So you turned back your clocks this weekend, gaining an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning that you may have wasted after watching your team give away a game Saturday evening. And that loss brought us back to the halcyon days of 2004, which was the last time WVU lost three straight games. That was a team that was also (prematurely) positioned toward the top and in no way prepared to handle the highs and the lows.

This team? Let’s just say some of you previously voiced concerns that this might be that. Now, that being said, I thought WVU at least showed something by rising up on defense and, by the sounds of it, using all the criticism and ridicule it had been made to study to really change the conversation. Who saw that coming?

Truth be told, the defense, for perhaps the first time all season, submitted a winning performance for 58 minutes. And that botch in the final two minutes ought not have mattered because the offense owed it to the defense to make good on some of the many good situations the defense provided in the second half.

Yet there they are, 5-3 after a 5-0 start and one bad road trip to Oklahoma State away from a losing streak not seen since the faraway days of 2001 — or six Todd Graham jobs ago. And at 5-4, with Oklahoma coming to town, you start to entertain silly thoughts, like bowl eligibility and the number of bowl tie-ins the Big 12 possesses. This is really weird stuff to be thinking about, am I wrong?

The postgame Saturday night was a weird one. It is harder now than before to deny some things, like opposing defenses borrowing ideas from one another to stop WVU’s offense. A unit that was buoyed by confidence is now bothered because it realizes it’s bothered. The players are admitting this now, maybe because it helps to say it, never mind hear it. Some players didn’t, or weren’t allowed to, meet with the media. Many who did the meet did so quickly without showering or washing the eye black off their faces. That can be a bad sign, because locker rooms are supposed to be fun, or at least bearable, places to be.

Before you think people don’t care, understand a lot of guys were said to have just sat at their lockers, not wanting to take off their uniforms or get a shower or do anything that took them closer to stepping outside those doors and into a three-game losing streak after two pretty good weeks of practices.

There are positives and the momentum the defense supplied and can inspire shouldn’t be overlooked. Dana Holgorsen apparently had a lot to do with that and involved himself in ways people have not witnessed before. My guess is he gives the offense the same treatment this week, because it looks like a lot of the trouble, be it the lack of a run game or the fact teams rush three or four and get to the quarterback, has to do with the offensive line, which had a third different starting lineup in as many games.

I’m all about my cake. I’m trying to marry Betty Crocker. A package on the way, you know my text game proper. My edits are in [backets].

2:39
Grey gold grey is horrendous.

3:03
I’ve never seen a team run to the endzone and pray when they came out of the tunnel. Hmmm

3:06
I hate this uni combo

3:06
What in the hell are we wearing???

3:11
Did Pat Miller just make a stop? No. Can’t be. Must be an illusion!

3:13
My whole section just did an excited standing ovation because our defense got a three-and-out….yeah, just about describes our season there…

3:18
Am I going to need lots of alcohol to get through this…again?

3:25
Omg…wide open! Do we have zero defense IQ???

3:29
I think I saw this game at least twice already….

3:31
The good news is TCU has only scored once

3:37
This is a bad football team.

3:37
TCU by three touchdowns is looking pretty good right now.

3:47
Why the [hay] is geno such a [diva]? He coulda ran it in for a TD

3:47
Stop, thief!

3:49
Actual quote from TCU fan… “The only obnoxious people I’ve seen were TCU fans.”

3:50
JD’s catch may be the best td catch since pennington vs pitt

3:51
I bet you that touchdown is exactly what practice looks like.

3:56
Can’t believe TCU isn’t throwing the ball.

3:58
Tavon is good at a lot of things, but punt returner is not one of them

4:03
Holgorsen has lost this team. They are finished.

4:03
On the plus side, the mountaineer won’t be tired after this game.

4:10
Whew…Tavon!!!!! I held my breath that entire run!!!!

4:10
That run had more turns than a doorknob.

4:19
Who is Copeland  and why us he in

4:22
OK, but does Geno think Clay can’t make the catch, or he can’t make the throw?

4:22
Welcome back, Alston!!!!

4:22
Happy birthday, Shawne Alston!

4:22
Ramblin Wreck Bob Huggins ambled down the sideline by himself just before that TD wearing Gale Catletts leather jacket. Good luck talisman?

4:24
Did Alston obtain a beer belly during his time off?

4:31
Richard in Michigan just swallowed his highlighter.

4:31
The guy in front of me just told me he looks forward to Mondays b/c of TFGD. PLZ publish this txt. Happy Monday!

4:35
Hate that playcall at the end of the half. It’s not like we’ve got janikowski back there. Why concede a 50yd fg?

4:37
In one attempt Holgorsen faked the quick kick more than RichRod ever did.

4:38
Didn’t understand the running play on third down.

4:46
Thus piano is cool, but I think they lost the crowd with this weirdness

4:47:
Halftime has an award presentation, Nefeterius, the band, a piano recital and some sort of pageant. It’s like Mullen_’s 2010 offense.

4:47
So eForest made a bunch of changes and they’re working. D looks real good. This will end badly for them right?

4:50
Check it out. Pigs are flying at mtneer field! What does this mean?!

4:54
Bolerjack said Bitancurt hadn’t put a foot on a ball in a month before that FG attempt. Now I’m no fan of his punting but that seems like an oversight.

4:55
So how can I put pink hightlighter on my TFGDs?

5:02
52!

5:02
Bitancurt with the emphatic kick.  He really put the pink highlighter on that one.

5:11
Holgo aired out the OL on the sideline then ran three straight times???

5:12
Special teams bingo!

5:12
Meet me in the hall of traditions with Dana’s hair gel. — A

5:12
Special Teams picks up the slack for the defense! Da*m you DeForrest!

5:13
Punter drops snap, loses fumble, watches TD. I believe that’s B 40 on your card, no?

5:13
Dana is pissed. Telling the o-line about it.

5:26
The downward spiral has begun….

5:32
Bruuuuuuuce.

5:33
Boykin sees Geno staring down receivers and raises him – no! He’s all in!

5:33
Even during this lackluster game I still feel a strong urge to do a Triple X move after that kind of play.

5:37
In 3 downs our offense did not make it farther than the defensive player who picked it off. 

5:54
Watching this game is like an exercise in trying to determine which team most wants to lose.

5:55
Drunk guy behind me just yelled “take an acting class!”  Yeah…. I don’t get it either…

5:56
This 4th quarter is giving me a serious headache and an emotional breakdown! Who are we???

6:02
I loved Crazy Joe DeForest’s work on Seinfeld.

6:07
This offense is a joke. That 3 and out will cost us the game.

6:08
Why does the Horned Frog have human hands & human body from waist down? And what is the Greek mythological equivalent? Like a toad reverse centaur.

6:09
Dana’s in a glass case of emotion today.

6:10
Is Jeff Mullen calling the plays in the 2nd half?

6:10
This game is beyond exhausting.

6:12
AUSTIN 3:16!! AUSTIN 3:16!! AUSTIN 3:16!! AUSTIN 3:16!! AUSTIN 3:16!! AUSTIN 3:16!!

6:12
‘That didn’t suck, man.’  Written and narrated by Tom Rinaldi.

6:12
Thank you, Jesus! Tavon!

6:12
Like I said, tavon is a great punt returner

6:14
Tavon saves the day! Also, students – you suck! Ollie gonna sell those seats!

6:15
Why I hate your blog: Tavon scores and my first thought is “How does the defense lose this?”

6:19
This game has been uglier than Hulk Hogan’s sex tape but I’d take a W without apology.

6:23
Oh Jesus. That’s how!!!!

6:24
Glad Joseph had a brisk 60 yard jog there

6:24
Boy, the defense almost made it the whole game without a relapse.

6:25
Classic gary patterson 2 plays 94 yards

6:26
OMG…I could just vomit!!!!

6:26
UNLEVEL

6:26
See 4:47 text. kbye

6:31
Holgorsen is the most overrated coach in the nation.

6:31
Go deep to set up a 55 yard FG? What a bum

6:33
We can’t win in ot

6:34
Holgorsen trying to stake his claim to worst time/game manager

6:35
I’d watch a 30 for 30 on Dana’s 20 second possession before TCU’s game tying TD. That was awful.

6:43
You knew there’d be a block today.

6:44
I 37

6:44
Bitancurt…no beer for YOU!

6:45
I hate this team.

6:48

Here comes the 2 point conversion.

6:50
‘That Sucks, Man.’  Written and narrated by Tom Rinaldi.

6:50
We needed double overtime to lose to an unranked team

6:51
Children are crying. This is awful. [Fin].

7:12
Ugh. Truck next to us in Blue Lot playing “Hurts so Good.” Not quite, Mr. Mellencamp.