I suppose everyone has taken enough Bayer and Pepto-Bismol and Listerine in the past 60 hours to get over whatever it was that happened in the Carrier Dome Friday night. Just not a good night, to say the least, for any aspect of what was the nation’s 11th-ranked team. Dana Holgorsen confessed his Mountaineers were both outcoached and outplayed. Let’s go all the way here and add outflanked, outclassed and even outdressed, too.

This will serve as a bright contrast to what I professed in the chat and the F Double, when I really did think WVU had it figured out on offense and could work with what Syracuse would offer on defense, a defense I insisted was better than the numbers, but there were some warning signs here. WVU hits big plays on offense and can string together a few series in a row, but it lacks consistency and efficiency. And you couldn’t ignore the concern along the offensive line, especially after the UConn game. WVU’s defense isn’t very big or deep or fast or savvy and it can be pushed around and made to stay on the field for a while, the latter being a real big problem, I think. WVU’s special teams are just unreliable and, at the worst times, detrimental.

Still, I just don’t think anyone expected everything to fall apart at once. That, and Syracuse coached and played a terrific game before a crowd that observed with great verve from start to finish.  I don’t think we need to pick apart what happened and how it happened so many days later and WVU is certainly better off worrying about the solution instead of the problem, but we’ll examine this week where WVU is now and moving forward and who and what has to change. You might not like this, but Holgorsen said preparations will be the same, personnel changes don’t seem like the likely fix and, believe it or not, the offensive line was targeted right and protected well most of the night — it was the second level that did the damage.

Holgorsen had something else to say regarding one peculiar moment late in the first half at a time when WVU was trying to get back into the game and  the officials made an error. That, and the texts, come after the jump.

I can’t find the text online, so I’ll just paste this  part of the notebook here:

West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen got an unusual lesson in the rules of college football Friday night.

Late in the first half, WVU hurried a second-down play from the Syracuse 10-yard line as the Orange defense made substitutions. When the ball was snapped with 1:40 left in the second quarter, the Orange appeared to have more than 11 players on the field as at least four tried to get to the sideline.

Quarterback Geno Smith’s pass to Brad Starks was incomplete and Syracuse wasn’t penalized. Before the third-and-8 play, Holgorsen called a timeout.

“I was trying to get a challenge,” he said. “I was under impression you can challenge that and they told me you couldn’t.”

Holgorsen was correct and the rules do allow a coach to challenge that play. Specifically, the section for reviewable plays has a miscellaneous category and the first item it addresses is the “number of players on the field for either
team during a live ball.”

The rules allow a coach one challenge in a game. If that first is successful, then the coach gets a second, but no more. Holgorsen wanted to challenge the play because replay showed at least one Syracuse player didn’t make it to the sideline in time as Orange Coach Doug Marrone was calling for a timeout.

If Holgorsen won the challenge, it would have been a five-yard penalty and allowed WVU to replay second down from the 5. On the third down play, safety Jeremi Wilkes intercepted Smith’s pass at the goal line. The Orange took a 21-9
lead into halftime,

“I knew there was anywhere from 13 to 15 guys on the field when the ball was snapped,” said Holgorsen, who spoke with the officials throughout the timeout. “That was a key second-down play. I wanted to challenge it and was told you can’t challenge it. You learn something every day.”

That last sentence, by the way, was outfitted with sarcasm. Now, does it save WVU from the loss? Probably not. Does it prevent the avalanche? Maybe. I guarantee you Holgorsen and Smith feel a lot better about second-and-3 from the 5 and about 21-16 at the half. I guarantee you the Orange and that crowd feel differently, too. That interception seemed, to me, watching on television, like the, “Wait … we can do this!” moment.

That moment otherwise escaped Texts From Game Day, which was instead perplexed by Eu throwing caution to the wind and a pass into sextuple coverage. Forget Mike, nobody really knows how or why he works so hard. It seems like he’s never got time because he writes every note and he writes every line and I’ve seen him at work when that light goes on in his mind.  It’s like a design is written in his head every time,
before he even touches a key or texts in a rhyme.

My edits are in [brackets].

(7:00):
Texts from gameday: don’t call it a comeback!!!

(7:49):
So we’ve got wvu/Syracuse on ESPN and rutgers/louisville on the deuce. On a Friday night. At the same time. Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one?

(8:05):
We are in luck…audio is down on ESPN! Don’t have to suffer through these two bozos calling the game!

(8:10):
Hi def picture, no def audio.  Amateurs.

(8:14):
Peter Peter

(8:18):
Wow. Flashback. Last yr SYR beat us with a QB who completed FIVE passes.

(8:19):)
BTW Mike. Re: your last paragraph in Friday Feedback- that is why we all respect you. Well said Sir.

(8:19):
I think it’s a law somewhere that jorge is pronounced hor-hay.

(8:23):
If you try a flea flicker and no one bites on it, did it ever really happen?

(8:23):
Missed opportunity no. 1.

(8:25):
Yackety tackling.

(8:26):
Say, now might be a good time for that complete game we’ve been waiting for.

(8:35):
Trying hard to go to bolivia tonite.

(8:35):
Are we 0-100 with that fade?

(8:40):
Boy, is this starting to feel like deja vu… Sigh

(8:48):
Jorge Wright put up more of a fight with the MPD

(8:50):
Looks like they’re playing with 15 guys on defense and we’re playing with 9. So much pressure for them. Little for us

(8:56):
Great camera work on the personal foul. Would still love to see it

(8:56):
Casteel needs to explain Casey Vance.

(8:56):
Cuse, offensive juggernaut.  Who new?

(8:57):
Did our defense miss the plane?

(9:02):
Geno’s throwing it away…..holy [snickerdoodle]! Holy hail mary!!!!!! TD!!!!!!

(9:02):
Just like we drew it up!

(9:02):
Pick up a flipping block Garrison

(9:03):
Well that happened…  SU doesn’t know how to react.

(9:03):
Again, stedman is the team’s heart.

(9:03):
Just throw it up? Why didn’t I think of that?

(9:04):
[Short] Bit!

(9:08):
Yay, we’re regressing.

(9:09):
I am now going to light myself on [fierce] fire…right after I stop throwing up in my damn mouth

(9:10):
Is bill Stewart still coaching special teams…wow

(9:10):
Cue the yakkety and the sax. Oh how I love our special teams. We better answer… Quickly

(9:12):
Is there any way Holgorsen retains the defensive/special teams staff next year?

(9:18):
Baclay having a baaaaad night

(9:19):
I guess the SEC just turned off this game.

(9:19):
Eaux naux!

(9:20):
Is there a stat for a team who most frequently starts slow?

(9:22):
Does ryan clarke never play anymore?

(9:28):
Everything’s coming up Milhouse!

(9:29):
No Sticks!!

(9:30):
0-101 on streak patterns

(9:32):
How many times can they hit geno after the ball leaves his hand before a flag?

(9:33):
Bolivia, Bolivia

(9:35):
McCartney’s nickname of “sticks” has a whole new meaning now

(9:36):
Man, Geno needs to throw on some Durex. Dude needs some serious protection.

(9:36):
Jesus! Am I crazy or did Geno just throw into quadruple coverage on that int?1

(9:36):
Sextuple coverage…seriously.

(9:37):
Its ok Geno. There were only 6 defenders on that play.

(9:39):
Dear Tavon: CATCH THE [FOOT] BALL IN THE AIR!!!

(9:41):
Why didn’t Stewart, I mean Holgs, call a timeout?

(9:42):
So was it a bad idea to put money on wvu tonight?

(10:08):
Refs, remember the mic?  Maybe use it to call something.  Awful.

(10:12):
0-102 on streaks

(10:12):
Blow-livia

(10:13):
Seriously, the fade is a drive killer, not a go to play.

(10:17):
Gray is the new black, 40 is the new 30, and the fade is the new bubble screen.

(10:20):
Just when you think Big East officiating couldn’t get any worse, the refs hit rock bottom, yet continue to dig!

(10:26):
I’m at a loss for text.

(10:28):
Just when you think special teams and defense have hit rock bottom, they keep digging! A very poor effort tonight thus far

(10:32):
What’s with this screen on third and long?  Throw thr faaaaaade!

(10:39):
Garrison has zero idea what to do in plays he doesn’t get the ball.

(10:43):
Tight end as a decoy? What a concept!

(10:43):
Someone needs to tell D that the tight end is an eligible receiver

(10:43):
When are we cover that TE? If I was Syracuse, I’d keep giving it to him.

(10:46):
Maybe Holgorsen should add a TE to his offense just to give his defense some [fundamental] practice

(10:46):
Eaux neaux another INT

(10:47):
/ring ring “Ahh good mahnin’ this is Mike Slive. Please tell Mr Luck we are moving in uhhh anotha direction”

(10:51):
What the f-ck are we doing here?

(10:51):
HEY GUYS, THEY USE THE TIGHT END!!!!!!

(10:51):
I didn’t vote for Geno in the Capital One contest.

(10:52):
Remind me again how bruce irvin is big enough to play every down in nfl.

(10:53):
Ignominious!

(10:56):
Inconceivable.

(10:57):
Inglorious!

(10:57):
You ever been to provo?

(10:57):
HEY GUYS, THEY USE THE TIGHT END!!!!!!

(10:57):
42-16 is not what i expected. For SYR. Really?!?!?!?!

(10:58):
Wow.

(11:00):
So this is what UConn felt like?

(11:01):
Thank you sir may i have another

(11:02):
Maybe the sun belt conference has an opening.

(11:09):
Pretty sure wvu has a losing record against teams slated to leave the conference

(11:09):
Tessatore suddenly thinks cuse will improve the acc.  Blech.

(11:09):
No [braggadocio], there is a “WVU is our super bowl” quotient to every big east opponent…a case can be made that statement is def true.

(11:12):
Who’s worse : our secondary or our O line?

(11:13):
Intolerable!

(11:14):
I’m not going to throw any young man under the bus

(11:16):
Their number (insert any number here) was better than our number 8.

(11:18):
Cut me Mick!

(11:18):
Rod gilmore makes me want to shoot my tv.

(11:34):
WVU never practices against a tight end…

(11:47):
Well so much for that theory that ORB will be looking to leave WVU soon cause we are stuck in the BE. Young man still has a few things to learn.