardage given up on defense, 96th in rushing yardage yielded, and 93rd in total defense. The Mountaineers also rank No. 116 in turnover margin (minus-5)

Admittedly these rankings reflect only four games of a long season, and are not adjusted for the quality of opposition.

But the metrics will need to improve on defense for WVU to ultimately have a successful season.

Special teams for the most part have been solid. As we saw in the win over Kansas last week, quality of special teams play can make the difference in close games.

Through just two weeks of the conference schedule being played there have been many surprising outcomes and West Virginia fans are not alone in dealing with disappointing results. Given the unpredictability of the conference, the remainder of the season will be fun to watch. Hopefully the Mountaineers can still do some damage of their own.

THIS SATURDAY: Oklahoma State was one of the preseason Big 12 favorites but may have become the league’s biggest disappointment thus far. They were pushed around in a home loss to Utah and were soundly thrashed at Kansas State last Saturday, 42-20. The Cowboys returned one of the country’s best running backs in Ollie Gordon, but in a puzzling turn of events have struggled to run the ball this season. Fans will remember Gordon embarrassing the Mountaineer defense with 282 yards and four touchdowns in Morgantown last season.

The Cowboys are now a desperate team and WVU will have all it can handle. Given last year’s performance expect them to try to reinvigorate their running game.

OKLAHOMA STATE 34 WEST VIRGINIA 27.