I love you, Doug! gave me an idea today to go back to look forward. WVU’s two losses to Kansas State since joining the Big 12 have been uniquely disturbing. The 2012 game was a demolition when a surging team caught a struggling team at the right/wrong time. Last season’s game was a thorough illustration that the Mountaineers were an ordinary and troubled outfit that couldn’t overcome itself, never mind a team having growing pains of its own.

I think WVU can show off a better version of itself Thursday, which means what I’m about to show you is or can be constructive context.

WVU’s roster was an unequivocal mess in 2012. It’s startling to look at now, but it’s also telling that Kansas State and Collin Klein came in determined to throw all over the Mountaineers. Snarky texts followed because the game was so bad there was no G&B. I remember thinking _&B would have been awkward.

Last year’s game was more competitive, but there was a bad omen before the game in which the mascot tackles a fake WVU fan on the field in a pregame ritual. It went horribly and the kid had a real seizure and was rushed to the hospital. Clint Trickett would get a concussion in the game and tell no one and struggle throughout, which led to a Paul Millard cameo. Snarky texts followed, but so, too, did a G&B that’s a pretty good primer for this mid-week game.