Last week, West Virginia needed a bounce back after a brutal loss to Kansas. Utah was heading into town after it suffered a tough loss, the throwback jerseys were on, so there was hope Rich Rodriguez and company could get this season back on track.

Utah scored on its first three drives and didn’t punt the whole game. The Utes embarrassed the Mountaineers at home 48-14, and now they are below .500 for the first time this season at 2-3, and 0-2 in the Big 12. The season seems to be going in a negative direction now that WVU is in Big 12 play.

This week, WVU heads to Provo for another difficult Big 12 matchup against the undefeated BYU Cougars, who are ranked 23rd in the recent AP Poll. BYU is a good football team, so WVU is fighting an uphill battle again.

However, the Cougars hadn’t looked great of late. BYU enters Friday night’s game off a 24-21 win over Colorado. BYU trailed most of the game, and needed a fourth quarter touchdown to walk about of Boulder with a win.

BYU has its flaws. BYU couldn’t get too much production on the ground, and its offense relies on a true freshman quarterback, Bear Bachmeier, to lead the offense. Colorado, who is also 2-3, exposed the Cougars. But, BYU’s still a top team in the Big 12.

BYU’s strength is its defense, and that’s been the case since last year. The defense is the best in the Big 12, allowing just nine points per game. The defense is fourth in all of college football.

WVU’s offense was bad against Utah. It sounds like quarterback Nicco Marchiol won’t return, and Jaylen Henderson is out, so Khalil Wilkins is in line to make his first start against BYU. The redshirt freshman’s first start is against the best defense in the Big 12. Not an ideal landing spot.

BYU should beat up on WVU, making it three-straight losses. The sportsbooks agree. WVU is almost a 20-point underdog across all sportsbooks.

Realistically, isn’t this what was expected? At Kansas, against Utah and at BYU is a brutal stretch of games. Before the season, I predicted WVU to lose all three of those games. At this point in Rodrigue’s tenure, those three teams are just better and have established programs.

Maybe you’d like the games to be more competitive, but there was a reason WVU was an underdog in all three games, even after a big win over Pitt, WVU isn’t the better team.

There are flaws with this team. The quarterback isn’t decided, the offense can’t move the ball down the field, and the defense is starting to fall apart.

It’s a team of 70-plus new players and a whole new coaching staff. It’s hard to be competitive. Yes, Indiana did it last year, but that’s an outlier. If you look at the teams with the most transfer additions this year, most of them are below .500.

The season’s not over, and there is a possibility of winning some games. Colorado and UCF are winnable games. I thought Houston could be one before the season, but now the Cougars are 4-0, so it might be a tough one. WVU is a three-to-five-win team, which was the realistic expectations.

Higher expectations was a blinded thought by the pomp and circumstance of the return of Rodriguez.

As far as this week goes, BYU wins. WVU gets a bye, and maybe it’ll get back in the win column against UCF.

BYU 31, West Virginia 14