Nothing went West Virginia’s way in their 38-20 loss to Texas on Saturday. The Mountaineers struggled from the first play of the game on, and could never get out of their own way. The Mountaineers now are 2-3 and 0-2 in Big 12 play, and will have a bye week before hosting Baylor on Thursday, Oct. 13.
The Mountaineer could not convert early in the game, but the big story was the loss of freshman running back CJ Donaldson. Donaldson would be down on the turf for a long time, following a hit to the head from a Texas defender’s knee. Donaldson would have his jersey cut off, and would be carted off the field and taken to a local hospital.
“CJ Donaldson is at the hospital. A member of our medical team is there with him. He’s alert, stable, has movement in his extremities and he’s awaiting further testing. Obviously our thoughts and prayers since that happened have been with him,” Brown said.
Brown added his team feels the pain of Donaldson’s injury, and it shook his team when it happened.
Photo by Tim Warner, Getty Images
“We’ve got a gut football team in there for multiple reasons that being the first and foremost. That was scary. First time I’ve ever had something like that as a coach on the field. Credit to our medical team and appreciate [Texas’s] medical team for being at assistance as well,” Brown said.
Following the game, Brown released a statement saying Donaldson was released from the hospital and flew home with the team on Saturday night.
“CJ has been cleared to travel home with us tonight. Credit to the WVU and UT medical teams for their outstanding care,” Brown’s statement read.
As for on the field, Brown and the Mountaineers struggled early in the first quarter. After getting a stop on Texas’ first drive which set up great starting field position. However, a third down pass to Mike O’Laughlin was dropped and then a fourth down pass to Bryce Ford-Wheaton was also unable to be brought in by the receiver.
The name of the game was drops in the first quarter and they cost West Virginia opportunities to score.
“[Texas] won the game within the first 15 minutes,” Brown said of Texas. “Five drops and three of them were either on third or fourth down.”
Brown added not making plays cost his team an opportunity to win the game.
“It was an issue. You think about it in the first half, I know we had five โ if you catch those balls, I don’t know if we win, I don’t want to discredit what Texas did but it’s a different story,” Brown said. “If you go back and look when we have not played well, you can go back and [drops are] a major issue.”
The secondary was also an issue (again) for the Mountaineers, as Texas was able to have their way down the field. The Longhorns took chances all night long and converted most of them.
Texas quarterback passed for 303 yards and three touchdowns, while wide receiver Xavier Worthy also got in on the action, with a 33-yard touchdown pass of his own.
“Tonight, we threw every one of them out there. We got some guys injured,” Brown said. “We got to play better. We got to put them in a better position to make plays and we got to play better. We can’t let people run free like we did in the first half.”
Photo by Dale Sparks, All Pro Photography
