Among the many problems for West Virginia Saturday was that on the same day Kansas State prevailed while completing 10 passes, playing a half with a receiver at quarterback and averaging 3.2 yards per snap and 2 yards per run, the Mountaineers waited until it was too late to insist they were superior.

“This one hurts,” WVU running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “We were the better team. There’s no sugar-coating that. I don’t care what anyone says. That’s my feeling on that. We should have won this game.”

Instead, Kansas State (6-6, 3-6 Big 12) closed the regular season with three straight wins and ended WVU’s four-game winning streak. The Mountaineers (7-5, 4-5) fell short of winning eight games for the first time since joining the Big 12 in 2012. It’s the third time in Dana Holgorsen’s five seasons WVU has finished the regular season 7-5 and the second time he’s been 4-5 in conference play.

An eighth win would have also earned Holgorsen a $75,000 bonus, but the Mountaineers instead lost after leading by 10 points at halftime.

Burns’ touchdown is the 101st non-offensive touchdown for the Wildcats since 1999, the highest total in the country. They’re 56-17 in the past 25 seasons when they score on special teams.

“This is what Kansas State does,” said Holgorsen, who with his team fell to 0-4 against the Wildcats in Big 12 play. “This is how they win games.”

The head coach will be questioned today, a day after he left $75,000 on the table along with all those landmarks the Mountaineers wanted to reach, and whether or not Wendell Smallwood wasn’t used enough when he had 25 carries and whether Skyler Howard threw too much after injuring his ankle is all open to debate.

Consider his: WVU was 6-for-20 on third down. Howard was 6-for-15 passing. Smallwood got two carries, both in the first half. After the kickoff return touchdown, Smallwood touched the ball four times, all carries, and he gained 7, 5 and 3 yards before losing 3.

Howard was again erratic and simply looked affected. Holgorsen said he did not consider playing William Crest while Howard limped to 19-for-42 passing and limited capacity on a limited number running plays.

“It hurt us in the quarterback run game a little bit, but we didn’t have a lot of that in for this game,” Holgorsen said. “The injury did not affect him in the pocket. He gives us the best opportunity in the pass game right now to be successful.

“William was ready to go, but Skyler came running back out. Skyler has performed the best that we have. He’s a competitor, and he’s going to continue work hard. It means a lot to him, and we were going to continue to ride him until we couldn’t anymore.”

Meanwhile, the basketball team won against another terrible team, but Brandon Watkins played and looked pretty good in his first action following the knee injury that ended his season last winter.

We should get a bowl announcement after 2 p.m. today. Feel free to speculate about games and opponents while we wait.