So, uh, your thoughts on the postgame news conference? There was a bunch of noteworthy sound after the game.

Saturday night was not a good night for Dana Holgorsen and his football team. There are a lot of second glances to take, but that ballgame was, shall we say, reminiscent.

The game felt quite a bit like the last game, and we spent last week connecting dots that might draw a picture that looks similar to last season or ones before that. But at the end of the game — one in which WVU started slow, dug a hole, found its fastball on defense and rallied to get within a score of a ranked team from the Sooner State — one similarity reigned. WVU could not finish.

“This is the second straight week that we didn’t start very well,” said WVU coach Dana Holgorsen, who fell to 5-10 in Big 12 home games and 3-8 in home night games. “We put ourselves in a big hole. I really commend our players for coming in at halftime. We challenged them, and we came out in the second half and played a lot better.

“We were at a point where we could win. At the end of the day, it was not good enough. You have to play four quarters if you want to win in the Big 12. Right now, we are not capable of that.”

The foundation of a 3-0 start to the season is now wobbling beneath the Mountaineers’ feet following a second straight loss and with road games approaching against No. 2 Baylor and No. 3 TCU. A Mountaineer Field crowd of 60,410 watched WVU (3-2, 0-2 Big 12) commit double-digit penalties for a third straight game and commit four more turnovers that led to 17 points for the Cowboys (6-0, 3-0), including a critical error by Howard when he had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter and ultimately set up a frantic finish to the fourth quarter.

Howard finished 18-for-35 for 188 yards and one touchdown. He carried 19 times for 47 yards and a touchdown. Wendell Smallwood, who missed practice time with an ankle injury and didn’t play early in the game, had 147 yards rushing. Shelton Gibson caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

The Mountaineers were 6-for-20 on third down and 1-for-3 in the red zone and were flagged 11 times for 107 yards. Oklahoma State was 5-for-5 in the red zone and survived three interceptions by sophomore quarterback Mason Rudolph, who passed for 218 yards and is 8-1 as the starter.

Now, yes, that was but one day — and it was another overtime loss, another one-play defeat that we’ve made a fence out of, it seems — and there are seven and maybe still eight more days to follow, but the Mountaineers have their work cut out for them, and they know it. You’re not of unsound mind if you think desperation now rules for WVU.

The Mountaineers entered the game as a favorite over a visiting ranked team. Confidence bubbled around the team and within the sellout crowd of 60,410.

Then the game started.

West Virginia quarterback Skyler Howard was off early. As in way off. At the end of the first half, he was 4 of 11 passing for 31 yards. Folks in the stands weren’t scratching their heads. They were pulling their hair out.

Huh? Air Raid? Dana Holgorsen’s quarterback was 4 of 11 for 31 yards?

There were field-position problems that seemed like a bad hangover from the Oklahoma game. Drives were like those taken by the little old lady who only takes her car to church. Minus-2 yards. Minus-8. Six. Five. Eight.

There were mistakes. Many. West Virginia’s offensive line was flailing and Oklahoma State’s Emmanuel Ogbah was dominating. Howard ran into Wendell Smallwood and fumbled to Ogbah. The standout Cowboy caused a fumble from Rushel Shell that was recovered by OSU’s Chad Whitener.

At 10:14 of the second quarter, Mountaineer basketball coach Bob Huggins was introduced to the crowd. And many within that were calling for him to take over.

It was homecoming. It was Stripe the Stadium night. The game was on ESPN2. But all packing the joint knew.

This game was for the season, at least for the immediate season. This game was for Holgorsen’s future. Perhaps.

While on the topic of the future, we got a look at life without Karl Joseph, and it wasn’t bad, though it was sad to see him in the coaching box above the field. Jarrod Harper looked the part, as though he’d been building and waiting for this. Oklahoma State’s proclivity to pass tilts your defense, and Harper was more often deep than he was close to the line, but he was beyond solid and broke up two passses.

Ricky Rumph, though, was used as well, and that’s the wrinkle Tony Gibson inserted into his defense for Saturday and likely for all the games to follow. At the end of an impossibly difficult week for Gibson, we saw that Rumph and Harper are going to be WVU’s bandits.

While Harper is Gibson’s starter, Rumph is now playing against specific personnel packages — and the Mountaineers know they’re going to see teams use four receivers more often as they move deeper into the season.

“The biggest reason we like Ricky is coverage,” Gibson said. “We can do a lot of man [coverage] stuff with him, which for him is a lot like it already was with him playing nickel, and we can still blitz and do all the things we want to do.”

On traditional downs, Harper will be the bandit, but he’ll step aside for Rumph when WVU is confronted with specific matchups. When Gibson uses his third-down package, Harper will be the bandit and Rumph will again be the extra defensive back.

“We don’t know what other teams are going to be thinking about us right now, so we’re going to do some different things,” Gibson said. “Jarrod lets us play our defense and Ricky gives us a chance to get another cornerback on the field.”