The West Virginia Mountaineers dropped a heartbreaker to the No. 15 Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday night 53-48.

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez gave his initial thoughts on the loss the Red Raiders.

Reaction to the loss

“You got to play better, coach better to win. I mean, the defense was gross, first half. I mean, it's just gross. And they played better in the second half, but we didn't play the deep ball, and probably need to work on it more in practice, in my opinion, but that's pretty obvious. But you can't stop ‘em.

“I mean, (fifth-year quarterback Thomas) Castellanos played a heck of a game, but we sure helped. It was ridiculous. Our defense was just ridiculous.

“And then offensively, you know, we were moving the ball pretty well, but when we needed to at the end, we just didn't coach it well and didn't play it well.”

Not converting on third and one in the fourth quarter

“They stopped it. I thought about going for it. Probably should have in hindsight. I probably would've went for it on fourth down. Would've had that third-down call back. Probably would've went for it on fourth down. But nope.

“Our defense was playing a little better in the second half. We wanted to have them drive the long field to get a touchdown, and they did. So, I'd like to have that call back.”

Defense stepping up in the second half and holding Texas Tech to 10 second half points

“Couldn't play much worse. I mean, like, they were going against air in the first half. I mean, it was just ridiculous. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Now, I don't know. I got to see our plan, what the calls were. There were some calls that I think that were new, and we screwed up. One guy messes up, it's a touchdown, and it’s kind of living dangerously when that's the case.

Senior running back N’qari Rogers getting more playing time

“Yeah, he'd been playing.

“I mean, we've got those two rolling in there pretty regularly. We were running the ball okay. (redshirt sophomore quarterback) Mike (Hawkins Jr.)  was running the ball pretty good.

“Offensively, the same thing all year. We felt good. Every possession was pretty important because we weren't stopping them, but we were keeping pace, staying in the game. Had a good third quarter but didn't follow up with it.

“So, not real happy right now.”

The pressure on the offense to keep pace

“It's ridiculous. I've never, in all my years of coaching, I can't ever remember it being this way, where every possession was so critical because in every game because you can't stop them. I mean, it's just ridiculous, you know. It really is. It's ridiculous.”

How much does the defensive struggles impact his play calling

“Well, I mean, you've got the people who say, ‘Well, why don't you slow the tempo down and give them some rest?’ And then all of a sudden, you're not doing your thing, and you can't keep up with them because you're not running how you're supposed to run the way you're supposed to run it. So the answer is just play better defense. Play better defense. Got to play better defense. It's ridiculous.

“You know, your offense has got to make better plays at the end of the game, but we've got to play better defense. Simple as that.”

Mike Hawkins taking the safety on the Mountaineers' final drive

“Yeah, we just got to get rid of the ball. I mean, we had a quick game on, and Mike's just a competitive guy trying to make a play, but we just got to get rid of it. They're pretty good up front, but in the quick game, we've got to get rid of it. I'll have to look at the film and see what happened."

Is this the defense for this year, or can it get any better the last three games?

“Yeah, it's got to.

"Some of it's like when a guy's in position to make a play. Today, there were a lot of times where when it looked like we had a guy there in position to make a play on a deep ball, and we didn't make a play, not one time did we get a pick.

"Then we missed a few tackles in the open field. That was obvious there, too.

“But to answer your question, we've been trying to figure it out and had an open date to try to get better with it. They got a pretty good squad. You got to give them credit. But you're not going to win games when you play that terrible defensively in the first half.

"To their credit, our guys battled back a little bit, but I didn't like their energy. I didn't like their demeanor on the sidelines in the first half or anything like that. I thought in the second half they hit harder, played harder, and at least gave us a chance. They did respond in the second half, but it was too late by then.”

Sophomore receiver Taron Francis with three receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown

“He's slowly learning, and he's been working really hard in practice and making the most of his opportunity.”

Freshman Matt Sieg’s 75-yard punt return.

“We hadn't had many times we made somebody punt, but that was a big play by him. I thought it was one of the biggest plays of the game right there.”

“Like I said, there's going to be a lot of angry watching film on the way home and tomorrow. And after tomorrow, I'm really pissed right now for a lot of reasons. But, like I tell the guys, after 24 hours, I'll be over it.

“Twenty-four hours is all we can do. But for 24 hours, I'm going to be angry because we had an opportunity to win this game, and we didn't make it happen.”