West Virginia heads into its bye week with momentum, and Mike Hawkins Jr. thinks the Mountaineers are only getting started.
After back-to-back wins pushed WVU to two games above .500 and left the team one win shy of pulling even in Big 12 play, the quarterback said the group still has more room to grow.
“I’d say our best ball is ahead of us," he said on Saturday. "We’re obviously playing pretty good, but I feel like we have a lot of things we could fix.
Me personally, too. This bye week is big for us.
We’ve been at it for eight weeks, so it’s a good feeling.”
The offense didn’t have the same kind of pop it showed against Cincinnati the week before, and that was in part because West Virginia was facing the best defense in the league, a unit that ranks seventh nationally in yards allowed per game. The Mountaineers also moved away from the quick game that gave Cincinnati so many problems, and Hawkins never really found a rhythm.
He finished 0-for-6 on throws of 20-plus yards downfield, with two passes that should have been caught. One of them would have been a touchdown to DJ Epps and stretched the lead to 17-7.
Even so, Hawkins didn’t sound interested in excuses. He pointed to execution, especially in key moments.
“I really think the biggest thing for us as a whole was just mental errors. For me, connecting with my receivers.
I missed a couple of throws that I shouldn’t have missed. Those are big moments in the game, but you live and learn, and you get back.
There’s a bye week, and you can fix it.”
There’s still a lot in front of West Virginia, even with a tough stretch coming up that includes three ranked teams in four games. But Hawkins’ point was clear: the Mountaineers haven’t reached their ceiling yet.
The defense showed some progress against TCU, though it still has plenty of work to do. The offense, too, can find another level if it builds more balance in the passing game and works more underneath instead of leaning so heavily on vertical shots each week.
In Other News...
WVUs Defensive Beatdown Just Led To Serious Fallout At TCU
West Virginias defense left TCU searching for answers after a game in which the Horned Frogs struggled to protect their quarterback and never got their running game going. The aftermath was swift. Soon after the loss, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes fired co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach A.J. Ricker, a move that underscored how badly the offense had stalled against the Mountaineers.
Dykes pointed to the teams inability to make critical plays even with statistical advantages, a frustration that has now turned into a major shakeup on the staff. For West Virginia, it was the kind of defensive performance that can ripple beyond one Saturday, forcing an opponent to confront deeper issues almost immediately. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Just Gave Fans A Real Reason To Rethink The Big 12
The Big 12 spent the weekend looking a lot more open than it did just a few days ago, with ranked teams falling on the road and the standings taking on a more chaotic feel. No. 2 BYU lost at UCF and No. 8 Texas Tech dropped at Cincinnati, while West Virginia did its part by getting past TCU with several key defensive plays that helped swing the game in its favor.
For Mountaineer fans, the result matters beyond one Saturday because it fit into a broader conference reset that is showing up in the updated power rankings and the Week 9 outlook. It also came on a day when Baylor moved into a new era after Dave Aranda coached his final game there following a loss to Kansas, another reminder that the league's middle and upper tiers are shifting in real time. [Read more 🡒]
Neal Brown Is Suddenly Back In A Debate WVU Fans Know Well
Baylors decision to move on from Dave Aranda after a second straight loss and a 4-3 start has reopened a familiar conversation in West Virginia circles: where Neal Brown fits in the bigger coaching carousel. Brown, now at North Texas, has found his name back in the mix as a possible candidate for the Baylor opening, which immediately pulls Mountaineers fans into a debate they know well from his time in Morgantown.
For WVU supporters, the question is less about Baylors search than what Browns name still says about his future in the sport. His track record at West Virginia will be part of any serious discussion, but so will what he has done in his current stop at North Texas, where the next move could determine whether he is still viewed as a Power Four fit. [Read more 🡒]