West Virginia, going back to before spring football, has believed in the composition and the constitution of the roster. There are more juniors and seniors in the two-deep than anywhere else in the Big 12, and even if there isn’t conference-leading experience, never mind talent, the collective age an maturity was supposed to be worth something.

Struggles with Youngstown State aside, the Mountaineers hadn’t needed or called upon its ability to overcome and conquer adversity in the first two games. It was an unknown, no matter how strongly WVU believed it existed.

Well, that’s no more. The Mountaineers went from trusting it existed to knowing what happens when it needs it, all thanks to that frenetic finish against BYU.

Orlosky lifted Fleming into the air and told him, “Thank you.” WVU smiled and exhaled through its media obligations after the game and then boarded the bus that took the team back to campus.

“It was exciting but definitely terrible driving for four hours,” linebacker Justin Arndt said. “It was better than losing, for sure. I couldn’t imagine what a loss would have felt like.”

The finish was thrilling. The outcome was redeeming. The fact the Mountaineers are 3-0 again as they start Big 12 play with Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game against 2-1 Kansas State at Mountaineer Field (ESPNU) is the best momentum available.

“I’m proud of the guys for fighting through it,” Howard said. “Bad things are going to happen, as they did. Really bad things are going to happen, as they did. You’ve just got to keep plugging, keep on fighting. That’s all we can do.”

But there was more to it than just one play, one emotion or one motivation. WVU played poorly enough to lose, but it also played well enough to win. The players chose which was more important. They decided what their identity would be as the season enters the month that saw them go 0-4 last season.

“The team last year, I don’t think we would have won that game last year,” Orlosky said.